Pamlico seeking $4 million in stimulus money

 BAYBORO - Pamlico County will apply for more than $4 million in economic stimulus grant funds for improvements to its 6,000-customer water system.

The Board of Commissioners gave County Manager Tim Buck the go-ahead during a special session Thursday afternoon at the county courthouse.

The commissioners took just 18 minutes to hear information and give their approval to apply for a share of $64 million earmarked for North Carolina.

The board also spent 50 minutes in closed session to discuss two personnel matters, although no action was announced and the commissioners and Buck would not discuss the session.

Before the closed session, Jimmie Hicks, the county attorney, told the board that discussing executive sessions with anyone other than fellow commissioners was a criminal misdemeanor.

His warning came after Commissioner Ann Holton expressed concerns about closed-session topics being aired "on the street" the morning after meetings, before the minutes have been released to the public.

Buck and board members wouldn't comment on recent comments by the county finance officer Jim Philyaw that he  had been suspended because of late county audits.

Philyaw told the Sun Journal last Wednesday that he had been suspended and told to resign or be fired.

Philyaw, who has not returned telephone calls from the Sun Journal since then, was not in his office Wednesday and he did not attend the Wednesday meeting. He normally attends all commissioners' meetings.

"Jim Philyaw is employed by Pamlico County," said Buck afterward. He said that was all the information he could provide because of personnel confidentiality laws.

 Philyaw, who makes $64,000 a year, has been the county finance officer since about 2003.

The application for the federal stimulus money, which is being funneled through the state public water section, is due today.  Jim Galloway, the county's engineer, said he would drive to Raleigh to hand-deliver the applications.

The county will seek more than $2 million for water pressure improvements in two projects - one in the Minnesott Beach and Arapahoe area and one in the Vandemere area.

It would involve installing booster pumps in the Vandemere and Minnesott Beach areas, along with building an elevated 200,000-gallon storage tank in Minnesott Beach.

Galloway said the county owns land for the water tower on Brinson Street in Minnesott Beach, where an old tower and wells were located. The county currently has nine water towers.

A second project, also about $2 million, would provide hand-read meters for the system's 6,000 customers. Galloway explained that meter readers could access the monthly customer billing information by computer from a county vehicle.

If the money is approved, Galloway said, it will take about six months to install the meters.

   Buck told the board that another deadline would be coming up in a month to have engineering plans ready for the water pressure projects.

"It will be extremely challenging to get all the plans ready in a month," he said.