HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 05-18-1999 - 8iORANGE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT
Meeting Date: May 18, 1999
Action Agenda
Item No. ~_
SUBJECT: Letter to Chapel Hill Town Council to Explore Options for Retaining Bus Service to
Southern Human Services Center
DEPARTMENT: County Commissioners PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/1~ No
ATTACHMENT(S):
Draft Letter (under sepazate cover)
INFORMATION CONTACT:
Commissioner Barry Jacobs, 732-4384
TELEPHONE NUMBERS:
Hillsborough 732-8181
Chapel Hill 968-4501
Durham 688-7331
Mebane 336-227-2031
PURPOSE: To consider sending a letter to the Chapel Hill Town Council requesting that the
Town explore options for continuing to provide bus service to the Southern Human Services
Center.
BACKGROUND: The Town of Chapel Hill is considering discontinuing Chapel Hill Transit
bus service to the Southern Human Services Center on Homestead Road. Commissioner Jacobs
has drafted a letter which he suggests the Boazd transmit to the Town Council, requesting that the
Town continue bus service, or at least leave open the issue pending further investigation and
consideration.
FINANCIAL IMPACT: The potential financial impact will depend on the Town's willingness
to consider continuing the service, and the stipulations that might be attached to continuation of
that service (e.g. some effort by the County to defray a portion of the cost of the service).
RECOMMENDATION(S): Approve sending the letter to the Chapel Hill Town Council.
at~e,x cordon, Chair
Stephen H. Halldotts, Vice Chair
btargaret W. Brown
~~~ Carsy, Jr.
Barry Jacobs
Orange County Commissioners
P. O. Box 8181
200 S Cameron Street
Hillsborough, NC 27278
May 20, 1999
The Honorable Rosemary L. Waldorf
Mayor, Town of Chapel Hill
306 N. Columbia Street
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
Dear Mayor Waldorf,
t
We write to address the Chapel Hill Town Council on a matter of mutual concern, providing public
transportation to the Southern Human Services Center.
The Orange County Board of Commissioners certainly appreciates the bus service currently provided
by the Town to this most important center of health and social services outreach in the southern part
of the county. Additionally, the Commissioners are respectful of the financial considerations by which
the Town Council might wish to evaluate the continuation of the bus route that serves the Southern
Human Services Center.
However, in light of the community needs served by the facility, we ask you to consider maintaining
bus service so citizens of Chapel Hill and Carrboro lacking auto transportation may still enjoy easy
access to the Homestead Road site. The Orange County Health Department alone has approximately
4,000 people with Chapel Hill and Carrboro addresses in its patient database.
At a minimum, we request the Town Council leave open the issue of bus service for further
investigation and consideration, to be revisited in the near future subsequent to discussions that might
include:
• Collaboration by Town and County staff to examine possible alternative configurations of existing
routes;
• A survey of users of the Southern Human Services- Center to ascertain the neighborhoods from
which they come and the likelihood they would utilitize convenient public transportation;
• Strategies for better publicizing existing transportation alternatives to bus service such as the
Shared Ride Program;
• Possible efforts by the County to assist in defraying the cost of bus service to the Southern
Human Services Center.
Thank you for your flexibility in this matter.
Sincerely,
~~~~~
Alice M. Gordon, Chair
Board of Commissioners
You Count In Orange County
AREA CODE (9l9) 732-8181: 968-4501: 688-7331: 227-2031: FAX (919) 644-3004