Author: Scott D. Yost

Finally. Effective as of 5 p.m. Monday, Aug. 15, Guilford County’s COVID-19-induced state of emergency is over.

Starting on Monday, Aug. 22, Guilford County will transition to a new online planning, permitting and inspections system that’s meant to streamline the process of applying for building permits and development permits, checking up on plan review status, paying fees, scheduling inspections and applying for select trade permits and environmental health permits.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners is having a summer unlike any other this century....

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) released a report on monkeypox in the state which showed that, while 70 percent of cases are in black men, black state residents have received less than a quarter of the vaccinations so far.

There’s a lot of electricity in the air this week in the City of High Point’s Electric Utilities Department, which now has a brand new director. Tyler Berrier, who’s been working for the city for about eight years, has accepted the position as the department’s head and plans to begin his new role immediately. 

On Thursday, Aug.11, Guilford County government announced that it has put up a new web tool that’s meant to provide residents with an easy-to-use, interactive interface to access information on planning ordinances, county codes and more. The new online portal, called “enCodePlus,” offers 24/7 access to plans, codes, manuals and ordinances – as well as new web tools for developers and planners.

The NC Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) is holding its 115th Annual Conference in Concord, North Carolina, which is in Cabarrus County.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has been meeting a whole lot this summer – usually a very down time for the board – and, on Tuesday, Aug. 9, the commissioners held another work session to spend a whole lot of federal money from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) meant to help communities recover from the pandemic. At the work session, the board voted to hand out $41 million in ARP funds. 

The federal government has given Guilford County about $104 million in American Rescue Plan money – and also given the county a wide variety of purposes the money could be used for.  Republican Commissioner Justin Conrad, who’s often critical of the actions of the Democratic-led board, said this week that, in this case, he feels very good about the way the county has handled the money.

The High Point Public Library is hosting a virtual event with USA Today Bestselling Author Anna Lee Huber. The discussion, which can be viewed via Zoom and Facebook and will be held on Thursday, Sept. 1 at 7 p.m., will be focused on Huber’s new book: “A Certain Darkness,” the sixth installment in a Huber series. 

The Guilford County Division of Public Health – now part of the county’s Department of Health and Human Services – wants to make sure that county school students get immunized before heading back into the classroom for the 2022-2023 school year. The clinics begin on Tuesday, August 9. 

On Monday, Aug. 8, Guilford County government announced a public hearing for a request from Impact Data LLC, which is asking for $607,390 in county taxpayer money “to support the creation of a center of excellence facility” that’s estimated to generate about $108 million in capital investment in Guilford County and create 28 new full-time area jobs.

Guilford County’s jail in downtown Greensboro only opened a decade ago – and people still refer to it as the “new” jail – however, the “new” building has a serious mold problem that has the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department and other county staff making moves to keep the inmates safe from related health threats.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners at the board’s Thursday, August 4 meeting voted to officially certify the passage of the $1.7 billion school bond referendum that was on the ballot in May and was passed by voters. 

If you thought the price of trash collection in unincorporated Guilford County was going to stay the same while the price of just about everything else in the world is going up, you were sadly mistaken. At the Thursday, August 4 meeting of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, the board listened to the waste haulers that operate in the county and allowed them to raise prices.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners used an afternoon work session on Thursday, August 4 to spend millions in federal money provided by the American Rescue Plan Act – money meant to help provide economic relief from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The International Civil Rights Center and Museum restructured its gala and moved the time of year for the 2022 event, and Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston – a founder of the museum – said the gala was a big success at this important time in the museum’s history when it’s focused on a dramatic expansion that will eventually take over an entire block of downtown Greensboro.

In an effort to be more inclusive for area residents, the City of High Point is holding a sign language story time this month.

Anybody who’s heard kids talk about Camp Hope after attending knows how special the experience is for them, and, starting this weekend, the Guilford County Family Justice Center is putting on the 2022 camp for a new group of kids.

Anyone can tell you that it’s very, very hard to find good help these days. Everyone from the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department to Dollar General is seeking workers. One sign of the times is that, next week, McDonald’s restaurants in Greensboro – and other parts of North Carolina and southern Virginia – are holding a mass hiring event.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on the world and Guilford County, but one thing that a lot of county residents might not realize fell by the wayside was a huge celebration that county officials had planned for the 250th birthday of Guilford County and the 100th birthday of the Old Guilford County Court House in downtown Greensboro.

Guilford County Commissioner James Upchurch recently put a new concern on the county’s radar – an alarming number of cats running free in the county.

After more than two years of worrying about COVID-19, fears of Monkeypox are gaining more attention, and recently Guilford County Health Director Dr. Iulia Vann told the Board of Commissioners that the Guilford County Division of Health has been preparing to handle cases and outbreaks should they occur in the county.

On Monday, August 1, the Guilford County Division of Public Health launched the county’s first Community Access Point (CAP) program in its war against COVID-19. The tests will be given out at various YMCA’s, libraries and county facilities among other places.

There’s still plenty of COVID-19 running through Guilford County and other parts of the country, but the mad rush to get vaccinated has been over for a long time and people are seemingly much less fearful of the disease these days. One sign of a return to normalcy – or something like it – is that StarMed Healthcare has ended COVID-19 vaccinations at Four Seasons Towne Center in Greensboro.

A lot of parents across the county and the state are happy that their kids are getting ready to head back to school and, on Tuesday, August 2, state health officials sent out a reminder that parents need to get their kids up to date on vaccinations.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners has a lot of money burning a hole in its pocket – over $100 million in federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds – and the board also has a lot of local organizations, local governments and county departments that want to get some of it.

The City of High Point is encouraging everyone to take part in a community beautification event on Saturday, August 6 and help with what’s known as the “Summer Trash Smash.”

The Guilford County Democratic Party has scheduled an “emergency meeting” of the full County Executive Committee to elect a replacement to the Guilford County Board of Elections for former Board Member Rev. T. Anthony Spearman.

There are a lot of people in Guilford County who need help paying their power bills and other help with energy problems and Guilford County government is forming a new outreach committee to make sure that everyone eligible knows about their options. Many of those in need come to the county asking for help, however, the new community outreach plan will get the word out that help with energy bills is available.

Creating the Guilford County Behavioral Health Center was a long collaborative process between Guilford County, Cone Health and the Sandhills Center and, on Monday, August 1, the center announced that it was expanding service with the addition of 16 longer-term crisis care beds meant to provide “an immediate, safe place for observation and care for adults with significant mental and emotional health care needs.”

Given Guilford County’s location as a meeting place for major highways, it’s no secret that a lot of illegal drugs pass through and enter into the county.

It took five years for the deep wounds to heal but, recently, it’s become clear that a longstanding rift between Guilford County government and the City of High Point has disappeared – and, once again, the two local governments are getting along swimmingly.

You may have noticed that the cost of just about everything is going up and, on Thursday, August 4, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners wants to hear what county residents have to say about…

On Thursday, August 4, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners is holding a public hearing to get input on an economic development incentive grant request of $41,630 for IQE Inc.

The Guilford County Sheriff’s Department has been awarded two grants totaling $245,500 – thanks to the Governor’s Highway Safety Program – to help keep drunk, high and distracted drivers off the roads.

Streams around Lake Townsend, the largest Greensboro municipal water reservoir, are getting some work done to them thanks to a grant from the NC Department of Agriculture’s Streamflow Rehabilitation Assistance Program.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners will honor a special award recipient at the board’s Thursday, Aug. 4 meeting – Mannie Slaughter, who’s earned the Boy Scouts of America Lifesaving Award.

On Friday night, July 29, the High Point Theatre is presenting its first performance of the new 2022-2023 season with “Yesterday: A Tribute to the Beatles,” which will start at 7:30 p.m.

The City of High Point is holding its next Household Hazardous Waste Disposal Event on Saturday, August 6.

ecently, the NCACC North Carolina Association of County Commissioners honored the award-winning committee of county leaders that have been handling the national opioid settlement – and also honored 48 other North Carolina county programs that just won a 2022 NACo Achievement Award.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing on an appeal of a proposed rezoning of approximately 30 acres of land at 413 NC 150 West.  The request is to rezone the property from Agricultural and Residential Single Family (RS-40) to Conditional Zoning-General Business. The hearing has been placed on the agenda for the board’s Thursday, August 4 beginning at 5:30 p.m. and will be held in the Board of Commissioners meeting room on the second of the Old Guilford County Court House at 301 W. Market St. in downtown Greensboro.

In the Carolyn Q. Coleman meeting room – formerly the Blue Room – on Friday, July 29, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners held a four-hour morning meeting to hear requests from various groups who want some of the $100 million-plus in federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) money that Guilford County is getting from the federal “rescue” plan to help with economic fallout from the pandemic.

One of Guilford County’s most revered citizens – former two-term Democratic Sheriff of Guilford County Walter “Sticky” Burch – has passed away.

Guilford County Parks is looking for some talented local crafts people and some tasty food providers to take part in the upcoming “2022 Bur-Mil Fall Fest.” The outdoor event, which is going to be free to all despite rampant inflation everywhere else – and will be “family-friendly” as well – will take place at Bur-Mil Park at 5834 Bur-Mil Club Road on Saturday, Oct. 8, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

High Point has had a whole lot of economic development success in recent years and now the High Point Economic Development Corp. (EDC) has begun a newsletter to highlight current and future successes on a quarterly basis.  The newsletter will provide the latest in economic development efforts across High Point and Guilford County, as well as the Carolina Core – an economic development organization meant to spur development across much of central North Carolina.

Every month, at the meeting of the Piedmont Triad Airport Authority, the authority releases the stats for the previous month and the new numbers show that the number of passengers flying in and out of the airport rose 10 percent in June of 2022 when compared with June of 2021. For the year so far, the increase is much more dramatic. Passenger traffic is up 68 percent year-to-date in 2022 compared with last year.

The Board of Commissioners has scheduled a work session for Friday, July 29, at 9 a.m.– a very unusual time for the board to meet. They will meet in the Carolyn Q. Coleman Conference Room, formerly the Blue Room, on the first floor of the Old Guilford County Court House in downtown Greensboro.

A series of 911 calls emanating from Rev. T. Anthony Spearman’s alleged robbery – and his death about one week later – provided some clues as to what may have transpired before the death of Spearman, the former NC NAACP chairman, civil rights leader and Guilford County Board of Elections member.