Youth to be served during Accor’s tenure

President announces initiative to culminate with youth summit at 2010 Annual Conference

By Jason King
Assistant Communications Director

From the centerpieces on the tables at the President’s Banquet that were hand-made of recyclable materials by Catawba County 4-H club members, to a “Green Street” featuring environmentally friendly initiatives by Catawba County Government departments, to a tour of the county’s Eco-Complex, it was clear that the host county for the Association’s 102nd Annual Conference was doing its part to protect and conserve resources for the next generation.

Rep. Pearl Burris-Floyd administers the oath of office to Cleveland County Commissioner Mary Accor during the NCACC's 102nd Annual Conference. Accompanying Accor onstage were her husband, Charles (center), and other members of the Cleveland County Board of Commissioners and staff (not shown). (Photo by Jason King)

That next generation will be a recurring theme throughout the tenure of Mary Accor, who was sworn into office as the NCACC’s 93rd president Aug. 29 during the President’s Banquet. The Cleveland County commissioner announced she would lead the Association in a statewide initiative to partner with youth.

“To culminate this initiative, our Association will celebrate its first – and hopefully annual – youth summit during our next annual session,” Accor said. “After witnessing the support and energy of our youth at this conference, I believe the NCACC through this initiative will be able to touch many young lives. After all, the future of our Association is in their hands.

“This is a time to plot new courses and brave new possibilities and risk new solutions. We face no obstacle greater than our ability, no problem that cannot be solved. Our challenge: to recognize our common future, our common destiny. To understand we are stronger in cooperation than in competition. That the work we need to do, we can only do it together.”

Accor also stated her desire to pay homage to the past Association leaders over the course of the next year. With 18 past presidents looking on, Accor unveiled the first of five framed collections of NCACC past president photos that will be displayed in the Albert Coates Local Government Center.

Catawba County staff put on quite a display of their own during the conference, dressing up the Hickory Metro Convention Center with numerous examples of green initiatives and displays. “Trash art” versions of the NCACC and Catawba County seals, assembled by Catawba County Clerk to the Board Barbara Morris entirely from recycled materials such as bottles and bottle caps, coffee stirrers and packaging materials, were particularly impressive.

And the SALT (Science, Art, Literature Together) Block provided the perfect setting for Friday night’s offset event, as it gave county officials a first-hand look at the effectiveness and benefits of adaptive reuse of an old building. The former Claremont High School, built in 1925, was transformed into the SALT Block, which houses aquariums, a planetarium, a library and the Hickory Museum of Art.

Edge emerges in race for second vice president

Accor is joined on the 2009-10 Executive Committee by President Elect Joe Bryan of Wake County – who will automatically ascend to the presidency during the 103rd Annual Conference, which will be held Aug. 26-29, 2010, in Pitt County – First Vice President Brian McMahan of Jackson County, Second Vice President Kenneth Edge of Cumberland County, and Past President Terry Garrison of Vance County. During the Aug. 29 business session, Edge was elected second vice president after a hard-fought campaign with Chatham County’s Mike Cross and Edgecombe County’s Viola Harris.

The Association’s odd-numbered districts elected new directors, and the list included a host of new faces to the Board of Directors – Phil Faison (District 1, Camden), Christine Mele (District 3, Pamlico), Robert Wright (District 5, Hoke), Amy Dalrymple (District 9, Lee), Barbara Beatty (District 13, Catawba) and Renee McDermott (District 15, Polk) – as well as veterans Robert Carter (District 7, Northampton), Past President Darrell Frye (District 11, Randolph) and Dana Jones (District 17, Cherokee).

President Accor had yet to announce her at-large and committee leadership appointments to the Board by the time this issue of CountyLines went to press.

Governor honors promise to release lottery distribution

Governor Beverly Perdue appeared toward the end of the Aug. 28 opening general session and announced she was keeping a promise to restore to counties $37.6 million in school lottery construction revenue that she withheld to pay state obligations during the spring.

“One of the tough decisions I had to make last spring, when I literally couldn’t pay the bills without doing some really hard things, was go to the school lottery construction money,” Perdue said. “I took that money. And I promised you all … if there was any money in the bank at all at the end of the fiscal year … I would take that money and restore your lottery dollars.

“And I’ve got some good news for you. With our bills paid and 2008-09 cleared out, I’m going to restore those funds to the counties.”

The governor said the was proud that the Legislature kept its end of the deal to assume full responsibility for the non-federal share of Medicaid services costs even though it was a difficult fiscal year.

Pension funding a problem, State Treasurer says

State Treasurer Janet Cowell addressed attendees during the Aug. 29 second general session and warned that because of the 2008 market downturn, the state and local governments will have to help make up for the deficit in pension plans by boosting their employer match. The state, for instance, will have to boost its contribution from 3.5 percent to 6 percent to cover the deficit, a message she delivered to stunned members of the General Assembly during the past session.

Cowell said that income from investments was a prolific part of the pension portfolio until recently.

“It’s been a cheap plan for all of us because of the fact that these investments have done pretty well since World War II,” she said.

While the costs of healthcare have readily been on the minds of many employers and employees, she said, contributions to pension plans are about to start garnering more attention.

“Healthcare is always here and now, it’s money out of your pocket when you go to the doctor,” Cowell said. “Retirement is kind of lurking behind healthcare as a big issue. It has not had the kind of national or state attention, but I assure you when the dollars start hitting your balance sheet the next year there will be some backlash and folks will start talking about it.”

Because employers have a contractual obligation to pay pensions for retired employees, “offloading” those expenses is not an option, she added.

Duke works toward sustainable sources of energy

While county governments have their own issues in preparation for the anticipated growth in population over the next 20 years, utilities such as Duke Energy are moving forward now with expansion plans to meet the future needs of North Carolinians.

Duke Energy Carolinas President Brett Carter, who served as the keynote speaker at the opening general session, said demand for electricity has grown in excess of 20 percent over the past 30 years. Duke expects that demand will grow another 10 percent over the next 20 years.

Just as property tax increases are not popular with taxpayers, electricity service rate increases draw the ire of customers. But while Duke is building new, more efficient coal-powered plants and diversifying its energy source portfolio, raising new revenues is a must.

“We’re dealing in an environment that we’re not typically dealing in,” Carter said. “We’re in the same situation at Duke Energy.

“What we have to plan for is the future. While it may be a very tough call to say today is the time to ask for a rate increase, you have to consider that what we’re really trying to say is that we believe in the future of North Carolina and we are placing a bet that we are going to come out of this thing extremely strong – and when we come out of this thing, we want to make sure that everyone has affordable, reliable and clean energy at the low cost we have been able to provide in the past.”