Old prison to become new Stokes County Animal Shelter

The Stokes County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted Monday to renovate the old prison building at 1075 Dodgetown Road for use as the new animal shelter facility.

Glenda Pruitt, purchasing / project manager, recommended utilizing the historic county-owned building at the board’s Aug. 28 meeting, having already received the thumbs up from the animal shelter building study group and animal shelter staff.

“We’re real excited about reusing the building,” Pruitt said. “It’s just a postmark here for the county too...Everybody knows where the old prison is.”

Peter Freeman and Worth “Alex” Younts,” of Freeman Kennett Architects, presented two design concepts at the meeting: renovating the existing prison building or building an entirely new facility at the 9.8 acre site.

Pruitt and the architects recommended renovating the existing building instead of building a new one, citing several benefits, including the fact that a renovation would be a less expensive option by about $217,000.

“It’d be great have all new building but there’s a whole lot of good to being able to be able to renovate that existing building,” Freeman said. “The condition it’s in, and the quality of the construction that it has — both would be really maintenance free and serve the county for many years to come.”

Renovating the old prison building would include adding an addition.

The site currently has 10 buildings that need to be demolished before work can begin on the animal shelter.

To get the process going as quickly as possible, Pruitt asked the commissioners to approve her request quotes for that demolition immediately, and they voted 5-0 to do so.

Younts, a Stokes County resident, commented on the historic value of the building, noting that many counties and municipalities are quick to tear down old buildings and replace them with new ones.

“And as they do it seems they lose a bit of their history, a little bit of their soul. We do see this as a potential to keep a bit of Stokes County heritage going,” Younts said.

“It’s a pretty interesting building,” Freeman continued, pointing out a few structural features with the potential for aesthetic appeal.

“We noted a lot of architectural significance there,” Younts said. “It is a non-combustible building that has really good bones inside of it.”

“Somebody’s done some work to keeping that building up,” Freeman said. “You all done a great job of keeping that in in a way that it can be reused.”

“It’s really, in our mind, a great opportunity,” he said. “It’s laid out just incredibly well.”

The preliminary design concepts are available in the online agenda packet for the meeting.

The renovation would include an addition behind the existing that would be used for a dog kennel area (separate from the cats) and allowing for the installation of new materials.

“We can make it what the state requires and so we don’t have the issue with the floors that we do now,” Pruitt said.

Though demolition is planned for many of the buildings on the site, Pruitt noted that one or two may be saved and used for storage if possible.

The architectural firm also took into consideration previous study on the asbestos problem, “hazardous material abatement,” and found the main building close to Dodgetown Road had the “least of the hazardous.”

Costs for mitigating the hazardous material is worked into the overall cost of the renovation, which Freeman said is estimated at $1.343 million.

Costs for the demolition have already been budgeted through the public works department.

Commissioner Brad Chandler, vice-chairman of the board, said “just make sure that we plan,” for ongoing maintenance of the building.

Commissioner Keith Wood asked about demolition plans; Priutt responded that one contractor would be responsible for the entire demolition project.

Wood drew on his experience in the construction business experience and commented: “I’m really impressed. I wouldn’t even think about the new building even if it was cheaper. The other one is gorgeous. I really like it.”

“I agree,” Commissioner Sonya Cox said. “I like the presentation, I like the idea, I like being able to do an adaptive reuse. I think that’s smart and will be well received and a nod to history.”

Board considers re-hiring financial planner

Douglas Carter, president and managing director of DEC Associates, Inc., made a presentation at the request of Commissioner Ronnie Mendenhall.

When introducing Carter, Commissioner Rick Morris, board chairman, said: “We’ve got some challenges ahead and we need some really good advice.”

A previous relationship between DEC Associates and Stokes County, which began in 2008, resulted in the creation of the “4 Cent Fund” for capital expenses.

“We did something really creative in that time frame,” Carter said, noting that his firm also provides financial planning for Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro.

“The big part is how you determine the current capital need for general and for schools,” he said. “Everybody has enormous school needs.

“You can’t let the general needs pass by because they exist as well.”

Carter proposed an agreement that would “reinvigorate” the previous relationship, as opposed to starting new, which would involve using established debt affordability models to generate updated information with updated data.

The proposed fee would be $25,000, with half paid up front and half at the culmination. Carter proposed a timeline that included getting to work right away with the goal of being prepared for the 2024 budget season.

The first phase would be development of “needs and alternatives,” completed by January, followed by working with stakeholders such as the Board of Education and commissioners.

Additional fees for “deals” are paid at the time of investment and worked into finance structure, Carter said.

“After talking with the manager a bit, thinking about being with you here today, we really need to revisit the debt affordability model,” Carter said. “We need to look at how those revenues are, are they adequate based upon your capital needs or what you perceive as your upcoming capital needs.”

Property tax revaluation on the horizon

Richard Brim, Stokes County tax administrator, began a five-part series monthly updating the board on the 2025 property tax revaluation.

Brim explained the first segment would be an explanation of what the revaluation is, why it’s done, and what the goals are.

First Brim noted that “reappraisal” and “revaluation” both mean the same thing and refer to the process of determining the market value of a property

“Market value is the most probable sales price that a property will bring on the open market when neither party is under any stress to sell,” he said. “The goals of a reappraisal is to achieve fair and consistent values across entire county, conducted in a manner that taxpayers are informed and educated of the process, to have a finished product that that accurately depict Stokes County’s market value along different property classes.”

The tax administrator explained that the state requires a revaluation at least every 8 years, and that the county opts to do a revaluation every 4 years.

The county uses a more frequent revaluation cycle because the more accurate valuations ensure public utilities such as Duke Energy, which comprises nearly 17% of the county’s tax base, don’t receive a discounted rate due to lower ratios.

Next month, Brim plans to inform the board of the keys to successful reappraisal and what steps the local office will take to ensure that happens.

In other business of the Stokes County Board of Commissioners:

• Tax Administrator Richard Brim updated the board that a software “hiccup” resulting in incorrect tax bills for 25 parcels in the county had been repaired, with updated tax bills sent to all parcels affected.

• Public Works Director Stewart Easter provided an update on three separate water projects in the county, each aiming for completion by December 2026.

• The board voted 5-0 to disburse funding to Westfield Volunteer Fire Department after hearing from Deputy Fire Chief and Rescue Chief Mathew Martin, who provided an itemized list for using the one-time $50,000 grant.

That list is available in a memo included in the meeting’s agenda packet:

$30,000 to the principal payment of New Engine 3;

$7,051 replacement tires for Engine 1 and Engine 2 (12-tires total);

$5,579.63 Medium Rescue Certification equipment needs;

$5,149.99 security upgrades to existing camera systems at WVFD (includes hardware and install);

$2,219 improvements to exterior storm water drainage and erosion control.

• Stokes County Cooperative Extension Director Emily Cope presented information regarding an update to the agreement between the county and North Carolina State University.

• The Board voted 5 — 0 to abandon the baseball field at Moratock Park, a necessary step for the bridge replacement project to move forward.

• The Board voted 5-0 to temporarily extend the moratorium on large scale solar farms for 120 days to allow time to amend the zoning ordinance to provide sufficient regulation.

• In a 4-1 vote, the board approved a budget resolution #10 to transfer $11,000 from monies set aside for lease payments on leased sheriff’s office vehicles to maintenance and repair for striping and lettering of those vehicles. Commissioner Chandler opposed.

Reach Terri Flagg at [email protected].

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