Teenagers to receive hero award from board

Vance County Commissioners will honor members of Northern Vance’s engineering team with a Community Hero Recognition award during Monday night’s board meeting.

On Feb. 12, the group of five students from Jeff Arthurs’ honors engineering class won N.C. State University’s Emerging Issues Prize for Innovation.

“Community Hero Recognition is for anybody that has done an outstanding job as far as doing something in this community,” said Tommy Hester, board chairman. “The commissioners, we wanted to recognize them as a community hero group.”

Among items up for board approval Monday night will be a special use permit for possible construction of an animal shelter on a five-acre plot of donated land on Brodie Road.

Because the donated land falls in an extra territorial jurisdiction, a special use permit must be issued by the city of Henderson.

“We will be applying for that permit to make sure it’s OK with the city of Henderson if in the future we build it,” Hester said.

“I’m hoping someone will make a motion that we go ahead and spend the money needed to get the special use permit so we can have the plans drawn, which is a cost of about $39,000.”

The county manager’s report will also provide discussion of animal shelter plans.

Other items of importance include a Utility Management Service Agreement between Envirolink, Inc., and the Vance County Water District.

Since 1997, Envirolink has offered water and wastewater operations, maintenance and management services to over 100 municipal and private parties.

Change orders for three separate Envirolink contracts will be requested for approval.

Porcha Brooks will present the board with a personal property appeal from Maria Parham Medical Center.

A staff review from the Vance County tax office states that they use the Department of Revenue Schedules of Value to value business personal property in Vance County. Since the Department of Revenue uses the cost approach to value, the tax office must have the historical cost of equipment, valued at $21,326,662 by the Vance County Tax office.

The hospital’s personal property appeal states the value of personal property should be $12,314,106.

Pending business discussed by the board will include county water project matters and volunteer fire department contracts and audits.

Contact the writer at amauser@hendersondispatch.com.