HomeMy WebLinkAboutJanuary_3_2006_Briefing_SessionIREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
BRIEFING SESSION MINUTES
JANUARY 3, 2006
The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met in Briefing Session on
Tuesday, January 3, 2006, at 5:00 p.m., in the Iredell County Government Center
(South Wing Conference Room), 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC.
Present were:
Chairman Sara Haire Tice
Vice Chairman Godfrey Williams
Steve D. Johnson
Marvin Norman
Ken Robertson
Staff present: County Manager Joel Mashburn, Deputy County Manager Susan
Blumenstein, Code Enforcement & Planning Director Lynn Niblock, Planning
Supervisor Steve Warren, Purchasing Agent Dean Lail, Solid Waste Director David
Lambert, Assistant County Manager Tracy Jackson, Elections Supervisor Becky
Galliher, Cooperative Extension Director Ken Vaughn, and Clerk to the Board Jean
Moore.
Call to Order by Chairman Tice.
Continuation of the Discussion Regarding the Sign Ordinance and
Direction to the Staff Pertaining to Enforcement: County Manager Mashburn read
the following prepared statement:
"On the matter concerning the proposed amendment to the Iredell County
Zoning Ordinance Section 11.16 — Signs Permitted Without a Permit, 1 have reviewed
the minutes of the December 20 meeting, as well as all related information available to
me, and I have concluded in retrospect that the question I posed to the board following
the vote was inappropriate and inconsistent with my statutory responsibilities. 1 also
have reviewed correspondence made available to me concerning our legal position in
the matter- of the Shepherd's VFD sign, and I feel that my directive to the staff to
suspend efforts to enforce the existing ordinance was premature, or in error. Until such
time that the board modifies the existing ordinance, I will instruct the staff to renew
efforts to bring into compliance the sign at Shepherd's, yet will try to remain consistent
with the desire of the board to bring about a friendly resolution, if possible. "
Commissioner Williams said he hoped there was room to negotiate.
Mashburn said the ordinance should probably be reviewed at some point.
Commissioner Johnson agreed the sign ordinance was confusing and probably
needed to be reviewed.
Chairman Tice mentioned that perhaps the ordinance could be studied by the
staff and board at the Winter Planning Session.
(At the December 20, 2005, the board decided to discuss the sign ordinance during
unfinished business at the next meeting. Due to the manager's statement, the matter was
removed from the 7 p.m. agenda.)
Request for Discussion/Approval of a Recommendation from the Board of
Elections Regarding the Purchase of Certified Voting Equipment: Board of
Elections Members Pressley Mattox and Jim Dobson attended the meeting along with
Elections Director Becky Galliher to explain new state requirements for voting
equipment.
Mattox said the Board of Elections had previously met and voted to recommend
the purchase of certified voting equipment from Diebold totaling $405,661 with no
county money being involved due to the availability of Help America Vote Act grant
funds. He said, originally, there were only two vendors approved by the state, and now,
in the past few days, Diebold had withdrawn from the process leaving Elections
Systems & Software (ES&S) as the sole voting equipment supplier for every county in
North Carolina. Mattox said Diebold had evidently dropped out due to a problem
involving intellectual property rights. (Microsoft runs most all of the programs.)
Mr. Mattox said, hopefully, Diebold would try to work through the problems, and again,
become a supplier. He said if this didn't happen, Iredell County could be faced with
costs ranging from $20,000 to $30,000 for upgrades on up to potentially $150,000 for
the certified equipment. Mattox said to further complicate the situation, the state was
requiring counties to have contracts by January 20. He said statewide uniformity in
elections was certainly needed; however, the state's action of narrowing the vendors
down to one or two made for a difficult situation. Mattox said he had concerns about
getting the equipment installed, and the staff trained, by the May primaries. He
requested for the matter to be deleted from the agenda, and he said the Board of
Elections and staff would try to have another request on the January 17 agenda.
Chairman Tice said the severity of the situation was understood, and a special
meeting would be called, if necessary, to aid the Board of Elections.
Commissioner Robertson asked for the commissioners to be informed of any
new developments between now and the January 17 meeting.
ADJOURNMENT: Following a brief review of the other agenda matters by
the staff, Chairman Tice at 5:50 p.m. adjourned the briefing session.
Approval:
2
Clerk to the Board