Commissioners approve allocations to community orgs, sewer/water projects

ASHEBORO – The Randolph County Board of Commissioners met Monday, Feb. 5, approving a budget maneuver that allows money allocated by the General Assembly to be disseminated to individual county departments and community organizations within Randolph County.

“These are funds that Senator Dave Craven was instrumental in sending to Randolph County,” said chairman Darrell Frye. “In order to get the full benefits of the funds, we have to swap them with general funds or else the people that are listed here would not be able to use these funds except for capital expenditures.”

Some of the $1.5 million in appropriations will go to the Randolph County Fire Department, Sheriff’s Office, Animal Shelter, Veteran Services, United Way of Randolph County, Farmer Civitan Club, Randolph Family Crisis Center, Our Daily Bread, Honoring Our Veterans, Hospice Randolph County, Uwharrie Youth Sportsman Association, Grubb YMCA, Pierce Ministries, Raiders Youth Football, Guardian Ad Litem Randolph Volunteers, Adult Day Reporting Center and the Asheboro Rotary Club.

“This was a team effort with your state delegation, Representative [Brian] Biggs and Representative [Neal] Jackson,” Senator Craven said. “We are fiscal conservatives until in Raleigh we set a spending number. At that point in time, it’s our job to bring every dollar back to Randolph County and our district that we can.”

In other business, the Board allocated the town of Liberty some $200,000 for improvements to Freedom Park. The funding will go towards the installation of an amphitheater shell, the construction of a splash pad and the renovation of the basketball courts.

Three sewer and water related projects got board approval, including the top two priorities from the Water and Sewer Master Plan from December 2022.

The Ramseur Main Pump Station, Force Main and Tube Pump Station Replacement Project saw a $259,400 contract with The Wooten Company approved for design survey and final design services.

“This is aging infrastructure in need of replacement to ensure quality wastewater services in the Town of Ramseur for its citizens,” said assistant county manager William Johnson.

The board also approved $298,000 for Franklinville Ogle’s Creek pump station and force main replacement project. The contract with LKC Engineering covers surveying, engineering, design, bid management, construction management, certification and compliance.

“The current pump station is currently in a flood plain and that causes a lot of maintenance issues,” Johnson said to the board. “This project would construct a new pump station outside of the flood zone and also replace a force main.”

A $20,000 contract with McGill Engineering will investigate potential locations for a new water meter in the northeastern part of the county to support water services for future developments. Johnson noted that growth both within Liberty and unincorporated areas of northeastern Randolph County will drive further infrastructure development.

$650,000 was appropriated towards the replacement of the current Randolph County Government’s physical access control system and core network switches connected to the data center.

“The control system we have is 20 years old,” said director of information technology R.J. Williamson. “We’re really running into problems with it on a weekly basis. It’s hard to find cards, software support is non-existent and we really need to replace it.”

Lastly, the board approved $1 million in ARPA funds to replace the county’s Public Safety Radio Paging System, and a $169,000 bid from Garanco for the renovation of existing county facilities at Northgate Commons to house the INVICTUS program to fight child and sex trafficking.

The Randolph County Board of Commissioners will next meet March 4.