Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/780066
FEBRUARY 1-7, 2017 UCW 11 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM JEFF THOMPSON, Senior News Reporter. COMMENTS? news@upandcomingweekly. com. 910.484.6200. NEWS The Better Business Bureau of Coastal Carolina announced last week that Mr. Carl Mitchell, a Fayetteville resident and longtime BBB board member, has been named the Chairman of its Board of Directors. Mitchell has served in various leadership positions with the BBB over the year, including Secretary and Chair-Elect. Mitchell is employed at Fayetteville Technical Community College where he serves as the college's Vice President of Human Resources and Institutional Effectiveness. He is very active in the Fayetteville community also serving as the Chairman of the Fayetteville Personnel Review Board, Board Secretary for the Bragg Mutual Federal Credit Union and former Chairman of the Cumberland-Fayetteville Human Relations Commission. Mitchell is also a member of the Fayetteville Kiwanis Club. "Carl Mitchell's commitment to the BBB's mission of creating a community of trustworthy businesses and setting standards for marketplace trust, along with educating consumers and businesses, noting and celebrating marketplace role models has been a hallmark of his previous positions of trust on the BBB Board. The BBB staff and the Board of Directors were honored to have him accept his new role as our Chairman," said BBB President Dr. John D'Ambrosio. He added, "Carl is the type of leader that calmly listens to others and has the unique ability to openly welcome suggestions, recommendations and counsel from others. He uses that information to make reasoned decisions. The BBB Board has long relied on his professional talents, calm demeanor and superb professional expertise. We are fortunate to have someone of his caliber and talents accept this leadership role as we continue our mission of marketplace trust. We look forward to supporting him as the new Board Chairman as we sustain a community of trustworthy businesses and organizations operating in our service region." Former Cumberland County Commissioner and founder of Ed's Tire, Ed Melvin, has spent over two decades serving on the BBB board of directors. His position was also elevated last week when they named him Chair-Elect for 2017. Melvin and Mitchell are long-time friends and business associates. "Carl Mitchell has our full support and dedication in assisting him with the great work of the BBB. This is the first time in the 30 year history of the Coastal Carolina BBB organization that they have elected both a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman from the Fayetteville/Cumberland County region. This is a great honor for me and for our community and one that is long overdue" said Melvin. "Carl Mitchell has the full respect, commitment and loyalty of his fellow Board members, and we look forward to working with him as our Chair. He will do great things for the businesses, organizations and consumers residing in the 15 counties served by the BBB." He concluded. "It is an honor and privilege to serve my fellow BBB Board Members who represent the thousands of businesses and consumers across Coastal Carolina's service area. I appreciate their trust and confidence in me. I will work to the best of my ability to provide the excellent and expected service honoring the long BBB history and tradition of building trust. It is my personal goal to encourage BBB accredited businesses, which serve consumers across our 15-county region, to professionally share their best practices with other businesses operating in our region. With a goal of continued improvement, we can all learn from one another. It will be the businesses and consumers who will be the recipients of those shared best practices. I feel privileged to work with such a great group of professionals who faithfully serve the businesses, organizations and consumers of the Coastal Carolina region. I look forward to the future and to the continued great work of the BBB" said Mitchell. The Coastal Carolina BBB is headquartered in Conway, S.C., and covers a region of 15 NC and SC counties to include: Cumberland, New Hanover, Pender, Robeson and Sampson, Counties Horry, Georgetown, Williamsburg, Dillion, Darlington, Florence and Marion Counties in South Carolina and Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus. Seventy-five percent of the BBB directors represent the private sector while the other twenty-five percent represent the public sector. Dr. John D'Ambrosio is the President and CEO of the Coastal Carolina BBB. Contact him at drjohn@coastalcarolina.bbb.org, or visit him at the BBB central office located at 1121 Third Ave., Conway, S.C. The BBB will hold its mid-year meeting Board in Fayetteville on May 25. The 2017 annual meeting for all accredited BBB member businesses in the Coastal Carolina Region will be held in November or early December in Conway/Myrtle Beach area (date TBA). Better Business Bureau Names FTCC's Carl Mitchell Chairman a STAFF REPORT Cumberland County government officials have learned how sensitive property tax records of Fayetteville City Council members were obtained last month by the Fayetteville Observer. A confidential memo prepared by City Councilman Ted Mohn was leaked to the paper by another council member. The 2017 tax reappraisal accidentally appeared on the county's website in early January. "We learned that some 2017 revaluation data that was being worked on by tax administration staff, and that was not intended to be seen by anyone outside the tax administration office because it was not finalized, was accessible through the GIS Tax Parcel Viewer application on the public website," said county Governmental Affairs Officer Sally Shutt. "The information was only available… from Jan. 1 to Jan. 9," she said. The inadvertent, premature posting was taken down on the ninth. Anyone would have had access to the information during that time. Councilman Mohn came across the tax records and decided to share his colleagues' property values with them. He emailed his findings to the mayor and to members of Council. One of them apparently leaked it to the Observer, which published some of the data. Above is Mohn's full report, provided on request to Up & Coming Weekly. City and County officials have worried for months that 2017 ad valorem tax appraisals would show that property values have declined since the last appraisal in 2009. Mohn's report is their first look at the information and appears to confirm an unprecedented downturn in the value of the county's tax base. Shutt shared with Up & Coming Weekly the information requested by the Observer and her responses. She said the paper wanted to know why the county was working on tax values at "this late stage in the process." She told the unnamed reporter that "it is not unusual for revaluation staff to continuously review values up until the time the notices are mailed." Shutt made clear that "tax administration had no intention of revaluation information being released until the data was reviewed and finalized for the entire tax base." County Tax Administrator Joe Utley will present the final 2017 revaluation report to the County Commission's Finance Committee on Feb. 2. Information will be available to the public on the GIS Tax Parcel online later the same day. Tax values are effective Jan. 1, and notices are in the mail now. Cumberland County Property Revaluation Notices Due by JEFF THOMPSON District Address 2016 Value 2017 Value Delta Percent Robertson At-Large 2513-A McNeill Cir. $ 255,000 $ 247,300 $ (7,700) -3.02% Jensen 1 405 Swan Island Ct. $ 898,900 $ 712,200 $ (186,700) -20.77% deViere 2 513 Oakridge Ave. $ 356,900 $ 372,800 $ 15,900 4.46% Colvin 3 3405 Gables Dr $ 702,159 $ 621,500 $ (80,659) -11.49% McDougald 4 1826 Eichelberger Dr. $ 120,200 $ 114,500 $ (5,700) -4.74% Hurst 5 2010 Whisper Ln. $ 176,700 $ 159,500 $ (17,200) -9.73% Crisp 6 3804 Sunchase Dr. $ 275,900 $ 264,500 $ (11,400) -4.13% Wright 7 1223 Chilton Dr. $ 96,300 $ 72,200 $ (24,100) -25.03% Mohn 8 6961 Bone Creek Dr. $ 138,300 $ 125,400 $ (12,900) -9.33% Arp 9 2640 Thorngrove Ct. $ 394,000 $ 344,800 $ (49,200) -12.49% Total $ 3,414,359 $ 3,034,700 $ (379,659) -11.12% Better Business Bureau of Coastal Carolina Chairman of its Board of Directors Carl Mitchell. Better Business Bureau of Coastal Carolina Chair-Elect for 2017 Ed Melvin.