Many of the documents in the county’s space needs look similar — surveys and numbers issued by a contracted architecture firm — but one department stands out, including documents that date back several years.

The Rowan County Board of Elections’ section includes documents dating back multiple years. One of the included documents is a letter from the State board of Elections that’s dated June 3, 2013.

The letter cites problems with the Rowan County Board of Elections’ current facility as far back as 2007. The problems found in 2007 included insufficient parking at the county’s administrative building and a basement that was not secure and looked as if it had prior water damage. The letter states the basement of the facility again flooded in 2008. It states some of the boxes of records were damanged during the basement flood.

In the 2013 letter, Don Wright, the general counsel at the time for the state board, wrote: “Upon assurances of your office that the county was in good faith committed to moving your office to a better site in the future to remedy these problems, we chose not to insist upon an immediate change of location of your facility.”

The space needs study also includes a 2013 letter from the Rowan County Board of Elections to county commissioners, where Elections Director Nancy Evans states that the search for a new 10,000 square foot facility began in 2007 and has been ongoing ever since. If the Board of Elections moves to the former Salisbury Mall, where its currently scheduled to go, it would’ve been eight years since the process of moving the department began.

The Board of Elections moved to its present location in 1996, when there were 67,612 registered voters in Rowan. Now, there’s over 90,000.

Hudson receives award for work on repealing death tax

U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, R-8, on Thursday received the Benjamin Franklin Award from the 60 Plus Association, a national non-partisan senior citizen’s organization, for his work to repeal a tax imposed on the transfer of taxable estates of a deceased person. It’s also been nicknamed the death tax.

In response to the award, Hudson released a statement: “The death tax is the most immoral tax imposed on our small business owners and farmers. These entrepreneurs do not owe their success to the federal government, and the benefits of their labor should not be confiscated from their children and grandchildren when they die.”

After hearing from farmers and small business owners, Rep. Hudson introduced the Farmers Against Crippling Taxes (FACT) Act (H.R. 186) to permanently eliminate the death tax and end the double taxation that threatens the livelihood of family farms, small businesses and jobs in North Carolina.

Ford sponsors seventh school calendar bill

State Rep. Carl Ford’s tally of sponsored school calendar bills is quickly piling up.

Ford, a Republican who represents the state’s 76th district, sponsored his seventh school calendar bill this week. The bill would give local control of start and end dates for schools to local entities.

So far, Ford has sponsored or co-sponsored school calendar bills for Kannpolis, Cabarrus County, Rowan County, Transylvania County, Chatham County, Gates County and Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg bill is the latest that’s gotten Ford’s support. It was introduced on March 17. Ford is listed as a co-sponsor.

Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246.