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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

March 19, 2018

Everyone is eager to get back to warm weather, so good news….spring starts on Tuesday, March 20th. Enjoy the in-creasing sunlight hours, with earlier dawns and later sunsets.

Did you know that the increasing sunlight triggers ‘bird songs’?

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Board of Elections

911 Communications Center

Call Summary Rutherford County Communications

240 N. Washington Street Rutherfordton, NC 28139

Report Date: 03/04/2018 to 03/10/2018

Total 911 Calls

Total Admin Calls

Total Calls

775

2,213

2,988

Director and staff have had a busy week including the following: • State webinar on Logic and Accuracy Testing of the voting equipment. • Continued edits of the poll workers training manual. • Recruited poll workers for election day precincts. • Processed over 200 17 year-olds who are eligible to vote in the Primary since they will be 18 by the

General Election. • Director participated in a national webinar on Election Security.

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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 • County Attorney • Economic Development • Budget reviews with Depart-

ment Heads • County Commissioners' White

House Conference and Brief-ing Dinner (Commissioner Benfield and Vice Chairman Alan Toney pictured right.)

• Airport Agenda Review • WR-Martin • 401K County Employee meet-

ings • Keeping Schools Safe Forum • IPDC Board meeting • Rail-Trail Branding

Other activities and events this week

included Lake Lure Town Council meeting, meetings with citizens, nu-merous calls, interoffice meetings, con-ference calls, public relations, advising, and preparation for various responsibil-ities. Alan Toney, II (Commissioner Alan Toney’s eldest son) looking very presi-dential in DC (pictured standing to the left)!

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Fire Marshal/Emergency Management

Finance Department

Information Technology

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

Fire Marshal and staff: • attended law Enforcement In-service training. • met with County Manager and Finance to discuss FY18-19 budget requests. • performed maintenance on emergency equipment. • attended various other meetings.

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Library

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Library continued from page 5

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Library continued from pages 5-6

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Library continued from pages 5-7

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Library continued from pages 5-8

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Library continued from pages 5-9

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Public Works and Planning

Please help us welcome Pam Mooney to the Rutherford County Maintenance team!

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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

221

Marriage Licenses

11

Recorded Deeds

81

Recorded Deeds of Trust

41

Recorded Certificates of Satisfaction

37

Recorded Various Other Documents

62

Oath Given to Notary Publics

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Recorded Plats/Surveys

6

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Revenue Department

Customer Service Totals

Phone Calls 393

Customer Service Assistance 189

Website Hits—new site 4,364

County Growth Indicators

Building Permits Reviewed 1

Deeds Reviewed 27

Collections Progress

Deeds Certified-Prior Year Taxes 19

Total Taxes Collected $182,629.26

• The Revenue Director is working on budget information for the County and towns. It’s that time of the year when they must plan for the next fiscal year.

• The staff has continued working on delinquent taxes, issuing 54 wage garnishments this week, totaling $26,395.36.

• Our 2018 Board of E & R has been set and will be meeting in April and May as needed. • Don’t forget to stop by our office and take a look at the books we have for sale. We have paperbacks

for .25 and hardbacks for .50. All the monies collected will go to this year’s RELAY for LIFE event. If anyone has books they would like to donate, please contact our office at 287-6000. We have already had several tax payers donate books for this outstanding cause. Any amount we can raise will help someone in our county. Cancer has touched most every family in some way.

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Senior Center A special thank you to White Oak of Rutherford for hosting our monthly Blood Pressure Clinic, and Vaya Health for hosting a special program on Common Misused Medications. Both were well attended by senior participants. The monthly Coloring Club and Pen Pals both met this week. Also, seniors enjoyed a rousing game of chair volleyball on Thursday. (See photo below.)

The ladies enjoyed TWO trips this week – first to Hamrick’s of Gaffney and then to the hospital’s $5 Jewelry Sale. These ladies know how to shop! (Photos on page 15.) We wrapped up our week with our fifth annual Parade of Tables fundraiser. This event has grown each year in popularity and is a fun way to raise money to purchase exercise and recreational items for the Senior Center. REMINDER: we are still taking Thursday and Friday appointments to have your taxes completed by the AARP Tax-Aide Volunteers. This is a FREE service and anyone can make an appointment.

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Senior Center continued from page 14

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Soil & Water

Solid Waste

Customers served 405

Loads hauled from Centers 66

MSW loads to Lenoir 43

Recycling loads to Conover 3

Tire customers 28

Director James Kilgo: • attended 401k meeting with representative. • Had budget meeting for Solid Waste and Animal Control. • worked on budget. • worked on reports. Office staff was busy taking care of customers and doing other projects. The staff at the transfer station has been busy processing MSW and recycling tonnages. They continue to pick up windblown trash. Shop staff has been busy performing maintenance on equipment. C&D staff have been busy working with C&D and hauling dirt. The airport staff is cutting grass, weed eating, and also bush hogging. Staff at the Landfill continue servicing and working on equipment. Please continue to recycle.

The District Administration and Education Specialist worked on: • District Meeting minutes and Supervisor travel and paperwork. • Agricultural Literacy lesson and Display information. • Education display for Education Events. • Farmland Preservation Program updates. The Resource Conservation Administrator spent the week: • providing technical service for land owners. • attended department budget meeting. • worked on impaired impacted cost share grant.

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Tourism Development Authority

Visit our website for a full list of events and times at: timeofyourlifenc.com or call our Welcome Center at 828.287.6113. If you have any questions, comments or concerns please contact Taylor Hardin, Admin-istrative Assistant for the TDA at 828-287-6013 or by email at taylor.hardin@rutherfordcountync.gov. If you need to pick up travel guides for your business or you would like to be added to the newsletter dis-tribution list, please contact Project Manager Karen Tegen at 828-287-6130 or by email at kren.tegen@rutherfordcountync.gov.

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Transportation Services

EMS: This week EMS held its monthly In-service with training on preventing suicide in the work place and mass casualty incidents to include triage of patients and using other agencies to assist. EMS management team meet this week with discussion on several different topics and crew meeting will follow next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. This week call volume as follows

Transit: Transit Staff completed our 2018-19 Success Plan and Director has submitted it to NCDOT for approval. Operations Manager and Office Coordinator have conducted several job interviews for Part-Time Drivers. We have interviewed several quality applicants and will be offering jobs to several of the applicants. Trans-it held our monthly Safety Meeting and discussed several ongoing safety topics and informed the drivers that they no longer must stop at the RR Crossings that are part of the Thermal Rails to Trails system.

TYPE

CURRENT WEEK

Emergency Calls

163

Non-Emergency Calls

26

TYPE CURRENT WEEK

WEEKLY AVG

Total Miles

9,411

9,255

Local Trips

1,249

1,106

Out of County Trips

95

94

Unduplicated Passengers

226

216

Total Revenue

$19,570

$20,338

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Veteran Services

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Veteran Services continued from page 19

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Ten amazing young ladies participated in the Distinguished Young Woman of Ruther-ford County last Saturday evening, March 10, 2018, at ICC. • Congratulations to Natalie Flack, pictured third from left, (granddaughter of Ruth-

erford County veteran, Mr. Bud Byers), who was named Distinguished Young Woman of Rutherford County 2019. Other winners included:

• First Finalist - Kylie Sisk • Second Finalist - Sydney Carpenter • Third Finalist - Madison Galloway

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St. Patrick’s Day is a cultural and reli-gious celebration occurring annually on March 17. Saint Patrick (c. AD 385–461), the most commonly-recognized patron saint of Ireland, died on March 17. St Patrick is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity. "Wearing of the Green" comes from a song of the same name which laments United Irishmen supporters being persecuted for wearing green. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the color green and its association with Saint Patrick's Day grew. Saint Patrick's Day, while not a legal holiday in the United States, is none-theless widely recognized and observed throughout the country as a celebra-tion of Irish and Irish American culture.

Forget to wear green on Saturday, March 17th? Don’t be surprised if you get pinched! This is entirely an American tradition that started in the 1700s. St. Patrick revelers thought wearing green made one invisible to lepre-chauns. People began pinching those not wearing green as a reminder that leprechauns could sneak up and pinch them for not wearing green.

REMEMBER TO WEAR GREEN ON SATURDAY, MARCH 17TH!

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PICK IT UP RoCo!

Keep Rutherford County Beautiful

Friday, April 20, 2018, 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Let’s come together and stand against littering in Rutherford County, NC. Corpora-tions, clubs, city governments, civic groups, residents and youth groups come help us clean up. For more details go to: https://www.facebook.com/RoCoPickUp

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Save the date!

Operation Medicine Drop Saturday, March 24th

10 am to 2 pm at the following three locations:

Ellenboro Fire Dept. 175 Depot St.

Food Lion, Rutherfordton

169 Railroad Ave.

Ingles, Forest City 756 S. Church St.

Spring cleaning? Don’t forget your Operation Med-icine Drop is a prescription drug take-back event that allows residents to turn in their unused/expired prescription and over the counter medications. Proper disposal of unwanted medications helps pre-vent accidental poisonings, drug abuse, and ground-water contamination. Equally important-- it also helps prevent prescription drugs from falling into the wrong hands. Certain medications such as opi-oid painkillers including Oxycontin, Percocet, and Vicodin to name just a few are often abused or mis-used. If you have prescription painkillers in your home that are ‘left over” from a surgery or injury, and you’re no longer taking them per your doctor’s orders, we encourage you to please dispose of them safely at one of the take-back locations. Operation Medicine Drop can’t accept biohaz-ardous waste, needles, or radioactive chemother-apy medications.

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The Rutherford Women's League will host the “A Path to Overcoming Obstacles”, a 1.25 mile double loop run with a variety of obstacles for all ages.

Race day registration from 4:00 to 5:15 at Woodrow Jones Bldg. corner Main and Court Streets. All pro-ceeds from the obstacle course will go to support PATH and its needed renovation. Finisher medals will be given to all participants as well as prizes for the WACKIEST COSTUME, BIGGEST GROUP and CRAZIEST INDIVIDUAL. The first 200 registered participants will also receive a t-shirt at check-in! • CLICK HERE for Early Registration (post marked by April 24, 2018)- Runner $25; Runner 10 &

Under $15 • Day of Race Registration- Runner $30; Runner 10 & Under $20 • + $2 processing fee for online registrations There are a number of fun activities scheduled after the race, too, as a kickoff to MayFest week-end. Bring your family or your work family!

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National Consumer Protection Week was last week, but it is always a good time to make sure you are taking steps to avoid being the victim of frauds, scams, and un-ethical businesses practices. Here’s a refresher on some basic rules that can help protect all consumers: • Never pay up front fees to win a prize or sweepstakes or get a loan. Upfront fees are against the law in

North Carolina. • Never share personal or financial information unless you know who you are speaking with, and why

they need that information. • Don’t feel pressured if you receive threats of fines or arrest. No law enforcement or government agen-

cy, such as the IRS, will call and threaten arrest because they claim you owe money or have broken a law.

• Monitor your credit regularly. You can get a free annual credit report from each of three credit bu-

reaus and a free security freeze on your credit report at ncdoj.gov/securityfreeze. • Prepaid debit and gift cards can be a red flag. If you’re asked to buy prepaid gift or online cards to pay

for anything, it’s probably a scam. Don’t make the purchase. • Be cautious when responding to telemarketers, door-to-door sellers, and email or text pitches. Instead

of responding to unsolicited offers, decide when and where you want to go shopping. • Avoid get-rich-quick schemes. Beware of offers that sound too good to be true, or promise huge re-

wards with little or no risk. If you are contacted by a scammer, you can report it to the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division by calling 1-877-5-NO-SCAM or by filing a complaint online. Get tips on how to spot and avoid scams at ncdoj.gov. This message brought to you on behalf of North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein.

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Isothermal to participate in Gardner-Webb ROTC program SPINDALE (March 13, 2018) – Isothermal students will now have access to the Army ROTC program at Gardner-Webb University. Officials gathered Tuesday at Isothermal Community College to sign the participation agreement and memorandum of understanding. The program will allow Isothermal students to take GWU courses in the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) for two years before completing studies at Gardner-Webb and going on to the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant on active or reserve duty. The program is set to begin in the Fall 2018 semester. Officials from both schools plan to begin recruit-ing students from area high schools. Students who have been out of high school for a period of time are also eligible to apply. “As a retired colonel from the Army Reserve, it goes without saying I’m a strong advocate of ROTC,” said Dr. Frank Bonner, president of Gardner-Webb. “This is just a tremendous leadership program. It teaches leadership, quite frankly, more effectively than anything I’ve ever been aware of. It also teaches many management skills as well.” Participation in ROTC at the high school level is not required to get into this program. (READ MORE)

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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

• Tuesday 3/20: ROC Monthly Meeting: 5:30 pm at Barleys in Spindale. • Friday 3/23: ROC Rumbling Bald Hike: 5:30 pm at County Office Building, 289 N Main

Street Rutherfordton. Call of email ROC to RSVP. • Saturday 3/24: Bear Foot 5K: 8:30 am at Sunshine Elementary School. See http://

www.rutherfordoutdoor.org/running-race-series-race-details/bear-foot-5k for more infor-mation.

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.