Board discusses cleaning up feeder creeks

KENANSVILLE — The Board of County Commissioners gathered for a short meeting on Nov. 18. County Manager Bryan Miller provided several updates.

Among the highlights was an update related to an emergency meeting held earlier this year to discuss storm debris removal from the Northeast Cape Fear River and its tributaries.

“The board appropriated $1,250,000 to address the storm debris in sections one through six, as well as Muddy Creek, Rockfish Creek, and Island Creek,” said Miller, adding that the process had to be bid out.

“Our soil and water conservation team, led by Billy Ivey, has almost completed that process. Each section was bid out separately, and we have several apparent low bidders for the process. The apparent total for all six sections and the creeks was $757,275.50, which leaves approximately $493,000 for continued improvements on the river,” said Miller. He also explained that the soil and water board will meet this week to discuss and approve the bids. “After the approval, a notice to proceed will be issued, and the work can begin.”

Chairman Dexter Edwards inquired about possibly cleaning up the feeder creeks to protect the residents in those areas, especially since extra funding was available. “What steps are needed to pursue this option?” he asked. Miller suggested that the Soil and Water team assess the river and develop various scenarios.

“We’ll get it back in front of the bidders and see how we need to proceed from there,” said Miller.

Edwards pointed out that it seems to be more cost-effective to clean out the feeder channels while their equipment is on-site and that he would like for them to pursue that opportunity if they have the budget for it, adding that he would support cleaning the channels as far as they can, ideally to the top.

“I really do think it’s probably best to let our soil and water people evaluate that, how far they need to go up certain creeks, and make that determination, and then approach the apparent low bidders with the creek section,” said Miller.

“Our whole objective when we called that emergency meeting was to protect people’s property from the flood and all we could. And I think feeder creeks are as important as the river. But again, our Soil and Water people are the people that know. I don’t. So I’d be more than happy for you to get them involved and listen to their recommendation,” said Edwards.

The commissioners echoed Edwards’ idea and asked Miller to follow up when he had more details.

Another notable highlight Miller shared with the board was that James Sprunt Community College will offer a finance course focused on local government starting Dec. 13. The 10-week course will be taught by Chelsea Lanier, the county’s finance director.

“We’ll probably have local government finance professionals from several different surrounding counties attending that course,” said Miller, adding that it is an online course.

“We think much of the curriculum is really appropriate for our department heads, and we’re going to ask them to look into the course. So we’ll keep you abreast of what we come up with,” said Miller.

The course consists of 13 different modules that include discussions, quizzes, and various projects, including creating a balanced budget. Additionally, it will cover several statutes related to finance. Participants can complete the course at their own pace.

“I feel very fortunate that Chelsea is the instructor. She has a great deal of local government knowledge. She’ll be helping other counties, our department heads,” said Miller. “Moving forward, I can see this becoming a reoccurring course.”

The county manager also updated the board that as they migrate from .com to .gov they will also be moving their finance and human resources software. “We have servers that we do that with. We’ll be moving from there to a cloud-based system, which will increase our finance offices and, really, all of our departments’ ability to work remotelywhenever they need to,” Miller explained.

“We’ll be able to more easily access our financial software, and we’ll also be able to cut down on some of the redundant pieces of equipment that we now have when we have to work remotely. We’ll be able to cut out on some of the server costs and things like that as well. So you’ll probably be seeing a contract on the next consent agenda regarding that.”

In other business:

• The board held a public hearing to name a private lane at the 300 block of S NC-41 Highway in Wallace. There were no public comments. The board approved the request to name it Camacho Duarte Lane.

• The board held a public hearing to receive public comments on the proposed schedule of values for the 2025 revaluation. There were no public comments.

• County offices will be closed on Nov. 28 and Nov. 29 for Thanksgiving.

The next meeting will be on Monday, Dec. 2.