Staff reports

SALISBURY — Rowan County commissioners will meet Monday to schedule a number of public hearings on zoning matters, receive a presentation from Smart Start about a special reading program and receive a financial report.

The meeting will be 6 p.m. Monday at the Rowan County Administration Building. Most items to be considered Monday are on commissioners’ consent agenda, used for items about which there is no disagreement.

• Items on the consent agenda include:

• A Rowan County Jail Health Plan. The plan must be approved by commissioners and has already received an OK from Sheriff Kevin Auten and Health Director Nina Oliver.

The plan, which also includes Southern Health Partners as the contracted provider of care to inmates, sets a comprehensive set of standards for the jail such as how to handle intoxicated inmates and a basic assessment of health that must occur at the time of an inmate’s arrival.

It contains no significant changes from the prior year

• Setting a March 4 public hearing for a rezoning at 2355 Brown Road in China Grove.

Dr. Corrie Connolly, a veterinarian, has submitted an application to change a rural agricultural district to a commercial, business and industrial district in order to operate a clinic on site. The clinic would be located near Millbridge Elementary School.

Connolly proposes to limit uses on the site to residential, veterinary, animal shelters and boarding kennels, restaurants, miscellaneous retail and bakery products.

• Setting a March 4 public hearing for a rezoning on the 800 block of Ritchie Road — near Koontz Elementary School.

The rezoning would change a 2.18-acre parcel from rural residential to commercial, business and industrial. The Rowan County Planning Board was told last month that the applicant plans to move an events business to the site.

• Setting a March 4 public hearing for a rezoning in the 700 and 800 blocks of Kepley Road.

Applicant Mark Kraus proposes to reduce a 12-acre site zoned manufactured home park to 6.33 acres and change the remaining land to the rural agricultural designation.

• Setting a March 4 public hearing for a rezoning at the intersection of Statesville Boulevard and Old U.S. 70 from industrial to rural residential.

• Setting a public hearing for March 4 to consider financing proposal for improvement projects to Kannapolis City Schools’ facilities.

No other details are included in Monday’s agenda packet.

• Approving a $149,341 radio communications consulting contract to Federal Engineering to work with Rowan County and offer recommendations for the future of the local telecommunications system.

• Approving a $39,792.82 contract with engineering firm Talbert, Bright and Ellington for tree clearing and grading at Mid-Carolina Regional Airport for skydiving operations.

Commissioners are also scheduled to approve a $273,486 contract with Rifenburg Construction for tree clearing and grading at the airport.

There are three items are on the regular agenda, including:

• An update from Smart Start Rowan about a special reading program.

No other details are provided in the agenda packet.

• A financial report.

A chart included with the agenda shows tax revenue for the 2019 fiscal year, which started in July 2018, tracking higher than the previous three years. Revenue collected in the 2019 fiscal year was 88.04 million at the end of January. It was $85.92 million in 2018, $86.08 million in 2017 and $82.51 in 2016.

Expenses for the current fiscal year are only slightly increased from 2017-2018. Expenses at the end of January totaled $75.41 million for the 2019 fiscal year. That’s compared to $74.77 million in 2018, $72.23 million in 2017 and $67.80 million in 2016.

• A budget amendment that accounts for a donation to the Rowan County Sheriff’s office in the amount of $2,475.