Commissioners look at facility needs during retreat

The Burke County Board of Commissioners met Feb. 3-4 for its budget retreat in Morganton. The county budget retreat is a time for commissioners to talk about what the board and staff may need to tackle in the coming year.

Animal Services

One of those facilities is a new animal services building. In August, the commissioners agreed to buy 2.5 acres on Kirksey Drive from Burke County Public Schools as part of its plans for a new animal shelter. The county already owned 17.03 acres at the location, which includes land the 911 center sits on.

Michael Barnard, president and architect with Shelter Planners of America, used Zoom to participate in the meeting with commissioners. Burke County commissioners contracted with Shelter Planners of America nearly three years ago for a facility needs assessment.

Barnard congratulated the county on its improved live release rate. He said some minor adjustments were made on the needs assessment based on the data and the projected human population of the county. The number of animals taken in at the current shelter has seen a decline since 2014, when it took in 4,149 dogs, cats and other animals. In 2019, that number had fallen to 2,055, according to Barnard’s presentation.

He proposed maximum housing at 96, with capacity for 38 dogs and 58 cats. A new center would have 31 parking spaces for the public and 26 parking spaces for staff. It would have several dog exercise yards and a livestock yard. The proposal also calls for having an adoption lobby as well as an intake lobby, a get-acquainted area, interview spaces, medical exam, surgery and euthanasia rooms, cat rooms, outdoor dog runs, a puppy room, meeting rooms, office space and laundry area.

Barnard estimated the low-end cost in 2022 of the proposed shelter at $4,825,863 and the high-end cost at $5,946,153. The estimated costs include construction, site work, soft costs and contingency costs.

But he also included costs that allows for “escalation” and “volatile market” by adding 10%, with the low-end at $5,308,449 and the high-end at $6,540,768.

Because of the market volatility, Barnard said it might be better to plan for the worst and hope for the best. The actual costs of a new shelter won’t be known until actual bids for the project are opened, he said.

He said the proposed plan is conceptual.

Commissioner Jeff Brittain said they should keep in mind the wide opinions in the county about what it spends on animal services. He used a metaphor to describe the difference in what the current animal services building is to the proposed new shelter, saying he thinks they are currently working with a Pinto and the proposed shelter would take them to Air Force One.

“And I think we’ve got to get somewhere in the middle,” Brittain said.

Brittain said he would like to see a cost of maybe around $3 million for a new building.

Commissioners will likely hash out what the shelter will look like and what it will include and how much they’re willing to spend on it before they vote on a final design.

Barnard estimates it would take six months for the design process, two months for the bidding contracting and permitting process and construction estimated at 14 months.

Human Resource Center

The Burke County Human Resource Center on East Parker Road in Morganton houses the health department, social services and the Burke County Public Schools administrative staff.

For years, county officials have known the building is crowded and has had issues. During the budget retreat, commissioners heard from Korey Fisher-Wellman, director of Burke County Department of Social Services, and Danny Scalise, director of the Burke County Health Department, about some of the problems.

Scalise told commissioners the building makes it difficult to work in a 21st century environment when they are using a mid-20th century-type building. He said most of the people served from that building are the most vulnerable in the county.

Commissioner Chairman Scott Mulwee said he recently got a tour of the building and it was a little shocking to get the behind-the-scenes tour.

Walking the hallways in the building is similar to walking through a maze.

The building has had heating/cooling and plumbing problems, cracks in walls and some leaking.

But space also is a major concern.

Commissioner Vice-Chairman Johnnie Carswell said he’s concerned about having adequate rooms and privacy for families who may have some intimate issues with which they are dealing. He asked Scalise and Fisher-Wellman about 21st century needs and what they see on the horizon.

Scalise said rooms in the health department section are not conducive to a familial atmosphere or to make people comfortable when they come in. He describe a scenario of a young pregnant woman whose first language is not English who may need an interpreter and her spouse in the room, along with the doctor and equipment needed. The rooms are small, he said.

Fisher-Wellman said one of the things that goes along with children and foster care is the need for parental visits and the department needs to have visitation spaces that is conducive for families and where workers can supervise visits.

“We need to have space that we can observe a parent’s ability to parent safely and for the room where the kids are safe just in terms of the space and we don’t have those things,” Fisher-Wellman said. “I think we make do, we use what we have, I think. I mean, that’s just one example of space that we just don’t have.”

Mulwee asked Fisher-Wellman whether his employees feel safe in the building. He told Mulwee he would say no. Social services has 188 staff members, he said.

“Again, we’re dealing with people in the worst times of their life,” Fisher-Wellman said. “You’re kind of always at risk of someone coming in who’s not happy or, all sorts of things can go wrong.”

In addition, there wasn’t a bathroom on the lower floor until a year ago when general services took care of that problem, Fisher-Wellman said.

Scalise made the point that his department, which employs around 50 people, doesn’t need as much office space as social services but it does need specialized clinical space, which can be expensive.

After hearing from the directors, Mulwee asked Josh Bennett, vice president of Moseley Architects, what his recommendation for the building would be. Bennett said his recommendation would be to replace the building. He said there is ample room on the property to construct a new building and be able to demolish the current building. The ideal situation would be to keep everyone in the current building until they were ready to move into a new building, Bennett said.

Fisher-Wellman told The News Herald that when the current building was constructed is not clear but it appears it was opened around 1973 or 1974.

Brittain asked if they could look at the feasibility of renovating the current building for another use.

As for funding a new building for social services and the health department, Margaret Pierce, county finance director, said there are American Rescue Plan funds that can be used for capital expenses. She said there would be around $3 million that could be used for the health department.

If it’s a building that also would house socials services, Pierce said, according to ARP final rules, there are ARP loss revenue replacement funds – up to $10 million – that could be used for the social services portion of the building.

Pierce said Burke County received $17 million of ARP funds, $2 million of which is already earmarked for other projects.

The county has contracted with Moseley Architects to do a study on county facilities that will include projected renovations or new construction. Pierce said the county hopes to have a final report from Moseley Architects for its 2022-23 budget preparation.

Regional Treatment Facility

Burke County commissioners are expected to decide Tuesday on an architectural service contract for renovations of the former Burke-Catawba District Confinement Facility on Government Drive in Morganton. The former jail will be turned into a long-term regional substance abuse treatment facility.

Burke County Manager Bryan Steen told commissioners he’s had meetings with other county managers from counties with potential users and meetings with interested service providers.

Steen said he also is trying to coordinate with Western Piedmont Community College for career training, as well as Industrial Commons to offer other types of training for those seeking treatment. The facility will have an educational aspect to train those seeking treatment for a new trade.

The county also has received money from the state budget for renovations of the building, he said.

Burke County received $3.25 million in the $25.9 billion two-year state budget for the renovation.

Steen said the county is not interested in running the facility. He said it there is still a lot of work to be done to develop a model but the county will lease the facility to an outside entity that will run the treatment center.

The county was part of a lawsuit settlement with opioid distributors Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen and opioid manufacturers Johnson & Johnson and Purdue Pharma. From the settlement, it is anticipated Burke will receive $13 million, which will be used for opioid addiction treatment. The first payments to North Carolina from the settlement are expected in April.