2026-09-14 - Bimonthly Morning Discussion Session

11:14Good morning. Uh welcome to our

11:17bimonthly

11:19uh discussion session. We have three

11:22presentations today. The first one is

11:25the community survey update. Ed, Ed

11:29McNeel. Uh, second is Health and Human

11:32Services Update, Denise Price and

11:35Christa Smith. Uh, the third one is

11:38planning and development services update

11:41given to us by Chris Murphy. Uh, and we

11:44will begin, Ed, whenever you're ready.

11:49>> Good morning, Chairwoman Wizen Hunt,

11:51members of the board. The community

11:54survey was first approved in 2021. We

11:57did a another one two years after that.

12:00This one was expected in 25. I had to go

12:03back and do a new contract. We selected

12:07a different vendor and but we used the

12:10same survey tool and at the behest of

12:13this board we were asked to add a focus

12:16group to give us the opportunity to hear

12:19from people directly beyond the survey.

12:22And so what you're going to see here is

12:24you're going to see the presentation of

12:26the survey back and this will be

12:29presented by Michelle Kobayashi. She is

12:31an executive strategist with PCO. Um and

12:35so Michelle should be on your screens

12:37there. And

12:39>> she is

12:39>> I am going to

12:42share

12:45the presentation here.

12:48>> And I think she needs to share so she

12:50can control it.

12:52Michelle, can you hear that?

12:54>> I can, but I'm I'm prepared just to say

12:57next for the next slide if that works.

12:59>> Okay.

13:00>> Um, it's up to you guys.

13:01>> All right. Stand by.

13:05Can you see that?

13:07>> I can. Can everybody else?

13:10>> Sure.

13:10>> You see it? Yes, ma'am. Okay. And allow

13:13me to select the show

13:17there.

13:19Okay.

13:21Excellent. So, welcome. Thank you all

13:24for having me here today. I am Michelle

13:26Koashi, as Ed said, from uh Pulco, and I

13:29have been working since 1989 with uh

13:32local governments, city and county

13:33governments, helping them um use data to

13:36inform uh decision-m and really

13:38specializing in the use of surveys to

13:40bring residents voice into government

13:42decision-making. So, super happy to be

13:44here today and talk to you all. I want

13:46to thank uh Nicholas Delari who is my

13:48survey scientist on our firm who

13:49actually worked closely with Ed

13:51throughout the survey process. I

13:52conducted the focus groups and then

13:54because I've been working so much with

13:56the project in the last few months I'm

13:57the one giving your presentation. So um

14:00and feel free you can ask questions

14:02throughout or we can wait till the end.

14:03But anyways we will just start uh moving

14:06through the slide deck and uh just let

14:08me know if you have any questions and

14:09want to stop me. Next slide please.

14:15Can you afford it, Ed? Next slide. I

14:17>> can't see it.

14:19>> Sorry. And we also don't have full

14:21screen. I don't know if that help, but

14:22it's fine if you want to see on the

14:23side, but if you want a full screen,

14:24they might see the fonts a little bit

14:26bigger.

14:30Yes. Well, okay, we'll just be on that

14:32slide. Um, so just a little bit about

14:34PCO. You did use another survey uh

14:37vending firm in the past, but PCO um I

14:40actually helped create National Research

14:42Center in uh 1995. We were the group

14:45that actually uh pioneered local

14:47government surveys and I've been doing

14:49this and our company's been doing this

14:51for more than 30 years. Um we were

14:53reacquired by PCO which was a technology

14:56company five or six years no about eight

14:58years ago to make all the survey work

15:00more automated and more efficient. Um I

15:03lost the slide deck. I don't know if

15:04others have.

15:07>> This is survey methodology.

15:10>> Yeah, I don't see the slides anymore. Um

15:12do other people see them?

15:14They can still see them. Stand by just a

15:16moment.

15:16>> Okay, that guy. Yeah.

15:37There we go. Thank you, Ed.

15:39Okay. So, um just just so PCO and we'll

15:42talk a little bit more at PCO at the

15:44end, but again, we are a company who's

15:45been specializes in local government

15:47decision-m have tons of different tools

15:50and ways we help local governments um

15:52bring stakeholders into decision-m and

15:54make good decisions in terms of

15:56strategic planning, budgeting, uh policy

15:58decisions. So, in terms of the survey

15:59methodology, we did the survey this

16:02spring. Um we sent out invitations to

16:04about 19,000. We ended up with 1,200

16:07responses. the margin of error around

16:081,200 is plus or minus 3%. Um we

16:12actually used at r probability sample

16:15where we used addresses to um send out

16:17the postcards and then we followed up

16:19with the first 10,000 people we sent

16:20out. We also sent them mail and text. We

16:23also sent out a second wave of the 9,000

16:25postcards just because we didn't have

16:27quite enough people responding from the

16:29Winston Salem area. So we did that just

16:31to augment um the survey methods that we

16:33typically use. Um in terms of the margin

16:36of error when uh you see most of the

16:39polls for the nation they usually use

16:41sample sizes of 350 as a way to

16:43represent the nation and that really

16:45does depend on probability based

16:47sampling which we used here and

16:49statistical waiting of the data which we

16:50do. We look at who responds and what the

16:52demographic profile is of your community

16:55and we statistically weight those

16:56results. So 1 1200 gives you usually you

16:58talk about plus or - 5% precision. We

17:01have a tighter precision here which is

17:03plus or minus 3% which is nice

17:05especially when you start to compare

17:06from year to year. It's nice to have um

17:08more precision when you're trying to

17:10detect if there's a statistically

17:11significant change. Also throughout the

17:14presentation I have put little arrows

17:16when you went significantly up or down

17:17more than plus or minus 5 percentage

17:19points again with your margin of error.

17:22Um that's how we calculate that. Um, we

17:24also have a double arrow and I'll point

17:25that out. When it's more than plus or

17:27minus 10 percentage point shift from

17:282023.

17:31Next slide, please. So, let's go on to

17:32the key findings.

17:39So, number one, and so we've gone

17:41through all your uh report and also

17:44obviously you'll have access to it. So,

17:45there's much more information than I can

17:46present today because I don't want to go

17:48through a million things. But um we have

17:50our key findings and so I'm going to go

17:51through each key finding and then I'll

17:53end by talking about some comparisons to

17:54the benchmarks um district uh

17:57differences across the different areas

17:59of the county um and just follow-ups and

18:02the focus groups. So our first finding

18:04is that community life remains stable,

18:06strong um people the quality of life

18:09here is nice. Next slide please.

18:14And so, oh,

18:16I don't know why that's happening. Um,

18:19there actually should be a line chart

18:21that shows um

18:24quality of life uh in 2021 from your

18:27first survey started um maybe at 18. Let

18:30me see. I actually can pull it up on my

18:31side. Um was up dropped for 2023. It is

18:36back again on the rise. And let me see.

18:39Uh, let me look up over here just so I

18:42see I can give you the actual numbers.

18:44Um, the actual numbers are if until Ed

18:47can find it. You were at 86% in 2021.

18:50You went to 76% drop and you're back up

18:53to 79%. So uh on the right uh

18:58uh path uh but again not quite as high

19:01as you were in 2021 according to the

19:04results from your first survey. Uh it

19:07actually again you have more 80% of

19:09people say it's excellent or good. So

19:11that's nice. Next slide please.

19:15We also look at the quality of county

19:17services in the survey. So we asked

19:18about a bunch of the services provided

19:19by the county. And again you can see the

19:21percentage of people here that are

19:23saying very satisfied or satisfied. Um

19:25and so the highest scoring services are

19:27your libraries, your parks and

19:28recreation, EMS, uh 911, sheriff. So

19:32safety uh recreation libraries. Are you

19:35getting your highest scores? Lowest

19:37scores have to do with the airport, uh,

19:41K through2 education, buildings, uh,

19:43environmental assistance, and some of

19:45the tax, um, services offered by the

19:48county. And so again, you see those

19:49arrows in terms of your top rated

19:52services, the libraries, parks and

19:54recreation, EMS, you saw significant

19:56increases from the last survey

19:58iteration. Um where we see some

20:00decreases is tax services and in terms

20:03of uh yeah the tax services and then

20:06also you see the double arrow that's

20:08where you see the double arrows we see a

20:10double uh more than a 10% decline in the

20:12North Carolina cooperative extension

20:14services and if I understand correctly

20:17at least what I understand from

20:18extension services that's actually a

20:19combination of services where you do

20:21part of it but the state does as well so

20:24not sure if those ratings make sense to

20:26you but that's a more significant drop

20:27we see in the results.

20:30Next slide, please.

20:34Oh, again that chart is not showing. I'm

20:37not sure why. I can tell you on my

20:39screen um that basically we have about

20:4240% of people saying their quality of

20:44life has stayed the same, about a third

20:46saying it's getting better, and about a

20:49third saying it's getting worse. So,

20:50pretty equally divided, although 40%

20:53saying staying the same. So again, I

20:55don't I would not attribute this to

20:57what's happening in Fors County. I would

20:58attribute this more to nationally how

21:01people are, you know, concerned about

21:02their future with everything happening

21:04um in terms of not everybody saying it's

21:05on the rise and crazy high. Next slide,

21:08please.

21:11Second finding, family ties and housing

21:13options attract residents to Fors

21:15County. Next slide, please.

21:19So here are some of the items. Um, and

21:21we're asking people to check all the

21:22reasons why they choose to live in

21:24Forset County. And so you will see that

21:26um, the number one reasons are they're

21:28close to family and friends, the

21:30housing, you're close to your work and

21:31school, access to health care. Again,

21:34you can see the arrows. Um, so close to

21:37family and friends is decreased some.

21:39Um, and you see more people actually

21:41coming here because work and school. And

21:43then, um, also in terms of healthcare

21:45services, that's a drop slightly from

21:47last time. You see increases in terms of

21:49traffic. why people are moving here and

21:51also crime rates. So, and we'll talk a

21:54little bit more about crime, but that's

21:55really important um to have folks um

21:57understanding crime and safety in your

21:59community. Next slide, please.

22:05Residents emphasize safety, core needs,

22:07and clear priorities for the future.

22:09Next slide. So, we ask residents on the

22:11survey a number of questions about

22:13what's important to the quality of life

22:14here and what are their priorities for

22:16changing. And what we find in terms of

22:17quality of life, I'm sorry, back. Yeah,

22:20one more back.

22:23Yeah, one left. Yeah, perfect. We asked

22:25them how important a number of different

22:27amenities are to the quality of life in

22:30Forset County. And so again, and this

22:32was similar to uh past years, safety,

22:35low crime is one of the most important

22:37things. And I can tell you from working

22:38with cities and counties across the

22:40nation, safety uh and economy are the

22:42most important things to most residents

22:44all the time. They want to feel safe and

22:46they want to have, you know, jobs. Um,

22:48number two, healthcare access is really

22:51important. And then number three,

22:53natural open space. Number four,

22:54housing. And so the these are the same

22:56issues we found in past surveys. I would

22:59mention that natural o the natural open

23:01space and the housing are slightly

23:03improving in terms of being important.

23:05And I would say that's actually again a

23:07national trend. We're finding

23:09nationally. The housing crisis is really

23:11really um one of the hottest topics with

23:14uh local governments across the country.

23:16whether you have control over it or not,

23:18but housing and homelessness is a huge

23:20issue and natural open space. And it's

23:22not just, and we'll talk more about

23:23that, it is really important for

23:24residents to have parks and open space,

23:26but also people are becoming more um

23:29interested learning more about the

23:30natural environment in terms of uh

23:32emergency resilience. And you all living

23:34in North Carolina with the hurricanes

23:36and flooding and things such as that, I

23:37think it's much more top of the mind to

23:40residents and a lot of the local

23:41governments we work with the states. So

23:43again, issues very similar to the past,

23:45but a little bit more emphasis being

23:46placed on housing and open and uh the

23:48open space and nature, natural

23:50environment around them. Next slide,

23:52please.

23:56The next slide is we asked them what

23:58three categories do you think should

23:59receive the most emphasis from the

24:00county in the next two years? And so the

24:03highest scoring items um are the quality

24:05of K through 12 education buildings,

24:09natural disaster preparedness,

24:11communication with the public, um public

24:13health services. Now, we did not compare

24:16this directly. Um you can see in the

24:18report if you want to what we asked uh

24:20what was asked in 2023, but that's

24:21because we added a few new items. So in

24:23the past it really was more about safety

24:25and health services but because these

24:28new items on the K through2 buildings

24:30natural disaster preparedness

24:31communication those actually kind of

24:33jumped to the top of the list and so

24:35just adding in some new issues that we

24:37felt were relevant and what were coming

24:38from the discussions you were having

24:40with folks kind of brought those to our

24:42attention. So again uh those are some of

24:44the topics we see in terms of people

24:45saying this is what they'd like to see

24:46some emphasis placed on in the county.

24:49Next slide please.

24:53Parks and open spaces are widely used

24:55and highly valued. Next slide.

24:59So, we looked at uh the county parks

25:01usage and what you can see is you

25:03actually have pretty high proportion of

25:05your residents at least using some of

25:06these parks, especially Tanglewood Park.

25:08But um really nice numbers in terms of

25:10park visitation and also we see that

25:12those visitation numbers are on the rise

25:14which is great in terms of you know

25:16residents using your amenities. Uh but

25:18conversely it just means there's

25:19probably more upkeep. uh costs coming

25:22your way which relates to the next slide

25:25uh

25:27and that is the condition of the county

25:29parks. We still see you get really high

25:31ratings in terms of uh the condition you

25:34know 90s 80s but we do see significant

25:37decreases um in just residents ratings.

25:40So again, not sure. Um you already have

25:42such high ratings that these aren't

25:43concerning. But the fact that you see

25:45some double drops uh does maybe warrant

25:48some discussion about whether the

25:50condition of the parks needs uh you know

25:52more funding put towards it or if things

25:53have been cut or maybe there's been

25:54something recent in the newspaper

25:56sometimes the sensationalization of

25:57media. But again still really high

26:00ratings just we did see that's where we

26:02see some of the biggest drops in the

26:03survey ratings from 2023.

26:06Next slide please.

26:08But again satisfaction ratings with uh

26:11most part parts of the parks are pretty

26:13high in terms of uh like tang and

26:16different services but you know the

26:18tanglewood parks festival of lights

26:20fairly high highly rated your open space

26:22natural areas highly rating see

26:24maintenance overall 70% still getting

26:26good scores and all these are actually

26:28kind of coming up you see those double

26:29arrows a lot in the parks and amenities

26:32some of the lowest scoring is pickle

26:34ball courts but again that's going up

26:36and just pickle ball is crazy across the

26:38nation. So, you probably just can't give

26:40people enough of what they want. But

26:42again, we see a lot of positive trends

26:44in the parks and recreation services,

26:46which is nice to see. Next slide,

26:48please.

26:51Finding number five, libraries are a

26:53trusted and wellused community resource.

26:55Next slide.

26:58And so, we have some visitations rates

27:00here again. And I work with a lot of

27:02local governments and you know libraries

27:04are really in a place where they're

27:06trying to identif find their new

27:07identity with all the online books and

27:10you know Audible a lot of libraries are

27:12really really confused about what role

27:15they play in the community what they

27:16should do now that people are checking

27:18out you know books at the library and

27:20coming to the library and they've often

27:22been you know a community cornerstone

27:24and so with a loss of kind of community

27:26these days and people not going to the

27:27library we have a lot of discussions

27:29around what is the future of libraries.

27:32But um really nice to see your survey

27:34results and see that you still have

27:36pretty high visitation rates. Um again,

27:38a lot of people still going to the

27:40library and also really interesting to

27:42me is that you have visitation

27:44increasing. So what's happening at your

27:47library is pretty awesome and whatever

27:49you're doing, I would keep doing it

27:51because uh you we are seeing trends here

27:53that I have not seen nationally very

27:54well. Also more visitation to the

27:56website. We do see that's happening

27:57because more people are checking out

27:58books online. Uh but again nice ratings

28:01in your libraries. Next slide.

28:04And also conditions of libraries very

28:06very positive ratings 90s 80s percents

28:09and the libraries that are the lowest

28:11rating we're seeing uh you know

28:13increases except the Carver School Road

28:15building. But again very positive

28:17results related to your libraries and

28:19you know kudos to you in a time when

28:20libraries are struggling. Next slide

28:23please.

28:26So now we're looking for the

28:27opportunities for improvement in

28:28emerging priorities. Um and so we'll

28:31talk a little bit about those areas we

28:32see. Next slide please. So in terms of

28:35and you know we do this for every local

28:36government we work with. We want to tell

28:38you your strengths but we also like to

28:40look at challenges and actually really

28:41help people figure out if there are some

28:42areas where they should move. And so

28:44what we did here is pull out the

28:46services the county provides that

28:48received the lowest ratings. And so you

28:50can see um in terms of the very lowest

28:52rated things in the survey, these are

28:54the satisfaction rates are between 30

28:56and 40%. Quality of tax uh services,

28:59quality of environmental assistance, K

29:01through2 education buildings and the

29:03airport. Um well then you jump up

29:07>> just one moment, Michelle.

29:08>> Um

29:09>> yeah, sure.

29:10>> As I'm so I can understand this. So, in

29:13in how you're presenting the data,

29:15you're presenting very satisfied or

29:18satisfied. I know there's another

29:20category, not sure.

29:22>> And I'm just wondering,

29:23>> we remove we remove that. We remove that

29:25from the analysis. You can see it in the

29:27full report, what percentage, but we

29:30actually remove that when we do the

29:31percentage rating. So, you're not being

29:33if people have a don't know answer, we

29:35don't hold that against you, if that

29:36makes sense.

29:37>> Okay? because I figured there's probably

29:39a lot of people that may not know much

29:40about Seth Reynolds, which

29:43>> Okay,

29:44>> thank you.

29:44>> Yeah, so we removed that before we do

29:46this. We just do it for summary, but you

29:48can look in the report, but yes, a lot

29:49of people don't know about airports, and

29:52some people give ratings even when they

29:54don't know. I, you know, I hate to say

29:56that, but that's just the way it is. Um,

29:58so, and I could say too in these terms

30:00of these, um, your ratings have the

30:02lowest satisfaction. When there are

30:04local airports, they rarely get rated

30:06very high. people either don't know

30:08about them, they actually compare them

30:10to a international airport nearby or

30:14they're upset because that airport and I

30:16don't know if this is the case for any

30:17for where you are like there's noise

30:19from the airport. So generally we don't

30:21see local regional airports getting very

30:24high ratings so it's not surprising at

30:26all to me. Um, and also the tax scores,

30:29um, residents hate taxes. So, I don't

30:31know, you know, uh, in terms of those

30:34results, I don't find any of that

30:35shocking either. Um, again, but we do

30:38remove the don't know, um, if that makes

30:40sense. And so you can look down and see

30:42the also the ones that are the 40 to

30:4450%, you see um the taxes again you

30:47again see that drop in the North

30:48Carolina cooperative extension services

30:51code enforcement social services and

30:53then we also see some about um

30:55communication and natural disaster and I

30:57had already talked about the importance

30:59of natural disaster how it's kind of

31:00emerging in communities across the

31:02nation. So again, um, residents are

31:05starting to become more sophisticated or

31:07more interested and more concerned in

31:08terms of natural disasters, emergency

31:11communications.

31:12So, but the one thing that's important

31:14to note is you ask these same questions

31:16in 2023 and besides the two, they're

31:19about the same scores as 2023. So,

31:22there's not a lot of there was not a lot

31:24of um movement downward except we see

31:27with that North Carolina extension

31:29services.

31:30Next slide, please.

31:34And so one of the things we did focus on

31:36a little bit is we do see a number of um

31:39the areas relating to communication um

31:41falling below you know the 50% mark and

31:44so we ask about the satisfaction with

31:46county communications like the ease of

31:48getting the information your experience

31:50engaging

31:52pe you know county efforts to keep

31:53people informed people open transparent

31:56and so again I want to say to you even

31:58though we don't match these all these

31:59questions per se with our national

32:01benchmarks Um, it is hard to score well

32:05with communications with residents. They

32:07always think you're not doing enough.

32:08The other thing I want to point out and

32:09I've been talking with Ed about this and

32:11we definitely will find more talk more

32:13about this in the focus groups. Um, so

32:15just a teaser about that is I work with

32:17a lot of people where the city county

32:19differentiation is extremely difficult

32:21to communicate. And so we'll talk more

32:23about this later, but just know that it

32:25is really hard to have residents

32:27understand the difference between

32:28Winston Salem and yourself. Um, I've

32:30worked when I started my career, I

32:32worked for the city of Boulder,

32:33Colorado. There was a Boulder County

32:35that was not the same entity and we

32:36spent, you know, years trying to get

32:38people to understand the difference. Um,

32:40I've worked with many communities who

32:42still work really hard and it's just a

32:44really difficult thing to do. That said,

32:46that doesn't mean I think all local

32:48governments these days really need to do

32:50more and more to try to engage and

32:51figure out ways to be creative and

32:52engaged. And we'll talk about that, but

32:54just want you to know upfront that there

32:56is a real true difficulty uh being a

32:59county government and being

33:01differentiated from the city government

33:03nearby.

33:04>> Next slide.

33:05>> I'd like to um share since we're here.

33:07Good morning. My name is Commissioner

33:09Tanya McDaniel. Um thank you. with

33:12regards to the part of um communication

33:16and understanding city and county

33:19government. We were in a conference and

33:21Cabaris County has um an answer in my

33:25opinion um relative to the youth

33:29commission that they're using and I

33:30would hope that this commission um would

33:33be introduced into that opportunity

33:37where you have teens that would be

33:39participating in the community being

33:42active citizens while learning what the

33:45actual county government does. Um we

33:48have done a tremendously

33:50well job. Thank you Ed so very much um

33:53for joining our team. Um but I still

33:56believe that there is room and

33:58especially in a new era of um social

34:02interaction with our youth. We we're

34:05we're going to have to be become more

34:07innovative. So thank you.

34:09>> Yes, ma'am.

34:09>> I would just like to um good good

34:12morning. Um, and this is Commissioner

34:14Woodbury for the young lady that's on

34:16the call. I'm sorry I wasn't here in the

34:18beginning, so I didn't get your name,

34:20but I want to expound upon the

34:22opportunity for us to strategically

34:25communicate, especially within our

34:28school system. Um I think that um if we

34:32can start, you know, um earlier on with

34:36our citizens, then they don't grow older

34:38not knowing the difference between

34:40county and city and um some of the other

34:44um governing agencies. But I do know

34:46that um the state now through curriculum

34:50is being very intentional about making

34:52sure that um our students have lived

34:55experiences locally with um any of the

34:59governing agencies. So I think if we

35:01were to reach out to the school district

35:03to see how we can be more involved in

35:06their civics courses to bring some of

35:09our staff even including us as county

35:12commissioners to go into those

35:13classrooms to talk about what we do and

35:16how um you know they are essential to

35:20how we govern um locally. that would be

35:24a way to communicate um absolutely more

35:27directly with our younger citizens.

35:30>> Yes, ma'am. And I do think that there is

35:33I don't know if I'm speaking of the same

35:36county um that Commissioner McDaniel is,

35:39but there is a county in North Carolina

35:41that has a kind of a summer um

35:44experience for youth that the county um

35:48hire some way with some funds youth to

35:52come in and um kind of have an

35:55apprenticeship with the county to learn

35:57more um about the county. and it it

36:00seems to be, you know, worth the return

36:02on investment because in that county,

36:04they've seen those young people actually

36:07come back as employees. So, it's a great

36:11recruitment effort as relates to a model

36:14that is being used in in one of the

36:16other counties. And I'll go through my

36:18notes to try to figure out what which

36:20county that was. It may be the same one

36:22that Commissioner McDaniel is

36:23referencing.

36:24>> And this is uh Commissioner Wilson. And

36:27I also was concerned that a number of

36:30these figures were skewed, but you

36:31provided good explanation for that. I

36:33noted that our airport was on the lowest

36:36of the list of quality of service. Uh

36:39higher education only got 13%, we have

36:42six colleges in this county. I think

36:44that's unique in this state. And but I

36:46was pleased to see the pickle ball is at

36:48the bottom of that other list.

36:51[laughter]

36:53And um yeah, and the thing is I love the

36:54way you guys are thinking about um

36:56different ways because I think the ways

36:58that we've traditionally communicated we

37:00have to be more creative and in the use

37:02we kind of like to call it general

37:03citizenmies but especially working with

37:05youth. But the whole idea of getting

37:07people to know a local government system

37:09before there's a crisis before something

37:11bad happens and educating people from a

37:13young age of the differences is are

37:16really important ways to move forward.

37:18And I I love the idea that you're going

37:20to be creative in terms of figuring out

37:22ways to maybe think of ways to

37:25how to increase awareness and knowledge

37:27of the differences because even I I mean

37:29I have friends um they they cannot

37:32understand local government versus state

37:33government versus federal government,

37:35let alone city versus county. Um, and so

37:38it is a it's a real challenge for us all

37:39to educate folks and make people aware

37:42and also in this day and age to get

37:44people to work proactively on issues in

37:47their community um in a more positive

37:49nature instead of wait till you know

37:51things come to conflict. Um so these

37:54ideas and it's great a neighboring

37:55county is doing it um but figuring out

37:57ways to move forward is great and we we

37:59have more about this um in the focus

38:00groups because we did talk more about

38:02the communication. Um, I'll move on to

38:04the next slide and then we'll talk more

38:05about the communication. Um, so Ed, next

38:08slide. I have a feeling that graphic is

38:10not you can't see the pie chart, but

38:13basically after we asked people about

38:14the areas they wanted to improve in the

38:16county, we asked them if they would be

38:18um interested in a tax increase um or

38:21supportive of a tax increase if it was

38:23related to the services that needed most

38:25emphasis. And what we find is uh kind of

38:27a mixed bag. You have about 40% saying

38:29they'd be supportive. you have about

38:31almost 40% saying they're not

38:33supportive, 20% not sure. So again, you

38:35kind of have a mixed population. Um and

38:38so in terms of tax increases, we're

38:40working more and more with people um who

38:42want to put referendums on their ballots

38:44or, you know, uh put more taxes on the

38:47ballot just because local government

38:49budgets have decreased so much and the

38:51just resident expectations are so high.

38:53So, I do think this is more a generic

38:55sense of if people want tax increases,

38:58if you actually decide there are some

39:00areas you want to uh really push forward

39:02a tax increases, we do see local

39:03governments being successful in getting

39:06tax increase support, but you really

39:07have to be very specific about we're

39:09actually going to expand this rec

39:11center. We're actually going to do a

39:12policy for affordable housing and this

39:15is exactly how much it's going to cost

39:16you. You will see that the numbers can

39:18change based on how important the issue

39:20is. And then when you say tax increase

39:22is that, you know, does that cost my

39:24household $30 a month or is that costing

39:26my household $700 a month or $7,000? So

39:29again, it's a generic sentiment that's

39:31basically saying some people would be

39:33interested, some would not. And the fact

39:35that you actually have 40% um saying

39:38they would be somewhat supportive um

39:40given they don't even know what you're

39:42asking for taxes for is actually kind of

39:44a good indicator. But again, before you

39:46would make jump to the conclusion you

39:47could raise taxes, I would do a lot more

39:49work to identify the areas and be very

39:52specific on what type of taxes we're

39:54talking about. Next slide, please.

39:58So now I want to tell you a little bit.

40:00So that's kind of the, you know, summing

40:01up some of the key findings. Um, I

40:03wanted to compare your survey items that

40:05we have where we compare to our national

40:07benchmarks and we have a huge national

40:08benchmark database, the best in the

40:10country, thou hundreds and thousands

40:11representing millions of Americans. Your

40:13survey doesn't match to every question,

40:15but we were able to map some and I will

40:18show you the ones where you have the

40:19ratings um where we can compare. Next

40:21slide, please. So, uh we were able to

40:23benchmark 24 of your questions,

40:26measurements from your survey. And what

40:28we found is for most of those items, you

40:30were on par with the nation. And when I

40:31say on par with the nation, what I

40:32should say is our national data set is

40:34actually based on high performing

40:36communities because it's only based on

40:38people who are willing to ask their

40:40residents these questions. And um I we

40:42talk to communities who a are not

40:44willing to ask because a they don't want

40:46to spend the resources. But sometimes

40:47and more often the um elected officials

40:50believe that they were elected and they

40:52have the answers. So they don't really

40:54need to ask the residents or we have

40:55folks who are really fearful of hearing

40:57what the public thinks because they

40:59don't want to get a low mark. They're

41:00nervous. And so it is a best practice.

41:02Um so congratulate every community that

41:05you included that actually chooses to do

41:07this with her residents. But again, my

41:09national data set is only comparative to

41:12those folks who are also high

41:13performing. So for us, if you're even on

41:15par with the nation, this is awesome.

41:17Sorry, go back. And so you're on par

41:19with the nation in all these items we

41:21list here, which is awesome. You also

41:22are above the nation in terms of your

41:24affordable housing rating. And again,

41:26this day and age, housing is probably

41:27the hottest topic in local government.

41:30And the fact that you are scoring higher

41:32in affordable housing, even though we

41:34still know residents in your community

41:35are concerned, that's a great finding.

41:38Next slide.

41:40So there are a few areas, six areas

41:41where you fell below the nation and

41:43again those are the high performing

41:45nations but um as a place to educate

41:47children um open transparent

41:49information, customer service, animal

41:52services, public involvement and local

41:54decisions and keeping residents

41:56informed. So again we see that theme of

41:57communication again but you are a county

42:01and it is more difficult. You will see

42:02in the focus groups that you were very

42:04uh confused with Winston Salem. I would

42:07like to say those are

42:09>> I would like to say before we go to the

42:11next slide I think we probably would be

42:14remissed if we didn't indicate that some

42:17of the communication issue as we have

42:20heard from citizens is about um the

42:23timing of our meetings where possibly

42:25some of our citizens that can't come

42:28during um the times when we have our

42:31meetings may be a part of um some of

42:35some of the scoring too. But I think

42:37that um as we try to compromise and

42:41negotiate that as a board, we are I

42:43think moving in the right direction. But

42:45I did want to put that um I did want to

42:50share that with the public

42:54>> and that did come up in the focus

42:56groups.

42:59Next slide.

43:02Now we also wanted to compare the

43:03responses. We did ask the districts and

43:06compare those responses and again you

43:07can look at the report to see a full

43:09comparison but wanted to show a few

43:10summary trends. Next slide please. So

43:13first slide is um we so I'll have a

43:16couple slides to talk about it. So if we

43:18compare district A and district B um

43:20you'll see the bottom chart might be the

43:22most descriptive but on the 88 um areas

43:25we could compare you see that district A

43:2753 scored higher and then on the uh 35

43:31in district B and where we see the fine

43:33the kind of differences where they

43:35diverge. Um district A was had a more

43:38positive countywide outlook. They often

43:40more said quality of life is improving

43:42the county is moving in the right

43:44direction. Um also they were stronger in

43:46their ratings of education like public

43:48and then county systems like public

43:50health social services. Uh district B

43:52were more positive about park. They had

43:54more emphasis on parks and open space

43:56usage and they were just generally using

43:58the parks and the libraries much more

44:00so. Next slide please. be before we move

44:03forward. Um I'm one of the I'm one of

44:06the district A representatives and

44:08>> this is good to see although I know that

44:11there is um still room for improvement

44:13but it's good to know. And then I'll

44:15just piggyback a little bit relative to

44:18where um I did not see the Highland

44:21Avenue Park listed um and also um near

44:26our libraries the Carver school road.

44:29So, I just want this board in our

44:31budgeting and in our thoughts um and

44:33when we do the listening sessions and um

44:36the focus groups to remember that we

44:39need to continue to place emphasis on

44:42the the uh residents in district A um as

44:46well as the county as whole. Thank you.

44:50>> Just clarification on Highland Avenue

44:52Park. It hadn't been open like for a

44:54full year yet in order to add it.

44:56>> I was wondering

44:57>> add it to the survey, but it will be on

44:59the on the next one. Yes, ma'am.

45:01>> Fair enough.

45:02>> Thank you.

45:06>> Okay, next slide, please. Um, so here's

45:10another district A is more positive

45:11about direction, opportunity, and county

45:12engagement. So, we're getting just a

45:14little more details. The quality of life

45:16improving place to educate children and

45:18their experience engaging with the

45:20county. you get higher ratings in

45:21district A. Um, also public health

45:23services, courthouse condition, place to

45:25retire, and again we're just calling out

45:27the differences that are statistically

45:28significant. Um, then the next slide is

45:30going to be where county B gave higher

45:32ratings, open space, Tanglewood Park,

45:35active recreation, the libraries, um,

45:38the county website. So, you see some of

45:40these differences um, just so you can

45:42compare. And you know, we just talk

45:43about where um if you need to have

45:45awareness campaigns or if you need to

45:47actually devote more resources if

45:48there's a funding issue. Um that's when

45:51these results come into a play. Um uh in

45:54terms of uh moving forward,

45:56>> I do have a quick question before you go

45:58to the next slide as it relates to

46:00>> do you all um

46:04can you all share what were the zip

46:07codes in district A? And the reason why

46:09I say that is because unfortunately most

46:12of the lowest performing schools not

46:14only in our county but even in our state

46:17exist in district A. So I would be

46:20interested to know kind of how district

46:24A um was this you know highly satisfied

46:28with education and and I mean you can

46:31share that with us on the back end but

46:33that sort of perplexes me to be honest.

46:37We will have the report that breaks

46:39every single question. The one thing,

46:41these are perceptions. So it may not be

46:42just because you live in that area. You

46:44may not be rating your schools. You

46:45might be, you know, you're listening to

46:47the news about the county. You may be

46:49young and don't even have kids yet. So,

46:50you know, these ratings are perceptions.

46:53It may not be you have a kid in school

46:54district A and B. So, just keep that in

46:57mind. But also, in terms of how we drew

46:59up the boundary map, we did work with

47:01you to get the zip codes. And I know we

47:03can share that back with you in the

47:04methods, but we you guys helped us

47:06decide what the zip codes were included.

47:08But again, I wouldn't take that to mean

47:09I'm a parent in A, I'm a parent in B,

47:11and I think the school's better or

47:12worse. I it's it could be older adults,

47:14it could be young adults, and and you

47:16know, if you have I what I understand A

47:18would have probably younger adults. And

47:20so those folks may exper, you know, they

47:22may not have as much experience in the

47:24school system or they may have a lot of

47:25young families, but if you have a lot of

47:26singles, my experience is most people

47:29between the ages of 18, 25, 18, 30, they

47:32don't really understand what's happening

47:33in the school districts unless they see

47:35the headline about school funding or

47:37things like that, right? So just take

47:38that into account when you're looking at

47:40the ratings.

47:42Next slide, please.

47:45And so here's just a summary of the

47:46findings that I already went over. your

47:48qual quality of community life remains

47:50strong. Your quality of life is stable.

47:52Family ties and housings really attract

47:55people to your county. Um your residents

47:57emphasize safety um and clear

47:59priorities. Parks and open space really

48:02highly valued and used. Library

48:04libraries are trusted and a great

48:06resource. And then the opportunities

48:08improvement, they talk, you know, we

48:10talked a little bit about taxes in some

48:12of those areas, but again that's just

48:13something people dislike no matter how

48:16well you do taxes. Um [clears throat]

48:17but really talk about maybe um thinking

48:20through ways to communicate and be

48:21transparent and kind of find

48:23opportunities for public uh engagement

48:26with the county government is some of

48:27the recommendations that come out from

48:29our report. Next slide please. So then I

48:32want to talk a little bit about the

48:33focus groups and then I'll turn it back

48:34to discussion with you all. So we did

48:37focus groups afterwards. conducted two

48:39focus groups with and what we did was

48:40recruit residents who already

48:42participated from the survey to ask them

48:44if they would pay you know come and join

48:46with us a deeper discussion and we

48:49wanted we decided to focus it because

48:51these findings kind of related to

48:52communication and engagement we kind of

48:54focus we did um make the focus groups

48:57around these themes to dig deeper so we

48:59held them in August we had two focus

49:01groups we ended up recruiting 17 and 10

49:04attended that's about typical

49:06unfortunately people say they're going

49:07to come and they weren't paid But they

49:08still, you know, people just don't show

49:09up as well. But again, we expect about

49:1150% response rate. Got a little bit

49:13higher. And so we had online discussions

49:15with two groups of residents. We held

49:16one in the evening and one in the

49:18daytime just to vary um in terms of

49:20people's schedules. Next slide, please.

49:24And so what we found is um the first

49:26questions we kind of opened up with just

49:28about like what what's best about living

49:30here and what would you change? Um and

49:32so kind of just general questions. is

49:34kind of an icebreaker we use on focus

49:35groups, but also you really want to get

49:37to what are some of the things that are

49:38really going on in people's minds. And

49:40what they found in terms of what they

49:42really like about the county is, you

49:43know, we kind of heard a number of

49:44comments about the best of both worlds.

49:46It's being like feeling like a small

49:49city or small community but having the

49:51amenities of a big city. We heard that

49:52over and over. Um distinctive assets,

49:54the parks, arts and culture,

49:56neighborhoods, and the educational

49:57institutions. People kept bringing up

49:59that is what really uh the county has to

50:01offer. And then also they really said it

50:03had a place worth staying. They love the

50:06small town friendliness. Again, big city

50:08convenience, but they just really love

50:09that mix of how you guys are really

50:11providing a place that feels small and

50:14friendly. Um, at the same time they have

50:16amenities. In terms of the priorities,

50:18um, they started to talk they were

50:19talking about housing affordability and

50:21path to home ownership. Even though you

50:23do score higher than the nation in terms

50:25of housing affordability, um, the nation

50:27is a very poor goal. We have so many

50:30communities right now where people are

50:32struggling with um homelessness, rent

50:34burden, you know, paying more than 35%

50:36of your uh income on rent. And a number

50:39of residents have brought up the fact

50:40that uh it has been challenging and

50:42especially those who maybe have children

50:44going up and trying to get houses and

50:46how affordability is changing and

50:48increasing pretty dramatically. So those

50:50concerns came up. um issues around

50:52school support had a number of people

50:54talking about the school funding issues

50:56and um maybe a shooting in the school

50:58and just some safety, but in general

51:00just making sure that the school

51:01finances and safety were in order. Um

51:03emergency preparedness, which I talked

51:05about already, but natural disasters,

51:08those types of things and people had

51:09talked about the boiled water um

51:11incident that had happened. But again,

51:12being able to um have be prepared and be

51:16able to communicate with folks. um

51:18transportation. We did hear people talk

51:20about the roads and the connectivity and

51:22some congestion. And then um some folks

51:24were concerned really about job

51:26creation, downtown revitalization, again

51:28more towards Winston Salem, but how

51:30we're bringing good jobs and making sure

51:32we have the right uh economy and jobs

51:34moving forward. So that's the general

51:35trends we found in terms of what's

51:37working well and what are the bigger

51:38broader challenges. And again, we didn't

51:40aim this specifically to the county of

51:43Forsith and what they should do. It's

51:44just what about living in Forset County?

51:47um you know affects you. Next slide

51:50please.

51:52Um so the core challenge we actually

51:54found really was because we had asked

51:56then a number of questions about do you

51:57understand the difference between the

51:59city and the county and how the school

52:00district and county work together and

52:02what we generally found is people were

52:04extremely confused. Um even people we

52:06had I think two of the people in the

52:08focus groups were ex county employees

52:10and what I found out later they may have

52:12been misinformed at least one of them on

52:14some of the things happening within the

52:15county. So again, people were tended to

52:18be very interested in what you all are

52:20doing, but they were confusing

52:21constantly um what Winston Salem does,

52:24what you do, and then also just didn't

52:26know um when we talked about um the

52:29social media, the websites, all those

52:31things. Many of the folks were

52:32interested, but again didn't know how to

52:34get on, how to find them. So people were

52:36asking me throughout the focus groups,

52:37can you send us the information about

52:39how to join and sign up? And so I had Ed

52:41send me the information, and then I had

52:43people thanking me in email saying,

52:44signed up right away. So again, it's not

52:47that people don't care. Um, it's just

52:49that they actually are just confused

52:51about where to go and again confusing

52:53you quite constantly with the city of

52:55Winston Salem.

52:57>> Next slide, please.

52:59>> And um, again, and then we asked them

53:01kind of what kind of communication you

53:03want, like if the, you know, what kind

53:05of count information are you looking for

53:06with the county? And again, this isn't

53:08saying it's not what you don't offer

53:10already, but the themes came out is real

53:13concern over making sure they get urgent

53:14indications. So, are they getting the

53:16text alerts when they had the boil water

53:18issue? If things happen or if there's an

53:19active shooting, they want to make sure

53:21that they actually get information when

53:23there's something that's an emergency.

53:24Um, in terms of everyday information,

53:27they're interested, but they want short,

53:28more frequent updates, not, you know,

53:30clear headlines. They, you know, would

53:31reference things where you get to click

53:32on the one thing if you want to read

53:33more, but just real brief summaries. Um

53:36there was quite a bit of discussion

53:38about who likes social media versus who

53:39likes printed newsletters versus who

53:41likes a news newspaper versus who likes

53:43radio but kind of the agreement is we

53:46need to figure out ways to communicate

53:47with everyone which there is a cost to

53:49that obviously and then uh the

53:51accessibility and one commissioner had

53:53talked about um timing of the meetings

53:54they were confusing you I think

53:56sometimes with Winston Salem but um

53:59talking about when the meetings are held

54:00and if they're the time of day people

54:02can participate and also talking about

54:04where these meetings are held and if

54:05there's parking rates and if it's

54:07difficult to get to and figure out ways

54:09to make it where you meet people more

54:10where they're at or making it more

54:12accessible. So those are some of the

54:13kinds that came up and next slide

54:18and then we put you know some notes in

54:20just in our report just about um you

54:23know some next steps is to promote what

54:25all already exists if the critical alert

54:28system specifically making sure people

54:29have signed up figuring out ways to

54:31broaden participation um and this survey

54:34and the focus groups are a great way to

54:36already start engaging folks but love

54:37the ideas you guys are talking about

54:38involving the youth through the schools

54:40partnering with other folks being in

54:41these citizens andmies finding different

54:43ways to actually start to connect with

54:46folks and then again reporting back

54:48visibly. One of the things we find a lot

54:49with local governments is they may

54:51listen to their residents but they're

54:52not as good at telling people how they

54:54use the information. So you get the

54:56survey and because you've used the

54:58survey, you know, maybe you'll have a

54:59press release saying this is what we

55:01found. But what we'd love to see is if

55:03you've done something differently in the

55:04next year or two years between the next

55:06survey, you say to folks because we

55:08heard from you XYZ, we are now doing

55:10something different. People love to hear

55:12that. They love to know that you asked

55:15them. Not only asked them, but you're

55:17actually doing something different. And

55:18even if the doing something different is

55:20we're going to, you know, have a launch

55:22a study on this and look into it and

55:24we're actually even if we decide we're

55:25not going to do what you all want, we'll

55:27actually be able to communicate with

55:28you. We know you're concerned. This is

55:30why we're mitigating this. This is why

55:31we're doing it this way. This is why

55:33we're going to do this other type of

55:34study. But people want to feels heard.

55:36And so again, people often forget about

55:38that closing the loop part of

55:40communication. So you can communicate

55:42all you want, but sometimes there it's

55:44not enough. you want to make sure folks

55:46know that you're actually listening. So,

55:48um that's just some uh recommendations

55:50we gave to you all. And the next slide.

55:52Um and I also just wanted to point out

55:54to you an awesome tool I at least I

55:56believe you have. One of the things we

55:58have at PCO as part of your we do the

56:00survey with you in the focus groups, but

56:02you then have a subscription with us.

56:04that you've already paid for where

56:06basically as part of the survey we ask

56:08these residents who took the survey um

56:10if they actually would like to engage

56:12with the county in the future if they

56:14have any types of surveys work whatever

56:16and you actually had 1918 people who

56:18signed up and said yeah I actually

56:19really want to engage with the county.

56:21So now we have clients we do this with

56:23all our clients um that never choose to

56:26reach out to these 918. We reached out

56:28to them to recruit for the focus group.

56:30So we pulled those focus group folks to

56:31do it. But some folks after they do the

56:33survey with us, they will actually

56:35decide to more continuously engage. So

56:37then and we will train Ed on this if he

56:40wants to after this or whoever else

56:42wants to be trained. But we have the

56:43opportunity where you can actually go on

56:45our dashboard and say you have a survey

56:47about affordable housing or short-term

56:49rentals or how you want to change

56:51Tanglewood Park or um and here's some

56:54example on the lefth hand side where

56:55people are building a new park and what

56:56amenities do you want to see fixed you

56:58know or put money towards but you have

57:01this tool that you could actually use

57:02going forward use it as often as you

57:04want and we have some communities that

57:06have 10 20,000 people on their panels

57:08where whenever the board council has an

57:10important question you send it out to

57:12the folks saying, you know, even if it's

57:14just like, we're going to um have a

57:15farmers market. Would you rather come

57:16Wednesday night or Saturday morning?

57:18What types of booths are you interested

57:20in? We have people who do a really good

57:21job using this. And I feel like it

57:23really does promote that engagement. And

57:25also within the platform, you can

57:26actually there's a feedback loop that

57:28says an outcome of what happened. So, we

57:30did the survey. We found out people want

57:31more of a splash pad versus a dog park.

57:34You tell people this is what the survey

57:36results were. This is why we're doing

57:37it. But it's a great way to kind of

57:39close the feedback loop. So, again,

57:40don't need to use this. Um it's free but

57:43just wanted to give you a heads up that

57:44you do have um this as part of your

57:46subscription and could be a good way to

57:49start working on that engagement

57:50communication gap.

57:53Next slide. So with that that's all I'm

57:55going to present but I did want to open

57:57it up for any questions answers or if

57:59you guys want to have some discussion

58:01about next steps I'm happy to be part of

58:03that as well.

58:04>> Uh thank you Michelle that has been a

58:06very thorough report and we do thank

58:09you. I'm sure there's lots of questions

58:11and we'll now open it up for questions.

58:16Commissioner Bessie.

58:22>> Thank you, Madam Chair. This is Dan

58:24Bessie. Um the atlarge representative

58:27>> for like short pieces fed in for like

58:30short pieces fed in. But then there's

58:32super some folks who really want all the

58:34details and so those folks could click

58:35and find um again and I'm most of them

58:38were not familiar like to the extent

58:40with your newsletter to be able to give

58:42me feedback on it to say if that was not

58:44as condensed as they liked but again

58:47they were just telling me ideally what

58:48they'd like to see.

58:49>> Was there any

58:50>> and again they were some people want the

58:52mailed newsletter still some people want

58:54the you know some people say their email

58:56box is all full of junk so they don't

58:58want it. I mean there's a lot of

58:59different types of opinions of what they

59:02want you to do everything and you can't

59:03but um there are people using different

59:05types of resources for sure in your

59:07community.

59:08>> Sure. Did uh from from the specific

59:11comments did you have any sense whether

59:14they were talking about um you know

59:16expecting daily updates or weekly uh um

59:20>> we didn't ask frequency straight out but

59:23I would I think they were talking

59:24>> break break and that was on television

59:27and it was on uh social media. I did see

59:30that it was on the news but what type of

59:32text messaging goes out if any?

59:36That question really speaks to um I'm

59:38going to say emergency management uh

59:41emergency management and and I can go

59:43back to a couple instances where they've

59:45used the notification system from the

59:47state. I can't rightly quickly call the

59:50name of it but it is their system is not

59:54subscriberbased.

59:56They have the ability to reach um kind

59:59of um once they kind of draw a polygon

1:00:01on a map they can notify that area. The

1:00:04notification system that we have used in

1:00:07the past has been a subscriber-based

1:00:10system. So where there are promotions

1:00:11where we say to people, if you want to

1:00:13be notified about activities in these

1:00:16different areas, sign up. And so that

1:00:20means you're relying on people saying,

1:00:22hey, I want to be notified.

1:00:24>> And uh and that means you don't get

1:00:26everyone. Yeah. Uh outside of that, um

1:00:29one of our strategies has been to do

1:00:32notification on the county's website

1:00:34that goes to all of the child pages. So

1:00:37any page on the website when the um when

1:00:40there was the water matter for city

1:00:42county utilities, we put our information

1:00:44onto that page as well as onto our

1:00:47social media pages. Um I think that's

1:00:50about all that I can offer right now

1:00:51unless do you remember anything else? We

1:00:54are in the process of implementing a

1:00:58text alert system. So, we started with

1:01:01um county employees. Some of you may

1:01:04have received that we were testing it

1:01:06and I know Miss Wizenhunt text me

1:01:08because it was a weird text. Um but we

1:01:10are in the process of um doing that for

1:01:12county employees and then rolling out to

1:01:15citizens as well for alerts. But again,

1:01:18it is going to be you have to opt in

1:01:21there. We do not have the ability to

1:01:22just capture people's cell phone numbers

1:01:25and send things out in that way in the

1:01:27way in which like a a state emergency

1:01:29management system can.

1:01:31>> Yeah. I So I in my mind I'm just

1:01:33thinking that we probably need to just

1:01:35do a reminder quarterly or however just

1:01:37to get individuals to know that there's

1:01:40an option to opt into the notification.

1:01:43>> Yes. Once we roll it out, we will. One

1:01:45of the things Ed and I even talked about

1:01:47is um utilizing more of even putting it

1:01:50in mailers. So like inserting it in

1:01:53water bills and you know v various other

1:01:55tactics of things we have at our

1:01:58disposal. Again it's not oneizefits-all

1:02:01but different people get information in

1:02:03different ways.

1:02:04>> Sure. And my question I wanted to lift

1:02:06up the ABCs of uh the data centers.

1:02:10They're here. Um, I think it's important

1:02:13for us to do more education or we're

1:02:16going to see citizens fired up and ready

1:02:18to go. Um, there we want to talk about

1:02:21the tax implication, good, bad, and

1:02:24indifferent. We should be talking about

1:02:27moratoriums and what that looks like.

1:02:29Um, how they attribute to the natural

1:02:32disasters and how it's all

1:02:34interconnected. So, I think that that's

1:02:36something that we as a board need to be

1:02:38realizing um with throughout the

1:02:40education that um we're all just kind of

1:02:44researching to get through. But I I'd

1:02:46love to see that be lifted up in this

1:02:48next couple of months.

1:02:50>> So, I think today

1:02:51>> I just put in a Sorry,

1:02:53>> I was just going to say I mean today we

1:02:54are starting the conversations on data

1:02:57center, but it's part one um at our 2

1:02:59p.m. briefing um and then we'll

1:03:01certainly continue as much as the board

1:03:03would like. Yeah, that's on our agenda

1:03:05for today.

1:03:08>> Just to talk about that PCO Engage again

1:03:10where you have that panel of residents.

1:03:11I do work with a number of communities

1:03:13where I ask a bunch of data center

1:03:14questions about what parts are important

1:03:16to them, pros and cons of data centers.

1:03:18If you want to use the PCO Engage

1:03:20platform, I'm happy to help Ed with some

1:03:22questions. If you want to go out to the

1:03:24community and start getting their

1:03:25priorities, their understanding, and I

1:03:26know how to ask these questions in very

1:03:28neutral ways. I'm also uh so just so you

1:03:32know there are and natural disaster I'm

1:03:34doing a lot of work with communities

1:03:35with questions about asking the

1:03:36residents how prepared they are and what

1:03:38if they're aware of what disasters are

1:03:40most important and what they would do.

1:03:42So again if you want to dig deeper into

1:03:43those I'm actually happy to help Ed with

1:03:46that if that's if the way you want to

1:03:47start engaging folks.

1:03:48>> Oh I would love to see that. Absolutely.

1:03:51AI is here and we use it every day. I

1:03:54don't think that people realize that,

1:03:56but um education is just important. So,

1:03:58we just have to have continue to have

1:04:00that conversation. Sounds like we're

1:04:02going to do that this afternoon. So,

1:04:03thank you,

1:04:07>> Mr. Parker.

1:04:08>> If I could if I could add on a little

1:04:10bit about utilities. So, we at

1:04:13utilities, we have invested a

1:04:15substantial amount of money in what's

1:04:17called AMI, which are the automated uh

1:04:20meters. Um, and a lot of those are

1:04:23already in place. I think u Courtney

1:04:26Driver, head of utility should be here

1:04:28at the two o'clock session so she can

1:04:30give more detail. But as part of that is

1:04:33a communications platform which should

1:04:36be coming on I think in the next few

1:04:38months. And as part of that

1:04:40communications platform,

1:04:42people who want to be engaged, they can

1:04:44select either text or email that would

1:04:46get down to the level where they would

1:04:48be able to if you've got a water leak,

1:04:50you're going to know a lot quicker than

1:04:52when your next bill comes. Now, under

1:04:55that scenario, if if all of that had

1:04:57been in place, there probably would have

1:05:00been the text and the emails and

1:05:02notifications coming out when it came to

1:05:04that water mane break. So the better we

1:05:08can do obviously, but I think there is

1:05:10some there is some things that are

1:05:12coming forward and obviously all of the

1:05:15different government agencies working

1:05:17together on this um to have those kind

1:05:20of level of uh communications on that.

1:05:23So just wanted to kind of add that to

1:05:25Commissioner McDaniel's question.

1:05:29>> Thank you so much.

1:05:30>> Oh, I just had one. Sorry. Okay,

1:05:32Chairwoman,

1:05:34>> one more question.

1:05:35>> Yes, ma'am. So, um,

1:05:38County Manager Robinson, I have, um,

1:05:41maybe two questions as it relates, one

1:05:44to the airport and then the library. So,

1:05:46one for the airports, as I mentioned to

1:05:49you previously, and I just want to put

1:05:50this on the record, a citizen went over

1:05:52to the airport and felt like it was off

1:05:55limits. And I said, "Oh, that's public

1:05:57property." So, I spoke with you about it

1:06:00and you kind of gave a very concise um

1:06:04reply as it relates to the limitations

1:06:07of um the airport for you know um legal

1:06:11reasons. And then there are some things

1:06:13that citizens should be aware of as it

1:06:15relates to you know general access. I

1:06:18know that I don't have um a an um an

1:06:21airplane that sits over there. So, I I

1:06:24don't spend much time over there myself,

1:06:26but I think some citizens, you know,

1:06:28felt like that the airport is an

1:06:31exclusive asset that they're not, you

1:06:34know, a part of or can be a part of. So,

1:06:37can you just give some feedback on that?

1:06:39>> Yes, ma'am. Thank you for the question.

1:06:40Um I had shared the citizen complaint

1:06:42with our airport director and quite

1:06:44honestly he was very disappointed to

1:06:46hear that because um they had made a lot

1:06:49of concerted efforts to make the

1:06:51facility when it was renovated welcoming

1:06:53and accessible to the public. And so the

1:06:56renovated terminal includes a public

1:06:58lounge, a balcony, a porch where

1:07:01visitors can spend time and watch

1:07:03aircraft activity. Um there's also

1:07:05historic photographs and descriptions.

1:07:07though it is open for the public to use.

1:07:10Um but there are um and so I'll say

1:07:13regarding public access, there's no rest

1:07:15general restriction on members of the

1:07:17public entering or using the designated

1:07:20public areas. However, there are

1:07:22restricted um areas including the

1:07:26aircraft ramp and taxiways and runways

1:07:29as well as spaces leased and controlled

1:07:31by airport tenants. Um, so for example,

1:07:35the pilots's lounge is leased by

1:07:37Signature Aviation. It's reserved for

1:07:40their customers only, and access to

1:07:42those areas is controlled by um the

1:07:45tenant. Um, in addition, um, individuals

1:07:49can utilize the county's conference and

1:07:51meeting rooms. Um, but they do have to

1:07:53reserve um, that space. Um, we believe

1:07:57that it possibly the confusion was

1:08:00Signature Aviation, which is one of our

1:08:02tenants, provides complimentary coffee

1:08:05and snacks for their customers and

1:08:07posted signage indicating that it's for

1:08:09their customer use only. So, it's

1:08:11possible that maybe a member of the

1:08:13public went to try to utilize that. And

1:08:15what they said was the primary reason

1:08:17they did that was because some of the

1:08:19other tenants employees were coming and

1:08:21basically just grabbing all of the

1:08:22refreshments. So, long story short,

1:08:24there is a lot of public areas in there

1:08:27and um certainly very open and welcoming

1:08:29to the public and Mark was going to talk

1:08:31with um the tenants [snorts] just to

1:08:33make sure everybody was on the same

1:08:34page.

1:08:35>> And there is a um airport board meeting

1:08:38tomorrow at 4:00 and they're welcome to

1:08:40attend that. If that doesn't do it, tell

1:08:42them I'll take them up for a spin.

1:08:44[laughter]

1:08:45>> I don't think.

1:08:47>> Okay. So my last question um is about

1:08:51the Malloord Jordan Cultural Center and

1:08:53the SL um library there. I I was happy

1:08:56to see that there is an increase in um

1:09:00visitation at that um library but it's

1:09:04still very low and I know that um we

1:09:07have talked about trying to emphasize

1:09:10the cultural component and how that

1:09:13could draw more excitement to that to

1:09:17that area. So, uh, do you know where we

1:09:19are with that?

1:09:20>> Um, I know we've had some meetings, um,

1:09:23with the community, um, as a followup to

1:09:25like the last meeting that, um, we all

1:09:28had. I think from staff's perspective,

1:09:31um, our library director is trying to

1:09:33work on a plan and they will absolutely

1:09:35involve the community. I think you and

1:09:37I, our discussion was it is called a

1:09:39heritage center, but it has never really

1:09:42been a heritage center. It's really

1:09:44functioned as a library with a few

1:09:46pieces in there. Um, and so I think the

1:09:48goal is to try to figure out how we

1:09:51really embrace and enhance the heritage

1:09:53um, center piece of it. Um, still in

1:09:57library because it is a library, but I'm

1:09:59trying to work on that. I'm looking at

1:10:00our deputy county manager to see if he

1:10:02has more of an update for me.

1:10:03>> No, I think that covers it. Yeah, I know

1:10:05after that meeting that we had, our

1:10:07library staff is

1:10:13I think we are going through kind of

1:10:14that strategic planning process and

1:10:15involving the community to figure out

1:10:16how we can more enhance the heritage

1:10:18center like the county manager

1:10:19mentioned.

1:10:22>> Again, Michelle, we thank you so much.

1:10:25Um, our next item is health and human

1:10:28services update. I mean, I'm sorry. Um,

1:10:32Chair Wizenhunt, two seconds. We also

1:10:35just wanted to share with the board our

1:10:38map forcythe team. Um I'm gonna ask

1:10:40Patrick Fab to come up. Um has started

1:10:43working on a public dashboard. So they

1:10:45got all the raw data from um PCO and um

1:10:50we're working on a public dashboard to

1:10:52show the comparisons of the previous

1:10:54years. We're just going to show real

1:10:55quick. It's still a work in progress. So

1:10:57we'll post the results of the survey and

1:10:59then we're also going to kind of work on

1:11:01this dashboard because map for is

1:11:02fantastic. So Patrick like two minutes

1:11:04just show what you all are working on.

1:11:07>> Sure. Yeah. Thank you. Good morning

1:11:08everyone. Um, so my name is Patrick F.

1:11:10I'm a business analyst in Map Forcy. So

1:11:12I'm part of our projects team that deals

1:11:14with data analysis, reporting, the

1:11:16analytics, and dashboarding as you'll

1:11:18see here. So we do have a brief overview

1:11:20here of a dashboard that we've just

1:11:22started working on after receiving some

1:11:23of the data. Uh, and this is is really

1:11:26meant to complement the community survey

1:11:28and focus group presentation that you

1:11:29just saw. So this is still in a draft

1:11:32state but hopefully developed enough to

1:11:33get a clear idea of how these tools

1:11:35could be used together to get a deep

1:11:37understanding of the survey data and the

1:11:39valuable insights to be gained. So one

1:11:42thing to keep in mind here is the

1:11:43importance of the data interpretation

1:11:46which assigns a meaning to the data

1:11:48collected. So some of the the visuals

1:11:50that you'll see here are quite similar

1:11:52to pieces from the presentation. Others

1:11:54have been intentionally designed with a

1:11:56slightly different perspective of the

1:11:58same data with the goal of providing the

1:12:00most comprehensive picture available. So

1:12:02this will help us as we identify trends

1:12:04and patterns to apply a datadriven

1:12:07decision-making process to better

1:12:09support our employees and our citizens.

1:12:13So this first page you see here is a

1:12:16more broad overview of some of the

1:12:17demographic information received in the

1:12:19survey as well as a couple qualitative

1:12:21questions such as the quality of life

1:12:24and the do you think you will live in

1:12:25forth county in 5 years. So each of

1:12:28these visuals here can be interacted

1:12:29with in a dynamic way. So you'll see as

1:12:32I click on some of these you can now see

1:12:34a subset of the data based on the filter

1:12:37that you've selected. So you can do this

1:12:39with any number of these to really dig

1:12:40down dynamically in a way that other

1:12:45visuals, other charts, other data may

1:12:46not show you quite as cleanly. Now, as I

1:12:49think Denise has seen here, you can dig

1:12:51into this for an hour or more if you

1:12:52want, but that's not really the scope of

1:12:54the presentation here. So we'll remain

1:12:56kind of brief on that, but there's a lot

1:12:58of power here. What you can slice and

1:12:59dice and and get really granular with is

1:13:02almost limitless uh to to what the data

1:13:05that we have access to.

1:13:10We have another one here. This is a bar

1:13:12chart that shows the relative percentage

1:13:14distribution of each of the visioning

1:13:16categories broken down by the rating

1:13:18level. So you'll see the very important,

1:13:21somewhat important, not important, and

1:13:23not sure. This is set up so that each of

1:13:26these bars is set to equal 100%. Which

1:13:28is a bit clear as we know that some of

1:13:30the survey years uh differ in the number

1:13:33of responses received. So this helps to

1:13:35equalize that data in a way that you can

1:13:37see more appropriately some of these

1:13:38percentages.

1:13:44We now go to more of the trending data

1:13:46here. So we can see up at the top we've

1:13:48got highest five rated categories and

1:13:50lowest five rated categories. So what we

1:13:52do here is we take the visioning

1:13:54category responses which are the items

1:13:56that you see in the bottom left. You've

1:13:58got safety, low crime, library services,

1:14:01housing, healthcare access.

1:14:03We take those with those matching rating

1:14:05responses such as the very important,

1:14:07somewhat important, not important and

1:14:09not sure. And we calculate [snorts] a

1:14:11count of all these responses that

1:14:12selected very important for the highest

1:14:14five and then not important for the

1:14:16lowest five. So by sorting this, we see

1:14:19what sees what what seems to be the the

1:14:21highest priority and the lowest priority

1:14:23based on these category questions.

1:14:26You'll see in the bottom we have a line

1:14:28chart here as well that tracks the

1:14:30trending data over this the period of of

1:14:32time that we've collected these surveys.

1:14:34So we've got absolute responses here.

1:14:36You'll see and it may be tough to see on

1:14:37the the screen. I apologize. So we have

1:14:39absolute numbers here in the black text

1:14:41and then beside that is the relative

1:14:43percentage for that given survey year.

1:14:46So that way you can see for example in

1:14:472021 for safety and low crime we had

1:14:501192 responses uh 84.9%

1:14:55saw that as very important slight dip in

1:14:582023 but then as you look at 2026

1:15:01although we had fewer total responses

1:15:04132 compared to 2021 it was actually a

1:15:07higher percentage of the total number

1:15:09for that given year. So what we've done

1:15:11here is given more of an apple apples to

1:15:13apples comparison so that you can see by

1:15:15percentage how this may vary from year

1:15:17to year.

1:15:22We have the same two pages that I just

1:15:24showed you for the visioning pieces. Now

1:15:26for the foresight county ratings as

1:15:27well. So this touches on the the pieces

1:15:30that we've touched on earlier of as a

1:15:31place to retire, live, work. Some of

1:15:33these categories you can see how those

1:15:35were rated in this bar chart.

1:15:40And then the same selection, the same

1:15:41highest five categories based on

1:15:43excellent and lowest five based on poor

1:15:46as well as another line chart for the

1:15:47different Forsat County ratings. So we

1:15:49can see as we click on some of these how

1:15:52some of these ratings change over these

1:15:54survey years.

1:15:58So this is really meant to be a

1:16:00complement to the comprehensive report

1:16:02that we've just seen. The nice thing is

1:16:05we can continue to work and refine and

1:16:07improve this. we can iterate this over

1:16:08and over and add more details, add more

1:16:10data. Really getting down to what you

1:16:12guys are wanting to see and how you want

1:16:13to see these insights visualized.

1:16:16So,

1:16:18so that's just a real highle overview.

1:16:20We just wanted to show you we're taking

1:16:22the raw data. We're trying to analyze

1:16:23it. We'll put a dashboard as well up for

1:16:26the public, but then also for you, you

1:16:28can go in and as you saw saw, it's very

1:16:30dynamic. But I mean, the team pulled

1:16:32this off in like literally a day or two.

1:16:34So, it's a work in progress. They are

1:16:36absolutely made.

1:21:56Our

1:22:11our next session is health and human

1:22:13services update. Uh Denise Price and

1:22:17Christa Smith will present our update.

1:22:21>> Good morning, commissioners. So, I'm

1:22:22going to provide a brief update on the

1:22:24local management entity managed care

1:22:26organization. I'll refer to that as the

1:22:29LME MCO as we go through. As you may

1:22:32know, LME MCOs's manage care for a

1:22:36number of plans. Probably the most

1:22:38familiar will be the tailored plans.

1:22:40That's for individuals that have um a

1:22:42prevalent mental health, substance use,

1:22:45intellectual, developmental disability,

1:22:47or traumatic brain injury need. And they

1:22:50manage the whole person care. So, it's

1:22:52physical health, um, specialized

1:22:54services, and pharmacy services for

1:22:57folks with NC Medicaid. Again, that's

1:22:59called a tailored plan. They also manage

1:23:01state funded services, which is a

1:23:03limited um, amount of money that is

1:23:06passed through from the state. And

1:23:08additionally, they coordinate for mental

1:23:10illness, substance use, ID, and TBI for

1:23:13NC Medicaid direct recipients. That's

1:23:16another plan type. Although the physical

1:23:19health services and the um care

1:23:21management are managed through community

1:23:23care of North Carolina

1:23:26currently in Foresight County, Partners

1:23:29Health Management um manages the

1:23:32services for those three plans for our

1:23:35um residents. They serve a total of 15

1:23:38communities

1:23:41and VIA Health has um a a footprint of

1:23:4632 counties in North Carolina. They have

1:23:49announced that they are going to merge

1:23:50that will be effective October the 1st

1:23:53and you can see here on this um map that

1:23:55they'll be serving 47 communities. The

1:23:58other North Carolina communities are

1:24:00served by two other LME MCOs. The green

1:24:03on the map is your Trillium Health

1:24:06Resources footprint and the pink is

1:24:09Alliance Health. So, it kind of goes up

1:24:10the the center up underneath where it

1:24:13says serving um and Meckllinburgg.

1:24:17So, a few updates regarding the planned

1:24:19merger. The new entity name is

1:24:21creatively going to be VIA VIA partners.

1:24:24So, we don't have to remember a new

1:24:25name. We just take the two and combine

1:24:27them. One of the major task for

1:24:30preparing for a merger is a readiness

1:24:32review that has been successfully

1:24:35completed. So um to our knowledge there

1:24:37is no reason to anticipate a delay in

1:24:40the merger. Provider enrollments are

1:24:43transitioning here locally. What that

1:24:45means is that our pharmacy is getting

1:24:47enrolled with VIA. If you were enrolled

1:24:49with partners but not with VIA, you are

1:24:52having to do new enrollments. One of the

1:24:54um main issues that we're always

1:24:56concerned about whenever there is a

1:24:58merger is whether or not all of our

1:24:59hospitals are enrolled and they

1:25:01currently are. So there will be no gaps

1:25:03there. We also wanted to know what's

1:25:06going to happen with employees. What

1:25:08does that look like? Are we still going

1:25:09to see the same people that we know and

1:25:11have become accustomed to here boots on

1:25:13the ground? And in fact, we will still

1:25:16see those folks. All employees that want

1:25:18to transition, we are told, will be

1:25:20given the opportunity to do so. they may

1:25:23um seek to ch achieve some future

1:25:25efficiencies through attrition.

1:25:28We do have a local transition team. This

1:25:30is a a process that's worked well for us

1:25:32in prior mergers and um disengagements.

1:25:36Just a group of stakeholders who are

1:25:38given their thoughts, opinions, having

1:25:40communications with leadership of both

1:25:42VIA and partners regarding what's

1:25:44working here, what's not working here,

1:25:46what do we want to see continue, and

1:25:48where are their opportunities.

1:25:52We will have board representation on the

1:25:54new merged in entity. Um the governing

1:25:57board commissioner Gray Wilson will

1:25:59participate and I will be a member of

1:26:01the advisory board and also a voting

1:26:03member. We are seeing NC fast beginning

1:26:06to process member reassignments that

1:26:08started September the 9th. Um with a

1:26:11communication to members, bulk mailings

1:26:13on September the 8th and the 18th and

1:26:16welcome packets going out later this

1:26:18week. I will say that in my experience

1:26:20of sitting on both sides of mergers that

1:26:23this is a time that can be confusing for

1:26:25our residents. So if you have calls,

1:26:28emails or concerns, please send folks my

1:26:31way to Michael Duncan's way. We're happy

1:26:33to help them to navigate this. And there

1:26:36is a new VIA partners website. Lots of

1:26:38information posted. You can go to either

1:26:40entities website or to the new merged

1:26:43entities um website to get the same

1:26:45information but updates as well.

1:26:49be happy to answer any questions.

1:26:52>> Questions.

1:26:54Thank you so much.

1:27:04>> Hi, good morning. I'm here to talk to

1:27:06you about some of the biggest Medicaid

1:27:08changes that we have seen since um

1:27:10Medicaid started and it's happening very

1:27:13soon.

1:27:14Um, there are four major changes I'm

1:27:17going to go over today. The first one is

1:27:19that many non US citizens, even with

1:27:22documentation status, may may no longer

1:27:26be able to have Medicaid coverage

1:27:27starting October the 1st, 2026.

1:27:31Also, most adults ages 19 through 64 who

1:27:34receive Medicaid will need to begin

1:27:37showing that they participated in work

1:27:39requirements. That does include work,

1:27:42school, volunteering, or being able to

1:27:45in order to be able to have healthc care

1:27:47coverage through Medicaid beginning at

1:27:50the beginning of the year, so January

1:27:521st, 2027.

1:27:54Also, most adults 18 19 through 64 will

1:27:58begin having to renew their Medicaid

1:28:00every six months instead of every 12

1:28:03months. And there are changes coming to

1:28:06the length of retroactive coverage for

1:28:08all people who are applying for

1:28:10Medicaid.

1:28:13So, first, the new federal rules for

1:28:16non-citizens.

1:28:17Beginning October 1st, the federal law

1:28:20will only allow the following

1:28:22non-citizens to continue to have health

1:28:24coverage through Medicaid. That includes

1:28:27lawful permanent residents, those people

1:28:29who have a green card, children up to

1:28:33age 19, and women who are pregnant or

1:28:36within 12 months postpartum after birth,

1:28:40who are lawfully residing in the United

1:28:42States but do not yet have permanent

1:28:44immigration status, people with Cuban or

1:28:47Haitian entrance status, and citizens of

1:28:50the freely associated states living in

1:28:52the United States.

1:28:55Now, people who are not going to have

1:28:57Medicaid anymore starting October the

1:28:591st may still qualify for emergency

1:29:02Medicaid if they meet both an emergency

1:29:05medical need and other eligibility

1:29:07criteria for Medicaid.

1:29:11The second change is work requirements

1:29:14for our expansion population that begins

1:29:17January the 1st and mult most adults who

1:29:21have Medicaid

1:29:24or will apply starting that date will

1:29:27have to comply with the work

1:29:29requirements. These rules apply to

1:29:32adults who are 19 through 64 who do not

1:29:35have a disability, are not pregnant or

1:29:38eligible for postpartum coverage, are

1:29:41not a parent, guardian, caretaker,

1:29:44relative or family caregiver of a

1:29:46dependent child under age 14 or a person

1:29:49with disability and do not qualify for

1:29:53another exception or exclusion.

1:29:57So, let's go through those exceptions.

1:29:59First, the exceptions are children up to

1:30:02age 19,

1:30:04people who qualify for Medicare, people

1:30:07who qualify and receive Social Security

1:30:11um supplemental social security income,

1:30:13so SSI, or Social Security disability

1:30:17insurance, SSDI,

1:30:19and people who are incarcerated in jail

1:30:22or prison at some time during the last

1:30:24three months.

1:30:27We have quite a few categories of

1:30:29exclusions as well. The first is

1:30:32medically frail. That is the definition

1:30:35for that is a person with special

1:30:37medical needs that significantly impact

1:30:39their ability to comply with the work

1:30:41and community engagement requirement.

1:30:44Kind of broad and vague. So there's some

1:30:47subcategories to that at the bottom of

1:30:48your slide in the blue box. That

1:30:51includes blind and disabled, people who

1:30:53have a diagnosed substance use disorder,

1:30:56a disabling mental disorder, serious or

1:30:59complex medical condition, or have a

1:31:02physical, intellectual, or developmental

1:31:04disability that impairs one or more of

1:31:07their activities of daily living.

1:31:10Also excluded is active participants in

1:31:13a drug or alcohol treatment and

1:31:15rehabilitation program or parents,

1:31:18guardians, caretakers, relatives, or

1:31:21family caregivers of a dependent child

1:31:24under the age of 14 or a person with a

1:31:26disability.

1:31:28We have more exclusions as well.

1:31:31Veterans with a total disability rating.

1:31:34This is 100% disabled.

1:31:37people who are in a household receiving

1:31:39Supplemental Nutrition Assistance

1:31:41Program, SNAP. In North Carolina, we

1:31:44call that FNS, food and nutrition

1:31:46services or food stamps. Um, and are not

1:31:50exempt from those work requirements.

1:31:52Those work requirements will carry over

1:31:54to the Medicaid for them. So, we will be

1:31:57able to pull from that side of the

1:31:58system. people who already meet the work

1:32:01rules for temporary assistance for needy

1:32:04families or TANIF. In North Carolina, we

1:32:07call that program the work first

1:32:09program.

1:32:10American Indians, Alaskan natives, or

1:32:13other members that are eligible for

1:32:14Indian health services,

1:32:17current and former foster youth under

1:32:19the age of 26, inmates of a public

1:32:23institution, prison or jail, and

1:32:25pregnant or eligible for postpartum

1:32:27coverage for 12 months.

1:32:31What do the work requirements look like

1:32:34to continue to have health coverage

1:32:35through Medicaid? The adults ages 19

1:32:38through 64 who do not meet an exception

1:32:40or an exclusion have to either work at a

1:32:44paid job or inind work or participate in

1:32:48a work training program. They can

1:32:50volunteer in the community. They can

1:32:53attend school at least halfime. This is

1:32:55usually six credit hours. They have to

1:32:58have a monthly income that's at least

1:33:00$580

1:33:02a month. they can include from other um

1:33:06adults in the household with them or be

1:33:09a seasonal worker whose average monthly

1:33:12income was at least $580 over the past

1:33:16six months, which is equal to the

1:33:18federal minimum wage. The activities can

1:33:21be combined to meet the hours

1:33:24requirement for that month, but they

1:33:26have to add up to 80 hours each month of

1:33:29the three months before they apply for

1:33:31Medicaid.

1:33:34I have a I have a quick question if you

1:33:36can go back please. So the volunteer

1:33:39opportunities and the work training

1:33:42programs those are programs that are

1:33:44already listed someplace approve

1:33:48community um volunteer opportunities.

1:33:51>> We have partnerships with a lot of

1:33:53organizations and can refer people so

1:33:56that they can get those hours in.

1:33:57>> So it just can't be some random

1:33:59something. I went to go pick up trash in

1:34:02my neighborhood.

1:34:04>> Right. Somebody has to oversee and

1:34:06certify that it has been done.

1:34:08>> All right. Thank you.

1:34:09>> I may find following up on that line of

1:34:12question there. Um

1:34:14I had read that there is a lot of

1:34:17confusion or u uh difficulty sometimes

1:34:21in providing evidence of uh the hours of

1:34:24work. uh if you know you're a gig worker

1:34:27um uh you have um part-time work with

1:34:32multiple uh employers um uh what kind of

1:34:36evidence do they have to amass that they

1:34:39actually worked for the 80 hours during

1:34:42the month? So, our recommendation, and

1:34:45I'll I'll get to some really good ones

1:34:46at the end for you, but is if you have

1:34:49those questions come to you, refer them

1:34:51over to me because we definitely want to

1:34:53be talking to people now about what they

1:34:56need to be doing so that they can engage

1:34:58now so that they don't lose their

1:34:59Medicaid.

1:35:01>> One of the difficulties that I'm

1:35:02concerned about is people giving up on

1:35:04the process because they don't

1:35:06understand it. So, they don't know to

1:35:07come to us with questions. They just

1:35:09say, you know, I'm not sick now.

1:35:12Hopefully I won't get sick.

1:35:14>> Right. Right. Absolutely. And and we are

1:35:16concerned about that as well, which is

1:35:18why we're not just bringing this to you

1:35:20all. We're kind of taking the show on

1:35:21the road. We are going to community

1:35:23organizations that interface with the

1:35:25same people that we do, making sure that

1:35:27they are aware of what's coming so they

1:35:29can have those conversations. We're also

1:35:31going to be doing town hall meetings and

1:35:33public sessions and doing some direct

1:35:36outreach to people in the three months

1:35:38before they come up for their

1:35:40reertification.

1:35:41>> Thank you. So, so it sounds like to me,

1:35:43so for example, if you're presenting to

1:35:45the primary care office, you would have

1:35:48someone facilitating those conversations

1:35:50with that patient.

1:35:53Yes. Okay. I see a head from Denise.

1:35:56Thank you.

1:35:57>> And the state has released a um a media

1:35:59toolkit. So, we're also getting those

1:36:02things printed and the digital

1:36:03information and we're working with

1:36:05communications department to push that

1:36:07out as much as we can.

1:36:14So the next change is Medicaid

1:36:15reertification. It's going to every six

1:36:17months. Um prior to this change, most

1:36:20people's certification periods for were

1:36:23for one year. Beginning January the 1st,

1:36:26most of the adults impacted by the work

1:36:28requirements will also need to reertify

1:36:31or renew their Medicaid every six months

1:36:33instead of every year.

1:36:35So, um, on top of this, um,

1:36:38administrative burden of of proving the

1:36:40work requirements, they're now going to

1:36:42have to prove that twice a year unless

1:36:44they meet an exception or an exclusion.

1:36:47>> And we have prepared oursel with

1:36:49staffing to support this.

1:36:52>> Um,

1:36:53>> I guess that's a manager question.

1:36:56you you will you will actually be seeing

1:36:59some surge staff a contract for some

1:37:01surge staffing um coming before you

1:37:04probably in the next month or six weeks.

1:37:07>> Yes, I can see that. In just a bragging

1:37:09moment, Christa also has done a

1:37:11wonderful job of building efficiencies

1:37:14um not just with people but with

1:37:16equipment and telephone systems. And you

1:37:18may remember um a proven

1:37:22of equipment that's going to help with

1:37:25um and also other things like the the

1:37:28telephone system that's really

1:37:32staff

1:37:35equipment is doing.

1:37:37Yeah, in fact,

1:37:38>> we are hoping to tackle this with some

1:37:40technology and some people.

1:37:42>> I want to commend the staff for your

1:37:44hard work on this. I know that this was

1:37:46an unfunded mandate came down requiring

1:37:50more local administrative staff time and

1:37:53our our assistance to cover that staff

1:37:57time has been simultaneously cut.

1:38:00>> So,

1:38:00>> yes,

1:38:01>> thanks for

1:38:02>> Thank you. Thank you for the

1:38:03acknowledgement. Our staff does work

1:38:05really hard on this. [snorts]

1:38:07Um so with the Medicaid reertification

1:38:10every six months um that will impact

1:38:13this same group ages 19 through 64

1:38:15unless they meet an exception or

1:38:17exclusion and uh and they will have to

1:38:19prove that um twice a year and it will

1:38:23be for three out of the past six months.

1:38:26So it will become a little more flexible

1:38:28with the reertification because it won't

1:38:30have to be the three preceding months.

1:38:33Um, but they will still have to prove it

1:38:36for three months.

1:38:38Um, this does not apply to American

1:38:40Indians, Alaskan natives, or other

1:38:42members that are eligible for the Indian

1:38:44Health Services. So, they're getting a

1:38:46waiver from this rule change.

1:38:50Then the last change is retroactive

1:38:52Medicaid coverage. So, in the past, it

1:38:56was a threemonth look back at somebody's

1:38:59medical bills for the potential for

1:39:02Medicaid to cover um their um their

1:39:05medical bills in the three months before

1:39:07they apply for Medicaid as long as they

1:39:10met eligibility and um and the the

1:39:14amount of the medical bills met a

1:39:16certain threshold. Now, that is

1:39:18changing. For most adults ages 19

1:39:21through 64 who don't have a disability,

1:39:23that look back period is only going to

1:39:25be one month um for the health care

1:39:28costs that were incurred before their

1:39:30application. Now, children, adults ages

1:39:3365 and older, and people with a

1:39:35disability will get two months of a look

1:39:37back period, but we're not going to have

1:39:40a threemonth look back on medical bills

1:39:42anymore.

1:39:49One thing that I think is really

1:39:50important for you all to know is that um

1:39:54while these changes start in January

1:39:58uh for the work requirements because

1:40:01there is three months that has to be

1:40:03proven of those work requirements before

1:40:06their renewal. That does actually start

1:40:08October the 1st for people who renew in

1:40:11January. And so it's really important

1:40:14that we get the word out now and we

1:40:17start engaging with people who are set

1:40:19to renew in January. We have pulled a

1:40:22lot of the um addresses and plan to do

1:40:24some direct outreach to them. Um, but if

1:40:28you come across any adult ages 19

1:40:31through 64, you notice the exclusion

1:40:34list is really long, I suggest that they

1:40:37look at that list themselves on the

1:40:39Medicaid website or that they reach out

1:40:40to us as their caseworker and we can

1:40:43help them determine if they have an

1:40:45exclusion or an exemption that we can go

1:40:47ahead and put on record for them. If

1:40:50they don't qualify for an exception or

1:40:52an exclusion, they're going to need to

1:40:54start saving the the data that's going

1:40:57to prove that they meet the work

1:40:59requirements and they need to start now.

1:41:02Um, three months of payubs, school

1:41:04records, volunteer logs, and we can help

1:41:06engage them in some um some volunteer

1:41:10activities or with a uh work readiness

1:41:13program here in the community.

1:41:16The number one thing that we know is

1:41:18that our population tends to move and

1:41:21they tend to move and not remember to

1:41:24update us about their address. That's

1:41:26not the first thing on their mind. So,

1:41:28um, we are really encouraging people to

1:41:31update their contact information with

1:41:34us, their address and their phone

1:41:36number. We're picking up the phone to

1:41:37call people if we can't get them at

1:41:39their address and their letters come

1:41:41back to us. Um, so if they can contact

1:41:44us now, even if it's just to say, "Let

1:41:46me make sure you've got my right contact

1:41:48information." That's really important.

1:41:53What questions do you have,

1:41:56>> Commissioner Parker?

1:41:57>> So, I've got I've got a few. Indulge me

1:41:59on these. Uh, Mr. Watkins per uh

1:42:03Commissioner Bessie's um comment on the

1:42:06unfunded mandate it part of our

1:42:08legislative priorities we are kind of

1:42:11communicating actual data on how much

1:42:14this is going to cost us as a county.

1:42:17>> Yes. And and we we have done that in the

1:42:19past and we will continue to do that

1:42:21with Medicaid and SNAP and and other

1:42:23issues like that. But you're you're ab

1:42:25both of you are absolutely correct.

1:42:26These are unfunded mandates but they are

1:42:28mandates

1:42:29>> from that. Okay. And so if I could

1:42:32continue with this. So what happens when

1:42:35someone who doesn't meet the

1:42:37requirements and they may not know

1:42:39something may have changed. So they have

1:42:41a medical emergency and they show up the

1:42:43emergency room and then they're no

1:42:46longer eligible. What happens? Who pays

1:42:48for that?

1:42:50Um, so that's going to go through the

1:42:53hospital system of what they do with any

1:42:55other person that is unable to pay and

1:42:58has no health insurance that pays. They

1:43:01often will attempt to make payment

1:43:03arrangements or they'll charge those off

1:43:05eventually

1:43:06>> from that. Okay. Well, what about

1:43:08communic communicable diseases?

1:43:12How are we going to handle that?

1:43:14>> That's a great public health question.

1:43:18Public health has a lot of what we call

1:43:20AAS or agreement agendas that go towards

1:43:23support for communicable diseases. That

1:43:25will not change. Um it certainly would

1:43:28not cover a hospitalization. For

1:43:30instance, if you had someone who needed

1:43:32a higher level of care and would not

1:43:37still open and available and Medicaid,

1:43:40Medicare

1:43:45and

1:43:50>> okay, that I'll just say that is good. I

1:43:54would have a concern about somebody

1:43:56having a communicable disease saying I

1:43:58don't have coverage anymore and then

1:44:00they continue to share.

1:44:03>> We're seeing an overall downward trend

1:44:05in the number of people receiving SNAP

1:44:07in for Scythe County. Trend in the

1:44:10number of people receiving SNAP in for

1:44:12Scythe County ever since um since the

1:44:16COVID exemp exemptions started to roll

1:44:19back in May of 2025. We've leveled out

1:44:22to about 50,000 households receive here

1:44:26in Force. And just to give you some

1:44:28perspective on what that looks like um

1:44:32populationwise to Medicaid, we have

1:44:35close to 30% of our residents here in

1:44:37Forsythe County receiving some form of

1:44:39Medicaid. It's about 130,000 Medicaid

1:44:43recipients. Now, the work requirements

1:44:46is a smaller subset of that group. it's

1:44:49about 30,000 just under 29,500

1:44:54um will have to comply with these work

1:44:56requirements. To give you an idea on the

1:44:59noncitizen impact, we're somewhere

1:45:01between 700 and 800. So that is a very

1:45:04small group and um we are finding that

1:45:08many of those we're still processing

1:45:10some of those but many of those um 700

1:45:13to 800 are going to be eligible to

1:45:16continue to receive. I don't have exact

1:45:18numbers, but I'll be happy to share them

1:45:19back to you when I do.

1:45:22Um I I think in reference to your last

1:45:25question though, that look back period

1:45:28is really significant. When somebody is

1:45:30hospitalized, those bills often easily

1:45:33meet the threshold for Medicaid to pick

1:45:36them up retroactively.

1:45:38And um the federal legislation allowed

1:45:43each state to determine their look back

1:45:46period. no longer than three months. And

1:45:48our state chose to take that opportunity

1:45:51to shorten the look back period to one

1:45:54month for uh those impacted by the work

1:45:56requirements and two months for all

1:45:58others

1:46:00up to December of this year. It is still

1:46:02a threemonth look back period.

1:46:09>> Commissioner Bessie,

1:46:10>> thank you. A follow up on the um on the

1:46:13work requirement documentation. Um, an

1:46:16example, uh, in in my neighborhood,

1:46:18there are a bunch of people, um, uh,

1:46:21who, uh, are self-employed. Uh, they

1:46:25have landscaping work. I'll see the

1:46:29their pickups with their trailers

1:46:31running up and down the streets all the

1:46:33time as they come and go. Um, for them

1:46:38often a lot of uh their their customers

1:46:41are irregular in when they use a

1:46:44service, whether they use it weekly or

1:46:46can only afford to do it every couple of

1:46:48weeks, and they'll pay in cash. Um, and

1:46:51a lot of those uh folks who have the

1:46:54trailer

1:46:56um with the equipment will go and pick

1:46:58up somebody. Uh and so they'll you'll

1:47:01either have somebody who is um working

1:47:05as an independent small business person

1:47:07or you'll have somebody who is working

1:47:09for them. Uh and now they're mostly

1:47:14going to fall in a couple of categories.

1:47:15Either they were if they had health

1:47:18insurance, they were getting it through

1:47:20the ACA market and they've now lost

1:47:22their subsidies.

1:47:24uh or they were low enough on the income

1:47:27scale uh that they were actually met

1:47:30Medicaid requirements. For folks that

1:47:32were low enough and medic met the

1:47:34Medicaid requirements, how are they

1:47:36going to need

1:47:37>> from my boss or the person who gives

1:47:39from my boss or the person who gives me

1:47:41cash?

1:47:42>> Bottom line, there are ways to do it,

1:47:44but you'll have to work with them

1:47:46because they're not necessarily

1:47:47intuitive.

1:47:48>> Correct.

1:47:49>> All right. Thank you.

1:47:51>> Other questions?

1:47:53Thank you, Christa. Other questions?

1:47:57Thank you, Christa.

1:47:58>> Thank you,

1:48:06>> Chris Murphy.

1:48:20Good morning. I feel [clears throat]

1:48:22like you see me enough, I feel like I

1:48:23should be able to breeze through this

1:48:25fairly quickly. Um, but u

1:48:28with the amount of time we have left, I

1:48:30think I can make it. Uh, just a little

1:48:32bit of an update dealing with dealing

1:48:34with staffing and work volume. Uh, the

1:48:37permit office, we have no vacancies,

1:48:39which is great.

1:48:40>> Uh, we're still uh hitting our review

1:48:44timeliness as far as the amount of time

1:48:45it takes us to do our reviews on

1:48:47projects. Uh we continue with high call

1:48:50volumes and we'll probably have

1:48:52extremely high call volumes this week

1:48:54because something I neglected to put in

1:48:56here is the fact that we are uh today we

1:48:58rolled out an update to our permitting

1:49:00system uh city works. It's called City

1:49:03Works Respond. It's a an update we had

1:49:05to do for uh security reasons. So it is

1:49:09uh it's new and it rolled out today. Um,

1:49:12but I think so far things are going

1:49:13well, but we'll probably have to help

1:49:14some uh of our contracting partners uh

1:49:17through that effort. As far as planning,

1:49:20uh, we have one vacancy and, uh, that

1:49:22was due to a retirement. Uh, normal work

1:49:26volumes and case load, although you may

1:49:27feel that it's been abnormally high for

1:49:30the county, but overall our workload has

1:49:32been fairly consistent, but as uh, there

1:49:35is less developable property within the

1:49:37city of Winston Salem, I think you will

1:49:38continue to see more zoning cases in the

1:49:40county.

1:49:41Um again, we're preparing background

1:49:44research uh for future text amendments

1:49:46related to adoption of the comprehensive

1:49:48plan forward 2045.

1:49:51Um northeast suburban area plan uh

1:49:54actually has already uh wrapped up. Uh

1:49:57the planning board has recommended

1:49:58approval of that to both elected bodies

1:50:00and u both you and the city council will

1:50:03be considering that over the next month

1:50:04or two. And that brings us to finally

1:50:08the last thing under the planning

1:50:09division is a we beginning the second

1:50:12area plan and that one will be in rural

1:50:14hall. We're kind of concentrating on the

1:50:16the beltway corridor since that's where

1:50:19we expect to see the most change in urb

1:50:22and emerging changes over the next

1:50:24decade. So we wanted to make sure we did

1:50:26those two plans first. So that area plan

1:50:29will actually get underway and I have

1:50:30another slide on that later in the

1:50:32presentation. As far as inspections and

1:50:35plan review uh field and the zoning,

1:50:37there are no vacancies and all field

1:50:39inspections are within acceptable range

1:50:42which generally is within 24 hours.

1:50:45>> Quick quick question. Um Northeast

1:50:47Suburban, does that include Walkertown

1:50:49or is there separate?

1:50:50>> It is separate. It has some areas on the

1:50:53edge of Walkertown, but it does not

1:50:54include the town.

1:50:56>> Thank you.

1:50:56>> Correct.

1:50:58Uh just some development related trends.

1:51:00I'm going to kind of breeze through

1:51:02these fairly quickly. As far as

1:51:04residential construction permit values,

1:51:06we're trending uh ahead of where we were

1:51:09uh for the same quarter in the years

1:51:11past.

1:51:13Uh slightly uh behind the last two years

1:51:16for non-residential construction permit

1:51:17values, but still trending ahead of

1:51:19where we were in the years 22 and 23.

1:51:23Uh as far as development related trends,

1:51:26the overall permit value, we had 306

1:51:28million uh total permit value within the

1:51:32quarter. About 60% 60% of that was

1:51:35residential.

1:51:38Uh looking at housing, um we continue to

1:51:41see an upward trend in housing units. As

1:51:45far as single family and multif family,

1:51:47we are um this past quarter we issued um

1:51:5267

1:51:54permits

1:51:55uh for single family and multifamily

1:51:58development. So again, that trend

1:51:59continues to be moving up over the last

1:52:02five years.

1:52:04And this is just a map that kind of

1:52:06shows where all of the uh permits have

1:52:09been issued within the quarter. There is

1:52:11a change in the way we are calculating

1:52:13our data now and we are no longer

1:52:16capturing the Kernersville data just

1:52:18because we don't serve Kernersville. In

1:52:21the past we got their data and included

1:52:23it in the report but it wasn't anything

1:52:24that our staff had any direct

1:52:26involvement in. They have their own

1:52:28trends report I believe. Um, so we just

1:52:32decided that it was time to kind of

1:52:35eliminate that from our reports because

1:52:37it didn't really show and reflect on the

1:52:39work volume that our staff was doing.

1:52:42I mentioned forward 2045, of course,

1:52:44that was adopted by the county back last

1:52:46fall. Uh you've seen this slide before,

1:52:48but as far as moving forward, the things

1:52:50we're going to be working on with text

1:52:52amendments, dealing with general

1:52:53density, infill options, making sure

1:52:56we're making effective use of our

1:52:57infrastructure, both what we currently

1:52:59have and what's being planned as far as

1:53:01infrastructure in in uh expansion in the

1:53:04future. And then also trying to find

1:53:06ways to allow folks to age in space, age

1:53:09in place. And one of those things are

1:53:11would be to again allow for where uh

1:53:15life care communities can can go and

1:53:18allow those in residential districts uh

1:53:20as opposed to in commercial and multif

1:53:23family districts. So that's something to

1:53:24look out for over the next uh six

1:53:27months. Uh again, area plan 4.0, you

1:53:30know, kind of reminder of the what it's

1:53:32this is again still looking forward.

1:53:34It's just trying to put a little more

1:53:36granular focus on um future land use

1:53:39recommendations, but it doesn't change

1:53:40the law. It's just looking at

1:53:42recommendations. Um we did retool the

1:53:46boundaries. Uh there are no longer any

1:53:48gaps. If you remember some of the cases

1:53:50around Clemens and Louisville, there

1:53:52have been instances where we didn't have

1:53:53partial specific recommendations because

1:53:56Clemens and Lewisville kind of took the,

1:53:58you know, had that in their plan and we

1:54:00didn't want to kind of step on their

1:54:02toes. They didn't. So we're not doing

1:54:05that anymore. Any area within for

1:54:07precise county unincorporated u will be

1:54:10incorporated into our plans so that you

1:54:12have something that you have adopted as

1:54:14far as a land use recommendation. And I

1:54:17did mention focus on the beltway first.

1:54:19U again we want to make sure since that

1:54:22is a large change in our community. We

1:54:24feel like that might be a driver for u

1:54:27you know additional development. We we

1:54:29want to make sure we get regulations in

1:54:30place as quickly as possible.

1:54:34I did mention the northeast suburban

1:54:36area plan. It is a large area. Um it

1:54:40encompasses, this is one of those plans

1:54:41that actually encompasses growth

1:54:43management area 2, which are the urban

1:54:45neighborhoods all the way out to GMA 5,

1:54:47the rural area. So it's a very diverse

1:54:50plan. Again, that will be coming to you

1:54:52probably, I would say, in the October,

1:54:55November time frame. It did go to the

1:54:59planning board. It was adopted by them

1:55:01in August and it's moving forward to

1:55:03both city council and county

1:55:04commissioners.

1:55:06Um now

1:55:08the rural hall area plan uh that will

1:55:12actually kick off on September 23rd. The

1:55:14meetings will be at the rural hall town

1:55:16hall and they would be from 5:30 to

1:55:187:30. You see the the dates that we have

1:55:21planned there. Probably not an issue

1:55:23with December. January will probably be

1:55:26weather dependent. I think we had to

1:55:27move one of the meetings back for the uh

1:55:30northeast suburban area plan because of

1:55:32weather. But again, these are the

1:55:33tentative dates. Um also uh Dan Roberts

1:55:37and myself are scheduled to go on WBFJ

1:55:39this Thursday morning just to talk about

1:55:42the plan uh and you know what it is and

1:55:44what it isn't. The one thing we want to

1:55:46make sure that folks understand is this

1:55:47is not a plan about the data center.

1:55:50This is a plan about land use. That's

1:55:52going to be a hard thing to continue to

1:55:54communicate to the citizens. It will

1:55:56certainly be part of the discussion, but

1:55:57this is not just a referendum on data

1:55:59centers. So, uh again, stay tuned for

1:56:02that.

1:56:04Uh other long range planning updates, um

1:56:07text amendments, we have a PRD buffer

1:56:09yard text amendment that's going to be

1:56:11working its way through. Uh North

1:56:14Carolina general statute changes. There

1:56:15have been some things again that we need

1:56:17to continue to need to bring through.

1:56:20We're looking to create an RM26 district

1:56:22and that will be more of an urban

1:56:24application.

1:56:26Don't know if we'll bring it to the

1:56:27county for consistency. Uh it may be

1:56:29that we have some applications for that

1:56:31within activity centers that might have

1:56:33part of the county in it. So, we might

1:56:34still bring it to the county. uh looking

1:56:37at revising our infield uh standards,

1:56:40looking at providing some provisions in

1:56:42the ordinance and our sign section

1:56:44dealing with historic signs and allowing

1:56:46for some more flexibility for um signs

1:56:50that are historic in nature. I did

1:56:52mention life care communities and

1:56:54looking at expansion there. Again,

1:56:56looking at accessory dwelling units and

1:56:58bringing some changes forward there.

1:57:01city-only text amendment dealing with

1:57:03syringe exchange program uh that the

1:57:05county uh that the city council asked

1:57:07for in committee that should be moving

1:57:09forward within the next month and we'll

1:57:11see kind of where that goes. And then

1:57:14also the housing choice and trying to

1:57:16provide more opportunities for attached

1:57:19product in uh single family areas in the

1:57:23correct locations. And that might be

1:57:24something such as in a PRD or in a

1:57:27certain growth management area, but just

1:57:29trying to find ways to continue to try

1:57:31to expand uh housing choice age in place

1:57:35options besides strictly single family

1:57:38homes. As far as other things our

1:57:41department uh continues to work on, we

1:57:43continue to provide economic development

1:57:44assistance to both the city and the

1:57:46county. Greater Winston Salem, Inc. Uh

1:57:49we continue to provide park uh and site

1:57:51analysis and design when requested by

1:57:53both the city and the county. Uh our HRC

1:57:56has uh created a number of uh walking

1:57:59tour brochures with some of our small

1:58:01towns and those are available on on I

1:58:04believe our website as well as the town

1:58:05websites. We have our continued efforts

1:58:08with the historic marker program. The

1:58:10applications for those historic markers

1:58:12open in October and run the whole month

1:58:15and they'll make decisions on those

1:58:16historic markers in November. And then

1:58:19finally, our GIS team uh dealing with

1:58:22our website ADA compliance uh trying to

1:58:24get our site make sure that we are 100%

1:58:26in compliance with that even though they

1:58:28did push back the effective date of that

1:58:30for a year. We want to be ahead of the

1:58:32curve and have that stuff already

1:58:33planned out. some things that you have

1:58:36seen in the past, the precise county uh

1:58:38Guilford County boundary updates. Uh we

1:58:40think we have that fully satisfied now

1:58:44but now we're going to be doing the same

1:58:45thing along the

1:58:49to provide both federal and state

1:58:50annexation boundary and population

1:58:52estim.