Commissioners hear

about social service needs
By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

The Watauga County Board of Commissioners received updates on foster-care costs, veterans’ services and high school improvements, as well as a proposed alliance with the Watauga Humane Society, during Monday’s regular meeting.

Department of Social Services director Jim Atkinson gave a report on potential budget increases for foster care.

The county’s DSS has currently been awarded custody of 29 children by the court system, with 15 in kinship care, meaning they had been placed in the homes of relatives.

Six children were in licensed foster homes and eight in various group homes.

The average cost of care for children in a group home is $5,287 a month, Atkinson said, and presented state proposals that would change payment amounts for foster care.

The monthly increases would be about 30 percent for both foster homes and adoptive homes in all age groups.

“I think the increase is a good thing,” he said. “Overall, statewide the director’s association (of social services) agrees.”

Atkinson said though the state increases were welcome, they could lead to an increase in the local burden as well, since the county funds a portion of foster-care costs.

The county faces a net increase of about $139,000 in county costs for the foster care system if the changes are approved by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.

Atkinson said choices on placement are based on a number of factors, as each situation is unique. In most cases, the state pays the cost of services and the county pays the cost of room and board for foster children.

“The decisions are not always our decisions; sometimes the court makes those decisions,” he said.

The court can determine the length of stay for each placement, and the DSS staff also gathers information on each client.

“These numbers we give you are a snapshot of today,” Atkinson said, noting the number of placements could fluctuate, and with it the county’s expense for providing foster care.

County manager Rocky Nelson said if the county had to take custody of children from a large family, the county costs could increase dramatically.

Atkinson said the department was developing preventive strategies to head off potential foster-care situations.

The commissioners agreed to send a letter to state representatives expressing concern over potential taxpayer burden.

Kara Simmons, chairwoman of the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council, had earlier presented information on potential cuts to programs aimed at keeping residents out of the court system.

Simmons said the programs would now likely be continued and presented a local funding request of $34,900, a slight increase over last year’s funding. The amount was approved.

Veterans Services
Watauga Veterans Services director Donna Lyons gave an update on veterans’ services in the county. She said the county is filing a “tremendous amount of claims for service-related issues” for not just the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but from Vietnam and earlier wars as well.

Pension claims are an income-based issue, Lyons said, with World War II and Korean War veterans who were achieving or passing age 65. She said veterans were also looking for ways to get supplemental insurance.

Lyons said there were federal health insurance programs, educational benefits and other services available, in addition to medical care at veterans’ hospitals, with most Watauga County veterans using the hospital in Johnson City, Tenn.

“In 2007, our activity numbers in our office saw a great increase,” she said, with over 5,000 people enrolling for veterans’ benefits.

She said so far this year, assistance cases had increased over 100 a month, which she expects to continue as more soldiers return from active service in Iraq and Afghanistan. “The first thing I tell them (veterans) is we are not the VA (Veterans Affairs),” she said, noting the county office’s role was to fight for residents’ claims and rights with the VA, an agency which has faced criticism for alleged lapses in medical treatment and other benefits.

Lyons said the office had conducted on-site claims work for soldiers in the Boone-based 1451st Transportation Company when National Guard soldiers returned from active duty last year. She said there were new claims coming in for soldiers who needed treatment due to service-related conditions.

Benefit claims for Traumatic Brain Injury, from veterans who suffer from injuries due to roadside explosives, are increasing, along with cases of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Future animal shelter?
The Watauga Humane Society and the county are exploring a potential partnership for an animal shelter.

The county has planned to build a new animal-control shelter in a former maintenance facility and the Humane Society has planned a facility on property it purchased in the eastern end of the county.

The Humane Society has submitted a proposal to take on care of animals for the Animal Control department.

The group presented an initial proposal in which the county would pay $95,000 a year for care of animals, which would also provide a shelter manager and potentially reduce employee costs. The commissioners have budgeted $334,000 for the new animal-control facility.

The Humane Society proposes the county transfer that money as an advance on the contract, which the Humane Society would use for its building fund.

The county’s renovated facility will cost an estimated $850,000. The commissioners agreed to review the proposal during upcoming budget planning. Shaun Lundy, an attorney on the society’s board of directors, wrote a letter to the commissioners outlining several issues to be discussed.

Those include the annual cost of caring for animals, the amount the county is willing to contribute to the society’s facility costs, the length of a contract and the timing of the contract, as well as the amount the county could pay up front. Nelson presented subcontract awards for various elements of the new high-school construction.

The bids all fall under the guaranteed maximum price of $59.9 million the county approved with contractor Barnill/Vannoy.

The commissioners approved the bids and also approved a plan to change the main entrance to lessen the slope grade.

New high school entrance
The commissioners approved right-of-way acquisitions to the N.C. Department of Transportation to improve areas around the high school entrance and East King Street.

The right-of-way purchases will cost about $300,000, which the county will bear as part of the 2009 budget.

Nelson said construction would likely begin in 2009, with owners contacted by NCDOT.

The improvements are based on the results of a traffic study and designed to improve traffic flow when the high school opens in 2010.

The state will provide about $1.7 million worth of improvements, including a signal light at the intersection of East King Street and Industrial Park Drive and U.S. 421, as well as one at the intersection of U.S. 421, N.C. 194 and a connector to Daniel Boone Drive.

Several turn lanes will also be added as part of the improvements. The county is obligated to buy the rights of way as part of town of Boone planning requirements and also to speed up the construction process.

The state drew from several sources of money for the construction funds but isn’t able to commit those funds to property acquisition.

Water Issues
The commissioners divided up duties to serve on five subcommittees that emerged from a joint governmental meeting on water systems.

The subcommittees cover capacity, systems and conservation, regional approaches, communications and planning criteria.

The next regular meeting is May 20.