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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 19810421.. ; 1_ ~ .. M.. MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS APRIL 21, 1981 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, April 21, 1981, at 7:30 P.M., in the Superior Courtroom, Orange County Courthouse, Hillsborough, North Carolina. Commissioners present: Commissioner Anne Barnes, Chair, and Com- missioners Norman Gustaveson, Norman Walker, Richard Whitted and Don Willhoit. ~' Agenda Item 1: Board modification of a enda No Board member wished to modify the agenda for this meeting. Agenda Item 2: Audience Comments A. Matters on the agenda: Maggie Dodson and Lindsay Tapp wished to speak to agenda item 3; Dr. Sarah Dent, Bill Lessig and Clyde Jones wished to speak to agenda item 11; Mr. Cox was present for agenda item 12-A; Ms. Hayes and Ms. Fuller were present for agenda item 14. B. Matters not on the agenda: There was no one present who wished to speak to matters not on the agenda. Agenda Item 3: DOT's Secondar Road Pro ram Mr. Watkins of the Department of Transportation addressed the Board. Mr. Watkins stated that he had contacted various schoo'1 maintenance per- sonnel and recei•red their concerns about roads and passability for school buses. Mr. Watkins said he was confident that the DOT,could.adequately ;~eet the schools' concerns for safety an these roads from maintenance monies. Commissioner 4ihitted asked Mr. Watkins`if the State increased funding for the secondary road program how would that change the pro- gram as presented far Orange County. Mr..Watkins did not know;:he asked that the Board reconsider the UOT's program for paving Tapp Road. Com- missioner Willhoit moved to approve the DOT's secondary road program as presented by Mr. Watkins on March 23rd (to pave 5R 1125--Tapp Road); Commissioner Walker seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes, 5; noes, 0. Both Ms. Dodson and Mr. Tapp spokz to the Board prior to the vote but after the yy •~ -.r;. d~~Z ~~ ~7 a a is motion, in favor of accepting DOT's recommendation for paving Tapp Road: Mr. Tapp presented the Board with a Resolution which had been passed by the Democratic Party. Agenda Item 4: Foundation Bookstore Appeal_ of Tax, Assessment. Mr. Bill Laws, Tax Supervisor and Ms. Gonna Smith of the Tax Office addressed the Board. Mr. Shapiro was not present. Mr. Laws said the Foundation Bookstore fiad not listed for 1979 although the shop had been in business since 1978. (see Minutes of this Board for April 6, 1981, for background.) Commissioner Whitted moved that the 1980 'tax value be set at $17,50D as adjusted by the Tax Supervisor; Commissioner Wi.lihoit seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes, 5; noes, 0. Agenda Item 5: Mona er's Re ort Commissioner Walker said he would like to wait for the report on tho mechanical harvester before discussing solutions to the weed infes- tation of Lake Orange. This item was deferred accordingly. Agenda Item 6: County-wide Fire Protection_Study + --"Commissioners Walker and Barnes spoke to the members of the Board regarding various concerns for providing fire protection to all residents of Orange County. Commissioner Barnes noted that in previous months the Board had been presented with two petitions from areas not now included in Fire Districts. The Board asked Commissioner 4lalker if he, as Fire Commissioner for Orange Gounty, would undertake a study of how to pro- vide the best: County-wide fire service. Commissioner Walker was asked tc particularly check response time, dispatching problems and fire pro- tection planning for future growth. Conxnissioner Walker said he would tivcrk with the area Fire Chiefs (those in Orange County) and EMS per- sonnel and whomever else might be needed to conclude the study requested. Agenda Item 8: Enforcement of Oran a County Subdivision RE ulations in Hi sborou s xtrater- r7toria area. The Board said it felt very wicomforta6le enforcing its regulations within the Town of Hillsborough's extraterritorial area; it felt that such enforcement could not adequately handled by this Board in the absence of standards by Hillsborough. Commissioner Whined moved to authorize the Chair to, write the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners explaining the reluctance by this Board to make decisions regarding areas in Hi11s- barough's jurisdiction and further, that such letter should suggest the Town adopt the County's subdivision regulations; Commissioner Gustaveson seconded the motion. Further suggestions were that the 7vwn of Hillsborough provide the Board of Commissioners of Orange County with Hillsborough's existing standards for subdivisions, fire hydrants, streets, and water and sewer. Vote: ayes, 5; noes, 0. Agenda Item 7: Amendment to Section 1V-B-I of the County Subdivision Ordinance. :Nr. Eddie Kirk of the Planning Staff addressed the Board. Com- missioner Willhoit moved approval of the Planning Board's recommendation for the amendment with the modification that the square footage in (c) be modified from 15,000 to 40,000. Motion died for lack of a second. Commissioner Willhoit said he thought such an increase in square footage would provide some protection for those unzoned areas in the County. Mr. Polatty, Planning Director, said he felt the Land Use Plan would cover Commissioner Wi1lhoit's concerns. Commissioner Whitted moved to adopt the recommendation of the Planning Board to amend Section IV- B-I of the County Subdivision Ordinance (see pagelo~'7•~S~of this book for reccmmendation) as submitted; Commissioner Walker seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes, 3 (Commissioners Walker, Whitted and-Gustaveson); Noes, 2 (Commissioners Willhoit and Barnes). Agenda Item 9: Land Use Plan,-Zonin 'Atlas and Zonin Ordinances Work Session an Public Hear- ^ng A. Work session on Land Use Plan, Zoning Ordinance and Atlas now before the County. Corronissioner- Barnes told the Board that Mr. Fred Hazard had requested permission tc address the Board with his plans for the proposed Midway Airport and Industrial Park in Bingham Township. The oGdr'Ci set Monday, hiay 11, 1981, 7:3D P. hi. as the work session and Mr. Hazard's night for his presentation. The Board~.instructed the Clerk to notify h1r. Hazard and those who had expressed opposition to this location for the proposed Midway Airport and Industrial Park of the meeting and that both those in favor of this location and those opposed tv this location would have 15-20 minutes for their presentations. B. Public Hearing for Land Use Plan for all seven Townships. Com- missioner Gustaveson moved to hold the public hearing on the Land Use Plan for all seven Townships on June 4th, 1981; Commissioner Willhoit -..~ - :-~ seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes, 5; noes, 0. Agenda Item 10: John McAdams Reports On Efland Estates' Sewer Problems. Mr. McAdams reported that HUD had turned down a request for Imminent Threat funds for Efland Estates and he now suggested applying for,an FHA combination Grant/Loan. He said the grant/loan would be made to the Fior~e- owners' Association with the total cost of :he project divided among the 44 lots. He said it would be 75% grant with 25% loan and repayable via a monthly charge tacked onto the water bill (for example) over 40 years. He said the maximum amount any one homeowner would have to pay under this plan would be X1,500. Some of the homeowners from Efland Estates appeared and disagreed with Pir. McAdams on the feasibility of the FHA grant/loan, saying they could ~:ot afford a loan; they needed a grant. Ms. Anne Hadley said the Yomeowner's Association would like to reapply to HUD for Imminent Threat funding even though they'd been turned down once. Mr. P~cAdams told the Board that Ms. Candace Carraway of the North State Legal Service had contacted him with a request to enter the pro- ject and he asked permission to turn over to Ms. Carraway materials he had produced while working far the County on this study. Commissioner Barnes told P4r. P1cAdams that they were public documents and she had no objections if he thought Ms. Carraway could help the residents of Efland Estates. Agenda Item 11: Re resentatives of the Oran a County and South Oran a Rescue 5guads Speak RE Am ulance Service~Fees. Mr. Steven Guttu of the South Orange Squad and Mr. Bill Lessig of the Orange County Squad told the Beard their volunteers were opposed to ch-:ying a service fee for ambulance use. Commissioner Whitted noted that mast people had insurance which would pay those fees. Mr. Lessig said there was a problem with collection of those fees and Mr. Guttu said you. would have bill all users, not just third party holders and he was ideal- istically opposed to such fees. Commissioner Barnes noted that the County was funding additional. dollars each year to those Squads. Commissioner Walker commended the members of the Rescue Squad for their time and service and said he didn't mind paying his share and noes along with not collecting fees. Agenda Item 12: Requests to Fill Positions Frozen A. Part-time Soil Conservation Technician: _ Commissioner moved authorization to fill this position through June 30, 1981, be granted; Commissioner Gustaveson seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes, 5; noes, O. B: Tax "tapper Position: Commissioner Walker moved approval of this request; Commissioner Gustaveson seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes, 4; noes, 0 (Commissioner Barnes was not present for this vote). C. Accounting Technician II: Commissioner Walker moved to approve the request of the Finance Director; Commissioner Gustaveson seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes, 4; noes, 0 (Commissioner Barnes was not present for this vote). D. Health Department requests four positions be unfrozen: Cc~nmissioner Whitted moved 'to approve the Health Director's request to unfreeze four positions (Clerk Typist III-Carr Mill; Sanitarian, Clerk Typist III and Public Health Nurse I--Hillsborough); Commissioner Gustaveson seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes, 4; noes, 0 (Commissioner Barnes was not present far this vote). Agenda Item 13: Proclamation Declaring May Older Americans font - -- Commissioner Gustaveson moved to Proclaim May Older Americans Month in Orange County; Commissioner Willhoit seconded the motion. Vote: Ayes, ~; noes, 0 (Commissioner Barnes was not present 'for this vote). Agenda Item 14: JOCCA Requests Supplementary Funding (Commissioner Barnes returned during this discussion) Commissioner Willhoit said he was interested in seeing Orange County ron~ract with JOCCA for specific services the Board was interested in see- ing continued; however, the Board could not be expected to pick up Federal cuts. Commissioner Whitted said he agreed with Commissioner Willhoit. Ms. Gloria Williams, Deputy Director of JOCCA, presented some budget figures to the Board, and said only May and June need be considered for this budget year. (The requested funds were to hire a director for the Efland- Cheeks Multipurpose Center.) Some members of the Board voiced concern that Orange County was pro- viding in-kind match for Chatham County. Commissioner Whitted told Ms. Williams it would be helpful to have cash contributions, in-kind con- tributions and total CSA appropriations broken down by each County, Orange and Chatham. He said he wanted to know what these funds bought in Orange County. The Board thanked Ms. Williams for appearing tonight. Agenda Item I5: Board of Trans rtation Public Meetin on 198 - 6 rans ortat~on m rovement Program^ Willhoit moved to send the Board of Transportation it mailed last year due to unchanged priorities; Com- seconded the motion. Vote: ayes, 4 (Commissioners ~, Whitted and Wil1hait); noes, 1 (Commissioner Walker). 6: Executive Session to Consider Personnel Willhoit moved to convene in executive session; Com- he motion. Vote: ayes, 5; noes, 0. vaned in executive session to consider personnel. Anne Barnes, Chair end, Clerk