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The Weekly Report showcases the activities and accomplishments of the many Departments

within Rutherford County Government. Click on the directory lists, headings and text in blue to be linked to more information.

Department Directory

Agriculture/Cooperative Extension

Airport

Board of Elections

Building Inspections

County Manager

County Commissioners

Economic Development

Emergency Medical Services

Fire Marshal

Finance

Human Resources

Information Technology

Library

Public Works and Planning

Register of Deeds

Revenue

Senior Center

Social Services

Soil and Water

Solid Waste

Transit

Tourism Development Authority

Veteran Services

Weekly Report

Highlight of Departmental Activities

May 7, 2018

Animal Control

Rutherford County Animal Control Monthly Report for April 2018

Report prepared by Kathy Haulk

Dogs /puppies picked up or surrendered to shelter

114

Cats /kittens picked up or surrendered to shelter

54

Wildlife/other picked up or surrendered to shelter

11

Total number of animals picked up or surrendered

179

Total number of Dogs/Cats ADOPTED from the shel-ter this month

26

Total number of Dogs/Cats returned to owners this month

20

Total number of Dogs/Cats rescued by groups this month

123

Calls completed this month

353

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Board of Elections

911 Communications Center

Call Summary Rutherford County Communications

240 N. Washington Street Rutherfordton, NC 28139

Report Date: 04/22/2018 to 04/28/2018

Total 911 Calls

Total Admin Calls

Total Calls

842

1,934

2,776

Director and staff have been busy this week with: • One-Stop Early voting at two locations, our office and

Rutherfordton. This will end Saturday at 1:00 p.m. • Preparing laptops and printers for polling places • Webinar with the State • A Board meeting was held • Final preparations for Election Day Polls are open Election Day from 6:30 am until 7:30 pm. If you are not sure where you vote, you can find that infor-mation at: https://vt.ncsbe.gov/PPLkup/ Pictured right: Roland Hunt is a first-time seventeen-year-old voter at the Board of Elections Office. Seventeen-year-olds are allowed to vote in the Primary if they will be 18 by the General Election Day.

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Congratulations to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office 911 Communication Center for receiving a deficiency free survey from the North Carolina 911 Board Review Committee on May 3, 2018. Each Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) 911 Center must be in compliance with the State of North Caroli-na Administrative Code which provides rules and regulations for State agencies and committees. This was the first review for Rutherford County 911. “We have been preparing for this visit for several months,” states Lt. Dotson. "We are extremely proud of this accomplishment". The 911 Center in Rutherford County serves the Sheriff’s Office, four Police Departments, Rutherford County EMS, Hickory Nut Gorge, and Rutherford County Rescue, along with each of our municipal and volunteer Fire Departments throughout Rutherford County. OUR MISSION: To continue to strive in the effort to lessen the time required for persons within Ruther-ford County to request and receive emergency aid and to provide the most efficient and effective delivery of Public Safety to save lives, protect property, and quickly apprehend criminals while, at all times, being cautious for the safety of our responding units. Lt. Dotson mentioned that this survey consisted of 94 questions and requirement of much documentation. This is an amazing accomplishment for the county’s Communication Center, and we extend our heartfelt appreciation to the Communication Center staff for their incredible reliability and selfless service.

911 Communications Center continued from page 2

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County Manager and Commissioners

Listed are several events, meetings, and activities in which the County Manager, Commissioners and staff were involved with the following individuals, departments and businesses: • Planning and Projects • Rails to Trails • Farmer’s Market meeting • Airport • Budget preparation • Finance Department • County Attorney • Solid Waste • Opioid Forum • TCC • Agenda review for upcoming County Commissioners’ meeting • Community Health Council • McGill and Associates • JCPC board meeting • Pictometry training • Mayfest Car Show - Rutherfordton (See pictures on pages 5-6 from Pick It Up RoCo event.) Other activities and events this week included Board of Education meeting, Ellenboro and Rutherfordton Town Council meetings, meetings with citizens, numerous calls, interoffice meetings, conference calls, public relations, advising, and preparation for various responsibilities.

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Report from Committee Coordinator, Jenna Bailey: I am happy to report our sponsors, collectors, team leads, and recycle bot participants’ totals for the Clean Up. Thank you to our 35 Teams and individuals that partici-pated this Earth Day weekend! • Sponsors of the event were: Tourism Development Authority of Rutherford County (title sponsor), Town of Rutherfordton, George & Marian Moyer, Sue Freeder, Fran-cisca Coreas, Barley's of Spindale, Rutherford County Manager, Steve Garrison and the Town of Ruth. • Thank you to Walmart, Ingles, Big Lots and Food Lion of Ruther-fordton for donating cases of water and snacks. • Hard-working committee mem-bers: Heather Meech, Shelley Roberts, Beau Lunceford, Mary Anne Pirro, Grant Bailey and Mary Grace Washburn

County Manager and Commissioners continued from page 4

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County Manager and Commissioners continued from pages 4-5

Chelsea Rush was wonderful help getting the Recycle Bot program out to all Rutherford County Elemen-tary Schools. We are excited to report we had over 60 entries from Forrest Hunt, Cliffside and Ruther-fordton Elementary. They toured the County for weeks leading up to the event, and were judged during the supplies pick up by dozens of people. All participates will receive a certificate & recycled seed/paper pack-et. Winners receive gardening supplies and a marigold to plant. The 12 winners were displayed and recog-nized last week at the Shindig and are on display at Rutherford Regional Hospital for the coming week to celebrate their efforts. Winners in the six categories are: 1. BEST USE OF PAINT • MOBY by Evan Hooper, kindergarten at Forrest Hunt • TIN MAN by Keyanah Moore from Forrest Hunt 2. BEST USE OF TAPE • FRED by Jeffrey Henderson from Forrest Hunt • CINDY by Lexie Hill from Forrest Hunt 3. BEST STORY • TIFFANY by Destiny, Travis, Trinity & Josh from

Cliffside • BILLY THE UGLY PIGLING by Mason James, 4th grade at Cliffside 4. MOST ORGINAL • RATCHEL by Alexia, Vionica and McKiah from Cliff-

side • ALLIE by Mayson McBrayer from Cliffside 5. MOST UNUSUAL • ROGER ROCKET by the 4th & 5th grade robotics team at Rutherfordton • CAM NOOTAN the coconut by Aden Duncan, 3rd grade at Cliffside 6. FAN FAVORITE • BEBE the bumble bee recycler by Gracie Wood, 3rd grade at Cliffside • SAM THE ROBOT by MacKenzie Teague, 1st grade at Forrest Hunt NEXT CLEAN UP: SATURDAY, AUGUST 4TH, 2018 — Send private message to facebook @RoCoPickUp if you are interested in: 1.Selecting clean up areas that are highly traveled by visitors, 2. being a team leader, 3. Would like to collect that day. GOALS We set a target of 200 people serving 1 hour and hopefully collecting 4 tons of trash. We had (as of now - people still reporting - number can only go up!) 282 people collecting 289 bags of trash plus furniture, TV's, computers, tires, industrial waste, a sword and more. If you estimate the weigh to be the low end of a household bag of trash at 15lbs - we collected 14,450lbs or over 7 TONS of trash! We awarded 3 teams and 1 individual for their accomplishments: • LARGEST GROUP — Rutherford Life Services with 20 people • MOST AREA COVERED — Caroleen United Methodist Church, team leader Phil Miner ser-

viced their road with 2 groups, a crew chief (in a gator) and a truck aiding with traffic in Caroleen. They collected 27 bags with 14 adults and children along Alt 221 & Boss Moore Rd from Caroleen to Ellenboro/Henrietta Rd

• MOST COLLECTED — Team Rutherford, team leader Steve Garrison collected on Old Stonecut-ter Rd within 50 yards with 8 people. They collected 26 bags, a living room set and 3 tires.

• BIGGEST SUPPORTER — Alma Resendiz was responsible for forming 4 teams and handing out over 250 flyers and a dozen posters

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Human Resources

Fire Marshal/Emergency Management

Finance Department

The Finance Office processed accounts payable. Several interdepartmental and budget meetings were at-tended by director and staff.

The HR Director and staff: • held meetings to discuss personnel issues, exit interviews, and retirements. • attended the monthly JCPC meeting. • continues to work on upcoming events. • REMINDERS: County Blood Drive is May 9th (slots still available) Wellness Fair is May 17th.

Fire Marshal and staff: • conducted one origin and cause fire investigation. • performed maintenance on equipment. • assisted several fire departments with grant application for staffing. • attended various meetings.

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Human Resources continued from page 7

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Information Technology

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Library

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Public Works and Planning

RUTHERFORD COUNTY ACCEPTING 2018-2019 SUBGRANT APPLICATIONS

Rutherford County is now accepting applications for North Carolina Arts Council Grassroots Arts Program subgrants through June 30, 2018. Applica-tion forms and grant guidelines are available on the Rutherford County web-site at https://www.rutherfordcountync.gov/departments/finance/grassroots_grant.php or may be picked up at the Rutherford County Admin-istration Building Monday – Friday between 8:30 am – 5:00 pm. Applica-tions must be received no later than 5:00 pm, June 30, 2018.

Since 1977, the North Carolina Arts Council’s Grassroots Arts Program has provided North Carolina citizens access to quality arts experiences. Using a per capita based formula, the program provides funding for the arts in all 100 counties of the state through partnerships with local arts councils. Ruth-erford County serves as the North Carolina Arts Council’s partner in award-ing subgrants to local organizations for arts programs in Rutherford County. Applications are available for non-profit organizations whose purpose is to promote and develop diverse cultural arts programming in Rutherford Coun-ty. Funding priority is given to qualified arts organizations (theaters, galler-ies, choral societies, festivals), arts in education programs conducted by qualified artists, and other community organizations that provide arts pro-grams in the county. Grassroots funds are not generally awarded to arts or-ganizations that receive funding through the North Carolina Arts Council’s State Arts Resources. Projects must occur between July 1, 2018 – May 31, 2019. Grant applications are evaluated and recommended by a diverse panel of community members. Awards are announced in August each year. For ques-tions or more information, contact Aubrey Clay at 828-287-6052 / email: aubrey.clay@rutherfordcountync.gov.

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Register of Deeds

The Register of Deeds office works with the public everyday and continues to give prompt, courteous and accurate service.

Transaction Group

Totals

Certified Vital Records

84

Marriage Licenses

11

Recorded Deeds

76

Recorded Deeds of Trust

43

Recorded Certificates of Satisfaction

57

Recorded Various Other Documents

39

Oath Given to Notary Publics

6

Recorded Plats/Surveys

2

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Register of Deeds continued from page 12

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Revenue Department

Customer Service Totals

Phone Calls 417

Customer Service Assistance 214

Information/Data Requests 4

Website Hits 3,980

County Growth Indicators

Building Permits Reviewed 152

Deeds Reviewed 73

Collections Progress

Deeds Certified 27

Total Taxes Collected $330,803.41

• All staff is busy working to get all field work, data entry and any other cleanup in preparation for 2018 billing coming up soon. Any changes will now be effective for 2019.

• Collections is working on all delinquent taxes trying to locate taxpayers and get old bills resolved. Do not forget that each month more interest will be added until taxes are satisfied.

• Collections had 54 garnishments with a total of $15,748.69, and 35 bank attachments with a total of $74,967.12 processed this week.

• Delinquent taxes will be advertised in the local paper in a couple weeks. Please continue to pay on back tax bills so not to incur additional interest.

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Senior Center May is Older American’s Month and this year’s theme is “Engage at Every Age.” Barbara and Crystal have a full calendar of fun activities, special speakers, ice cream, popcorn, and trips planned throughout the month. Our 2018 Senior Games wrapped up with the Closing Ceremony and Athletic Awards this week. Even though rain forced us to reschedule several events, the seniors rallied and had a fantastic time competing in all the athletic events throughout this past month. Below and on page 16 are pictures of some of the events. The Director attended the Rutherford Community Health Council monthly meeting this week at Rutherford Regional.

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Senior Center continued from page 15

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Senior Center continued from pages 15-16

The Senior Center was elated to recently receive a grant from Rutherford County Endowment of the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina. The grant was for $9,000 to help sup-port the Home Delivered Meals Program. The Rutherford County Endowment is an affiliate of The Commu-nity Foundation of Western North Carolina, a nonprofit serving eighteen counties of Western NC that in-spires a philanthropy and mobilizes resources to enrich lives and communities in Western NC. The Foun-dation is a permanent regional resource that facilitated $18 million in charitable giving last year. More in-formation can be found at www.cfwnc.org

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Sheriff’s Office

Mark your calendars for our 6th annual Relay for Life Shooting Tournament on Saturday, May 19th. We are in need of more volunteers. Please let us know if you can help any part of the event 9 am to 1 pm. This event is our biggest fundraiser and lots of fun too! DESSERT DONATIONS ARE NEEDED! If you will be there to help you can bring desserts with you; otherwise, drop off at the Finance Office on Friday, May 18th. Brownies, cookies, anything easy to package is appreciated, and if you can wrap or bag them prior to dropping them off, that would be great! Thanks in advance for your help! Contact Jeanette Bosgra, 828.287.6211, for further information. County Employees Relay for Life Team

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Soil & Water

Please keep Missy York (Soil and Water) in your prayers during the pass-ing of her grandmother, Ms. Faith Adams.

The District Administration and Education Specialist: • worked on Farmland Agenda and meeting folders. • worked on Farmland brochure and program update paperwork. • worked on Education lessons and information for Enviroscape water quality classroom visit. • presented an 8th Grade Enviroscape lesson. The Resource Conservation Administrator spent the week: • working with Second Broad Watershed projects. • in the field with NCDA agronomist. • attended meeting with Foothills Conservancy .

The Daily Courier (Friday, May 4th edition) features our very own Brandon Higgins and family.

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Solid Waste

Customers served

454

Loads hauled from Centers

63

MSW loads to Lenoir

39

Recycling loads to Conover

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Tire customers

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Director James Kilgo: • had DOC inspection. • worked on budget and reports. • met with Human Resources. Office staff was busy taking care of customers, running reports and helping where needed. The staff at the transfer station has been busy processing MSW with extra trash that has been coming in, recycling tonnages, stacking and wrapping electronics, and picking up windblown trash. Shop staff continues to perform maintenance on equipment and vehicles. C&D staff have been busy processing C&D tonnages coming in while hauling dirt for daily cover. The airport staff continue the grass and grounds maintenance. Please continue to recycle.

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Tourism Development Authority

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Tourism Development Authority continued from page 21

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Tourism Development Authority continued from pages 21-22

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Tourism Development Authority continued from pages 21-23

Mayfest, Rutherfordton is listed in the May edition of Our State Magazine calendar section. It is always great to share mention of our County!

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Transportation Services

EMS: Please join EMS in welcoming Chris Somerset to EMS as a new full-time EMT-P and Sarah Hollingsworth as a new EMT part-time employee. Director Giles and Operations Manager Baynard attended the monthly EMRT meeting. Director Giles is also working with the Community Health Council as they apply for a DHHS grant focusing on the opioid crisis. This week call volume is as follows: Transit: Transit will be receiving five new Ford Transit vans to replace five older vans that are being retired. Transit staff held their monthly staff meeting and discussed the ways to encourage to take better advantage of the services that we offer. Staff has been advertising more actively on social media to try and reach citizens that may not be aware of our offered services. Staff also discussed briefly the ongoing discussion among State Leaders of a six-region Managed Healthcare system providing additional transportation opportunities to more citizens who may not qualify for Transit services under current requirements. Operations Manager attended the Pictometry training to learn how to use the new EagleView ConnectExplorer application. A concrete contractor has begun work on pad for the bus shelter that will be placed here at Transit. Director submitted third quarter OPSTAT report to NCDOT.

TYPE

CURRENT WEEK

Emergency Calls

161

Non-Emergency Calls

22

TYPE

CURRENT

WEEK

WEEKLY AVG

Total Miles

8,601

9,182

Local Trips

1,209

1,127

Out of County Trips

92

88

Unduplicated Passen-gers

200

214

Total Revenue

$17,815

$19,976

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May 12, 2018 Summey Park (FC-Dunbar track)

9:00 -10:00 (More scheduled walks will continue throughout 2018-2019.)

We will move our walks to the Rail Trail as soon as it is available. We appreciate the Town of Forest City providing Summey Park as a perfectly nice back up venue in the meantime. We invite you to join us on the walks. No pre-registration is required. We would love to see your smiling faces each month as we and our local physicians work to make Rutherford County a healthier place to live!

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Rutherford County Employees Relay for Life Plant Sale Includes spring hanging baskets and flat sale.

ORDER Deadline: Friday, 5.4.18

Please email me your order as soon as possible so plants can be reserved. Pay-ment can be made at pick up on Friday, May 11th which is pay day. This is also just in time for Mother’s Day! Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you again for your support as always, Jeanette Bosgra jeanette.bosgra@rutherfordcountync.gov (B) (828) 287-6211 (F) (828) 287-6210

10” hanging baskets $14 each

Million Bells • Dreamsicle • Pink • Plum • Red • Trailing Blue • Trailing Magenta/Blue Mix Impatiens (Hybrid New Guinea) • Deep Purple • Magenta • Dark Salmon • Red Boston Fern Lantana • Anne Marie/Berry Blend • Chapel Hill (yellow) • Fireworks (red/yellow)

Flats (36 plants) $14 each

Begonia Marigold Impatiens

Bronze Leaf Dwarf Bonanza Flame

Mix

Gin Pink Pink

Vodka Red Red

Green Leaf White

Rose

Red

White

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Mike Rowe's "Returning the Favor" surprises The Women Roofers

We're humbled and excited to share the news that The Women Roofers have been saluted by Mike Rowe, who came to town mid-February with his production company to surprise us with his gener-osity.

View episode here

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National History Bowl Seven academic team students from Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy traveled to Washington, DC the weekend of April 27-29 for the National History Bowl and Bee. The students qualified to participate at the North Georgia Regional last fall. The team finished the Bowl with a 9-1 record and won the mid-dle bracket championship. The highlight of the day was their upset victory over Iolani High School of Hawaii, the 11th ranked team in the nation. Team members were Carter Plaster, John Kim, Pierce Robinson, Turner White, Jonathan Shauf, and Matilda Ziegler. Jonathan Shauf finished in the top fourth of the JV Bee and John Kim finished in the top third of the Varsity Bee. Middle school students competing in the high school division were Dominik Mystkowski and Matilda Ziegler. Dominik fin-ished in the top third of the US Geography Bee, and Matilda finished strong in the US History Bee. The team also enjoyed seeing some of the sights in Washington including the National Portrait Gallery, the National Archives, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, and the monuments. The team is coached by Kimberly Lloyd.

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Watch for Me NC Announces 2018 Partners RALEIGH – Seven communities will soon ben-efit from participation in Watch for Me NC, a comprehensive pedestrian and bicycle safety program aimed at reducing bicycle and pedestri-an crashes and fatalities in North Carolina. “We are excited to welcome these new commu-nity partners and their ideas as we work together to improve safety for all road users,” said Hanna Cockburn, director of the N.C. Depart-ment of Transportation Bicycle and Pedestrian Division. “The Watch for Me NC pro-gram continues to mature and now serves as a model for other cities and states across the nation.” The program leverages the strengths of law enforcement and public education to en-courage safe and secure places to walk and bike. The NCDOT selected the following new partners to join 29 returning communities across the state: • Alexander County • Clayton (Johnston County) • Fayetteville (Cumberland County) • Forest City (Rutherford County) • Franklin (Macon County) • Hendersonville (Henderson County) • Spindale (Rutherford County) The program provides training for law enforcement officers on methods for improving safety for road users in their areas. Communities will also receive technical assistance, materials, and purchased media promotion such as billboards to help raise public awareness about important pedestrian and bicycle safety issues. The UNC Highway Safety Research Center provides technical support with campaign implementation and evaluation. For more information about the program, visit watch-formenc.org. Click here to learn what past communities have done to improve safety.

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The Tryon 2018 Volunteer Portal is LIVE and available to all potential volunteers at volunteers.tryon2018.com. • Volunteer Profile information that must be completed prior to selection for

WEG, including questionnaires used in placement • Volunteer uniform packaged which can be purchased ($35USD) • Volunteer Positions for WEG Test Events • Volunteer Positions for WEG - now LIVE! Note that ALL WEG volunteers must create a profile and be assigned to their positions through this portal, regardless of and in conjunction with any prior communication to Discipline Managers, etc. A FREE housing initiative has also been launched for volunteers who re-quest lodging during their time of service. CLICK HERE to find out more.

Calling All Volunteers!

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County Commissioners County Office

Bryan A. King, Chairman Alan Toney, Vice Chairman Hazel Haynes, Clerk to Board

Michael Benfield, Eddie Holland, Greg Lovelace Richard Williams, County Attorney

Follow us online! www.rutherfordcountync.gov

County Manager Steve Garrison

Kimberly Aldridge, Weekly Report Editor 828.287.6060

Sunday 5/6: • ROC Paris Mountain State Park Hike: 8 am at Rutherford County Office Building, 289 N

Main Street, Rutherfordton. Contact ROC to RSVP. Saturday 5/12: • ROC Broad River Spring Sweep: 10 am on multiple sections of river. See Facebook Page or

contact ROC for more details. Tuesday 5/29: • ROC and Conserving Park Invasive Species Workday: 10 am -2 pm at Buffalo Creek Park,

Lake Lure. Contact ROC to RSVP. Email us at trails@rutherfordoutdoor.org or call (828) 351-3235 if you would like to sign up for any of the ROC workdays, clean-ups, or group hikes/river floats. .