A panel of elected officials shared their thoughts on a number of issues both Goldsboro and Wayne County are currently facing during the “Eggs and Issues,” event held Thursday morning at the Maxwell Center.
The event was hosted by the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce, and chamber president Scott Satterfield served as moderator as the panel answered questions.
The panel was comprised of new Goldsboro mayor Charles Gaylor, new Goldsboro City Council District 6 representative Roderick White, Wayne County Board of Commissioners Chairman Chris Gurley, County Commissioner Wayne Aycock, and Wayne County Board of Education members Craigh Foucht and Wade Latham.
Satterfield’s first question was, “We understand the City Council has recently approved a new ordinance that would collect a system development fee for any new connections to water and sewer. Charges range from $1,296 to $694,120 to be paid at the time a building permit is issued. Do you see this being an obstacle to attracting new business and industry to our community when some other counties in North Carolina do not have any impact fees?”
Gaylor responded by saying, “I want to be very, very clear. This is not in any way designed to be a negative or to be something that hinders economic development, residential development or commercial development. Even on the high end, for a single-family residential system development fee in Goldsboro, you’re looking at about $5,000 for an individual unit. In Wilmington, you’re looking at about $16,000. This is a one-time thing that is designed not to be an impediment to business, but to ensure that we have a properly funded, fully functional system that is safe, reliable and provides the water resources and sewer resources that we need to ensure that our city and county need to continue to grow.”
The second question posed to the panel was, “With economic development and community health being so impacted by the education of our children, what role is the county currently playing in ensuring that we are as competitive as possible in our region? Under what conditions would Wayne County raise the supplement for teachers?”
Gurley responded by saying, “The actual (teacher) supplement that Wayne County provides is $5,234. That’s this past year, in 2022-23. In 2021-22 it was $3,886. We (Wayne County) went up in how much we provide in teacher supplement, but we actually went down in ranking. We were 31st (in the state) at $3,800, and now we’re at 35th at $5,234. Johnston County is the only county around us that has a supplement that’s more, they’re at $6,653. That’s a difference of $1,400. I don’t think somebody could drive to Johnston County for $1,400, 200 days a year.”
Foucht highlighted the improvement of school buildings around the county saying, “If you take a ride around the county you’re going to see a new Meadow Lane school, you’ll see a new Spring Creek school, you’re ride to Grantham, and you’ll see a new school out there. We’re building one in Fremont, we’ve got a program going on right now at Rosewood.”
Satterfield’s third question was, “How much money did Wayne County receive from COVID funds directed for education? How were those funds used?”
Foucht responded saying, “We received almost $104 million dollars. I want to make sure everyone knows we didn’t give high raises to people at the central office. We weren’t using things to mismanage money. We just had a very clean audit. That $103 million dollars, 34.7 percent went to salary and benefits. We hired 22 part-time receptionists because we had to track all these students that were sick, and absences and what as excused and wasn’t excused. We hired inventory control specialists, because we bought a lot of laptops. The school district didn’t have a one-to-one ratio, but we’re pretty much at one-to-one ratio with devices for children, so we had to have someone to help control that inventory. We hired two full-time and one half-time psychologists, three social workers and our retention bonuses to keep our teachers employed. We gave out bus drivers bonuses to the tune of $88,000 to bus drivers to get them to sign on for another year. 34.07% comes down to our supplies and materials, most of that was spent on computers and devices.”
Foucht also pointed out plans to complete renovations at Southern Wayne High School as well as plans to replace the HVAC system at Goldsboro High School. Local construction company Daniels and Daniels Construction has been hired to perform the renovations at both Southern Wayne and Goldsboro, as well as the construction of the new school in Fremont.
The Wayne County Board of Education was also instrumental in replacing the roof at Goldsboro High School.
The fourth question for the panel was, “What is the current plan to address the shortage of bus drivers given the impediment it creates for children and parents?”
Foucht answered saying, “Transportation in general is not a local problem, it’s not a Wayne County problem. It’s a national problem, it’s a state problem and it’s county wide. Unfortunately, the places where it seems to matter the most are places like our central attendance zone, and also the Spring Creek area. The department of Health and Human Services put out a study a while back, and those are areas where you’ve only got one mode of transportation. Mom, dad and kids are all sharing one car. We’re trying to address the shortage and demands, and put our drivers where they’re needed the most. Currently, 14 vacancies is what we’re sitting at right now. The headaches that we have is there’s a certain amount of drive time that has to happen behind the wheel of a school bus, and it’s got to be done with somebody from the state, from the DOT that’s doing that. Unfortunately, there’s only one person from the state that’s doing that, and they’re covering multiple counties. We currently have four or five drivers that are waiting to do their drive time.”
Satterfield’s fifth question was, “Have there been any further conversations from the county regarding the issue of childcare? Specifically, any follow up related to the piloting of a tri-share program?”
Gurley answered saying, “I’ll use the county as an example. Our employees have small children. When school is out, and this is no reflection on the school system, when we have bad weather they have to make a decision for the safety of the children. If they don’t run buses you don’t go to school, well if they don’t go to school, you don’t have anywhere for them to go. So, our employees call in and they can’t come to work because their children are out of school and they don’t have anybody to keep them. I was blessed to have grandparents that live here, the military, they don’t have that luxury. I suggested that the county (open a child care facility), and I suggested it and I was told it’s a major liability, but I think to keep our employees at work, and give them a benefit, and recruit younger people to come work for the county. They might not see it up front, but when they have children, it’s a major plus. That’s how I’m looking at it.”
The next question posed to the panel was, “Has there been any progress in recruitment and retention of police officers and first responders?
White responded by saying, “Yes, there has been progress. We gave them a 10 percent pay increase. We’re also trying to improve the working environment at the facilities as far as the safety complex. We have candidates starting school in the next cycle so we are making progress.”
The final question for the panel was, “Regional sewer. This has been discussed. Where does that stand? Where do those discussions stand? Are we any closer to understanding how we get funding for all of that?”
Gurley answered by saying, “We entered into a study to look at a regional sewer. I think we have one or maybe two more meetings on that. Look, sewer is the elephant in the room. We’re all one team, and we all want to be one team. Sewer is our number one issue. With the infrastructure money there, now is the time. We cannot attract economic development without a sewer.”
