By Tim Gardner
Martha Jaynes Hicks was honored for what her fellow-county officials and others have termed 16 years of meticulous service as a member of the Avery County Board of Commissioners to highlight its regular monthly meeting on November 4. The November 4 meeting was the last regular monthly one for Hicks who did not seek reelection in the 2024 election.
Besides Hicks, her fellow commissioners—Tim Phillips (Chairman), Dennis Aldridge (Vice-Chairman), Wood Hall (Woodie) Young, Jr., and Robert Burleson–were present at the meeting. County Manager Phillip Barrier, Jr., Assistant County Manager and Clerk to the Board Cindy Turbyfill, County Finance Officer Caleb Hogan, County Attorney Michaelle Poore, and Tax Administrator Andrea Turbyfill were also in attendance as were approximately 20 others.
The meeting was held in the main Avery County Court Room in Newland.
It had to be moved from the County Administration Complex due to flooding damage it received from Hurricane Helene. Additionally, the October 5 regular monthly meeting of the Board of Commissioners had to be postponed to October 10 due to the flooding throughout the county and was also moved to the Court House.
The County Manager said that the Board of Commissioners meetings will likely continue to be held in the Court House, located at 200 Montezuma Street, until the spring of 2025, as the County Administration Complex probably won’t be repaired from the flooding until then. Offices in that building have been temporarily moved to other county facilities that were not damaged by the hurricane.
Hicks has served as a commissioner since 2008, including 10 consecutive years (2013-2023) as Board Chairwoman. Hicks asked her fellow commissioners not to consider her to remain chairwoman or to serve as vice-chairwoman at their December 2023 regular monthly meeting when the annual voting of Board officers took place because she was not running for reelection.
Her fellow commissioners unanimously (4-0) adopted a Resolution of Appreciation for Hicks at the November meeting and each commended her for her years of dedicated and exemplary service to the county as did Barrier, Jr., Cindy Turbyfill, Andrea Turbyfill, Hogan, Poore, County Coroner John Milan, and members of the general public present. Hicks also received a round of applause from the audience at the meeting.
She was presented with a plaque of the resolution after it was approved.
Hicks listed the county’s greatest accomplishments during her commission tenure as: “Not having a tax increase for the last six consecutive fiscal years (2018-19 through 2024-25), having some fiscal years in which there was actually a tax decrease, and the completion of the following projects: Banner Elk Elementary School; the Agricultural Extension Office; the Avery Community Center; the Avery Dive-In Swimming Pool; the new addition and renovations at Avery High School; the Avery County Jail, the Avery County Veterans Monument; the County’s playground on Newland’s Schultz Circle; and the renovation and additions in a building to house the Department of Social Services.
The various community and civic service boards on which Hicks has served include: the Mayland Community College Board of Trustees; Avery Transportation Advisory Board; Avery County Board of Education Advisory Board for Healthcare; Avery County Council on Aging; Yellow Mountain Enterprises Board; Avery County Social Services Board; Mitchell-Avery-Yancey (MAY) Coalition; and Avery’s Veterans Monument Project Committee.
She has traveled many thousands of miles to attend local, regional, and state meetings on behalf of Avery County during her tenure as a commissioner.
A life-long Avery County resident who was raised in Newland, Martha is one of three children born to the union of Lloyd Albert Jaynes and Elizabeth Townsend Jaynes. She has two brothers: Albert Lee Jaynes (wife, Julia) and Roy Allen Jaynes (wife, Diane).
Shortly after graduating from Newland High School, Martha married Phillip Wade Hicks (he likes being called by his middle name best), who was raised in the same Avery County Community (Heaton) in which they currently reside. They celebrated 61 years of marriage on June 28, 2024.
They have a son, Phillip Lloyd Hicks (wife, Tina); one grandchild, Heather Hodge (husband, Kevin); and two great-grandchildren, females Emma Blair and Tenley Hodge.
Martha and Wade Hicks are devout members of the Curtis Creek Freewill Baptist Church in Heaton, where Wade has served on the Board of Deacons for many years and Martha has previously been treasurer and a Sunday School teacher. She also has been instrumental in various church fundraisers there, including helping raise many thousands of dollars to replace the church’s windows and to install new tile with names of church members, patrons, and other benefactors.
Martha is one of three generations of the Jaynes Family to serve in an Avery County political office. Her niece, Valerie Calloway Jaynes, was a long-time Mayor of the Town of Newland, and her great-niece and Valerie’s daughter, Lauren Jaynes Turbyfill, has served as a Newland Town Council member.
Hicks thanked her family, peers, friends, others in the audience, and all Avery County citizens for their help and support to, and of her, while she has been a commissioner.
During his monthly regular report to the commissioners, Barrier Jr. gave post-hurricane updates, including about county buildings that were damaged and needing repairs. He said that those repairs are ongoing at the administration complex, senior citizens center, fire departments, and various other county facilities.
He expressed appreciation to County of Avery employees and all others who have helped with the hurricane recovery efforts.
“Yes, we were hit very badly by the hurricane, but we have hope,” Barrier, Jr. said. “ We will never know who all took chainsaws and other equipment to help, the strangers who showed up to help, the churches that have also been involved in our recovery efforts, or simply neighbor helping neighbor. But we (the county) are most thankful for their help. We are blessed.”
Barrier, Jr. informed the commissioners that the County’s Broadband Internet Grant was approved for a deadline extension because of the hurricane.
County citizen Greg Jenkins addressed the commissioners about the broadband initiative following the report, stating that they should have used the “Starlink” internet service instead of Broadband.
Hicks disagreed and responded with the following statement: “I can say that when the storm hit, I was given a Starlink unit and it didn’t work. I’m happy it worked for some, but there is not a fix-all solution. I‘m proud of what this Board has done about this (Broadband) project.”
In more news, the commissioners by 5-0 votes:
*Approved resuming the previously approved amount of $466,328.00 to Mayland Community College from the County’s 2024-2025 budget. Its president, Dr. John Boyd, requested that amount of funding from the County.
Dr. Boyd updated the commissioners about Hurricane Helene recovery efforts at the college and assisting the community. He said that the college is developing plans to host a childcare program since many area childcare facilities have gone out of business after the hurricane. He also explained about the college keeping its employees working and from being unemployed following Helene.
*Appointed Green Valley Fire Department member Cody Laws to the Avery Fire Commission.
*Appointed Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Representatives Mark File and Sarah Kilby to the Town of Banner Elk Planning Board and Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Representative Dalton Kilby to the Banner Elk Board of Adjustment.
*Appointed Janna Avery, Mark Johnson, Marsha Ruppard, Robin Morgan, Jesse Pope, Jack Wiseman, and Raleigh Avery to the Avery County Tourism and Development Authority.
*Approved the October 2024 Tax Report from Tax Administrator Turbyfill that $1,506,103.74 in taxes due the County were collected by her and her tax collections staff on all days of that month except those on the month’s four weekend days (Saturday and Sunday).
Tax Administrator Turbyfill also told High Country Press that $13,302,748.63 in taxes due were collected for the first ten months of 2024–January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, and October.
During the meeting, she shared that members of her staff have visited 30 places in Avery County, equaling around one-quarter of its size, to compile assessments of hurricane damages. As of Monday, November 4, she said there are 241 minor damaged properties, 145 major damaged properties, 51 properties that have suffered total losses, and 39 destroyed properties.
The current damage assessment is $22,522,599.00, with business personal property assessed at $3,285,460.00 for a grand total of $25,808,059.00.
Tax Administrator Turbyfill also noted that those monetary figures are from structures and businesses only. She added that land and other property will be assessed as soon as possible and they should be completed by Christmas (December 25).
Tax Administrator Turbyfill also served as Director of Time Clock Operations for the public comment segment of the meeting that allowed those who wished to address the Board the standard protocol of three minutes to do so and made sure they stayed within that time frame during their addresses.
Additionally, the commissioners approved the following budget amendments (5-0 vote) requested by Hogan which include their respective details and monetary amounts:
*A $450,000.00 allocation for a new building to house the Green Valley Emergency Medical Services Base that would include a commons (lobby) area, kitchen, staff sleeping quarters, space for two ambulances, and an Emergency-911 Backup Center.
*A $128,000.00 allocation to replace the Addison Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) unit that supplies the Avery County Jail. These funds were requested by the Department of Public Buildings & Grounds and are a roll-forward item from last year’s 2023-2024 County budget. The new HVAC unit was ordered in May 2024 but had a six-month lead time.
*Accepted a $10,000.00 grant from America 250 for the Avery County Museum for the purchase of two wayside markers.
*Approved the grant adoption of the Community Development Project for the Neighborhood Revitalization Program between the County of Avery and the North Carolina Department of Commerce for $950,000.00. The financial breakdown of that amount includes $500,000.00 for Acquisition, $355,000.00 for Public Rehabilitation, and $95,000.00 for Administration and Planning.
*Approved dates of the grant project ordinance adoption of the County of Avery American Resue Plan Act of 2021: Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. This ordinance is to establish a budget for a project to be funded by the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds of H.R. 1319 American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
The County of Avery has received its full allocation for $3,410,241 of these funds. These funds may be used for the following categories of expenditures, to the extent authorized by state law:
1. Support public health expenditures, by funding COVID-19 mitigation efforts, medical expenses, behavioral healthcare, and certain public health and safety staff;
2. Address negative economic impacts caused by the public health emergency, including economic harms to workers, households, small businesses, impacted industries, and the public sector;
3. Replace lost public sector revenue, using this funding to provide government services to the extent of the reduction in revenue experienced due to the pandemic;
4. Provide premium pay for essential workers, offering additional support to those who have borne and will bear the greatest health risks because of their service in critical infrastructure sectors; and,
5. Invest in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure, making necessary investments to improve access to clean drinking water, support vital wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, and expand access to broadband internet.
The County has elected to take the standard allowance, as authorized by this funding, and expend all its American Resue Plan/Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds for the provision of government services. A breakdown of these funds appropriated for the project and authorized for expenditure includes $198,505.50 for broadband expansion and $3,211,735.50 for salaries–Provision of Government Services for the period of April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2024.
These revenues have been available to complete the project. This grant project ordinance expires on December 31, 2026, or when all its funds have been obligated and expended by the County, whichever occurs sooner.
The commissioners also approved the following budget amendments in response to Hurricane Helene recovery efforts during their October 10 meeting:
*The County is incurring expenses related to debris removal and monitoring. A total of $4,000,000.00 from the fund balance will be used for debris removal ($3,000,000.00) and debris monitoring ($1,000,000.00).
*The County is also incurring multiple expenses related to rescue and recovery operations. All expenses related to these efforts will be paid from the fund balance to aid in tracking for possible Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) $1,371,486.00 reimbursement.
Hicks was not present at the October 10 meeting as she could not get to it due to flooding and the road destruction it caused where she lives.
The commissioners will hold their next regular monthly meeting on Monday, December 2, beginning at 6:00 p.m. They will also have a joint meeting with the Avery County Board of Education, also in the large courtroom in the Court House on Thursday, November 21, beginning at 5:00 p.m.
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