By Jim Genaro

Health care topped the agenda of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners August 7, as the board heard updates on the Eblen Foundationís primary-care program and welcomed a new health director.

Bill Murdock, Eblenís director, and Scott Hickman, CEO of W. P. Hickman Company, discussed the foundationís new† program, which helps companies to supplement their health-insurance programs by sending primary-care physicians to workplaces on a monthly basis.

Hickman, whom Murdock credited with coming up with the idea, said he wanted to reach two groups of employees.
The first group consisted of seasonal employees, he said.

ìThose people do not fall under our current health care program ó effectively they have no health care at all,î Hickman told the commissioners.

However, a second group of people helped by the program included those who do have coverage but choose not to take advantage of it, often because they cannot find time to visit a doctor. The catalyst for the idea came, Hickman said, after an employee who had health insurance refused to seek treatment for an ailment and subsequently died of pneumonia.

For $35 per visit, a primary-care physician working with the foundation will come to a workplace and see employees and their family members, Hickman said.

ìThat way, theyíre not using the emergency room as a primary-care facility, which is absolutely the wrong use of those resources,î he noted. The visits also take a ìthematic approach,î he said, with physicians focusing on specific problems ó such as weight loss, cholestorol or quitting smoking ó each month.

The board also welcomed Dr. Vicki Ittel, the countyís new health director.

ìThe (Buncombe County) Health Center has a clear legacy in this town of providing quality programs and services,î she told the commissioners.

Ittel said she wanted to focus on four objectives, including assessing and anticipating the needs of the community, facilitating ìsmart strategic partnerships throughout the community,î providing ìconsumer-focused servicesî and creating a ìwork environment that promotes communication and creativity and that values our employees.î

In other action, the board:

ï Made a number of zoning changes, including one that was the focus of a dispute between two neighbors.
Resident Janet Miksa had requested that her property be rezoned from R1 to R2. Though both are residential designations, R2 would allow her to convert her home into a duplex, she said.

The properties across the street from her house are already R2, she said, and the area has undergone tremendous development.

Her house, which she moved into 25 years ago, used to be surrounded by a tree-covered farm.

ìAfter the farm was sold, the land around me was raped of every tree,î she told the board. ìItís a great big pile of dirt with bulldozers and theyíre building multi-family housing on both sides of my house.î

Miksa said she was requesting the zoning change because she and her husband wanted to convert their home into a duplex, so they could rent out part of their house to fund their retirement. She noted that under the current zoning, she could build multiple single-family dwellings, but that she wanted to build the duplex because it would involve cutting fewer trees.

However, Vince Angelico, Miksaís neighbor, expressed objections to the proposed change.

ìIn my opinion, this is zoning thatís spot-zoning,î he said. ìWhether itís two duplexes or 12 duplexes, density will lower the value of single-family homesî nearby.

When Chairman Nathan Ramsey asked how long Angelico had lived at his residence, he replied that he had moved there two years ago ó into one of the homes that had been built on the former farm.

Zoning Administrator Jim Coman told the commissioners that his board supported the proposed change and that Miksa could build ìnowhere near 12 duplexesî on her 1.7 acres.

The board approved the change 4-1 with Commissioner David Young dissenting.

ï Heard a report from Tax Director Gary Roberts, who told the commissioners that Buncombe County had the fourth-highest tax collection rate in North Carolina for 2006.

At 99.15 percent, the countyís collection rate was well above the state average of 96.81 percent he said, drawing applause from the commissioners.

The countyís rate has improved each of the past four years, he said.

Last year, the county tax office took in $137.8 million in property taxes and was unable to collect an additional $1.2 million.

Roberts said that the high collection rate allows the county to keep property taxes lower.

Typically, property taxes are due the first week of January. The county adds 2 percent of interest after the deadline and an additional three-fourths percent accrues each month thereafter.

In cases of unpaid property taxes, the county can attach bank accounts, garnish wages and foreclose on properties.