Board turns down Franklin subdivision

Tuesday night the five Wake Forest commissioners voted not to annex or approve the 74-acre 294-home Glen Oaks subdivision in Franklin County.

They also agreed to borrow $500,000 from the Futures Fund to help purchase the former SunTrust bank property on South White Street, to stop providing retirement life insurance and health insurance to new town employees beginning July 1 of this year and to approve a contract with Focus Design Builders of Youngsville for the renovations and additions to the Northern Wake Senior Center.

The commissioners were very negative in their comments about the subdivision plan, proposed to be directly south of Rolling Acres subdivision where residents typically own two or three large lots to accommodate their wells and septic tanks.

Commissioner Greg Harrington led off by asking why there was not the 50-foot buffer between the subdivisions that Rolling Acres residents said they had been promised. David Arnold with Nau Company, an engineering firm, said, “That’s not in our proposal that we’re putting forward. That information [about a buffer] was not given to the developer of the property.” He said they would not add that buffer.

“I’ve driven out there, looked at the plan. I just don’t like this plan,” Commissioner Brian Pate said. “If I lived in the house that backs up to the townhouses I would be absolutely livid. Those townhouses are right in this woman’s back yard.”

Commissioner Anne Reeve said she is “a big proponent of affordable housing, but when you’ve got two acres” and there are several houses backing up to you with no fence, no berm, not shrubs, “I just don’t think it’s fair to the homeowners.” She said one of the Rolling Acres homes has “four and a half lots backed up to it.”

Commissioner Bridget Wall-Lennon said she does not believe the developer has given the town enough information. “They never reached out to us.”

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The purchase price for the SunTrust property is $1.5 million. In April the commissioners approved an installment purchase agreement with BB&T Governmental Finance for $1 million at an interest rate of 3.1 percent which adds $78,399.99 to the cost. The town will reimburse the Futures Fund at the same interest rate.

The Futures Fund was set up in 2009 with $2.2 million from the sale of the former Schrader/Parker-Hannifin site on Wake Union Church Road. After Wake Forest College moved to Winston-Salem in 1956, changing the town’s economy, town leaders were anxious to find new employment opportunities. In 1964 Schrader Bros., which produced hydraulic equipment agreed to locate a plant here. The town commissioners set up the Industrial Development Corporation to sell bonds, buy part of the former Jenkins farm, build a plant and lease it to Schrader at a rate that would pay off the bonds in 20 years. In 1984 the town board refused to take ownership, preferring to continue to get the property tax. In 2006 local developer Jim Adams and his company, St. Ives 220 Commercial LLC, purchased the 30.5 acres for $2.9 million. The $2.2 million was the remainder after taxes and fees. A large committee determined the money should be used to help the economic growth of the town.

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The decision by town staff that the town should stop providing benefits – life insurance and health coverage – after future town employees retire was spurred by watching a number of towns and cities go bankrupt because of the high cost of continuing those benefits. Wake Forest currently has 36 retired employees receiving some form of health and/or life insurance coverage; there are 259 authorized town positions this year. The current obligation for the retired employees is over $14 million.

Wall-Lennon raised her concern that future employees, when they retire at 50 or 60, will be out in the marketplace trying to find life and health insurance. She asked Human Resources Director Virginia Jones if there are some alternatives to help those retiring employees, and there are. One is for employees to pay a percentage of their salaries into a retirement health account. Wall-Lennon voted with the four other commissioners to approve ending retirement benefits for new employees effective July 1, and Jones will return to the board with options for assisting future retirees. Reeve said, “There are cities out there going bankrupt because of this problem. I’m just concerned that we need to be good stewards and if we don’t do something now [the town] could go into bankruptcy.”

Jones told the Gazette, the current coverage for retirees depends on the amount of service before retirement, “the amount of life insurance (salary based) and whether they are still on the group medical plan or have a Medicare Supplement and Enhanced Pharmacy coverage. The current group monthly health rate for a retiree is $782.23. Effective July 1, 2018 that amount will increase to $855.67.  We have 14 retirees on the Town’s group health plan.  So for 2017-18 we will have paid $132,422.64 for health insurance for the 14 group health covered retirees.  They are not allowed to stay on the group plan once they turn 65 years old.  At that time the Town pays for a Medicare Supplement (age based) and an Enhanced Pharmacy Plan (same amount for all).  Currently the Town has 22 Medicare Supplement and Enhanced Pharmacy Plan retirees.”

Jones noted the town is not obligated to provide the health and life insurance coverage to current employees who retire but has chosen to do so. Those employees hired before April 15, 2003 with less than 15 years of service can continue coverage if they pay 50 percent of the premium costs; for those with 15 or more years of service the town pays the entire premiums. For employees hired after April 15, 2003, those who retire with less than 15 years of service can continue coverage by paying the full premium costs. Those with 15 to 19 years of service can continue coverage by paying 50 percent of the premiums, and those who retire with 20 or more years of service will have the town pay 100 percent of the premiums with the adjustments noted before when the retirees reach 65 or are eligible for Medicare.

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The contract for the additions and renovations at the Northern Wake Senior Center on East Holding Avenue was for $3,983,039, $70,424 less than the low bid by Focus Design Builders. Mayor Vivian Jones said that lower figure was reached because the architect, Matt Hale of Wake Forest, and the contractor agreed on removing some items and adjusting others. Focus Design also won because it promised to complete the work within 269 days –nine months – when the other bidders’ numbers were 300 to 365 days.

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The commissioners also approved a new schedule of recreation fees in which children and teens enrolling in youth programs will be charged $100 with an automatic discount of $40 for town residents. Currently intown youth pay $40 and out-of-town pay $80. There are more discounts for more than one child in the family playing in the programs and a fee assistance program for those who cannot afford the fees but want to play. Ruben Wall, the parks, recreation and cultural resources director, said the new fees are “still the low end of the market” with only a $20 increase for residents and nonresidents. “We don’t want to price ourselves out of the market.

“The goal was equity and consistency throughout the system,” Wall, said. He told the board the department had never done a broad review and change in the entire system.

Kathy Gouge, the manager of the Renaissance Centre, presented amendments to the fees and charges for the rental of the art annex, changes recommended by a fee study. The commissioners approved the changes.

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Al Gibson with a Heritage homeowners association came forward to thank the board and the mayor for their help in having the state Department of Transportation place a traffic signal at the Heritage Lake Road and Heritage Club Avenue. The HOA and the town contributed to the $50,000 pledged for the construction.

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At the end of the regular agenda the board went into a closed session to evaluate the town manager and the town attorney. Wednesday morning the mayor said Town Manager Kip Padgett received an excellent evaluation and a 5 percent salary increase. Eric Vernon’s evaluation was very good and there was no change in his or his firm’s compensation.