Greene County Commissioners Approve $790,000 Sale of Walstonburg Site for Housing Project

The Greene County Board of Commissioners met Monday, July 20, 2026, at the Greene County Operations Center, where members approved a consent agenda covering tax refunds and several budget amendments, adopted the county's annual tax settlement, approved a package of federally required policies tied to the American Rescue Plan Act funding, and voted to sell county-owned property in Walstonburg to a residential developer for $790,000, up from the developer's original $690,000 bid. The board also approved a $76,000 repair to the jail elevator, a half-staff flag policy, and a budget amendment for Economic Development that County Manager Kyle DeHaven acknowledged had been submitted to the board with the wrong attachment.

Consent Agenda

The board approved the full consent agenda in a single vote. The agenda included the following items, each of which was approved as part of that vote:

Tax Administrator's Report: Collections, Annual Settlement and Collection Order

Tax Administrator Stephanie Wiggins presented three items to the board. The first was the monthly collection report, which she noted is usually included in the consent agenda. The other two, she said, were required by state law. "The annual settlement for fiscal year 25-26, which is comprised of your exhibits B and C, is required to be made after July 1st," she told the board, adding that the reports reflect only the taxes that pass through her office as collector and do not include motor vehicle taxes billed and collected through the state Division of Motor Vehicles.

Wiggins reported that the total collected for the tax year 2025, including interest, was $11,862,704.28, for a collection rate of 98.82 percent on real and personal property. "This rate does not factor in the collection rate for those motor vehicles that are billed and collected through DMV," she said, noting that a separate audited collection rate incorporating both figures would be presented at a later date. For prior tax years, 2015 through 2024, the county collected $129,682.26 in back taxes, interest and fees during the fiscal year.

The board voted to accept the monthly collection report and the annual settlement as presented.

Wiggins then presented the collection order for fiscal year 2026-2027, required under North Carolina General Statute 105-321, which she said: "gives the collector the authority to collect the 26-27 taxes and to use collection remedies available to collect them." The board voted to approve the order, granting Wiggins the authority to begin collecting the coming year's property taxes.

American Rescue Plan Act Policy Approvals

Rich Moore, a consultant with McDavid Associates, Inc. who has worked with the county on state water infrastructure funding, presented a resolution asking the board to adopt an updated Internal Control Policy and Conflict of Interest Policy tied to the county's American Rescue Plan Act award.

Moore explained that recipients of ARPA funding are required to maintain policies consistent with the legislation that created the program, and that the state, through the Department of Environmental Quality, created a compliance division to review award recipients' policies against that standard. "They came back a couple weeks ago and did a compliance review and identified that they didn't really like the internal control policy and the conflict of interest policy," Moore told the board, "and their recommendation to be compliant with the ARPA funding is to adopt the policies written under the School of Government guidelines."

Moore said the policies apply only to projects funded through the American Rescue Plan Act's Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program and do not change any of the county's other existing policies. He said the most substantive change was an extension of the county's standard three-year record retention requirement to five years for ARPA-funded projects. "There's nothing unique or different or special," he said. "Everything basically is tied around to requiring that for ARPA projects, you're required to retain your financial records and project records for five years."

Vice Chairman Jerry Jones asked whether the five-year retention period would be difficult to meet. "Really, basically, you know, every pay request, every budget, everything else, you just got to keep those records for five, which y'all do now anyway," Moore said. "So it's not that big of a deal."

The board voted to approve the resolution adopting the Internal Control Policy and Conflict of Interest Policy for ARPA-funded projects.

County Manager's Report

NCACC Annual Conference Voting Delegate: County Manager Kyle DeHaven told the board that a voting delegate was needed to cast Greene County's vote at the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners' 119th Annual Conference business session in Durham County on August 22nd. Heath said he would not be able to attend and asked Jones, the vice chairman, whether he planned to go. Jones said he was planning on it, and Heath recommended Jones serve as the county's voting delegate. DeHaven agreed to register him accordingly.

Committee Appointments: DeHaven presented two reappointments to the Aging Planning Committee, Rosa Wilkes and Dianne Morris, and one reappointment to the Senior Center Advisory Board, Alice Barfield, all submitted by Senior Center Director Sharon Harrison. The board approved both reappointments.

Communications Budget Amendment: DeHaven presented a $12,400 budget amendment to increase the number of shift supervisors in the county's communications department from two to four, a step recommended by Becky Veazey as part of the salary study she conducted for the county earlier this year. The board approved the amendment.

Resolution Declaring Surplus Property: DeHaven presented a resolution declaring a 2017 Ford F-250 truck as county surplus property. He explained that the town of Hookerton had expressed interest in purchasing the truck, and that selling directly to another local government or nonprofit allows the county to bypass the standard bidding process. DeHaven said additional county vehicles are expected to be declared surplus later this year as departments cycle out older equipment, likely in the fall and again in the spring. The board approved the resolution.

Economic Development Budget Amendment: DeHaven presented a $24,950 budget amendment for the Economic Development budget, funded by reducing the county's Fund Balance Appropriation by that amount. Of the total, $12,950 was directed to an account listed as EDR Dues, and $12,000 to Contracted Services.

Before discussing the item, DeHaven told the board directly that the paperwork on their desks was mislabeled. "Before we get going, you did have a budget amendment on your desk," he said. "I put the jail budget amendment in the agenda twice. Sorry about that, but I did put it on your desk for your review." The amendment form provided to commissioners still listed "Jail" in the department heading at the top of the page, though its figures and justification match the Economic Development item, an apparent carryover from an earlier version of the form rather than a full document swap.

The item drew the meeting's only divided vote. Commissioner Derek Burress said he was not opposed to the contracted services portion of the amendment, but objected specifically to the increase tied to the regional partnership's lobbying dues, for two separate reasons.

First, he said he had not seen any results from the county's current lobbying arrangements. "I haven't seen any results since I've been on the board," he said. "I still have not seen a copy of the economic development region's budget. I haven't gotten or seen a single report from them."

Burress said he had asked for more regular updates on the lobbying situation at the board's May 27, 2026 budget workshop but still had not received any by the time of the July 20 meeting. He also said he had asked for a copy of the regional partnership's budget at both the board's February 24, 2026 retreat and the May 27 workshop and still had not been provided one.

Concern over the regional partnership's dues was not new. At the county's May 23, 2025 budget workshop, while reviewing the prior year's budget, Commissioner Bobby Taylor questioned the Global Transpark Economic Development Region's membership dues after they rose from $32,000 to $53,715. "I didn't understand why it's kind of like being a member of something," Taylor said at the time. "When does it stop? Can they increase to another $20,000 next year? We need to know where this is headed." He later added, "I get the long game, but $53,715 is real money. Can we cap our exposure?" DeHaven replied at the time that he could push for a dues cap in the partnership's next agreement, but that withdrawing from the partnership would cost the county more in lost opportunities than it would save. The dues have continued climbing since then, reaching a recommended $78,915 for the current fiscal year, driven in part by new staff positions added within the regional organization.

The county's own contracted lobbyist, separate from the regional partnership's lobbyist, is Jim Perry, a former North Carolina state senator who represented the region in the General Assembly from 2019 to 2024 and now works for the firm N.C. Capitol Strategies.

At the May 27, 2026 budget workshop, DeHaven had initially left Perry's cost out of the proposed county budget, citing plans to consolidate lobbying services through the regional economic development partnership instead. Commissioners decided at that workshop to extend Perry's contract for six more months, through December 31, 2026.

The amendment approved on July 20 covered a separate matter: the regional economic development partnership's own decision to switch its shared lobbying firm to Checkmate Government Relations, a Raleigh-based firm whose publicly listed clients include the North Carolina Global TransPark Economic Development Region Council along with companies in financial services, health care, transportation, gaming, agriculture, technology and energy. "The decision was made by the EDR region's board to go with Checkmate rather than N.C. Capitol Strategies," DeHaven told commissioners, saying the switch was meant to get the partnership closer to the direction it wants to go, and that the dues increase in front of the board simply reflected that transition.

DeHaven also told the board that the partnership had recently received $1.4 million for emergency medical services funding and that N.C. Capitol Strategies had earlier helped the region secure roughly $1 million for the new Greene County Senior Center. He said the regional partnership's board, not Greene County acting alone, made the decision to switch firms, and that the added dues reflected Greene County's proportional share of that change. "I'd say it pays for itself very easily," DeHaven said.

The board voted 4 to 1 to approve the amendment, with Burress casting the dissenting vote.

Jail Elevator Budget Amendment: DeHaven presented a budget amendment to replace both door operators on the jail's elevator, which he said carries meals to inmates on the facility's upper floors. "It is not a cheap venture," he said, describing the cost as roughly $75,000 total, or about $37,500 per door.

A contract from TK Elevator Corporation included in the agenda packet put the base repair cost at $75,540.79, with an estimated total contract price, including tax, of $80,828.65; the budget amendment itself totaled $76,000. DeHaven said the county wanted to make sure the Sheriff's office had the funding it needed.

Commissioner Taylor asked whether the repair was connected to a recent remodeling project at the jail and whether it should have been covered under warranty. DeHaven confirmed it was not part of that earlier project and was not under warranty. The board approved the amendment.

Half-Staff Flag Policy: DeHaven presented a policy establishing when county flags may be lowered to half-staff, which he said was drafted based on direction from the board at a prior meeting. Under the policy, flags at county facilities would be administratively lowered upon a request from the family of a current or former elected county official.

Commissioner Taylor asked which officials would be covered, and DeHaven said the policy would apply to county commissioners as well as the Clerk of Court, Register of Deeds and Sheriff. DeHaven noted the policy does not prevent the board from voting to lower the flag for someone outside that group in other circumstances. The policy does not cover other elected officials such as members of the school board or the town’s three municipalities.

Burress said he would support the policy but had reservations about it. "I'm gonna vote for it because I think we need a starting point," he said. "I'm not against having a policy, but I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't like it."

He said requiring a request from the family could be difficult in the immediate aftermath of a death, and that he would prefer the policy also allow the board to honor long-serving county employees who were not elected officials. He mentioned the county’s Public Works Director David Jones, whose job carries real physical risk, and Senior Center Director Sharon Harrison, who interacts with members of the public every day, as examples of employees he felt should be honored with a lowered flag if they were to pass away, the same as an elected official would be. Vice-Chairman Jones said the board could revisit and adjust the policy later. The board approved the policy.

Award of RFP for Walstonburg Residential Redevelopment: DeHaven presented the final item of the evening: the award of a request for proposals to redevelop the former Walstonburg Industrial Site, a county-owned property off U.S. 264, for single-family housing. He reminded the board that the property had originally been intended for industrial use, and that the RFP had been advertised twice, drawing responses from the same two companies both times: Axiom and Associates, represented by Tom White, and First Flight Development, represented by Barton Horne, both of whom attended the meeting and addressed the board directly.

White told the board that Axiom's proposed pricing included the cost of additional engineering and water and sewer infrastructure work, and that the company's proposed development pace was based on its experience in similar markets, citing roughly 1,500 lots under development in Nash County, about 400 in Person County and about 800 in Granville County. "We believe that the pacing schedule that we put out there with you guys is in line with what we believe the absorption will be for the area," he said. Asked by Vice-Chairman Jones how soon construction could begin, White said, "I feel comfortable saying six months," with the possibility of starting sooner.

Horne told the board he is based in Pitt County and works with partners in Florida who have funded or developed more than 800 residential deals across the Southeast over the past decade. He said First Flight had identified the Walstonburg property roughly a year earlier and had originally proposed the idea of residential redevelopment to the county. Horne said the company would self-fund and perform the site's horizontal infrastructure work through an affiliated contractor, with a homebuilding partner constructing the houses, and that the company would purchase the property outright rather than under a phased takedown schedule. He estimated a roughly 24-month timeline to complete lots after engineering and permitting were finished, with home construction by the builder trailing about a year behind that schedule.

Commissioner Taylor asked both developers whether they could begin construction immediately on lots that do not require additional engineering, such as those along the property's existing frontage. Both said yes. White said Axiom would begin vertical construction on ready lots while continuing engineering work on the rest of the site in parallel. Horne said First Flight's first phase would make some frontage lots available within about 90 days of the project being "shovel ready."

White also told the board that his company had connected DeHaven with information about a state housing grant program aimed at repairing or replacing substandard housing, which he said provides roughly $1 million per county to fund a limited number of local projects. DeHaven said the program was comparable to state housing finance programs the county already administers, and White clarified that his company would not be involved in administering the funds. "It's just additional free money to the county," he said.

Before the board voted, Horne disclosed that First Flight had a second concept it wanted the board to be aware of, separate from its formal bid: an alternative site plan that would increase the number of lots from 68 to roughly 119 while maintaining lot sizes of about 15,000 square feet, in exchange for a higher total offer for the property. Horne said he did not want that information to affect the board's decision on the bids already submitted, but wanted it on the record.

Commissioner Taylor said both companies had met the county's original requirements of roughly one-third-acre lots and a 1,600-square-foot minimum home size, and said he did not think the board needed to weigh the additional density concept as part of its decision that night. “I’m ready to bid, I mean to vote, or whatever needs to be done,” Taylor said, glancing at Chairman Heath.

Before Heath could ask for a motion, DeHaven told the board that after the RFP deadline, he had followed the board's direction to speak with both developers to seek a best and final offer. He said White had emphasized quality and construction-timing commitments rather than a higher price, while Horne said he would increase First Flight's offer from its original bid of $690,000 up to $790,000 for the property's 68 lots. DeHaven said the two proposals otherwise matched on lot size, minimum home size and garage requirements, allowing for an "apples to apples" comparison, and that any further negotiation over additional density or other options could take place after a developer was selected.

With that $790,000 figure on the table, the board's motion was specifically to approve First Flight Development's proposal at its increased offer.

Commissioners voted to award the project to First Flight Development at $790,000, noting that any additional terms, including the higher-density concept Horne had raised, would be subject to further negotiation with county staff going forward rather than factored into the award decision itself.

County Attorney and Commissioner Reports

Chairman Heath announced that the fourth annual Back to School Bash will be held August 15, 2026, from 9 a.m. to noon at Greene Central High School, featuring free haircuts, school supply giveaways, food, inflatables, face painting and tours of the new Greene Central High School building.

Commissioner Taylor said he had recently been appointed as the board's liaison to the Greene County Parks and Recreation Board and asked whether he would be a voting member in that role, noting that he also serves as a voting member on the ABC Board and the NCDOT Advisory Board.

County attorney Kevin MacQueen had told him earlier, under the board's bylaws, the liaison position is an ex officio, advisory role without voting authority. As an ex officio member, Taylor may attend meetings and take part in Parks and Recreation Board discussions, but he does not have a vote on that board's decisions.

Vice-Chairman Jones asked whether other commissioners had received notice of an upcoming public forum, tentatively around July 30, in Lenoir County, involving the North Carolina Secretary of Environmental Quality and the state Department of Revenue. Commissioners indicated they had received the notice and discussed whether to attend or register a representative, though further details were not fully resolved during the discussion.

Closed Session

The board voted to enter closed session to discuss an economic development matter, citing the statutory exception under North Carolina law that allows certain economic development discussions to be held outside public view. Consistent with that legal protection, the substance of the closed session is not reported here.

Following the closed session, the board returned to open session and voted to adjourn the meeting.