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July 10, 2006 (Regular Meeting) Page 4 Emergency Fund" (CEF) with a balance of $3,076.29 as of June 30th. She said the CEF is an emergency fund designed to assist the community in the event of a catastrophic event such as a house fire, natural disaster or mass lay-off. (D) INFORMAL PUBLIC COMMENTS Chairman Carruth opened the meeting for Informal Public Comments at 6:59 p.m. He stated each speaker would be limited to three minutes. Colin Nowlin of Davidson Road commented on a recent quote in THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER by Chairman Carruth in regards to a recent annexation of property on Bradford Road by the City of Kannapolis. He asked the following questions: (1) Is it legal and/or ethical to annex a parcel only to use it for other voluntary annexations? (2) If the City of Kannapolis has no intent of involuntarily annexing the Odell Community, is it true they can and/or must consolidate this area once 60 percent of the community is within the boundaries of the City of Kannapolis? and (3) Does this quote mean Chairman Carruth does not care about this part of Cabarrus County? Mr. Nowlin also said the citizens of that area do not want to inherit additional debt without having a voice in how these decisions were made. Finally, he said the Odell residents would be better stewards of the land with a smart growth plan. Harold Smith, resident of 108 Edinburg Drive in Kannapolis, commented on how easy it is to get Industrial Development Incentive Grants approved by the Board with little debate. He also commented on the relationship between the Economic Development Corporation, the Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce and the CabarruB Regional Business Coalition, which he said is a Political Action Committee (PAC). He reported the Coalition donated $6,500.00 towards the re-election of three current Board members I which he considered to be "influence buying". Finally, Mr. Smith commented on the recent indictment of Gene Haas and objected to the award of incentive grants to Haas Racing. Fred Wally of Mooresville Road spoke about the rules of the public comment period during the Planning and Zoning Commission's hearing on the Wayne Brothers, rnc., rezoning petition. He reported everyone who signed a comment card was not allowed to speak at the original hearing and the amount of time varied for those who did speak. He said he asked the Planning staff the following questions: (1) will every person who completes a public comment card be allowed to speak? (2) How much time will be allocated to each speaker; and (3) Can a speaker allocate his/her time to another person? Mr. Wally said he also met with Planning staff concerning the proposed public comment rules for the upcoming hearing on July 20. He said he was told opponents of the petition would be given 45 minutes to speak and questions from the Planning and Zoning Commission would not be deducted from the original 45 minutes. He disagreed with these rules and said a presenter's viewpoint may not represent the opinions of other attendees. He asked that all persons be allowed to speak at the public hearing and to allow speakers to allocate their time to another speaker to speak on their behalf. Betty Lipe of Odell School Road presented several maps highlighting the four-acre parcel on Bradford Road that was voluntarily annexed by the City of Kannapolis. She asked "what is the four-acre parcel contiguous to" and said the City of Kannapolis looks like the "spots on a pinto bean." She reported several people from the Institute of Government provided a written opinion on this annexation and said it was illegal. Finally, she compared speeding and bootlegging to the illegal voluntary annexation. She said these crimes are all illegal and are no different than the annexation. Marvin Bost of Mt. Pleasant invited Board members to attend a celebration honoring the importance of agriculture and the creation of the Voluntary Agriculture District. The event will be held on Tuesday, August 1, at the porter Farm in Mt. Pleasant. He reported Steve Troxler, Commissioner of Agriculture, will be in attendance to talk about the importance of conservation. He reported there are now over 9,000 acres in the Voluntary Agriculture District. John Clark, resident of Lloyd Place in Concord and Chairman of the Cabarrus County Democratic Party, thanked several Board members for supporting incentives for economic development. He said good jobs are needed in Cabarrus County and recruiting business is the best way to ease the burden on the taxpayers. Finally, Mr. Clark said incentives will be critical to the success of the N. C. Research Campus in Kannapolis and stated the importance of elected officials, representatives from the N. C. Department of Commerce and developers working together on this project.