Concerns over a voluntary annexation request of 404 acres, by Robert and Diane Edwards, drew a larger than usual crowd to the Foxfire Village Council meeting on Tuesday, June 9. During a public hearing on the request, Earl Ingram and Ed Duke both voiced concern about how future development of the parcel would affect Sandy Run Branch and an existing twenty-acre beaver pond.
    “It [Sandy Run] is an important stream. I’ve never seen it dry in thirty years — that little stream is efficient,” said Ingram. “My concern is what happens later to the property to be annexed. It’s not realistic to think it won’t be developed.”
    Duke said the beaver pond was, perhaps, the oldest one in Moore County.
    “I’m a tree hugger from way back and I’m concerned. I don’t want to see that beaver dam torn out,” said Duke. “And I’m concerned about the watershed.”
    Mayor George Erickson and Councilmembers Leslie Frusco and Ed Lauer all expressed support for the concern.
    “I want to reiterate to the public, at this point this is a request for annexation. Just being annexed into Foxfire does not give the right to develop property however they want,” Frusco said. “Any future development would have to be presented and go through same process as any other individual lot owner in Foxfire.”
    On a motion by Councilman Vic Koos, the annexation request was approved unanimously.

    Moore County’s Board of Commissioners approved a downtown Carthage site for new county jail Monday night, June 8, despite objections from a couple dozen downtown Carthage residents worried about traffic, property values, and, most of all, safety.
    In late 2007, the county purchased the steeply-sloped, twenty-one acre Grimm property, which lies between Dowd and McNeill Streets, two blocks southwest of the center of town, as a site for a new jail, public safety building, and county administration building. Over the past few months the Commissioners have debated whether the administration building should be built instead on county-owned property at the old Carriage Oaks Shopping Center on the east end of town, whether they need to leave room on the downtown site for a new courthouse, and whether to build the jail at the top of the hill near the old jail, or deeper into the site.
    Recent news stories on that debate — including references to a 600-bed facility — apparently caught the attention of some Carthage residents, who turned out for the June 8 Board of Commissioners meeting to object to the downtown site for the new jail, bringing with them a petition with 263 names affixed.
    Bert Patrick said Carthaginians had thought the Commissioners intended to build a small addition to the current jail. She worried about the sorts of criminals that might be housed in the facility and said property values had declined in downtown Concord when a new detention center was built there.
    “This is not why I moved to Moore County,” Mrs. Maris Riley told the Board. “This is crazy. We came here to experience this town, to experience Moore County — now we have to experience 78,000 square feet of criminals.”

    Moore County's Board of Commissioners approved a 1.4 cent reduction in county property taxes in a three-to-to vote during a Monday night, June 8 meeting, restoring funding for Moore County Schools, Sandhills Community College, and the county Animal Shelter that had been cut in the Fiscal Year 2009-2010 budget proposed by County Manager Cary McSwain.
    The revisions passed three-to-two, on a motion from Commissioner Jimmy Melton, with Commissioners Tim Lea and Cindy Morgan opposed. Melton's budget adjustments restored 75 percent of the longevity pay for county employees that McSwain had cut, as well as $50,000 of $100,000 that the Planning Department had requested to hire a consultant to help with a major revision of the county's land use plan.
    Combining Melton's 1.4 cent tax cut with a half-cent reduction in the Advanced Life Support levy already approved by the Board will reduce Moore County's tax rate from 50.4 to 48.5 cents per hundred dollars of valuation.
    The County Manager had recommended a one cent reduction in the tax rate, but the Commissioners managed a deeper tax cut while increasing spending in key areas  by adjusting the amount of money flowing to and from reserve funds. They cut a planned $4 million transfer from the general fund to the capital reserve fund by approximately $800,000 and increased a transfer from the self-insurance fund to the general fund by $42,000.
    Commissioner Lea had proposed, and Morgan had supported, a more aggressive alternate scenario that would have cut the tax rate by 2.5 cents, in addition to the half-cent ALS cut. Lea's alternative would have fully funded the schools and college, as well as restoring partial funding for the animal shelter and longevity pay; and so would have required a significantly deeper cut in the transfer to capital reserves.
    In his motion, Lea  pointed out that the county had just under $22.5 million in its general fund balance — the county's savings account — at the end of Fiscal Year 2007-2008. Earlier this year he advocated reducing the fund balance level mandated in the county's financial operating guidelines from twenty-five percent of budgeted operating expenses to fifteen percent. The NC Local Government Commission requires that county's have at least eight percent of annual expenses in their fund balance.

    The NC Department of Transportation [NC-DOT] has turned down a request from Moore County to conduct a comprehensive transportation plan, because the current county land use plan is out of date.
    Planning Director Joey Raczkowski gave the news the the Moore County Planning Board during its Thursday, June 4 meeting.
    “It is in the budget but DOT has not taken action to move the plan forward because they prefer a long range plan be five years or less,” he explained. “You would be using an eleven year old plan to complete a twenty-year plan for transportation.”
    The Moore County Land Use Plan was drafted in 1999. A budget request of $100,000 to update the plan was denied by the Board of Commissioners, prompting the Planning Board to send a second, more urgent request. [During their June 8 Special Meeting, the Commissioners voted to restore half of the requested funding. –GH]
    Raczkowski also reported the County was unsuccessful in obtaining a grant to off-set costs to complete a Hazard Mitigation Plan. He described this plan as a critical tool that is used to determine Federal Disaster emergency funding.
    
Package store request tabled
    A conditional use permit request to operate a drive-in package store in Eagle Springs was heard but tabled by the Planning Board during the June 4 meeting.  Two neighbors spoke in opposition of the request during the quasi-judicial public hearing, however, applicant Vaughn Rouse argued the business would provide a convenient and clean outlet for beer sales.
    “I have the community’s respect. This would not be a place to hang-out and drink,” said Rouse. “It will be a respectable place.”
    The 2.62 acre parcel is located on the west side of NC 705, approximately .8 miles south of the NC 24/27. As proposed, customers will not enter the existing block structure and only beer sales will be offered.  After discussion, the Board tabled the motion until July to allow time for planning staff to draft findings of fact and make a formal recommendation.
     

• Other Items

    In other business, the Board:
    •    Approved a conditional use permit request by Moore County Schools to construct an additional athletic field house at North Moore High School.
    •    Approved a text amendment to the zoning ordinance requiring manufactured homes constructed after 1976 to display a HUD label indicating the structure meets construction standards as defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
    Manufactured or mobile homes already located in Moore may be moved within the County provided permits obtained for set-up.
   

    Moore County will get a share of the massive federal economic stimulus package, using nearly $3 million to replace five sewer lift stations in the Village of Pinehurst.
    The Board of Commissioners tentatively awarded the $2.8 million contract for the work to T.A. Loving Company during their Monday, June 1, meeting. Funds to pay for the project will come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
    According to Moore County Public Works, the existing lift stations were constructed in 1973 and have “outlived their useful life.” The original estimate to replace the lift stations was considerably higher, at $3.8 million.
    In related business, the Board also awarded a $294,000 construction contract to low-bidder Temple Grading & Construction for water and sewer improvements at the wastewater treatment plant in Addor. The contract is contingent upon the County receiving sewer easements from affected property owners.
     
Riverbend Community
    Heavy rains following a tropical storm washed out a bridge in the Riverbend community last Fall. The small subdivision, located near Vass, is unable to fund necessary repairs to the bridge -- the sole point of access to the community.
    Unable to use public funds to repair a private road, the Board of Commissioners approved a Community Development Block Grant request for $600,000 and awarded Hobbs, Upchurch & Associates $20,000 to assist with administration of the project; $30,000 for a FEMA study, should it be necessary; and $68,500 for engineering services, including surveying, design, construction management, and inspections.
    Commissioner Tim Lea expressed concern about the project’s skyrocketing cost.
    “We talked about $6,000 to $10,000 to fix it and then $20,000 to $25,000. Now we’re at $600,000!” he exclaimed. “The attitude is: 'Somebody is going to get this [stimulus] money -- it may as well be us.' ”
    Responding to Lea's concerns, Planning Director Joey Raczkowski said that, in order to qualify for urgent needs assistance, the project had to be upgraded to meet North Carolina Department of Transportation [NC-DOT] standards.
     

Proposed County Tax Cut
    Two speakers representing opposing views on a proposed cut in the County property tax rate tax lobbied the Board during the Monday, June 1 meeting.
    “In tough economic times, more need assistance,” said Mary Jo Morris of Pinehurst, asking for full funding of the budgets requested by Moore County Schools and the Animal Control department. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
    Taking the other side, Robert Levy of Pinehurst argued that a reduction in the taxes was the prudent thing to do, “if the tax rate is cut that is money that will be spent in my store or other stores.”

    The repair of the Lake Auman Dam is complete, Director Mick Herdrich reported during the Tuesday, May 26 General Meeting of the Seven Lakes West Landowners Association [SLWLA], and the project turned out to be a bit larger than anticipated.
    He explained that the initial remediation plan developed by Dr. Dan Marks called for a slurry wall and average of 22 feet deep and 1200 feet long, stretching across the center of the dam. Herdrich likened the slurry wall to a shower curtain — a barrier designed to prevent the passage of water through the upper portion of the structure. But this "curtain" is made of a flexible mixture of concrete, bentonite, and other additives.
    As the repair crew moved slowly across the dam, inserting a vibrating bean into the earth until it met substantial resistance. Marks' expectations about the depth required held up for 900 feet. Then the beam hit a soft spot, plunging more than 40 feet before the slurry could be pumped in. That depth continued for another 200 feet, the projected termination point for the repair, prompting Dam Engineer Marks to recommend extending the length of the wall.
    Ultimately, the repair stopped at 1,300 feet at a depth of 19 feet, Herdrich said. Herdrich told The Times that the extra length and depth of the slurry wall may not add to the overall price of the project, though he is still waiting for confirmatino on that point.
    Marks met with the SLWLA Dam Committee on May 21 and expressed "complete satisfaction" with the work of contractor Hayward-Baker. The engineer is now preparing a submission to state inspectors, in order to have the repair certified, a process that could take one to three months, Herdrich said.
    He added that the roadway across the dam will likely reopen for pedestrian and golf cart travel in early June.

   “Slow down!” was the message Security Director Gary Caulk conveyed during the Seven Lakes Landowners Association [SLLA] General Meeting on Wednesday, May 27.
    “Watch your speed, because we have Moore County Sheriff’s Deputies coming in,” Caulk said, noting that that Roving Patrol was responding to an increased number of calls about speeding vehicles.
    Caulk also reported on a recent accident that involved a vehicle crashing in to a boat that was parked in a homeowner’s yard.
    Roving Patrol officers recently completed additional training in North Carolina Boating Safety and reviewed safety rules and regulations as established in the Bylaws and security operations manual.
    During the busy Summer months, Caulk said, residents should call their guests in early to prevent unnecessary delays at the gate.
     

• Sequoia Point

    Director Sally Kindsvatter voiced concern that kids were using tables and benches to dive off the dock, which is not allowed, and that discarded cigarette butts and empty cans continue to be a litter problem at Sequoia Point.
    “Can’t Roving Patrol talk to these people?” she queried Caulk.
    He responded that a proposed ban on smoking and alcohol in community playground areas had been poorly received, prompting Director Kent Droppers to argue that littering and consumption were too different issues and should not be comingled.
    Caulk also reported that all recent complaints involving juveniles had been quickly and cooperatively resolved.
    “Now if we could just get the adults to follow the rules,” he added.

New Playground Equipment
    Community Manager Dalton Fulcher reported that three bids were received for a new modular playground to be installed at Northside Park, with Miracle Recreation presenting the recommended bid at $38,867.
    “Both Recreation Committees, this year and last, feel for the money this is the best buy,” Fulcher said.
    The price includes a thirty percent sales discount, free shipping, and three park benches. As proposed, the playground piece includes multiple slides, decks, and climbing structures.
    Fulcher also recommended having the playground installed by the maintenance department, for an estimated savings of $4,360.
    The Board unanimously approved the purchase. The playground will be delivered in approximately six weeks and will take 160 man hours to install.

    Moore County needs a larger courts facility, Superior Court Judge James Webb told The Moore County Board of Commissioners during their Monday, May 18 regular meeting.
    Webb had been asked to weigh in on the question as the Commissioners debate where to locate a new jail and new county administration building. While a previous board purchased a site in downtown Carthage to accommodate both, conversations that Commissioners Tim Lea and Nick Picerno had with court officials suggested the site may need to host a new courthouse and, possibly, additional space for the Clerk of Superior Court and District Attorney. It's not clear whether the site will accommodate all three facilities.
    Webb began with statistics. With a population of 85,600, Moore County had 8,373 cases pending on April 30. Though 4,249 of these were relatively uncomplicated motor vehicles cases, Webb said even these generate a large amount of paperwork in the clerk's office. The judge cited an email to the Board of Commissioners from former Clerk Catherine Graham noting the inadequacy of the current clerk's office, which has no facilities for long-term storage of biological evidence now required by the state.
    The actual courtrooms and related areas are also inadequate, Webb said, noting the absence of a jury assembly room and the lack of rooms in which attorneys can confer privately with their clients. As a result, such conferences often take place in public, in crowded hallways. Even victims and victims families risk encountering defendants in these public spaces, Webb said.
    Webb referred to an October 2005 letter from then Fire Marshal Carlton Cole to then Clerk of Court Graham, warning the clerk about the danger of overcrowding in the courts facility. "Exceeding the posted capacity is dangerous and unlawful," Cole wrote the clerk.

    Scores of citizens attended and dozens spoke during a public hearing on the Fiscal Year 2009-2010 Moore County budget in Carthage, Monday night, May 18; and there was a remarkable consistency in the comments directed to the Board of Commissioners:
    •     "I disagree with the one cent tax decrease," Kim Voncannon, Vice Chair of the Moore County Planning Board said. The $16 savings in property taxes, the tax cut would provide to the owner of a $160,000 home "is so miniscule to so many of our individual lives . . .  Even if you were going to cut taxes three cents, now is not the time to do it."
    •    "I don't think this is the time to cut," Ernie Hansford told the Board. "It will do some people a little good, but the county needs that money. Why cut it now, when next year it will jump right up again?"
    •    "[The money from] that one cent tax cut would do our schools a great amount of good," Tessie Taylor said. "I would not want to see classroom size raised so that the teacher doesn't have time to give my child that little bit of extra time he needs."
    •    "I'm concerned that schools have gotten into the business of fundraising rather than educating our children," Southern Pines Primary PTA President  Rollie Sampson said. "Schools are starting to compete with their PTAs in raising money" in order to buy supplies that aren't funded in operating budgets. Sampson said her school, when it came to time assemble kindergarten orientation packets, had to decide whether to give children scissors or crayons.
    •    "I am here to ask you to please not reduce the tax rate, but use those funds for the public schools and the college," former School Board member Jennifer Garner said. "It has taken us an awful long time over the past twelve to fifteen years to get our schools into shape."
    In all, more than two dozen citizens took to the microphone, all of them urging the Commissioners to forego a planned cut in the property tax rate in order to fund the schools or restore other programs that would be cut if County Manager Cary McSwain's $78.5 million budget is approved. Not a single speaker rose to support the proposed tax cut; and, when one asked those opposed to a tax cut to rise, almost no one in the overstuffed courtroom remained in his or her seat.