Board to mull contract related to health project

Published 8:04 pm Friday, March 29, 2013

The Beaufort County Board of Commissioners, during its meeting Monday, will consider giving its approval of a contract related to the county being part of a nine-county region working toward improving the health of residents in those nine counties.

The coalition — known as the Region 10 Community Transforming to Make Healthy Living Easier — will have a program that focuses on tobacco-free living, healthful eating and active living. The Pitt County Health Department would assist the Beaufort County Health Department in implementing the program, if the commissioners green light the contract.

The board also will consider a request by the Purpose of God Annex Outreach Center for the county to serve as a conduit for a grant Purpose of God Annex is seeking. The nonprofit is applying for a multi-year 21st Century Community Learning Center grant. If the nonprofit’s application is approved, it would receive $364,112,08 in the first year, $352,612.08 in the second year, $282,089.66 in the third year and $169,253.80 in the fourth and final year of the grant. The grant does not require supplemental funds from the county.

Commissioner Gary Brinn, chairman of the committee studying options to the county’s limited-voting method of electing county commissioners, is scheduled to give an update of the committee’s work.

Since 1991, Beaufort County voters have used limited voting to elect commissioners. The method was imposed on the county by an order from a federal judge. The judge issued the order to enforce an agreement between county leaders and a group of black residents concerning the system of electing commissioners.

Many Beaufort County voters do not like limited voting. Under limited voting, voters may vote for only one candidate during an election even though three or four seats on the board are up for grabs.

The Board of Commissioners meets at 5 p.m. in the Beaufort County Administrative Building, 121 W. Third St., Washington. To review the entire agenda for the meeting, visit www.co.beaufort.nc.us. At the right side of the page, click on “Agenda” under the heading “Next regular Board of Commissioners meeting.” A special called meeting of the board begins at 4 p.m.

About Mike Voss

Mike Voss is the contributing editor at the Washington Daily News. He has a daughter and four grandchildren. Except for nearly six years he worked at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., in the early to mid-1990s, he has been at the Daily News since April 1986.
Journalism awards:
• Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, 1990.
• Society of Professional Journalists: Sigma Delta Chi Award, Bronze Medallion.
• Associated Press Managing Editors’ Public Service Award.
• Investigative Reporters & Editors’ Award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Public Service Award, 1989.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Investigative Reporting, 1990.
All those were for the articles he and Betty Gray wrote about the city’s contaminated water system in 1989-1990.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Investigative Reporting, 1991.
• North Carolina Press Association, Third Place, General News Reporting, 2005.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Lighter Columns, 2006.
Recently learned he will receive another award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Lighter Columns, 2010.
4. Lectured at or served on seminar panels at journalism schools at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Maryland, Columbia University, Mary Washington University and Francis Marion University.

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