By Miles Layton
GATESVILLE — The Gates County Board of Commissioners met Wednesday evening in a lengthy session that covered a clean fiscal year 2025 audit report, a major reallocation of water infrastructure funds, a new contribution to a regional child advocacy center, and updates on early voting ahead of the March 3 primary election.
Commission Chairwoman Emily Truman presided over the meeting, which drew presentations from the county’s auditing firm, a regional child advocacy nonprofit, and a Board of Elections representative, among others.
Consent Agenda: Water Projects and Transit Facility
Before moving into the main agenda, Commissioner Dave Forsythe requested that several items be moved to the consent agenda for efficiency.
The first was a motion to reallocate funds originally budgeted for the Merchants Mill Pond State Park Campground Forest project toward water infrastructure.
Forsythem made a motion to approve the county manager’s recommendation for the allocation request of funds in the amount of $284,900 presently budgeted in the Merchants Mill Pond State Park Campground foresting project to a new project, which will be the Gates County Well number two A replacement and rehabilitation project for submittal to the North Carolina DEQ.
Forsythe added that the motion included “approval of Green Engineering’s contract in the amount of $80,365 for the well replacement design, permitting, testing, and all relative services through final project closeout.”
Forsythe also moved to permanently shelve a previously planned relocation of the GITS transit facility. “Make a motion to permanently defer the relocation of the GITS facility, previously planned to be moved to the Gates County Annex on the Medical Center Road, and direct the county manager to coordinate communication with the North Carolina Department of Transportation regarding this decision, and to relocate project funds previously committed for auxiliary power generator and parking area fencing to sustaining and improving the operations of the current GITS location on Main Street in Gatesville, North Carolina.”
Both items passed unanimously on the consent agenda.
Clean Audit With One Material Weakness
LeAnn Bagasala, a partner at Mauldin & Jenkins, LLC, presented the county’s fiscal year 2025 audit results and opened with good news. “I have all good news,” she told commissioners.
Bagasala reported that the county received an unmodified — or clean — audit opinion, the highest level of assurance the firm can provide. “For the opinion over the financial statements, you receive an unmodified or a clean audit opinion, which is the highest level of assurance that we can provide,” she said.
However, one material weakness was noted — an inventory item that had not been included in a physical count. “When doing your inventory count, which I actually attended, there was a piece of inventory that wasn’t considered in the count, and it had just been received, but it was twenty-eight thousand dollars,” Bagasala explained. “So we made sure that your inventory balances did get updated, and ensured that, going forward, your inventory policies ensure that all new things come in and things going out are considered in the count. So that’s already been corrected.”
Forsythe pressed Bagasala on a Local Government Commission performance indicator that flagged the water and sewer fund for a net operating loss of approximately $909,000. The commissioner noted the disconnect between how grant revenue and grant expenditures are treated under the formula. “You should have an offsetting revenue for costs that you only had because you had this revenue,” Forsythe said.
Bagasala acknowledged the issue. “It’s just the way that the standards are written — intergovernmental revenue isn’t operating revenue, it’s non-operating. And that’s just the way that their formula reads.” She added that the county’s actual grant revenue of more than $1 million was simply not captured by the indicator’s calculation. “As more entities give them feedback, ‘Hey, you’re not considering all my grant revenue,’ maybe they’ll change the calculation to add that back in.”
County Manager Scott Sauer later added context during his own financial report, noting that the county’s general fund balance came in at $5.9 million unassigned, with a total fund balance of roughly $8.4 million when all assigned funds are included. “We had $711,00 that could have been spent, but we still put back another five hundred and fifty-four thousand,” Sauer said. “That’s a $1.2 million dollar swing.”
Kids First Child Advocacy Center Receives Funding
Rhonda Morris, director of Kids First Child Advocacy Center, appeared before the board to request a $5,000 contribution to help replace a piece of aging medical equipment.
“Kids First Child Advocacy Center is the only nationally accredited child advocacy center within two hundred miles,” Morris told commissioners. “We’ve been serving Gates County for thirty-four years.”
Morris said the organization is facing a significant funding shortfall this year. “We’re losing fifty-six percent of that fund,” she said, referring to the Victims of Crimes Act funding that has historically supported operations. She noted that while every other county in the district has contributed financially over the years, Gates County had not — while still benefiting from the center’s services. “This year, we served 28 children, and your savings to Gates County was a hundred and thirty-six thousand, three hundred and thirty-two dollars that we saved Gates County.”
The $5,000 request was specifically tied to upgrading medical imaging equipment that no longer complies with current software standards. “We have to upgrade a piece of our medical equipment, just because it no longer is going to be updated because it doesn’t comply with Microsoft 11,” she said.
Morris also spoke candidly about the difficulty of discussing child abuse in communities. “We don’t want to think that this is happening here — and it’s happening here. The perpetrators are not, a lot of times, who you think they are. They’re who’s sitting beside you in church.”
The motion was approved unanimously, with commissioners indicating they would ask DSS Director Willie Smith to assess whether a larger ongoing contribution should be included in the upcoming budget.
Board of Elections Update
In the absence of Elections Director Christy Gaskins — who was occupied with early voting operations — Board of Elections Chairman Karle Beauregard read a prepared letter to commissioners.
Beauregard confirmed that early voting is underway at the BOE office, with the final early voting day set for Saturday, February 28, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The primary election is March 3, with polls open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Beauregard noted some voter confusion around same-day registration, address changes, and unaffiliated voters’ ballot options. “If you go in and you say, ‘I’m unaffiliated,’ there’s three ballots you can look at to pick from. If you say, ‘I just want straight unaffiliated,’ all you get is school board. You don’t get to vote for the other offices, because they’re partisan.”
She also addressed confusion caused by a state-issued voter registration update form that some residents believed was a scam. “This letter was sent from the state, and we were not even aware of it being sent out until the calls came in.”
When commissioners asked about the security of voting machines, Beauregard confirmed they are stored in a locked room and noted the fire marshal has been consulted about improving access control at the facility.
School Board Consolidation Timeline
Under old business, commissioners discussed the pending Board of Education decision on school consolidation. Commission Chairwoman Truman outlined tentative dates: a work session at Merchants Mill Pond on March 6 at 10 a.m. to brief the newly elected board member, followed by a vote on consolidation at the board’s regular March 9 meeting.
Weaver expressed concern about the compressed timeline. “That’s giving somebody short notice into a real bind,” he said.
Forsythe offered a measured take. “I look forward to the decision, so we can move on and continue the work for the county and what we need to do for the betterment of the county. Once that decision is made by the school board, we’ll take that and go from there, because I think a lot of things kind of are pivotable as far as what we’re going to be doing in the future.”
Truman also reminded residents about Tuesday’s town hall on the Article 46 quarter-cent sales tax referendum, scheduled for 7 p.m. at the high school Performing Arts Center.
Water Infrastructure Progress
In his commissioner comments, Forsythe highlighted ongoing water system improvements, including the bidding of large directional bore projects beneath Bennetts Creek and Carter’s Creek, design completion on a new Gatesville water tower, and fluoride filtration testing using equipment brought in from neighboring Chowan County. “Hopefully, fingers crossed, we see contractors here in the county working come summertime,” he said.
Public Comment: Hunting Season Debate
During the final public comment period, Gates County resident James Patty raised concerns about conflicts between dog hunters and still hunters. “There needs to be a conversation with the people in the county about coming up with a compromise,” he said, proposing a seasonal separation of hunting styles.
Patty noted that a North Carolina Senate bill, if passed, would prohibit dog hunting on properties under 100,000 acres. He asked commissioners to consider a community forum to hear from both sides before any decisions are made.
The board adjourned following public comment.
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