Halifax County commissioners adopt hazard-mitigation plan, approve tax settlement and back multiple grant applications

The Halifax County Board of Commissioners met July 6, 2026 in Halifax and handled a full agenda of retirements, hearings, funding requests and strategic plans.

The board opened the meeting, confirmed no conflicts of interest among the five commissioners and adopted the agenda. Commissioners adopted retirement resolutions honoring Mary Duncan, the county’s finance director of 25 years, and Karen M. Lashley, assistant register of deeds, both of whom spoke and thanked co-workers and the public for support.

During the public-comment period, Daniel Bohan, president of the Lake Gaston Association, thanked the board for a prior resolution opposing interbasin water transfers and asked the county to sign or support recent letters to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission urging Dominion Energy to be a better lake steward. “We will always oppose those interbasin transfers,” Bohan said, urging continued county support for stewardship and stakeholder engagement.

James Mills of Scotland Neck urged the board to correct what he described as a clerical omission that, he said, had left “6 to $12,000,000 dollars meant for essential lifesaving health care” out of prior budgets. Mills asked commissioners to restore the funds and called the gap a “lifeline” for the county’s most vulnerable residents.

Public hearings and related actions occupied much of the meeting. Deputy emergency services director Buddy Ryan summarized the Halifax–Northampton regional hazard mitigation plan, an update required by FEMA; after brief discussion about emphasizing school-based public education, the board adopted the plan by voice vote.

The board also voted to participate in the statewide Commercial Property Assessed Capital Expenditure (CPACE) program after a presentation by economic development director Kathy Scott. Scott said CPACE helps qualifying commercial, industrial, agricultural and multifamily property owners access private financing for energy, water and resiliency improvements and that participation does not obligate the county for any financing.

Liz Rascoff of the Upper Coastal Plains Council of Governments presented the Tarboro-area housing consortium’s program-year 2026 action plan, describing a $681,137.22 allocation, with 10% for administration and 15% for community development housing organizations. The plan is open for public comment through July 31.

On an education item, Dr. Bennett Jones, superintendent for the Roanoke Rapids Greater School District, requested release of an additional $35,000 from the public-school building repair and renovation fund to cover a $172,000 boiler replacement bid (including asbestos abatement) at Roanoke Rapids High School; commissioners approved the release to allow the district to complete the work.

Tax-collection report and action Tax collector Michelle Douglas presented the annual settlement and collection report. Douglas reported a county current-year collection rate of 98.65% (approximately $34.1 million collected of a ~$35 million levy), leaving a levy balance of roughly $461,000. Over multi-year measures the county has set several recent records, she said, despite earlier software problems that required extensive corrections.

Douglas described persistent collection challenges driven by bankruptcy filings and accounts tied to deceased owners. She said roughly 3,273 unpaid real-property bills remained as of June 30 and outlined enforcement steps, including earlier advertising and expanded foreclosure criteria targeted at accounts with a delinquent balance of $400 or more or three or more years of delinquent bills. The board received the settlement and authorized the fiscal-year order to collect.

Grants and public health initiatives Public health and county staff requested and received board authorization to pursue several grant opportunities. Dr. Georgiana Gudel presented a competitive HRSA grant opportunity to create a mobile substance-use outreach initiative (the Halifax Education Assistance and Linkage to Treatment Hub). The grant, if awarded, could provide up to $750,000 per year for up to four years; Dr. Gudel said the first-year budget would be higher for start-up costs and the program would request two county health-department positions funded by the grant if awarded. Commissioners voted to authorize staff to submit the HRSA application.

The board also adopted a public-health-backed resolution supporting statewide policy changes sometimes called “Solly’s Law” to raise the minimum legal sales age for tobacco products to 21 and to establish tobacco-retailer permitting and stronger enforcement in North Carolina.

Health director Cheyenne James asked permission to submit a WIC Maternal Health Center grant (two-year award up to $200,000, county requesting $147,000) to add psychosocial referral and maternal mental-health supports through the WIC site; the board authorized submission and delegated signature authority to county management where required.

Other business and infrastructure Attorney Ross presented a second amendment to a regional Stepping Up cooperative agreement (a mental-health-in-detention initiative) and the board approved continuing county participation with a $22,000 per-county year-one contribution.

The board amended opioid-settlement appropriations to add $8,000 (MOA funds) and $12,000 (non-MOA funds) for recovery-support services tied to the county’s Halifax Recovery and Accountability Court (HART) participants.

Staff reported the county accepted a state asset-inventory and assessment grant; the board approved accepting $150,000 with a county contribution of $7,500 that had already been budgeted for fiscal year 2026–27.

Assistant county manager Thomas Everett briefed the board on an alternate site for the new detention center on NC-561/Fairlane Road. Staff noted site constraints (wetlands, a drainage ditch requiring U.S. Army Corps permitting, and a DOT traffic-permitting review) and estimated roughly $265,000 in preliminary costs for additional geotechnical, design and permitting work; commissioners asked for more detail from the sheriff’s office and staff before final site selection.

Appointments and economic update The board considered and approved a slate of board and committee appointments, including community-protection, planning, juvenile prevention and tourism authority nominees, and filled an open community-college trusteeship seat. Economic development staff provided a county employment and project update: May unemployment rose to 5.1%, approximately 711 jobs were advertised countywide, retail sales for May reached a record $76.9 million, and several private projects (housing units, a Home2Suites hotel, and a food-processing equipment grant) were in progress.

What’s next The board moved into closed session to discuss real-estate acquisition and economic-development matters. Items expected to return for future board action include final site selection and cost estimates for the detention center, any HRSA- or WIC-grant awards and follow-up on tax-collection techniques described by the tax collector.

Reported quotes in the meeting “‘We will always oppose those interbasin transfers,’” Daniel Bohan said urging county support for lake stewardship letters to FERC.

James Mills told commissioners: “6 to $12,000,000 is a line item on a spreadsheet to the board. But to the poor of Halifax County, it is life itself,” urging correction of a prior budget omission.

Tax collector Michelle Douglas described the year as “the most difficult year of my career” because of software problems but reported the county’s county levy collection percentage at “98.65%.”

The meeting adjourned to closed session on multiple economic-development and real-estate topics.