$4 Million White House II Rejected

The partisan and cantankerous Guilford County Board of Commissioners often disagrees – however, at the board's Thursday, August 23 meeting, the commissioners were in almost total agreement that the Piedmont Triad Regional Council's (PTRC) plan to build a new $4 million headquarters is a terrible idea.

The commissioners disliked the idea so much that, even though Guilford County wouldn't be financially obligated by the new building, Commissioner Kirk Perkins said that the group was getting way ahead of itself. Commissioner Paul Gibson said, "I have a lot of questions and they haven't been answered here tonight." And Commissioner Billy Yow openly questioned the group's judgement. After Yow heard the amount PTRC is paying for rent in its current office space, an amazed Yow asked, "Are ya'll living in the White House?"

PTRC provides planning and consulting services for local governments and, among other administrative and planning services, it applies for and distributes federal grant money to 74 member governments in central North Carolina. One of the major responsibilities of PTRC is administering federal grant money for adult services.

Its membership consists of cities, towns and counties in the 12-county region that includes Guilford, Alamance, Caswell, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Montgomery, Randolph, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry and Yadkin counties.

In July 2011, PTRC was formed by the merger of two area councils of government (COGs) – the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments (PTCOG) and the Northwest Piedmont Council of Governments (NPCOG) – and now that unified organization wants to bring its staff under one roof.

Guilford County had been a council of government member since 1968, when the system was set up. However, in early 2011, the Guilford County commissioners began asking what they were actually getting in return for their roughly $100,000 in dues each year. For decades, the commissioners had approved paying those dues without any discussion.

Many commissioners weren't in favor of continuing in the COG system when the PTRC was formed and Guilford County was the only previous member that didn't join the merged COG. Of course, that membership decision is easier for smaller cities and towns since the membership fees are based on population, and many members are paying $550 a year, while Guilford County is paying about $100,000 a year.

Guilford County rejoined the group this June after a year on the outs, which is why the commissioners were being asked to pass a resolution stating support for the construction of a new PTRC headquarters.

On Wednesday, June 20, 2012, the PTRC Board of Delegates voted unanimously to move forward with the construction of a new office building at 1394 Carrollton Crossing Dr. in Kernersville. After a request for bids, the Arden Group was selected to build the headquarters at a cost of $4 million.

In order to get the 15-year installment loan it is requesting, the PTRC must have the approval of the NC Local Government Commission (LGC) – an organization set up by the State of North Carolina to provide oversight for the financial dealings of local governments and other public bodies in the state.

David Harris, the interim housing director for PTRC, began by explaining that, for the group to get the proposed 15-year installment loan, the organization would have to get support of member governments representing 70 percent of the population covered by PTRC.

The easiest way to do that is to go to the member counties – rather than, say, going city by city and town by town. So PTRC came before the Guilford County Board of Commissioners at the August 23 meeting seeking the board's backing.

Getting Guilford County's support was key since Guilford County's population – 490,371 of the group's 1.65 million people – comes to 29.8 percent of the population, meaning that, if the group wants to stick with its plan of getting support of 70 percent by going on a county by county basis, Guilford County is within a hair's breadth of being able to black ball the idea with a no vote.

However, the PTRC could always try to get approval of, say, Greensboro, and High Point, within Guilford County, in order to get the needed backing of 70 percent of the population, which would raise the question about who represents the people who live in Greensboro, which is also in Guilford County.

Harris said Guilford County was the first county the group had approached. At the August 23 meeting, however, what the representatives got from Guilford County was anything but support.

After the presentation and request, only one of the 11 board members voted to approve the request, and even the commissioner who did, Carolyn Coleman, said later during a break in the meeting that she only voted for the resolution because she's the county's representative to the PTRC board, and therefore, she said, she felt she should show support for the organization.

Right after the vote, Coleman stated that she had many of the same questions and concerns her fellow commissioners had about the project.

Of course, the highly inauspicious start of PTRC's effort – with a near total lack of support from Guilford County, the largest county in the group – doesn't bode well for the PTRC's effort to sell the idea to its other member governments. Other cities towns and counties will no doubt have similar questions.

Harris told the commissioners that a yes vote wouldn't financially obligate the county to pay for the building.

Guilford County Attorney Mark Payne concurred. "This is a resolution, not a contract," Payne told the board.

The county might not be financially obligated, but that didn't mean the commissioners would endorse what many of them saw as a highly questionable move by a group of which Guilford County is still a somewhat reluctant member. Also, while Guilford County might not be responsible for paying back the loan, as long as the county remains a member of PTRC, some of the county's roughly $100,000 in dues each year would be going toward paying for the building.

Perkins asked, if the money ran out five years from now, what would happen to the building.

"I can't answer that question," Harris said.

Commissioner Mike Winstead, who owns a property development business that builds condominiums, apartment complexes and other buildings, had plenty of questions.

"I really don't feel like I have enough information," he said.

Winstead added that he also didn't know why the group needed 25,000 square feet and why it was constructing a new building when there was plenty of standing less expensive office space available.

Commissioner Bill Bencini has been a supporter of PTRC through the years and he played a large role in getting the county to rejoin the group. However, even Bencini couldn't support the construction of a new $4 million headquarters in the present economy.

Harris explained that PTRC would save money if it built the new building. He said the two COGs, which are now one, had been renting office space since 1968.

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Harris told the board that PTRC paid rent of $107,000 a year in Greensboro, and $809,000 in Winston-Salem for a total of $917,000 annually.

Those numbers astonished the commissioners and prompted Yow to ask if PTRC were operating out of the White House.

Winstead said he was amazed the group was paying rent that high, and asked how many employees PTRC had. Harris responded that there were 200.

In the end, 10 of the 11 commissioners voted not to support the project.

On another matter, at the August 23 meeting the commissioners requested that Payne seek possible ways that the county could show favoritism in competitive bid processes to local companies. That discussion came up when the commissioners were asked to approve a $284,000 contract with the lowest bidder, Best Uniforms Inc. of Charlotte, for new law enforcement dress uniforms for the Sheriff's Department.

Best Uniforms' bid beat out that of Greensboro-based Showfety's Uniforms Inc. by about $1,500.

Gibson said he understands that the law requires the contract go to the lowest bidder but that doesn't mean he has to like it, he said.

"Something's wrong with the system," Gibson said.

He said there should be some way for the board to favor local companies. "A company that pays Guilford County taxes should have some benefit," Gibson said.

Yow and Commissioner Linda Shaw both said they agree, and several other commissioners also said they shared that sentiment and asked what they could do to favor local companies.

Payne said the board could petition their representatives in Raleigh to enact a law that would give counties more leeway in that area.

Yow pointed out that the state legislature makes exceptions for state service providers and materials suppliers when there's a 5 percent or less difference between the lowest bid from an out-of-state company and a North Carolina-based competitor that barely lost out on a contract.

Payne responded that the state is known for enjoying privileges it doesn't grant the counties.

Guilford County Commissioner Kay Cashion said that, regardless, there should be a way to give local companies more consideration.

"It's a complaint I hear all the time," Cashion said.

Gibson said the state's association of counties was getting geared up for its annual legislative efforts to petition state legislators for changes in the state laws. Gibson said that might be a good avenue of recourse to address the issue and many commissioners agreed.

At the August 23 meeting, the board also voted to give $70,000 to Youth Focus Inc., a nonprofit that provides a 12-bed facility for runaway youth as well as those who have been abused or who became homeless through a family crisis. Youth Focus lost a long-standing $250,000 annual contract with the Guilford County Department of Social Services when that department put the contract out for bids earlier this year.

Chuck Hodierne, the executive director of Youth Focus, spoke on behalf of the group. He said that, in light of the loss of the contract, his organization was struggling for survival. He said the group had cut costs and positions but it was now asking Guilford County for $70,000 to help make up the shortfall for fiscal 2012-2013.

Hodierne said his organization was the only shelter for homeless children in Guilford County. He added that the nonprofit served 219 children in fiscal 2011-2012 that ended in June, and he said the problem of homeless children isn't going to go away.

"Obviously, these children need a roof," Hodierne said.

All of the commissioners who spoke at the meeting said they supported the group's work, but several had tough questions for Hodierne. Most of those questions had to do with the timing of the request.

The commissioners just adopted a county budget in June and several commissioners wanted to know why Youth Focus hadn't come before the board in the spring.

"There was a time to do this," Yow said. "I've got a problem with this and the problem is that we've got a process."

Yow said nonprofits lined up and asked the board for money before the county budget was adopted, and, if Youth Focus had done likewise at that time, they no doubt would have gotten money as well.

Yow added that, if the board gave Youth Focus money at this time of year, then every other nonprofit would line up asking for money in the middle of the budget year.

Hodierne explained that Youth Focus bid on the social services contract and was interviewed in late May, and, in early June, they were told no decision had been reached by the Social Services Department.

He said it was only after the commissioners had adopted the 2012-2013 budget that Youth Focus was notified it had lost the large social services department contract.

While Yow didn't support the request, the other commissioners did and the motion to give Youth Focus $70,000 in county funds passed on a 10-to-1 vote with Yow the only no vote.

The commissioners conducted other business as well. The board heard a presentation on the county's efforts to increase the use of minority and women-owned businesses (MWBEs). Guilford County MWBE Coordinator Shayla Parker told the board that the county was meeting its goals, with 10 percent of the county's business in fiscal 2011-2012 going toward women and minority-owned businesses.

At the meeting, the board also voted to purchase three ambulances and supporting emergency medical equipment for $829,000.

The board also voted to give county workers one-time additional vacation time of 40 hours – five days – in fiscal 2012-2013. That move was largely in response to the fact that the county hasn't given county employees raises for four years.

The next Board of Commissioners is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 11. The board almost always holds its regular meetings on Thursday nights, however Commissioner Bruce Davis had a conflict with the original planned date of Sept. 20 and, after much discussion, the board set the new date.