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The first goal is having the infrastructure in place to support economic development in the next 10 years. Objectives included developing inventory of available development property in county by Sept. 1, 2011.
County Manager Wayne Jenkins said the county is working on this.
Another goal looked at collaborating with surrounding counties and developing a committee to study best practices and engage community.
Jenkins said the intent of the board was to recognize issues are not just confined to Northampton County, but encompass other counties in the region. The goal is to form a committee to study issues similar to other counties such as education, unemployment, jobs and job creation, Jenkins explained. That process is still under way.
Another objective in the process of being achieved is to develop a Northampton Economic Development Resource Center to establish an economic hub for the county. Jenkins said it was a planning initiative to have the Tourism Authority, Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development housed under one roof.
“It would be a central point for someone to learn about the county and a central point to promote the county,” Jenkins said.
Another target was to make the North Carolina Center for Automotive Research (NCCAR) operational, bid, construct and complete.
Commissioner chairman Robert V. Carter said the center was operational with Phase I near completion and NCCAR is seeking resources for Phase IB.
“Phase IA is 90 percent completed,” Jenkins added. “The goal has been met.”
Godard suggested leaving it on the list since Economic Development Director Gary Brown and Chief Operating Officer Simon Cobb needed to get through Phase IA in order for NCCAR to be attractive to industry. It would take another year to get through IA and IB, he added, since IB would need an additional $12 million.
“Getting the money in hand will be the biggest challenge,” Godard said.
Jenkins said this would be a two to three year goal. Godard moved the date to 2012 to give time for funding and construction.
The objective of providing adequate police and emergency services to countywide area by Sept. 1, 2008 was not met due to lack of funding. The date was move to 2011.
This led to a discussion on defining what infrastructure means now. Jenkins said it no longer means just water and sewer. It now means access to airport, proximity to electric grid and broadband access.
Everyone decided to add the objective of providing broadband to major portions of the county by 2012.
“It sounds good,” Carter said. “We need it.”
Another goal was to market and develop Carstarphen Industrial Park with the objective of requiring the economic development director to have the park nationally certified was ongoing. Jenkins said the board has been briefed about potential user for the park.
The commissioners worked on separating the goal of ensuring that natural resources, ground water and Lake Gaston were preserved, drug use was reduced and that abandoned cars and dilapidated structures were removed. “This is a pretty broad goal,” Godard said. “You’ve got three goals in one.”
A concerted effort had been made by the county to remove abandoned cars and dilapidated structure, Jenkins said.
A few years ago, the county started as way to give county a facelift. “We started it on a voluntary basis with overwhelming support from the public,” he said.
It cost the county about $150,000 and was stopped due to funding since the county was waiving disposal fees at the landfill. “The fees were waived coming in but we were paying for it going out,” Jenkins said.
It was estimated that it would cost $1.5 million to clean up the county.
Improving the relationship between the county commissioners and school board was the another goal.
“We continue to work on this,” Carter said.
Goal five of promoting orderly and friendly development had four objectives. These include:
• Creating more friendly zoning ordinance: “We are engaged in this now with some of these amendments coming up,” Jenkins said.
• Increasing housing options and subdivision growth
• Supporting State Employees Credit Union’s efforts to build housing for teachers.
• Pursuing development of senior housing: Godard asked if there was any senior housing.
“It needs to be work on,” Commissioner Virginia Spruill said.
Godard decided to put the housing objectives under critical issues facing the county.
Commissioners felt they had achieved the sixth goal of promoting health education by promoting and encouraging participation in the annual flu clinic. “We do this every year,” Jenkins said.
Another objective was having the Health Department expand education programs on drugs, alcohol and tobacco use. Jenkins said was implemented with Human Resources receiving a grant to ensure employees receive information.
Goal seven was to ensure fiscal stability for the county. This included developing a fund balance policy setting forth 25 percent as targeted goal. This would be achieved by having putting one-half percent in the fund balance annually until the 25-percent goal is reached.
Godard asked how much progress was the county making. Currently, the fund balance is at 14 percent.
Another objective was to develop a plan to sustain the cost of living and protect benefits of employees.
Godard thought this was tough goal. In the last two years, there hasn’t been a cost of living increase for employees but the county was able to pay for 90 percent of the employee’s health insurance.
“The board was able to hold onto this,” Jenkins said. “It’s getting harder to do every year.”
Health insurance benefits cost the county $1.2 million annually. The co-pays are $15, $20 and $35 for prescriptions and there is a $500 deductible.
“The board opted for no cost of living increase but to absorb the cost of the health deductible,” Jenkins said.
Godard pointed out at some point the board would have to make a decision about the insurance.
And the final goal was to respond to new immigrants by having the Human Resource Director ensure bilingual services when recruiting in service directed departments.
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