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

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

Department Directory

Agriculture/Cooperative Extension

Airport

Board of Elections

Building Inspections

County Manager

County Commissioners

Economic Development

Emergency Medical Services

Fire Marshal

Finance

Human Resources

Information Technology

Library

Public Works and Planning

Register of Deeds

Revenue

Senior Center

Social Services

Soil and Water

Solid Waste

Transit

Tourism Development Authority

Veteran Services

Weekly Report

Highlight of Departmental Activities

July 2, 2018

Typically known as

the Fourth of July and

Independence Day,

July 4th has been a

federal holiday in the

United States since

1941, but the tradition

of Independence Day

celebrations goes

back to the 18th century and the American Revolution (1775-1783).

In June 1776, representatives of the 13 colonies, then fighting in the

revolutionary struggle, weighed a resolution that would declare their

independence from Great Britain.

On July 2nd, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence,

and two days later its delegates adopted the Declaration of Independ-

ence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson.

From 1776 until the present day, July 4th has been celebrated as the

birth of American independence,

with typical festivities ranging

from fireworks, parades and con-

certs to more casual family gath-

erings and barbecues.

County offices will be closed on

July 4th. Have a happy and safe

4th!

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Agriculture/Cooperative Extension

Animal Control

Animal Control Weekly Update

Total animals taken in

35

Animals adopted into forever homes

11

Animals sent to rescued groups to be vetted and adopted into forever

homes

14

Animals returned to owners

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Calls completed

66

Tracy Davis:

• Conducted cooking demonstration at Haynes Library.

• Completed follow-up of June programs.

• Prepared programs for July.

Hannah Bundy’s week consisted of:

• July newsletter prep - newsletter was sent out electronically on Monday, July 2nd.

• Newspaper article for the Daily Courier.

• 4H District Activity Day on June 24th.

• Home visit for diagnosis of plant issues.

• Fall class planning for Fall gardening class series.

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Board of Elections

911 Communications Center

Call Summary

Rutherford County Communications

240 N. Washington Street

Rutherfordton, NC 28139

Report Date: 06/17/2018 to 06/24/2018

Total 911 Calls

Total Admin Calls

Total Calls

923

2,180

3,083

Director Debbie Bedford and staff:

• Filing for Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor continues until July 6th at Noon.

• Participated in a webinar with the State on Wednesday.

• Preparing payroll and end of year tasks.

• Processed several data requests.

• Reorganizing of storage cabinets and records.

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County Manager and Commissioners

Finance Department

The Finance Office processed accounts payable. Several interdepartmental meetings were attended by di-

rector and staff.

Listed are several events, meetings, and activities in which the County Manager, Commissioners and staff

were involved with the following individuals, departments and businesses:

• Planning and Projects

• Department Head Performance Evaluations

• Human Resources

• Senior Center

• Solid Waste

• Building Inspections

• Finance

• Information Technology

• Veteran Services

• Library

• Transit

• Broad River Authority Board

• Airport Agenda Review for upcoming meeting

• Individual Agenda Review meetings with Commissioners for upcoming meeting

• Rail to Trails

• Foundation Forward meeting

• Retirement Event for Ann Gerth, IT

• County Attorney

Other activities and events this week included meetings with citizens, numerous calls, interoffice meet-

ings, conference calls, public relations, advising, and preparation for various responsibilities.

Information Technology

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Human Resources

Library

New Books New DVDs

The Sanctuary by Raymond Khoury

Murder in Paradise by James Patterson

The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand

Unbridled by Diana Palmer

The Moscow Deception by Karen Robards

Harry by Angela Levin

The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

Homespun Holiday by Kelly Ann Riley

Tea is for Treasure by Kristin Eckhardt

Framed for Life by Kristi Holl

Humbug Hijinks by Kristi Holl

A Fedora Offense by Donna Kelly

Death Takes a Holiday by Susan Sleeman

Danger in Spades by Elizabeth Penney

The Christmas Riddle by Susan Sleeman

Stranger in the Looking Glass by Jan Fields

Six Feet Undertow by Elizabeth Penney

The Secret Letter by Mary Blount Christian

Season of Misdeeds by Kay Marshall Strom

A Ring of Deception by DeAnna Julie Dodson

Pieces from the Past by Elizabeth Penney

Loom and Doom by Susan Sleeman

Life Without Baby by Lisa Manterfield

Girl with a Gun by Kari Bovée

Lost Empress by Sergio de la Pava

The Warner Loughlin Technique by Warner Loughlin

Birdhouses by Leslie Garisto

Liar, Liar by Lisa Jackson

Into the Free by Julie Cantrell

Before and Again by Barbara Delinsky

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

The Book Club by Mary Alice Monroe

Mona Lisa Smile

Fools Rush In

Along Came a Spider

The Shrink Is In

In Good Company

The Wedding Planner

The Prodigal Son

All in the Family

Battle of Britain/A Bridge Too Far

Erika Woody (Haynes Branch)

The HR Director held meetings to discuss personnel issues, exit interviews, and retirements.

Thank you to all that attended the Social Security workshop.

What’s Been Going On:

• Continued to sign up patrons for the Summer Reading Program.

• Hung up event flyers at the Caroleen post office.

• Switched out books on display in the children’s area.

• Moved books from the new shelf in the children’s area to the regular shelves.

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Library continued from page 5

Stephanie Long (County)

• selected 20 titles to lease from the July Baker & Taylor Quick Call list.

• discarded several DVDs from our collection due to age and condition.

• requested items for patrons through Interlibrary Loan.

• processed several new books, including:

Before and Again by Barbara Delinsky

All We Ever Wanted by Emily Griffin

Liar, Liar by Lisa Jackson

A High Sierra Christmas by William W. Johnstone

Lost Creed by Alex Kava

Those Other Women by Nicola Moriarty

Unbridled by Diana Palmer

Murder in Paradise by James Patterson

Once a Scoundrel by Mary Jo Putney

Between You & Me by Susan Wiggs

• cataloged and processed several DVD donations, including:

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Entrapment

Life on Liberty Street

Pink Floyd: The Wall

Requiem for a Dream

RiverWorld

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Traded

A Wrinkle in Time

Joy Sharp (Mountains)

Whew! It has been a busy week at Mountains Branch! Last week we welcomed The Ammons Sisters for

their “Spirit of Appalachia Program”. We had a great turnout for this exploration of mountain culture. The

audience was delighted by storytelling, music, dance, and especially the spontaneous pastel art created to

accompany the tales. (Pictures on page 7.)

Last Friday Mountains Branch transformed into a twinkling, sparkly art gallery as the Friends of the Li-

brary held their Gala Fundraiser – An Evening of Art, Music & Libraries. The highlight of the evening

was the unveiling of a special “Soul of Lake Lure” sculpture, which will be raffled off to raise funds for

our new electronic sign. Speaking of the new sign, we want to give a big shout out to Rutherford County

Maintenance and Camp Electric for installing the sign for us!

Summer Reading kicked off this week with a great program by Mad Science!

Kenneth Odom (County)

• held Teen and Adult Maker Camps last week and then prepared for camps this week.

• worked closely with Mountains Branch and Haynes Branch on internet outages and computer issues

due to the afternoon storms.

• Maker Camp (8-12 year olds) will be held next month. There are a few spots left at Mountains Branch.

Call Kenneth at 828-287-6327 for more information.

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Maria Davis (County)

Maria continues to work closely with local people to design adult programming for Rutherford County Li-

brary. We have a lot of activities coming up. Please see our website (www.rutherfordcountylibrary.org) or

our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/rutherfordcountylibrary) for more information.

Tamara Edwards (County)

Tamara had a beach themed pre-school story time at all three branches. Our first full week of Summer Read-

ing programming is under our belt. Mad Science was here to entertain and educate us all. If you missed the

program, you missed out!! Ms. Believable was here this week and she was so fun to watch! Our next week

of Summer Reading will be Kid Senses July 10, 11, and 12th. Call Tamara at 828-287-6116 for questions or

more information.

Library continued from pages 5-6

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Library continued from pages 5-7

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Library continued from pages 5-8

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Library continued from pages 5-9

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Register of Deeds

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

and accurate service.

Transaction Group

Totals

Certified Vital Records

83

Marriage Licenses

12

Recorded Deeds

76

Recorded Deeds of Trust

37

Recorded Certificates of Satisfaction

42

Recorded Various Other Documents

38

Oath Given to Notary Publics

3

Recorded Plats/Surveys

6

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Revenue Department

Customer Service Totals

Phone Calls 296

Customer Service Assistance 169

Information/Data Requests 1

Website Hits 3,645

County Growth Indicators

Building Permits Reviewed 174

Deeds Reviewed 98

Collections Progress

Deeds Certified 38

Total Taxes Collected $71,711.65

• Thanks to all the emergency personnel for their hard work on Tuesday, June 26, during the severe storm

that went through the county. We appreciate the ones that must go out in any weather to assist and pro-

tect our citizens. Thanks to Danny Searcy and his department for checking on the leak the Tax Office

discovered during that terrible storm.

• The office is working on getting to the 2018 billings. Just a few more weeks and they will be in the

mail.

• Collections is working hard on getting delinquent taxes current. Contact the Collections Department at

287-6000 if you need assistance.

• We enjoyed having Farragut staff in our office while they were working on some updates to our system.

• Issued six bank attachments with a total of $13,107.92.

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Sheriff’s Office

Pictured right: Shelly Owens’ (Sheriff’s Office)

granddaughter, Emily, enjoying a ‘splash’ from

the heat!

Happy

Retirement

Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office

Cordially invites you to attend a

Retirement reception

In Honor of

Howard Gordon “Celebrating 30 years of Outstanding Service

to the Citizens of Rutherford County and the Rutherford

County Sheriff’s Office”

July 27th, 2018

2:00pm – 4:00pm

Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office

Conference Room

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Social Services

At the June Family and Children’s breakfast meeting, Selina Johnson, Programs Director for Least of

These Carolinas (LOTC), gave staff an overview of the services her organization provides to foster chil-

dren in Gaston County and the surrounding areas. Located in Gastonia, this nonprofit (founded from a pas-

sion to assist caregivers involved with Department of Health and Humans Services) helps meet the needs of

the foster/kinship community throughout the Carolinas.

Selina shared a Bag of Hope that LOTC is providing for a foster child in our custody. A Bag of Hope is a

large duffel bag with the child’s name embroidered on it. These bags contain specific things the child

needs and wants like new clothes, toi-

letries, and so much more. The group

was also shown a Life Box for a Ruth-

erford County child aging out of foster

care. A life box is for youth graduat-

ing high school, entering the work

force, getting their first place, going to

college and more. They are custom

made for each youth.

LOTC is blessing to the children we

serve and we are fortunate to have

them include us in their outreach. If

you would like more information on

how you can help this incredible or-

ganization please contact Selina at 704

-215-4344, visit their website

www.lotcarolinas.com or follow them

on Facebook (pictured left).

Surprise after surprise awaited our

Program Director, Amanda McGee, upon her return to work after her long-fought battle. She was greeted

in the supervisor team meeting by all the supervisors she manages wearing shirts that spell out “We ♥

Amanda” on the front and “The A Team” on the back. Her shirt read, “I put the A in Amandatory”. After

the team meeting, everyone gathered in the conference room for lunch catered by Pat Evans. Amanda was

presented a declaration by her team, that June 13 was the official “Amanda Tanner McGee Day”. A dona-

tion was made to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance in Amanda’s name. We are thankful Amanda is back at

work helping keep kids safe! (Pictured below and on page 15.)

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Social Services continued from page 14

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Solid Waste

Director James Kilgo:

• Electronics recycling.

• Had Department Head Performance Evaluation.

• Worked on budget and reports.

• Completed timesheets.

The office staff is preparing for end of fiscal year while taking care of customers.

The staff at the transfer station has been busy processing MSW and recycling tonnages.

The C&D staff continues to process C&D tonnages coming in while maintaining the grounds, and hauling

dirt for cover.

The airport staff continues to work on maintaining the grass in the airport grounds.

The Shop is busy with preventative maintenance to equipment and vehicles and repairs in equipment.

Please continue to recycle.

Customers served

476

Loads hauled from Centers

71

MSW loads to Lenoir

41

Recycling loads to Conover

2

Tire customers

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Tourism Development Authority

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Tourism Development Authority continued from page 17

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Tourism Development Authority continued from pages 17-18

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Transportation Services

EMS:

EMS management staff conducted interviews for several open Lead Medic positions. Five employees ap-

plied and were interviewed and the new positions plan to be announced by Friday. Also, congratulations to

part-time paramedics, Kyle Herndon and John Davis on passing oral boards this week. Director completed

new contracts this week for rescue squads and all skilled nursing facilities. Director also attended the

monthly Stakeholders and EMS meetings for the World Equestrian Games. Call volume for the week is as

follows:

Transit:

Transit is pleased to welcome Scott Davis as a new part-time van driver. Scott has completed his classroom

orientation this week and has started riding, driving and observing current drivers in preparation to begin

driving solo in revenue service. Director Giles continues to finalize Transportation contracts and send to

our contract customers for their approval and signature. Operations Manager met with local vendor to es-

tablish vehicle washing service for all Transit vehicles due to former vendor discontinuing this service.

Transit staff discussed available transportation services with Hands of Hope and Life in Forest City for

some of the clients to possibly use to be able to go to doctor appointments. Transit has received our fifth

new van and will now move forward with preparing all five vehicles for revenue service.

TYPE

CURRENT WEEK

Emergency Calls

160

Non-Emergency Calls

16

TYPE

CURRENT WEEK

WEEKLY AVG

Total Miles

9,063

9,090

Local Trips

1,258

1,131

Out of County Trips

84

89

Unduplicated Passengers

199

211

Total Revenue

$17,891

$19,615

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Transportation Services continued from page 20

NACO called Director Kerry Giles early this year about an article for the CN County Newspaper. Direc-

tor Giles received a voicemail from a system in Dallas, TX this week because one of their board members

brought in the article and they want more information on how Rutherford County Transportation Services

operate.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines “food insecurity” as the lack of access, at times, to enough

food for all household members. In 2016, 12.3 percent of U.S. households were food insecure. One of the

barriers to getting food is transportation.

Five years ago, a rural North Carolina county began helping its residents get to food pantries with a new

transportation program that is still going strong today.

“We knew there was a need and transportation can oftentimes be a barrier,” said Kerry Giles, Rutherford

County, N.C. Transportation Services director.

Churches and other organizations have provided food to local residents there for many years but had not

considered that those with the greatest need may not have transportation to get to those resources.

Click on link to read more: http://www.naco.org/articles/north-carolina-county-goes-extra-mile-transport-

residents-food-pantries

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For more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/381813972287409/

Sign Up To Volunteer Go to:

https://tryon2018.com/page/volunteer

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BRNHA Offering Grants for Regional Heritage Projects

Since 2004, the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area Partnership has awarded 154 grants totaling over $2.1 million to projects that preserve, interpret, and develop

the heritage resources of the region. These awards have leveraged over $4.5 mil-

lion in matching contributions from the state, local governments, and the private sector.

We are pleased to offer another round of grants this fall. Applications are due Octo-

ber 1 and applicants will be notified by Feb. 1, 2019. Funds for the Blue Ridge Na-tional Heritage Area's matching grants program are provided by the federal govern-

ment through the National Park Service.

The maximum grant award is $16,000. Applicants must provide at least a one-to-one match from non-federal sources.

Of particular interest are projects that are regional or multi-county in scope, involve

active partnerships between organizations, and leverage substantial matches from project participants and other grantors.

BRNHA staff will hold several grant information sessions around the BRNHA region in July 2018. Attendance is optional, but is recommended for those who have not

attended information sessions for previous BRNHA grant cycles.

Please review the grant guidelines on the BRNHA website and RSVP to Rob Bell (rob@blueridgeheritage.com or 828-296-7230, ext. 229) if you plan to attend a

session.

The date for the Rutherford County meeting is: Rutherfordton

Tuesday, July 17 2–3 p.m.

Rutherford County Administration Office 289 N. Main Street

Rutherfordton, NC To learn more, visit our website here.

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County Commissioners County Office

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

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

Follow us online! www.rutherfordcountync.gov

County Manager Steve Garrison

Kimberly Aldridge, Weekly Report Editor

828.287.6060

Buffalo Creek Park and the Weedpatch Mountain Trail are both back open.

The Rocky Broad RiverWalk is open, as well. The bridges that led across to the small island washed away

in the flood, so you will not be able to access that area until they are rebuilt but you can still enjoy a scenic

walk by the Rocky Broad River. A community workday was held on the RiverWalk last Monday and many

of the trees and debris that were in the main path were removed.

More information on these trails and others can be found at http://www.rutherfordoutdoor.org/trails-

overview.

Email us at trails@rutherfordoutdoor.org or call (828) 351-3235 if you would like to sign up for any of the

ROC workdays, clean-ups, or group hikes/river floats.

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