Board approves range of budget amendments, contracts and capital items including $700,000 for Ashley Elementary design
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Summary
At its Dec. 5 meeting, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners approved multiple budget amendments, contracts and capital purchases — including $700,000 to fund design documents for Ashley Elementary — and several procurement and maintenance items; most motions carried unanimously with no recorded roll-call tallies in the transcript.
The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 5 approved a series of budget amendments, revenue agreements, contracts and procurement items during a largely routine consent- and action-items block. Votes were recorded as unanimous in the meeting transcript; no roll-call tallies were printed in the record.
Key approved items included:
- Amendment to the 2016 Schools Capital Project Ordinance (Agenda item 7) — The board approved transferring $700,000 to fund design documents for Ashley Elementary School as part of longer-term school capital planning. A public commenter, Paul Robeson Ford of Action for Equity, urged the board to maintain support for the project. The motion passed unanimously.
- Amendment for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools capital maintenance (Agenda item 8) — The board approved appropriation and transfers totaling $1,735,000 for maintenance needs; motion carried unanimously.
- Economic development incentive funding (Agenda item 9) — The board approved appropriating state funding for incentives to support Excel Interior Door, Radell and Foster Cabinets Company (transcript text reads “600 $75,000 of state funding” in the meeting summary; exact appropriation amount and line-item detail are in the board packet). Motion carried unanimously.
- Public health WIC funding (Agenda item 10) — The board appropriated an additional $247,739 to the WIC program from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services; motion carried unanimously.
- Revenue agreements and contracts (Agenda items 11–13) — The board authorized a revenue agreement with Wake Forest University Health Sciences for nutrition outreach (total not to exceed $90,337) and a revenue agreement with Partners Health Management for nonclinical support of youth (not to exceed $50,000 for FY25). The board also approved renewal of hardware/software support with Presidio Network Solutions for county data protection (three-year amount not to exceed $227,095.19). Each motion carried unanimously.
- Highland Avenue Center procurements (Agenda items 14–16, 18) — Contracts for furniture (not to exceed $215,512), an access control system (not to exceed $114,743.61 plus change orders up to $15,000), cameras and vehicle upfits (15 police pursuit vehicle upfits not to exceed $102,902.21) were approved. Commissioners asked about MWBE/MWBE status for the furniture vendor; staff indicated the vendor is not an MWBE firm. All motions carried unanimously.
- Teledyne API air monitoring sole-source purchase (Agenda item 17) — The board approved a sole-source exception and purchase of air pollution monitoring equipment not to exceed $115,645.50. Motion carried unanimously.
- Tax refunds (Agenda items 18–21) — The board approved refunds by the Tax Assessor/Collector in the amounts listed in the agenda packet: $770.42; $91.17; $23,135.27; and $45,345.16. Motion carried unanimously on the grouped items.
Most agenda items were briefed previously and were approved after short motions and seconds. Commissioners raised procurement policy questions during several votes about statutory requirements to accept the lowest bidder and about strategies to include MWBE/HUB businesses; staff and the county attorney said they would review statutory constraints and possible approaches.
