Commissioners wind down 2025 business

ASHEBORO — With no commissioner seats up for election this year, the Randolph County Board of Commissioners voted to keep their organization the same in 2026. Darrell Frye will remain chair and Kenny Kidd will remain vice chair in 2026.

After approving the leadership structure at their Dec. 1 meeting, they heard annual reports and agreed to explore uses for farmland-related rollback funds.

End-of-year agenda

■ Commissioners agreed to match part of a grant for a new company. Crystal Gettys, business recruitment director for the Randolph County Economic Development Corporation (RCEDC), said the engineering company Earth Retention Industries bought property on US Highway 64 East in Ramseur. They are eligible for an NC Commerce Building Reuse Grant of $175,000.

State law requires that Ramseur serve as the grant applicant and for local government to match five percent, or $8,750. Gettys said the county and the town will split the match. She said the company has committed to creating 22 new jobs with an average wage of $57,048, and it expects to spend more than $350,000 on building renovations.

■ Voters should see new machines at the next election. Commissioners approved the purchase of 32 tabulators and ballot boxes and a high-speed scanner from Election Systems & Software. Elections Director Melissa Kirstner they experience slowdowns in ballot counting in the 2024 election, and these machines are upgrades to try and get results out on election day.

Voting machines must first be tested by election board members in a demonstration that is open to the public. Kirstner said that took place on July 23. The new machines cost $329,565, but the county will get a trade-in allowance for the old machines and a customer loyalty discount.

■ Randolph County Sheriff’s Office requested a new clerk position. Chief Deputy Steven Nunn said the anti-human trafficking program Project Invictus took one of their clerks. Commissioners voted in favor of adding the position, costing $64,001 a year for salary and benefits.

■ County Manager Zeb Holden said he would like the county to invest Present Use Value (PUV) rollback proceeds. He explained that owners of property used for agriculture, forestry and horticulture can take advantage of the PUV tax deferment program. When they come out of the program, often when that land is sold, they get billed for the last three years of taxes (levy plus interest).

Holden said these payments added up to about $150,000 over the last five years. With commissioners’ approval, county staff can use that to create seed money for a future preservation program. He said program options may include support for local investments, future farms, cultural land protection, and administrative costs for grants.

“With all the growth that we have going on right now, there is a bit of church of property that’s coming out of PUV,” Holden said.

Commissioner David Allen said he saw this as a way to preserve Randolph County’s agriculture. “We’re losing farmland at an alarming rate,” he said. “When you look at the census [from 2017-2022], we’ve lost 11 percent of our farmland.”

Annual reports

■ Waste Management gave its report on the Great Oak Landfill operations and other disposal sites. District Manager Mike McFeeley said 672,000 tons was dumped at the landfill between July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. Commissioner Lester Rivenbark asked if they can track how much garbage goes through their six satellite sites. He said he got questions from citizens about adding another site and would like to know whether any of the drop-off sites are overwhelmed.

■ Amber Scarlett, executive director of the Tourism Development Authority, said travel numbers continued to climb in 2024. Scarlett said it generated $199.86 million in visitor spending, a 5.4-percent increase from 2023. Lodging followed a similar gain, totaling $1.5 million in revenue.