Craven, Brody discuss legislative agendas and updates for Anson County

WADESBORO — State Senator David Craven and Representative Mark Brody visited the Twin Valley Golf Club on Friday to give an update on the General Assembly and provide some data and information relevant to local citizens.

“I think that we are in a really unique situation where the House and the Senate…works really close together,” explained Rep. Brody. “When we plan out things for appropriation, for the budget for Anson…we work it out beforehand. So we know exactly where we want to be, so when we present it to our budget folks, we say ,‘Look, this is how we want to do this.’”

The event was hosted by the Anson County Chamber of Commerce.

Brody acknowledged that the US is politically divided, but it in the General Assembly, about 85% of what they do is unanimous between Democrats and Republicans, and that conflict isn’t always partisan.

“North Carolina is in a really great economic shape,” Brody said. “When we came off the recession in 2008 and 2010, it was a consistent process of working towards an economic goal.”

Brody said they’ve emphasized on infrastructure and regulatory structure to make the state more appealing to businesses.

“North Carolina went from one of the least desirable places to come to business to, often times, the first and second in the nation,” Brody explained. “We beat up Texas sometimes as a desirable place to relocate your business. It’s the international companies, the main car manufacturers, the industries that have a very limited product, but the industry itself is huge.”

With that economic success, Brody said NC has become a “victim of our own prosperity,” and must address the coinciding growth of people in the school system, utility usage and workforce.

“There’s a lot of needs for us going forward,” Sen. Craven said. “We’ve been aware of everything from the school system to the infrastructure. We’re going to have a surplus of dollars coming in that we’ll be able to do one-time projects that will help the economy in areas like Anson County.”

The state is projected to have three billion dollars in surplus, from their initial forecast, with another four billion in “rainy day” funds in the operating annual budget of $28 billion. The money is expected to be used to help areas of need within the state, such as the one-billion dollar broadband project that will bring internet to those in rural areas.

“Things like that are what move economies of scale in the right direction and really help out across the state,” said Senator Craven. “In three to five years from now, North Carolina is going to be second to none in broadband expansion.”

Funding will also go into anything from sewer and water infrastructure to the school system. They also plan to use the funding to tackle larger issues, such as the rising opioid epidemic, mental health crisis, and the shortages of first responders.

Wadesboro City Manager David Edwards said that across the state, municipalities are reporting 25% to 40% shortage in police officers. Edwards asked if something similar to the supplement given to teachers could be discussed in the General Assembly.

Craven said this is a top priority issue and something that they’re looking at.

“We have a people shortage in the United States,” Brody explained. “The baby boomer generation, which is the biggest generation this nation ever had, is retiring. We are being replaced by Gen X, which is the smallest generation this nation has had. Now you start seeing the difficulty of getting people into these skilled jobs.”

That shortage extends to trades, first responders and health care, they both added.

Angela Caraway, founder and executive director of the Caraway Foundation, asked them both about Medicaid expansion.

Brody said there are other concerns about healthcare that don’t “bump into Medicaid or Medicare,” such as certificate of need, which is the ability of a medical establishment to expand their scope of practice. Brody said they need to look at everything when it comes to increasing health care access.

“From that comprehensive approach, we have to take into account if we’re adding three, potentially four, 500,000 people with Medicaid in the state, which is where our targets are looking, you got to expand CON, scope of practice for physicians, you got to have telehealth options in the state,” Craven said. “You got to make healthcare more accessible because we have a lot more people in the system.”

Anson County Commissioner Jarvis Woodburn asked how the two legislators are improving access to mental health services.

“We got to be able to look ahead, and even though we are enjoying some surpluses now, we

Brody said he’s talked to some health care employees about Anson County being the site of a new mental health facility, which was partly inspired by former Sheriff Landric Reid. He said that any building would be a one-time expense, but that paying the staff would be a recurring expense in any future budgets, which poses a problem if the abundant surplus that is available now is available in the future.

Chairman of the Anson County Commissioners JD Bricken said it would help if the state could reduce regulations for building a school or a mental health facility.

“Sometimes we get in the position, where we can’t afford something at all versus a lower-regulated facility that will still accommodate our needs,” Bricken said while acknowledging that they would still need to follow federal regulations. Bricken expanded this concept to regulation of training, where a volunteer firefighter goes through 400 hours of training only to learn that they need to get even more training on top of all that with additional refresher courses. “Training and facility regulations are killing us,” clarifying that safety is still a top priority.

President of South Piedmont Community College Dr. Maria A. Pharr said the state is ranked 41st in the country for salaries at the community college level.

“The investment we have made in our K-12 teachers, which is very well-deserved, has pushed them up to about twelfth,” Dr. Pharr said. “We’re just asking to do the same,” Pharr said, with a boost that will get NC to the average of the four surrounding states.

This week, Brody said there will be a clearer picture of their operating budget from the initial forecast that was projected and released last week.