Okay, good evening ladies and gentlemen. I would like to welcome you to the August 2nd Board of Commissioners meeting. At this time, I would like to ask our assistant manager, George Feudtool, to do an invocation and lead us into the place to lead you, if he would. Thank you. And so we thank you Lord for what you've allowed us to accomplish today. We're a little or much. We pray that we have been a blessing to someone in your name and for your glory. Father, we thank you for this county in which we are privileged to work and serve you by certain others. We thank you for those that are elected to transact the business tonight that comes before them. For all of us who have ordered a privilege to work here, we that comes before them. For all of us who've lowered our privacy work here, we just give you thanks. No reminder, especially in the time in which we live and the things that are going on across the world and even in our own nation here, Lord, just how thankful we are to be able to live in Southeast North Carolina and to work here in Duke and County. We pray your blessings upon this meeting or bless the minds of those who will liberate and make decisions to not for the venom of the citizens who we serve. We pray I pray in Jesus make a correction. It is August 16 16th not the second meeting sorry about that. All right does any members of the board or the clerk have anything they want to add to the night agenda? Mr. Chairman members of the board if it pleases the board, I believe we need to have a discussion on the employee COVID survey. And I could add that after Ms., our health director Ms. Simmons-Cerniggy appears on the agenda. And also, in addition to the closed session for legal, we have one minor change to the personnel policy that we would like to discuss in close session for SWAT to help find General Statue 143-318-11-86. Anybody else? If no objections, I ask to move to approve the Nights agenda. So, okay, it's added. I shouldn't ask to add it. But we got approval with it added, okay, yes, I added. I should have asked to add it, but we got approval with it added, okay? All in favor say aye. All right. All opposed unanimous Okay Can I get a motion on the minutes of the August second meeting since I'm in August second so much tonight? Second I got a motion and a second in discussion. All in favor say aye. All right. You're an animus. All right. What about the consent agenda? Motion to approve. Second. I got a motion and a second in discussion. All in favor say aye. All opposed. Same sign. All opposed. Same side. Carried. All right. Have we got any public comments? Mr. Chairman, no one has signed up for public comments. Okay. Well that brings us to Mr. Davis-Brenson then. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Members of the board, I appear before you now to respect for the request that you appoint Mr. Tricia Ann Hoskins as the deputy clerk to the Board of Commissioners to assist me. When I'm on vacation or out of place, we need a clerk in the room by statute. You have to have a clerk. So I would ask that you appoint Ms. Hoskins. She's already performing a lot of these duties. She helps me generate the meeting packets to take minutes and she also helps prepare the minutes so I would respectfully ask that you appoint her and deputy clerk. I got a motion and a second to appoint Miss Krishan Poskins as deputy clerk to the Board of Commissions. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. unanimous. All right, that brings us to item number three, angel, Benessia. We're improving. We're improving. Perfect. Good evening. I'm just before you today, it's time for our annual grant submission for the grants that we receive each year that help us with our funding. We are going to apply for the administrative funding, helps us pay for our admin cost, capital funding that helps us with replacement of vehicles that have met their useful life as well as tablets to go in the vehicles that keep the schedules up to date and also a 5310 elderly and disabled mobility grant that helps those that are 65 or older pay for the cost of the grant or the cost of their wife. Excuse me, right? So I'm just requesting permission from you all to apply for those grants. I got a motion and a second to submit application on behalf of the Dupline County Public Transportation Department for FY 23 federal and state community transportation program grants for both 53 and 11 administrative and capital projects and 5310 elderly and disabled mobility funds any more discussion? I have a comment. Mr. Vinesse, I have an email that I need to send to you and it's from a disabled person that has issues with the transportation they have medical issues and this right here fits the fits into his category or he fits into the category please do so don't let him forget it because sometimes I see that my mind like that very important will be any further discussion all in favor say aye. All opposed? You're carried. Thank you. Additionally, I need to request permission to hold a public hearing relative to those grants on September the 7th, which is the following commission meeting. I got a motion and a circuit to hold a public hearing and respect to these grants on September to September. In discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. You're an animal. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, it brings us to item number four. Tracy Chestnut. Good evening. Good evening. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, I would like to give you an update from the last meeting where we spoke about the American Rescue Plan. Act, we did not have two of our board members available at the time. And I also needed to give you some updated information that I've received since the last time and to do a little research on a request about premium pay. And also have you take some action today as well if possible. So the first update I'd like to give you, we had a conference call last week with the School of Government and the last time we spoke we talked about revenue replacement that is estimated right now to be about $8 million out of our $11 million grant. And at this time and based on their recommendation, they have not given us any updated and based on their recommendation, they have not given us any updated reporting of the revenue replacement, but they did urge us from the school of government to just wait and see on that that they felt like that we would be getting some new information soon. So for now, I would say let's hold off. I'm making any decisions anytime soon on what to do with the revenue replacement money. Secondly, I would like your request for you today to first of all give me the permission to budget the funds and also to spend the money for two items, one to replace the heating and air conditioning systems at the health department for the purpose of improving the ventilation in one of our health care facilities and also for the purpose of improving technology to purchase an internet box that we would use at our satellite events when we do vaccine events and also testing at satellite events which we do still do some quite a bit. So we would like to purchase that box. It's approximately $6,000 and the air conditioning replacement is approximately 63,000. So that's the only item. Two items I like for you to take action on the day for me to be able to do the budget amendment and to also have permission to spend around $70,000 on those two items for now. Then secondly, I have some information at the request of Commissioner Garner to do some research on the premium pay. So I have a handout that I'd like to give you. It's very short. I went back through the inner and final rule paperwork and I got into their definitions of what premium pay is and I just wanted to go back through you with that briefly and I came up with some new estimates and did a little research on what other counties were doing based on Mr. Garner's request and so I just wanted to point out to you just to give you a little bit of information on this hand out I've given you at the top is the definitions of what they consider to be eligible workers and what essential work the definition of essential work is. And also the measurement period measurement period of payments. So it goes retroactively and also today going forward. So workers who worked in the past and workers who are working now and going forward through the grant period which is December 2026 So at the last time I spoke with you We discussed doing a $1,500 payment to all employees Full-time and part-time permanent employees that does not include substitutes I do want to recommend that we amend my part-time permanent employees that does not include substitutes. I do want to recommend that we amend my, I do want to change my original request after doing some research to change the bonus such that we can give employees a net deposit of $1,500. So $1,500 goes in their pocket versus $1,500 minus the state federal deductions. And then, and speaking with Mr. Garner, he wanted to be able to give some type of extra incentive to the employees that worked in vaccine clinics and worked during the testing and I felt that that was a good suggestion but I also felt and this is my personal opinion especially because of the definition for eligible workers and essential work that we also had many other employees based on the definitions that were at heightened risk. For example your jailers, your law enforcement officers, your telecommunicators, your EMTs and your paramedics, your in-home aids, your emergency management staff, your housekeeping staff, transportation. I don't have that list but we'll discuss that. Nutrition, site attendance, social services, adult and protective social workers. And those are if you go back and read your interim final rule, they are included in what's called the critical sectors that the premium pay is supposed to be an including transportation Mr. Dale that they want us to focus on for these payments. So I asked that not only do we not focus just on the health department but we also focus on some of these other staff members if we're going to pay an additional bonus on top of $1,500 that we consider these other sectors of employees. But I need some guidance on who you want me to put on the list. If I, if this list that I have is, if there's someone else, I need to take off, put on. But what I recommend is that we give a bonus such that those employees and that list by the definition of the rule, the sector's deemed critical to protect the health and well-being of residents, receive a bonus such that their net deposit is $2,500, and then all other employees would receive $1,500 as net deposit. If you go that route. And then I gave a third option just for you guys to just to give you some options that one of the other counties, New Hanover did this, is the same option you have two tiers of employees based on the heightened risk and they also parerated the bonuses based on the time that they worked from March 3rd, 2020, to current when the bonus was issued. So the different amounts I gave you an estimate of how much it would cost out of the grant based on the number of full-time and part-time employees employed at the time that I rang up the numbers for your estimates. So, for clarification number two and number three are they same? With the exception number three is a pro-rated version of number two. What I did is I took from March 3rd, which is basically the entire month of March through August 1st, per rated the full, if you worked a full month, it was per rated based on the number of full months you worked during that time period. Because I have to have a cutoff point to be able to give you a number on which I've appropriated everybody's bonuses to be able to give you a number today. But we can always adjust that period based on when you decide to approve it when you want me to issue the payment. So you're saying option three is paying the people based on the time that they serve. Yes, so if you were, I think two is just me and I, period. Right, and the love for the whole period. Yes, and I will say once again, my personal opinion, because I don't want it to be said that I feel like one employee did more than the other or one employee is at heightened risk. The other I just am concerned that some employees if we get into putting people in tears that you're going to cause up you know some employees to feel like they weren't as appreciated as others because we some have some departments that may not have been health workers but governor the governor said you required to go to work, you had to keep your office open, and so you had to go. And so I don't know how that will, I don't know how that'll follow on the opinions of the employee, so I just wanted to put that out there as we discuss these different groups. Because there are some groups that, based on the governor's suggestions were essential workers and they were made to keep their offices open. One example is tax office and the register of deeds office. So do we put them in this list? You have any more questions tracing on this item before we go back to the original item. We're going to go back to the original item before we take any action on this one. I'll go back up on the table. I just want to know if you got any more questions and then we'll go back to the original. Yeah I just wanted to give you some options and all the information you need to make a good decision. There's 539 the total employees that we have right now. That was, as of I believe, I think August 1st. August 1st. It'll change depending on the final decision, yes sir. So it would be as a who was employed. So if you're not longer employed, you would not get a bonus. Right. Any other questions on that item? If not, let's go back to the agenda. Y'all heard her request on the two items that she was looking on the agenda was the opportunity to budget the ARPA funds and to use $70,000 basically in the support of public health expenditures. Second. I got a motion and a second to approve the finance officer budget, the ARPA funds, and authorized the use of $70,000 for support of public health expenditures. Any further questions or comments? Here and then, all in favor say aye all opposed carry now based on this other information is this something that we need some time to to digest and bring it back to the next meeting or is this something that we want to look at trying to take any action on yet tonight. I'm ready to move tonight. I have one question. You missed the post like tax office and the rest of the seats. Still required on the work when everyone else was sitting on. Based on the governor's emergency action, he said we had to keep those offices. You don't include those correct? No, because I'm going based on the definition of the American Rescue Plan. Trying to, because it's hard for me to determine that because we were all considered essential, but we understand that there were some people like said, folks that were in the jail, you're law enforcement staff that as a matter of public safety, so going back to eligible workers that were essential to the public health and safety, if you go on that definition. So you can see where I'm kind of getting back to, it's very hard for me to try to figure out what's the best way to do this, to make sure it's fair to all employees and that the ones if we're going to put them in different tiers are equally recognized. And if I understood what you were presenting to us. Yes, sir. You were looking at a $1,500 to the general employees and $2,500 to the ones that you felt were, I'm going to use your word exposed because you were looking that involved in the testing and the clinics and that kind of stuff. Well, not necessarily. And then you went back and, I mean, that was the first comment. Yes. Then you went back and added the that was the first comment yes then you went back and added the different departments that you felt like were exposed just as much as potentially one that was testing or vaccinating because of their job and you know the exposure they would have with a possible positive case. Is that is that the just of this? I tried to be objectively fair in that situation. I'm Mr. Chairman if I may yes sir this is going to a lot of employees will think this is not fair if everyone doesn't get the same thing. And I'm just throwing that out there for you to consider when you make your decision. This is your decision. But there's admin staff in some of these departments that will not get it because they're not frontline health care workers. We've made that decision because that's not fair. They weren't as exposed as some of their counterparts in those departments who were out there actually at vaccine events or having to innovate a patient in back of an ambulance. But this is very very hard for Miss Chestnut myself to draw a line as to who gets it and who doesn't get it and no matter what decision we make, no matter what decision you make, someone is gonna second guess that decision. I just want to make you aware of that. That's why we thought giving the same amount to everyone is probably the best option although I don't think that's the opinion of some of our personnel or maybe not some of the board. And I respect that. I just want to put that out there food for thought for the board. Yes sir. For clarification for it's a definition. If we were to decide to give everybody the same amount, the definition doesn't prevent that, correct? No, it does you did it in the sheer essence of it, you would not be given all employees in my opinion a bonus. If you really wanted to get down into it, right. But then you can get back into a philosophical discussion once again of saying that we're all essential and we were all exposed because based on how they talk about what essential work is, is the fact that you either handled something else, someone else handled. So if I picked up a piece of paper that somebody else did or if I walked into an office where there was another person there, then I was considered doing essential work. And did this through August 1? This was, yes. I mean, this whole grant can be measured through December 26th. And the point is that you can justify it, especially with the Delta variant of horrible vaccination rates we have, is that everybody on top of it is exposed to the displeant down unless I guess you're being the Vaccinated or something. And that's why I spoke to the Measurement Period because we can't Just think of it as who was here Back when it was really bad. It was who was back then because For example, I included in home AIDS. They were shut down and Were not going into the homes. However, they're going into the Homes now. So is it fair for Me to say you don't deserve needs, they were shut down and were not going into the homes. However, they're going into the homes now. So is it fair for me to say you don't deserve a bonus as a health care worker because you weren't in the home then but you are now. And the way the the the law is written, you're in the home now, you're at a heightened exposure. And you're in one of those critical sectors. so you see where I'm just I just don't really know what to. I'm just thinking around the health department for those people they're daily truly exposed to COVID positive people testing and also to be honest with the jails. And yes that's my other example. I'm a daydresser, just my senior buddy, there was a couple of, along with that. And your paramedics? Absolutely. So, so we can't just, it's hard to like, Mr. Dave, Mr. Branson said that it's hard for us to draw a line. Well, with the numbers and the categories of people that you use. Yes, sir. What I'm reading here is 539 employees. That's the total. For the total number of employees that were required to come to work. But with the total number of employees that were required to come to work. I have to go a little further with that of that number. All of them passed a 90 day probationary period. No. So then you go back in to do you want to pro-rate it? I would think it would need to be one fee or one amount inclusive of all if you really want to try to classify, go with the standard being if you haven't been passionate a probationary period if you want to look at that Outside of that I think we pick a number and give them all the same amount across the board That's going to assist with any morale challenges. That's been out there It's appreciation knowing that everybody got the same amount Irrigala so what he or she may have done right that way you don't have the debate about well He is she is better than I because of X Y See yeah, if you've got an approach is home. We've been here a month or three months You get in the same thing has been here since March. I'm saying if it's fast the probation area period Yes, I don't agree with that I understand but I think it helps tip taper any discussion that goes outside There that that can be taken is you don't care about longevity of employees Versus the short-term people that's only been here three or four months versus somebody that served 20 years if they've been here 20, but they've been here since March 1st throughout the whole COVID process. I just want to correct one thing if you don't want a probation period here is 12 months. Yep, I don't know, we have to talk about that. Okay. So with that said, if they have passed a probation period, they would have been here 12 months. So that resolved both of you's debate or question, does it not? If I may, if you have to have a way to truly separate who gets what, that's probably the most. Who gets what that's probably the most you're saying if there no one who's been here less than 12 months ago Yeah That makes it where everybody that number that you give out is that that number based on the fact that you've been here 12 months ago. I don't I don't want you came to your cup anyway So you're saying if you've worked here for 11 months, you're not gonna get the bones If you use the Prevention period if you've worked here for 11 months you're not going to get the bonus. If you use the prevention app, you go by what's set to be the line and saying. I think that's part of the challenge just throughout. It just goes back to pro rating it on a month by month basis. She's got that figured up for you in number three. I don't know how many employees that affects but their total cost. Quite a bit. I mean you're looking if you did if you were looking at two or three you're looking at uh three hundred thousand dollars difference into two two options. two options. And in both, I think it was about about 80 employees that were paraded just off the top of my head. Okay. In option two and option three, 539 employees are receiving money. Mm-hmm. Yes. The difference in option two and option three is in option two. It's not pro-rated so no matter how long they've been here, they're getting the same amount. Yes, sir. In option three, you're paying them based on their months of service. Yes, sir. Hold months. Does that resolve the issue that you have if they're getting paid for what months they've been here? I'm saying, for me, person, if you an employee, you should get the money. But to make it work, as far as a vote, whatever's in the best interest of landing out to move forward. Because like our commission Thompson said, if you leave out the house, you're putting yourself at risk. And all that has to be considered. I mean, in thinking, and you know, I'll speak to this and please everybody else, you speak your piece of how you feel. If you're paying them, if everybody that works is getting paid, but they're getting paid on a monthly basis for what time they've served, I don't know how you can be any more fair than that and if I'm missing something please speak up because that appears to me to be very fair to everybody and that sounds so would you want to change the level of the bonus or still keep it at a net of $1500 you You've got a two-tier system there, right? Well, if you're going to give everybody the same amount and just pray rate it, then you would just have one bonus amount. Is that what you're saying, Commissioner Edwards? Is that what you've got figured up and up? No, option three is on a two-tier basis. Because that was based on some recommendations that I discuss with Commissioner Garner So the two tier basis brings you back to pick it and choose in between the But we can pray rate the first option is when you're trying to say You're trying to pick and choose based on risk and That's what is the difficult. And I know that is administrative fact we make have to make hard decisions all the time but this is just such a sensitive subject with all staff members. You know. When I came up with this in my mind and in my thought process, you look at these departments that have been lined out here. Me and Tracy had a lengthy conversation last week about this on the telephone. And she brought up some departments that I hadn't considered. But, you know, just like, just like the Jailers, and when you say law enforcement, I've even made the comment that, you know, I think it should be sworn because there was a period of time there that that we're just talking about this office. It was shut down to the public. You couldn't even get in. And so, but your law enforcement still had to respond to calls. They still had to work the vaccine clinics. They, Jailer still had to protect the inmates where it was running rampant. And, and be frank about it, we, I mean, well, I'm not going to say that because I can't prove it, but I've got a personal feeling about a case that was in that jail that didn't turn out well for some people. But we can sit here and we can hash it back and forth and back and forth. It doesn't mean that we don't think that one employee is less important than the other. But a lot of these departments didn't have people living out of them. They were shut down. I mean, who's to say if I was in an office with somebody that was infected that I was just not as exposed as anybody else. You went to the grocery store and you can get it. And anybody else. I'm just being the devil's advocate. Stop to get gas. You know, I'm not trying to understand what you're saying. But who to say when you get up and walk out here and get in that car and leave? You don't get in the ring? Die. On the way home. God forbid it happen. Right. But it's life. Well. I think everybody, every employee that works for this kind of, you know, you have some people that some department that's not even on here, like the sanitation workers. Oh, the website, it's been several times I went out there and I gave the attendance a mass where I went and they had to deal with people ending out all day. So to be fair about it, my thoughts are to give everyone the same amount, per rated based on the time served up on the number three. But every employee deserves to be treated fairly. And if I was an employee, I would want to get a bonus. And it's a bonus. I had asked many many other discussions about this, this, our rescue money this past week and bonuses the way to go because you give it to them on the paycheck. Then, it would be so different, put them in the different tax bracket and all that. So bonus, bonus better. They will still have to pay federal and state taxes on it. And, yeah, and retirement. Put it in the retirement, then that'll, that will give them a little bit of extra. In the retirement system, yes. Because it will be counted as earn wages. But like I said, we have calculated it such that they will have a net amount in their checks that they can look forward to. Good luck. I think that is a good way to improve the crisis recommendation of the three on the American Rescue Plan. Okay, I don't know if you're up here now, but I have a few head events. So to clear, file number three, we're going to use the tiers that are recommended. Okay, cut on a minute. I've got a motion that we go with number three. I need a second before we go into the discussion. Well, I was I was trying to hear the motion to make sure I was right on what he said. Okay, repeat your motion, commissioner. As laid out in recommendation number three is traces. With the cues. Yeah. I'll say. Okay. Now we can open it up for discussion. I got a motion to say. Okay. I want to clarify one thing that's in the fine print that everybody understands before you vote on it. I have put all department heads in the lower tier. Money wise. That is another heated discussion. in the lower tier, money wise. Whoa. That is another heated discussion. I know that there are some that were given shots and swab and mails or nose or whatever they did and then there was some that were moving equipment. But there were also some that served meals. There were some that had to go help children. So where do I draw the line with department hands? I have folks in the tax office that work. I had registered deeds. I had all kinds of folks that had to work. All department heads. All department heads. All with my traits. And that's where. So once again, I was trying to be on a fairness level for administrative staff. So what you say in commission, is that you're going to have to tell us which department heads then because Sheriff's over to jail. That's his area of expertise. He's a sworn officer. Yes. So that was kind of where I was once again, not quite sure I'm glad you clarified that for me right We're giving it to the adult and for children's protective service of social workers Is that qualified the That's that's it's very difficult for Tracy and I to fit everyone into one category. Very difficult. So we may need some guidance from you guys on these questions. Is it as difficult if we just have one number and everybody get the same number? I don't think that's the way the word's going. And I'm not trying to make it difficult from one tier or the other. I really promise you that I just want to make sure it's that is clear so that we make sure everybody's paid based on the the pleasure of the board properly and That there's no misunderstanding So with with the option three that's on the floor right now Did I understand you the part my heads will not get paid they'll get paid but they will not get paid $2,500 this all department has no matter what part of you work for will get paid $1,500 with option three I want it understood every county employee all 539 will get something 1500 or 2000 25 25 hundred. I'm sorry. That comes in based the 2500 tier comes in based on what Miss Chestnut has laid out in option three. If that's that's the final decision of the board unless you want to make changes to it. That is a net amount correct. Net if you were the entire time through I'll guess first. That's a net amount. Yes, net amount in your check. Yes, we'll clear that amount. Yes sir. We will give you a bonus such that you will net out that amount. Yes. The employees that are deemed pretty cool to protect the health of them being a resident. For that we were able to form a related deal. We will receive 25 antics. No, just 25. or that we were familiar with being will receive 25 and 50 no just 25 one bonus the first sentence um yes yeah the first sentence lays out the Gross bonus for the 2500 Net bonus and then list out Critical to protect the health and will being a resonance. So you're saying the department heads that are over the one-on-fourth of jail for snow and Those were all being not critical basic and those were all being not critical. That's it. Once again, like I said, that that we're going to say the sheriff was because he's law enforcement. And not just to share if the health director, the director of emergency management. Yes. The aging director services aging aging the housekeeping staff. Do you have the ability with, you know, watching front of us to tell us how much more money we would be talking about if the head of departments did get the additional $1,000. did get the additional $1,000. I mean, it's a minimal amount of money. I mean, I couldn't take you off top of my head, but it'd be about 1,000 per staff member. So if you're talking what, 10 department heads? At most. Yeah. Then. So I guess what I'm asking the commissioners, and thinking about the motion is on the floor. Do you want to, if you're going to call these departments, critical departments and pay to 2500, do you want to have the department head considered in the 2500? Because what she had calculated was 15. Yes. My general thought is any department had that overseas any of those critical to protect. Okay. Be included with the 2500 and those that are not following that category that we didn't make up. Okay. Be considered. That's what I'm thinking. And that's the reason I'm trying to clarify it. Because I felt like when you made the motion, that's where you were. Because I was there with you. Because I didn't realize it until we got the motion on the floor. Yeah. That the department head of these departments were excluded. Until we got the motion on the floor. So I mean to me, that can be added in your motion. All right. What do you think? Can I just make this complicated, but I just want to make sure we cover all the bases. The $4,237.29 figure. How do we come up with an exact figure for every employee in that not knowing how much they get taken out of state and federal? Good question. So there's going to be some employees just going to get more than $2,500. So when you are paying supplementary income such as a bonus, you can use the flat supplementary rate, federal and state income tax, which is 22% and 5.35%. The other is FICA Medicare, which is 7.65 and retirement, which for the employee is 6%. And you can add that all up, so try it from one, divide it by the net bonus and that gives you the grace. And that's where that figure came from. Well, what we have on the floor, and please correct me if I'm saying something wrong here, okay? But the motion that we've been discussing and what we have on the floor was option three. What we have learned during the discussion is that did not include the department heads. What appears in the discussion is we want the department heads included. So, do we go back to the gentleman that made the motion and add that? Do we withdraw and start over? I think you're longer. I'm in the motion. Okay. Thank you, Tim. All right. I'll mend the motion to go with three and the tier one I guess we need to include health departments to include the department heads as credit in the critical employees to protect. Can I, can I offer some help with your emotion? I don't want to offer a motion. Sure. Distance. Motion to approve. Bonus says laid out an option three with all department heads over the employee's deemed essential included in the net $2,500 bonus category. All right. Seven minutes. Second. Another question. Kay, come back here. So we're all in force. It still will be a 6% on top of this. Great. Oh yeah, I forgot about 401k. Said their bonus will be a little bit. No, the 401k is not a net for the employees and employee your cost. So yeah, it'll be a little bit higher cost, but it will not change the gross bonus. Their net will still be. It will not affect. 6% or higher. 5%. Well, what? Well, what? Six percent for the employee, 5% for the employee year, which does not affect the employee deductions that would give them their net amount. The 5% only affects what we pay out of our pocket out of our budget, which really does not affect the general fund because this is all our per money. So we're spending federal dollars. So yes, but I'm glad you made that point because I did not consider to law enforcement for in one K when I made my total. So I'm glad you said that. But as far as the the budget and amounts. Yeah, I mean, I just wanted everybody to know that I mean, I knew figure me and Jessica, but I wanted to have three commission to know that that figure was going to change for them because of their requirement, state law requirement for their 401k contributions. Yeah, no. Any further questions or discussion? discussion. I just wanted I'm not going to throw another monkey rent in it. I'm just going to say for the folks that'll be listening to this that the pay is for the intent of paying on the September 3rd pay period. Before I call for a vote I just want this to be cleared up with all the discussion we had. We're going with the motion that you wrote down. So will you read the one you wrote one more time just to make sure that is what we have on record? Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. Motion by Mr. Thompson to approve the bonuses laid out in option three with all the apartment heads over the employees deemed essential included in the net $2,500 bonus category and that was seconded by Commissioner Branch Everybody's clear Everybody in favor say aye Everybody opposed Here he Thank you. I'm sure the employees would thank you as well appreciate it Alright that brings us to item number five I think that's called for a reboot now for the Okay, that brings us up to item number five, but Elizabeth Stiles, please. Good evening. I'm here tonight to request the board adopt the Duke Wing County flood damage prevention ordinance. This had to be updated due to changes in the North side general statutes. There were some references, text amendments that had to be made to our ordinance in order to follow the new General Statutes references. So I'm here to request that the ordinance be re-adopted. Okay, I have a motion in the second to adopt the Update Dupland County flood damage prevention ordinance as presented and authorize the chairman to sign the same. In discussion. All in favor say aye. Thank you Elizabeth. Thank you for that. Presented first off. Yeah, I passed that win. Just just wanted you to follow suit there. Good job Elizabeth. All right, that brings us to item number six, Tracy Simmons, Kineke, please. Good evening, Mr. Chairman and fellow commissioners. I'm going to go to the other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other other with revision one. It's an additional funding that Region eight. We are the host county, on sort of pass-through funds that we have. For additional funds in order to include family care and behavioral health facilities, as additional facility types that are served by the regional prevention support team. This addition fund supports these teams and ensures their success in providing onsite infection prevention and control control assistance training and consultations to all types of post-acute care facilities, particularly those facility types that do not have trained medical staff. I also provided some additional information from previous about the regional prevention support team. So the requested action is to accept the additional $165,622, which for this total project for physical year 2122 is $413,652 in our improvement of a budget amendment. Do I have a motion? So move. Second. Have a motion to the second to accept the ED Regional Prevention Support Team A8 545, Revision No. 1, 465,622 dollars, total it $413,652 and approved the budget amendment for the FY21 22 year. In discussion. All in favor say aye. unanimous. Thanks. The second agenda item is an additional AAA agreement in them 361. It's the ELC reopening school liaison position. This agreement inom provides temporary funding for the Dupland County Health Department to hire one public health nurse, school health liaison for the coordination of COVID-19 screening testing and vaccine administration efforts and to coordinate other school health and public health services as described in the memorandum of agreements, reference and attachment, paragraph B of the Agreement Addendum, Child Health, Physical Year 22351. This service period for this AA is from June 1, 2021 through May 31, 2022. So the requested, there's three requested actions. One is to accept this AA for $115,000 to approval to create a 1.04 FTE public health nurse two grant funded position for fiscal year 2021-2022 at a grade of 73 and then approval for a budget amendment for this money. Pleasure to board. Second. I have a motion in a second to accept the ELC reopening school delays on 8, 8, 361, $415.00. Number two, approve the creation of one full time public health nurse to grant fund employee position for FY 2021-2022 out of eight grade 73 and approved the associated budget amendment for FY 2021-2022. Any more discussion? All in favor say aye? All opposed? Carried. Okay That brings us to the add-on to discuss the COVID survey. Mr. Chair, members of the Board, I have Ms. Brain here. She is prepared to discuss the survey that was distributed to county employees. Our health director, of course, is here. She can discuss any numbers or facts of the current COVID situation in the county and I'll also make myself available to answer any questions you may have so we'll just open the floor up for the board to start asking us any questions. Well Miss Pam will you come up and give us a quick summary of the survey and then our questions can start after that. Okay, good afternoon. Good afternoon. Did everybody get my cut off by e-mails? I did. Did you see the e-mails? I went ahead, Davis mentioned this late this afternoon, so we hit him in a quick color copy of the summary. Obviously it's not going to show you 191 responses. This is the same thing you even know about. Yes sir. But at least we can go into the summary together. Thank you. So, basically before we had to pull it down and let's go left, thanks to Elizabeth. She was one that picked up and called Davis about the survey being posted on the Republican Party's social media site. And we were concerned that we would see some citizen input in this survey, obviously, was just for employee input. But I dig a back-and-look after that was, after it was caught, we only had five responses afterwards. They appear to be employees, so I just went ahead and left them on. But as you can see from the summaries, number one, do you believe we're in face covering helps stop the spread of COVID? No, it was 41% and yes, was 58%. And then, of course, we have the responses with that. If you, as a highlight to some of those responses, you don't have to read them. Just go. Don't read them. Just go, OK. Make it simple. All right, and number three, do you believe it's important to have measures such as wearing a face coverings to allow entry into public facilities? Yes, was 58% and 41% was no. So we're kinda around the 50-50 mark here. Do you believe everyone should be willing to wear face coverings to protect oneself and others? Yes, was 52% and no was 47%. Do you believe there should be face covering requirement for only staff members who are not able to provide proof they have been vaccinate? Obviously that's a big no. 81% is no and 18% is yes. They want everybody to be treated the same whether you're vaccinated or non-vaccinated is from the comments. Have you received COVID-19 vaccine? 61% said yes, 38% said no. We followed that up with the question, if you not, do you plan to receive the COVID-19 vaccine? 70% said no. 17% said maybe and 12% said yes. And as you read probably in the responses, most of them had already made up their mind. And they really didn't want, it was very close 50-50 on whether they wanted us to provide additional resources as you see in the next pod chart. Would you find it helpful if the county provided employees with additional resources on the COVID vaccine educational information vaccination events. 48% said no, 51% said yes, it was very slim there. And I think those are all the pie charts. And obviously you got all the 191 responses. Basically, the responses were to treat everybody the same. Some believe masks work, some believe masks don't. They all have scientific proof for their opinion. They were all questioning about the different materials. The masks are not fitting properly. There were questions about that. Medical conditions, religious freedoms, it should be a personal choice to wear the mask. A lot of people said that. My body, my choice, I think is what I read a lot. They do believe in limiting access to buildings currently with the Delta variant. A lot of them said that. There's a lot of them said, as you all read, mash and not be mandated, but encourage, encourage, stay home if you're sick. They also talked about, we didn't do a lot of telecommunic, commuting, letting people work from home. Obviously, we couldn't do that because of our internet. In certain areas of the county, we weren't able to do that with certain positions. Any questions on the survey? I sent you also the paper. We only got about 31 paper. Yeah, the roughly speaking 30 to 35% response is that what we got. As I look through your sheet, look at the numbers, they can get on the number and pull as we got. Somewhere in the 30 to 35% is who participate. We probably would have got more if we didn't have to pull it down. I had a lot of people come after I pulled it down. Why did you pull it down? I hadn't got the email out fast down. Why did you pull it down? I hadn't got the email out fast enough. Why did you pull it down? I can't do my responses. I think we would have gotten, I mean, they had another two additional days. I think we would have got a pretty good response if we didn't have to pull it down. But you did have some that responded in email after you pulled it down, is that what that's like? Car respondents was to us. Yes sir. The paper surveys, yes sir. We disseminated it among department heads and asked them to make it available to all of their employees who had not had a chance to respond via email so they were able to participate in Mr. Chairman. So again, like I said, people had the opportunity if they felt really strong about the decision. Yes, sir. And the results, as you referred to, was fairly equal, but it truly leads me to believe on these results that if you count numbers for what the numbers say, then the majority of the people that responded are saying they feel that we need to mass protection is what I gathered out of this. You know, so, you know, the disappointing thing to me, and I'm just going to speak and tell you how your German feels, I really felt like that the people that were vaccinated needed something extra to encourage more people to vaccinate. And when I see this report that there's 80, almost 82%, that says that makes no difference. Then I also see that you're not encouraging, there's not an encouragement for vaccination from the vaccinated people having something different than the non-vaccinated people. You know, that's disappointing to me because from my standpoint, I was hoping that the survey would give us information to help encourage people to get vaccinated. Matter of fact, my whole intent originally with the survey that I was asking for is to really try to find out what kind of information that our employees need from us to encourage them to get vaccinated. That was what my original request was for sending out a survey. You know, the mask was an add-on, you know know in the process from where I was coming. So you know I've learned something from a survey which that's good that's what you do survey for. But like I said I don't see us having anything from this survey that tells me that we're going to encourage people to go out and get vaccinated. encourage people to go out and get vaccinated. No, I would agree that with you on that, because pretty much what the response is, what I heard from them was they've already made up their mind, which I'm a little disappointed in that with the Delta variant being out there and being so contagious. And a lot of the people in the hospital are the unvaccinated. If I was unvaccinated I would probably run into Tracey to get my vaccine because I don't want to be in the hospital and want to earn the hospital a little bit too late to make that decision. But what I read in a lot of my responses was they pretty much had already made up their mind. They actually, assuming that you all read all the responses, a lot of them said the county did a good job with it. A lot of people, they said that Tracy in the Health Department was very educational, offered a number of events. They said the administration, they actually even said the Board of Commissioners was very good about promoting information and doing the, I think, they were very happy with the leave that you guys extended. So we did get quite a few compliments in the survey as well that we were doing a good job. So. Tracy. Yeah, good. Have you since everybody that basically feel like it seems like everybody's getting COVID? It's not vaccinated at least now. Have you seen your vaccination numbers pick up here in the last week or did they? Not drastically, not as bad as you. Not as where you would hope they would have. But you also have got to think about there with the number of cases and the number of contacts to those cases, those individuals are on quarantine. Right. So it still may be several weeks later before we see that there is a drastic increase. In the last two weeks, there's been 12 from the last board meeting to tonight. There's been 1200 first doses given and 503 second doses given. In the last two weeks. In the last two weeks. In the last two weeks, we pulled those numbers free gas tonight. So 1200 more, I mean 1200 being given in two weeks, which is probably any increase of maybe five to six hundred. I do, and I applaud that, and I'm glad that's happening, but I will point out, I check the DHHS dashboard late this afternoon and we still have the second lowest vaccination rate in the state. Yeah, we have any counting. We're 99. Could you give us a report? Sure. Who's that? Oh, it's... Okay. Down the notes. Okay, so the past two weeks, so from August the second to today, August the 16th is the date I'm going to share to begin with with you guys. So per the DHHS dashboard today, the county's positivity rate is 14.1 compared to 13.5 two weeks ago. The state rate is 12.8 compared to 10.6 so we've gone up 0.6% in the last two weeks and the state is almost up 2%. And remember, those are the individuals who have got tested with a lab confirmed test. So Walmart, you can buy two by next now test kits in a box for 1988 at Walmart. So we do know there's a lot of home test kits that are being purchased and those results are not reported to anyone. So again, just to say those numbers again, the positivity rate currently is 14.1% for the county compared to 12.8% to the state. From August the second through August the 16th, the county has had a total of 685 lab confirmed positive COVID-19 cases per the North Carolina Electronic Reporting System. From the ages of 0 to 4 has been 29 individuals. From the ages of 5 to 12 has been 51 individuals. From the ages of 13 to 18 has been 61 individuals from ages of 19 to 39 has been 270 individuals which is approximately 40% of the total live confirmed cases. The ages of 40 to 64 is 194 individuals and in the cases of 65 and older is 80. So majority of our cases are between the ages of 19 to 39 at 230 and then 40 to 64 at 194. We are seeing a slight increase in the age range where we saw earlier on couple weeks back at the end of July was a lot of our children adolescence population. So you now you're seeing their potential parents, grandparents becoming infected from that. Per today's health department work list that includes electronic and paper results. The team down at the health department is managing 590 cases reported on August the second was 327 cases. cases reported on August the second was 327 cases of county residents that are currently in isolation due to their positive test results. There are a number of outbreaks and clusters in various settings throughout the county. The county still remains at high level of community transmission per the CDC. We're currently at 31% of our population is fully vaccinated and 35% have received at least one dose. What about a hospital? Last week the hospital was at full capacity as of Friday afternoon. Last week the hospital was at full capacity as of Friday afternoon. They are as of today too, and our EMS system is stretched to the maximum right now, but they are still answering all their calls. How many deaths? Currently we're at a hundred and forty nine deaths So we've had an increase of Six deaths probably in the last two to three weeks. We lost another county resident today lost one over the weekend And then last Sunday we lost another one. So I do not know the numbers. I want to go back to the survey for a moment. I think the main goal for the survey for me was just to make certain that our people feel like their voices do matter. We gave them an opportunity to speak freely in terms of where they are and they're understanding about the numbers. It's not a situation where we just act in cavalier in terms of making decisions. We really wanted people to know that, we care about what we want to hear from them. Having said that, looking at the numbers, we're still headed in the wrong direction. And I guess my question would be to you, Tracy, and may have been asked in answer for just clarification, why in face coverings can't help with the reduction of the spread? You can. With that as a clear understanding, the numbers are currently headed in the wrong direction. I mean, my thoughts personally is that we really don't have an option but to do things different from what we've been doing for our people. And it's not something that's going to be long term. I might think the school board is already stepped in the right direction. We give monitoring, whatever decision we make. For a period of four weeks to see if these numbers are halting or redirecting. And at that time, whatever we decide to put in place could be adjusted accordingly. But to say that is going to work itself out is probably not the best land to travel in that. I agree. If and I'll ask the county manager. County Manager. If the decision that was made by us, you know, to direct G, is wearing face covers, or if your decision is to recommend wearing face cover, would that be 24 hour or full time on the job or with that be if you wear it into the office and then you go to your office like Mr. David's office when you have no one in your office you got a social distance would we say that was fine for him to take his mask off? Because he's got a social distance. I think that's permissible, yes sir, as long as you're in your own workspace and have an adequate social distance and you could take the mask off. But if you're in any public area, hallway, restroom, lobby of the building, you would put it on regardless because you may meet someone unexpectedly. And anybody entering one of our buildings would have to wear one and would have to wear one by they are in here because if they're dealing with somebody they wouldn't have social distance that Understand then or how would you look at that? Yes, sir. I would require public entering Build county buildings and facilities to wear a mask to protect the employee if the employee is gonna be asked to wear a mask I think it's only fair that the public should be asked to wear a mask and there was would all county facilities to wear a mask and there was would all county facilities have mask available for an individual if they come to the door without a mask or would they be turned away to go back home to come back with their own mask. We will make masks available through our emergency management department. We'll put in a resource request. We'll take an inventory of our stock and if we don't have enough we'll put in a resource request. We'll take an inventory of our stock. And if we don't have enough, we'll put in a resource request through the State Department of Public Safety and get some more. I'm going to go one step further that I might wish to ask this question once it hits the wall. Are you going to take employee disciplinary action if someone does not wear a mask? If you tell me to mandate it for employees and yes sir I will have to take disciplinary action under the personnel policy if you refuse a direct order. Otherwise there's no mandate Mr. Chairman. Be introspective. I'm just trying to. Well, I've got another question on the hills of that. And this is for you. How do you mandate the employees at the sheriff's office and the rest of your deeds to work at the pleasure of that elected official. We have no hiring and fire and a disciplinary right, so. No, that's right. Those are the only two departments that don't work directly. So it's not gonna be a, it potentially could not, could potentially could be a non-county wide mass mandate. I think I speak for Miss Savage and the rest of the detail is she required. She don't. I think I speak for Miss Savage and the rest of the detail. It's sure quiet. I think I speak for Sheriff Wallace. And I'm just asking questions here. Yeah, I understand. Judge Ceton and Judge Henry have already mandated in the courthouse, so the rest of the D staff is wearing it. And I feel confident Sheriff Wallace will, he'll work with me. He'll do what I ask him. We have that relationship. And I'm assuming with everything said, as the county manager, you would like for us as the board to give you a direction so you can manage it in the pleasure of the commissioners or if that are you not asking for that? The governor has not mandated mask as he did last year when I instituted a mask mandate from employees. Therefore, I don't feel like I can do it without the backing of the elected officials of the county. If that's an issue. That's a good question. I mean, yes. One thing Mr. Chairman, this brand to just raise kind of on that point is when it comes to applying this policy to the public, what causes the fact that we're not under the governor's order, I don't know that you could be able to discipline them or have enforceably removed from the property. I think we strongly suggest that they wear it, but employees will require the employees to wear it. But I'm not sure about the general public and that is something that they come up with, surf city, right? You know, the Tammy and Jerry surf city. He was saying that because there's nothing from the governor in his active order, if a citizen came on a public property and wanted to conduct business, you could not conduct business with them just because they refused to wear a mask. Because there's nothing under the cover. But we have words from Judge Henry and Judge Seaton. It says, you know, all four courthouses in our district you have to wear a mask on, let your own personal work space. Have someone's trying to conduct other business like Clark's Office of Retrodeeds. Is there a sanction? No, but our bailiffs who are all masked and no, they're not letting them in. It seems to be work at this point. So I don't think it's a big problem. I mean, you agree with that? Yeah, I mean, I guess it would come down to if we had a citizen who stood the ground and non-leaving the force to accommodate him and then just try to get him in and out of school as far as possible. I don't think we'd be able to have law enforcement come on the move. No, I agree I have more. I had numerous employees contact me over this survey. And if you go back to the email that was sent out August the 9th at 511 PM and Big Boat Print, all responses are anonymous. Then you go to the email that went to employees, dated 18 at 336, we're receiving responses from non-county employees They did 18 at 336. We're receiving responses from non-county employees and they wanted to know how we knew we were non-county if they were anonymous, those to be anonymous to start with. I think I wanna speak for Miss Brain here. I think that was a poorly worded email. Not a Vinnie, I mean, it was not malicious on her part at all. I think she should have said that we may be because it was shared on social media. And once it was put out on social media, we had no way of knowing if that was coming from an internal county server or from the outside, outside of county government without doing forensic search by IT department and we just didn't wanna do that to try to pick out responses. I've just had several, or I had over 10 employees in this county called me and asked me that question and I told them I would ask that the meeting and get back with them. I understand their concern, but maybe Miss Braim should have said May and I will assure you I have no idea who responded or what whatever and maybe I was rushing to get that out so people wouldn't know because I was getting calls on why they couldn't respond and so maybe in my rush I didn't I wasn't thinking as clearly as I should, but I can show you on Google Forms. I have no idea who responded, who responded, who they are, what even what department. I'm not saying that you did, but I mean, you understand the employees' concerns. Yes. But I was just rushing to get that out to reassure them that why it was being pulled down. I think I only did a two-line or just to try to get it out there quickly. Yeah, it was not a very long email I mean. Yeah, I was just trying to get it out there. In the more discussion or questions we want to ask before we look it, before I ask is there any action that you want to take? I just wanted to say that this was very informative. I team agree with you. I'm disappointed that numbers are so bad as to treating the vaccinated differently than the unvaccinated. I really, I'm respecting what the employees are saying, but I personally disagree a whole bunch. Let's do. Any other questions for anybody that? The biggest problem I have in doing it. We're talking about eight hours a day. The people that don't want to wear them, they're going to go home and take them off. So why control them only one third of the day? If they're not going to be full force and do it 100 percent what are we what are they going to do the other 16 hours a day? My response to that would be that we don't know what we don't know I think we as a team and a leadership role is putting forth the effort to display unity to bring about a reduction in the spread for the county and as a result of that maybe others will buy into the concept I don't think we had a point now where we can continue to have inaction when we are those that should be displaying what is in the perfect wheel so to speak to help others to come along so that the numbers go down. I think the mission is clear that we are just trying to do all that we can from a place of leadership to support others to make the right decision over a period of time to help the calls. This is the board want to take action. I'm open to hear a motion that we're going to take action. And we can discuss after we have it. Anybody want to give a motion? I make the motion that the board gives the county manager the support necessary to move forward will put in a mask mandate for all county employees effective Friday to give it Friday with all the particulars so given by the county manager. Friday. Till our time for whatever information that may need to be put together. I second the motion. Okay, I have a motion on the floor that we do a mass mandate by a FETTIF beginning Friday to end of the day Friday. End of the day. So basically it starts with the people to have to come into work side or the people will have to wear a mask. Is that the motion? Yes sir. and I got a second on land. So now further discussion This mask mandate is gonna be I soon With the personal workspaces you take off. This is about preventing spread right so if we got one of our solid waste guys They don't have a mask on one of the driving the truck So if we got one of our solid waste guys they don't have a mask on one of the drugs in the drug They're by the sales No, sir And we will draft a policy that will be as clear as we can make it as the wind You do and when you don't have to wear the mask in a county office building or facility We have to approve that policy before it takes the fate. No, sir Just ask it right. So to make it easy for you and to make it clear for our employees that may listen to the meeting, should we have in this mass mandate, mass mandate, or social distancing because you have said that social distancing, you're not going to have to wear it. If you're in your own workspace and you're by yourself, as long as you can maintain that social distance outside, and I'm going to rely a lot on Miss Simmons-Carnigee, we're going to sit down and she's going to review the policy with me because she's the resident medical expert on staff. That right, Tracy? I guess. And we will come up with a fair policy, Mr. Smith. I think you should mirror what we had previously. Yeah, right. I'm going to. We should just implement what we had previously because all that was mentioned in there about workspace and that kind of thing. There are certain areas such as the health department that have to wear them all the time. And that's more of an OSHA. That's come out with OSHA since then. So. Transpiration. What all of them all come is that? Is that your directive? Is that something that's from OSHA? That's OSHA. OSHA's come out with some other stuff now. All right. Transportation Department still has to wear on all the time. That's a federal part. That's under governor. That's the governor. So there's some other things in there that change since then but I would say we would go back and look at what we had previously under the governor's executive order. From a health this is all about health said from that standpoint. You agree with this? I think it's a good idea. Right. And there's our look at it's a public health issue. And you know at one time we were down to like 3.8%. Was that correct? We were less than 2% and then we got down to 2. And we actually started out with zero. I think the counting needs to lead this region and doing something like this everywhere. I've been in the last two weeks. I've had to wear a mask. I was in UNC Chapel Hill. I was at Duke and you can't even get into the building without a mask. I was in UNC Chapel Hill, I was at Duke and you can't even get into the building without a mask. And those are some of the top places that deal with health. And so people have their own personal opinions, but that's what they are personal opinions, but when we saw dealing with public health you know it's not just for me by myself but it's for everyone and we stand on your shoulders to get things right and this is just a temporary situation that I think needs to happen. But we can see where our numbers started to increase when the mass mandate restrictions were lessened over back when you go back and look at that. I think it's also important to know too that it's probably going to be at least around 28 days before we start to see a decrease because we have to go through two incubation periods, which one incubation period is 14 days. So this is probably gonna take us some time to get it back down. So. But we still can have that stipulation in there in four weeks we'll take a look at it. Is that the stipulation you put on the chart? Are you made to measure it? If you got that in your motion, I'll the serve? You made the motion. If you got that in your motion, I'll see if the second agrees with that. How about if we can review the policy at the second meeting in September? That'll be fine. Okay. Yes. You agree with that? Yes, sir. You know, I've had a lot of discussions about this and it's this heartening when you know you talking to other counties and we got some of the laws best nation race in the state and I talked to some other health officials this weekend and it's terrible. But according to Tracy of information, the state rises worse than ours. So you know, arguing to point, arguing to point about where bad because we're not vaccinating, you didn't have a hard time arguing that when we're doing better with our increase in state deal. And we're... And we're... And we're... And we're... And we're... And we're doing better with our increase in state. And we're sure number 99 what percentage of our available vaccinated people that are available to be vaccinated or vaccinated. Instead of our total population because from birth to 12 you can't get it. Well, it's probably about 8% higher than that. So we're in 40% right now. You need 40s. You may be higher than that. Yep. Close to 50, mate. It's about 40, 47. That's 30. So 40, I think it's about 47,000 of our residents are eligible for vaccines. We have our 59,000. Because that's misleading to the public. And that's what. what is your total population. But most people think that total population or people that can be vaccinated. And the total population can't be vaccinated. And that's some things that the health directors have said back to the state is what your show and is the total population. It's not the eligible of who can be vaccinated. There's only about 47,000 that can be eligible be vaccinated. And the CDC does break that down of end who is 12 and older, who's 18 and older and who's 65 and older and I can send you guys or send it to Davis. That link that you guys can follow. More questions? more questions? We're vaccinated. Where am I? Is that your name? I'll be in politics if you're vaccinated. Where am I? I would encourage you to where am I? I would encourage you to where am I? I would encourage you to where am I? I would encourage you to where am I? I would encourage you to where am I? I would encourage you to where am I? I would encourage you to where am I? I would encourage you to where am I ask. Yeah and I don't think it's anybody that likes the where it matters. I will share the any policy we come up with I will share it with the board before I distribute to the Department his for your feedback. And I was thinking more about this kind of response to Commissioner Thompson's question. I mean, all these other counties are requiring them in Bill. And so I'm not sure what it was in Surf City. I don't know about that, but in a rally in White County, they're requiring it in all indoor facilities. So I think you require it. I was in Wayne County two Fridays ago in the Richard Deeds office and it was not required in the courthouse, but the electric Richard Deeds office clearly said you must wear a mask to walk in this door which I have put a mask on, see? I mean that's how, I don't know what would happen if I just wanted to. That's cool, man. You don't want to make sure that the board knows unless I've done the math wrong taking traces numbers the states got a 20% increase and we got a 4%. So let's don't feel too bad about our county and what our counties do with it. If our county's got a 4% rise to the state but a 20% rise. And I do you know the team down the street at the health department those contact tracers where they're employed part time by the county, full time by the county, or contracted through the state, they are working long hours. And we get phone calls that we do contact tracers indifferent than other counties. And we do, we do it the right way. And we ask all these questions and we make all these phone calls. But the reason why is contributing back to what you're seeing. Well, I can tell you. Some people say they've never been called by their county health department. I can tell you that has happened in a neighboring county that I have firsthand information about. Two positives that no contact for anybody. No contact for anybody. And it's over two weeks now. We have employers. We're talking about that too, about why, why was everybody shut down, you know, neighboring counties that they're contact tracing was basically not fairly not the right way. Yes, everyone who is down the street, you work about 60 hours a week and have been for a year and a half. And let's don't let that go unnoticed because, you know, it is easy to read public information and make decisions based on what you think you're hearing versus looking at the facts. And Tracy just gives us the facts. And our county's only got a 4% increase at the time the state's got a 20% increase. So that's that's worthy of giving Tracy and her team a real out of boy and thank you Tracy and thank your employees for what they're doing because I will also tell you if I may, we have called on Tracy as our company on several occasions to help with given events and she's not felt short yet of helping vaccinate our people. So, you know, we got a lot, we got a jewel. Thank you, Tracy. Thank you again. But that said, we got a lot. We got a jewel. Thank you. Crazy. Thank you again. With that said, we got a motion on the floor. Let's read the motion, please. Clerk. The board gives the county managers the support to move forward with mandatory mask effective at midnight on Friday. And then I will muster day Friday to 20 and we will review the policy at the second meeting in September Everybody clear on the motion to song the floor And that's should say mandatory mask in county offices and facilities, Commissioner Branch. That's correct. Thank you. Employees and the public. That correct Mr. Branch. That's correct. And if we need sound, stay this week and get you some sounds from DHHS or we will need some of the new updated ones in English and Spanish. And to make sure that we're clear, this is until our meeting on what date. I think that September the 20th, Mr. Chairman. Yes. September the 20th. And any more questions? All in favor say aye. All opposed? At least I didn't hear anybody vote no. So if you want the call for a revote, but I didn't hear anybody vote against it. So if you didn't vote against it, that means you supported it on the record. Do we need a recount? Okay. You're an animus in the records. Thank you. Thank you, Tracy. I need a motion to go into close session. I got a motion to second on in favor say aye. We are officially going into the closed session Any action from the the board based on what went on in closed session I make a motion to amend the personnel policy in 6.011 Subsection B number eight to reflect merit slash co-la. Second. Okay, got a motion in a second. Second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Here it. Thank you. Thank you. All opposed? Terry? Any other business? Motion to adjourn. Okay, I got a motion to adjourn to choose the September to set seven at six o'clock That will be a Tuesday because that is the day after the Labor Day holiday gentlemen. I'm gonna see this thing. Okay. All in favor say aye. Aye. Yeah, Nana.