Two Catawba County programs, one that is developing an EcoComplex in and around the Blackburn Landfill that is turning the landfill into a resource recovery and “green” research facility and one that expedited the process of moving child welfare cases through the court system, have been named winners of 2008 National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Awards.

The NACo Achievement Awards program, now in its 37th year, gives national recognition to significant and innovative programs which improve county organization, management and service delivery. Catawba County has won 186 awards over the history of the NACo program and has been honored during each of the program's 37 years.

"NACo awards demonstrate Catawba County's continuing effort to find innovative and creative ways to deliver the very best services to our citizens," said Kitty Barnes, Chair of the Board of Commissioners. "My fellow commissioners and I are very proud of this national recognition."

“The Catawba County EcoComplex is designed to promote economic development and create new jobs in the green energy, green business, agricultural and environmental sectors,” said Barry B. Edwards, Catawba County’s Director of Utilities and Engineering, who is overseeing the EcoComplex. “As it develops, it will accommodate research involving all aspects related to biologically-derived energy recovery and use, as well as the research of alternative fuels and minimization of greenhouse gases for environmental, agricultural and energy use. Private companies and research facilities are being recruited to co-locate their operations with those of the Blackburn Landfill. Waste products from those businesses are being re-used by other EcoComplex partners and electricity, produced by burning methane produced naturally in the landfill, is being used by the EcoComplex partners. Catawba County sees tremendous potential, both environmentally and economically, from our EcoComplex and we are very excited as we continue with its development,”

Some of the EcoComplex partners are already in place. Gregory Wood Products has been in operation since August 2005. The company is a producer of dimensional lumber and it buys 5000 to 6000 tons of logs each week, adding $9 to $10 million a year to the local economy. Another business, Pallet One, began operations this year. It takes the wood waste produced by Gregory Wood Products and turns it into wood pallets used by a host of industries. The County and its eight municipalities have been partners for over ten years in a Regional Sludge Management Facility, and in the Blackburn Landfill, and these partnerships will continue through the development and implementation of the EcoComplex.

Catawba County is continuing negotiations with greenhouse companies interested in locating in the EcoComplex. Appalachian State University has received a grant for a biodiesel research facility that would be located in the EcoComplex and would use the electricity and heat created as methane is burned to generate electricity. The County and Appalachian State University are continuing to look for areas in which to broaden the research that is being performed at the EcoComplex, with special emphasis being placed on biologically derived alternative fuel sources.

The EcoComplex will also include a bioenergy facility, which would convert the waste products of Gregory Wood Products, Pallet One and the landfill, (sawdust and other wood waste), to produce steam and heat. That steam and heat would then be used by Gregory Wood Products and Pallet One for drying kilns, by the County to produce more electricity and for a proposed new sludge maintenance facility, and would be used by the greenhouse and Appalachian State’s biodiesel research facility once they are located within the complex.

The EcoComplex was also named winner of the Alliance for Innovation’s Thomas H. Muehlenbeck Award for Excellence in Local Government in 2007.

The National Association of Counties has also honored the Catawba County Department of Social Services’ Expedited Paternity Testing program. The objective of this project was to expedite the paternity testing process for families appearing before the court in child welfare matters. Juvenile Court judges who hear cases relating to child abuse, neglect and dependency frequently require paternity testing to verify the paternity of children whose cases are before the court, and ensure the court is addressing the rights of biological parents. This previously required scheduling an appointment with an independent testing lab. Many parents are difficult to locate and even more difficult to motivate to appear at a lab for a paternity test. Often a parent appeared in court once as a result of being incarcerated, only to disappear again before the paternity test could be scheduled.

The Expedited Paternity Testing program created a solution for this problem. The Legal Assistant for child welfare attorneys and all Child Support staff were trained to take the lab samples for paternity testing. When paternity testing is ordered, the Legal Assistant is in court and is able to take all parties aside and perform the necessary tests. If members of a family come into the Department of Social Services, there is a well trained crew of Child Support staff willing and able to assist with the testing.

“Before this program was created, social workers would call the Child Support Unit from the courthouse, desperately asking that someone be sent to court to take lab specimens immediately,” said Jo Sloan, Program Administrator with the Catawba County Department of Social Services. “This was rarely successful, as it was totally dependent upon the willingness and ability of a private testing facility to ‘drop everything’ and drive across town to take the lab specimens. As a result of this uncoordinated system many cases and, therefore, many children’s lives, were put on hold while the court waited on parents to be located and to submit to testing. This made it difficult for child welfare cases to move forward in a timely manner as required by law. Judges were also becoming frustrated with Social Services over testing that had not been completed in a timely manner, despite the best efforts of the social worker and the child support agent.

“In the summer of 2006, staff began to study the many issues related to paternity testing and scheduling, to find a more efficient way of doing business,” Sloan continued. “There was no separate budget for this project. Their efforts were complicated by the fact that these two major programs were entrenched in policy manuals, funding streams and interpretive memos which often worked at cross purposes. Since our staff was trained to perform the testing, the Child Welfare Legal Assistant has been available every Tuesday in Juvenile Court to take paternity testing samples immediately upon the judge’s order. Social Services is no longer dependent upon an outside testing facility to initiate paternity tests. The DNA swabs can be taken in our agency or in the courtroom and no opportunity for testing is lost waiting on the appearance of trained personnel from the independent testing lab.”

Catawba County will receive its two NACo Awards at the Association’s annual conference in Kansas City, Missouri in mid July.