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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 19990413APPROVED 10/19199 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS APRIL 13, 1999 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, April 13, 1999 at 7:30 p.m. in the Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Alice M. Gordon, Commissioners Margaret W. Brown, Moses Carey, Jr., Stephen H. Halkiotis, and Barry Jacobs COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Rod Visser and Albert Kittrell, and Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. ALL RECORDINGS OF THE MEETING WILL BE KEPT FOR 5 YEARS. 1. Chatham County Request to Access Jordan Lake Water Allocation Through OWASA's Jordan Lake Property and Approved Intake Location The County Commissioners reviewed a proposed letter to the Orange Water and Sewer Authority Board of Directors regarding local water supply and water quality protection issues. At several recent meetings, the Board of Commissioners has discussed its response to questions and issues raised at an October 1, 1998 meeting involving a number of local government entities concerning Jordan Lake water supply and water quality. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Carey to approve the letter as presented. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 2. Presentation of the 1999-2009 Capital Investment Plan CIP County Manager John Link explained the pie chart representing projects for ten years totaling 148.5 million dollars. The largest source of revenue is the one half cent sales tax. The second largest is 93.2 million dollars in property tax. The next source of revenue is the bond proceeds from the 1997 bond issue, which have not yet been sold. They have definite plans for spending bond monies by September. The last source of revenue is the money received from the statewide public school building fund, for a total of 283.5 million dollars. The debt service of 135 million dollars brings the amount available for "pay as you go" projects to 148.5 million dollars. John Link then explained that, as of June 30, 1999, between 2.3 and 2.4 million dollars will be available for funding from the School Parks Capital Reserve Fund created in 1995,. He said that this year no bond debt is being issued because the schools and their schedule for capital projects requiring bond revenue indicated they did not need bonds to be sold this year. As a result, the county can borrow 2.8 million dollars to address the renovations at the Whitted Center and the Northern Human Services Center. This would be at the same interest rate as bonds, which is the lowest interest rate. He said there is not a sense of the priorities from the school systems on how they are using funds from projects that are under bid. He said that he has been informed verbally, but not in any kind of written form because there is not a formal process in place. Commissioner Halkiotis suggested pursuing a formalized process for asking the schools to present their projects in a priority order. John Link said he, along with the Board, celebrated the opening of the Skills Development Center. This center was a major county project that was finished during the last year, on time and within budget. 2 The Department of Social Services and. Cooperative Extension is proposing renovating and turning the present house on the Homestead property into a Family Life Center where parent education, gardening, and food preparation would be the focus. There are funds for this in the CIP. Another new project would be a result of ongoing collaboration between the managers and law enforcement officials from Orange County, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and the University. Commissioner Halkiotis has led this process. The CIP reflects funds from both the towns, as well as the county, as well as a one-time contribution received by the sheriff for housing state inmates. The sheriff has been aggressive this year in pursuing back year reimbursements due the county. They would like to earmark the revenue toward law enforcement related functions. Looking at future needs, they anticipate there would be other major requests by the school systems. John Link explained that the time frame for addressing the CIP is the presentation tonight, a public hearing scheduled for next Tuesday night, and then the work session scheduled for May 11th. The CIP will be adopted as Capital Project Ordinances as part of the total budget adopted June 21St Commissioner Carey asked what departments are included in the agricultural related departments. John Link said it would include Cooperative Extension, AFCS, Soil and Water, FHA, basically all the agencies on the right side of the building except for Environmental Health. Commissioner Brown asked about any other bonds for the schools. John Link said that revenues for schools are not being projected because there would need to be another bond issue. Commissioner Brown wants to understand the needs of the agricultural community for the agricultural building. She cannot see spending County money for something other than our core departments. She is not sure another building should be built when they have facilities now. She suggested that a task force review the needs and look at the space allocations. She would like to assess all of the space needs for the County departments. Commissioner Brown made reference to the Family Life Center. She would like to have a better understanding on how this would be used. John Link said that it would correspond to the Department of Social Services goals and agricultural goals. He said that there is more work to be done on this item. He said that he wanted to bring this forward to see if the Board of County Commissioners would agree conceptually with the idea. Commissioner Halkiotis agreed to look at the original concept of the rural education center. He made reference to a trip to Kinston where they visited their center, and said that they had many of their County departments that were associated with agricultural activities located in the same facility. He made reference to the planning and agricultural building, and said that there needs to be some serious improvements done to this building to improve the life for those people working in the facility. There are County parking lots that are not paved. He is advocating for the focus to be on using the 10.3 million dollars, which is projected to be in excess in the last six years of the plan, for County projects to upgrade facilities. There are also some serious court needs. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the statement in the CIP under Public Works that states that, "they continue to experience a significant reduction in waste collected as compared to the unstaffed sites (Page 61)." Rod Visser said that at the time there was a system of unstaffed sites, the volume was between 16-18,000 tons a year. When the sites became staffed, the amount of solid waste being taken to the landfills decreased. At this point, there are no unstaffed sites. This statement refers to the sites that were previously unstaffed. He said they will correct this statement to clarify that there are no unstaffed sites. Commissioner Jacobs would like to know if part of what is happening is because of sites being staffed or is it because people are disposing of their solid waste elsewhere. He thinks it would be useful to do a little more analysis of what has caused the reduction in solid waste. Commissioner Jacobs asked why the SportsPlex is $300,000 for last year and $400,000 in the other periods (Page 63). Rod Visser said that last year they paid three quarters of the payment because they paid one quarter the first year. Commissioner Jacobs asked if there was any money specifically allocated for County core oroiects. other than the bonds. John Link said that they are waiting for the report from the Parks and Recreation task force so there will be accurate figures for the CIP in developing active and passive facilities. Commissioner Jacobs referred to page 75, which states that there is almost two million dollars allocated to purchase environmentally sensitive lands, and said that this relates to the function of the County core projects. He made reference to page 76, Utility Extension Development, and asked if this fund is new or old. John Link said the fund is old and is available and has been used by Hancor. It is used when companies say they will expand and they need some infrastructure. They evaluate their investment in terms of how many jobs are created, the tax return, etc. It has not been used very much. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the agricultural resources center, and said that there is a process described in the goals and objectives that talks about developing a work group for reviewing the purposes of the rural education center. He thinks a plan should be developed to try to get some of the tobacco settlement funds to pay for the building. John Link said that he has discussed with the EDC Director Dianne Reid some of the issues with the tobacco farmers who want to transition to another farming activity. The farmers usually do not have the capital to make that transition by themselves. He thinks that perhaps the tobacco settlement money could be a source for a loan pool. Commissioner Carey suggested that we use that goal to accomplish this objective and redefine our need for an agricultural center. There are going to be a lot of people in line for that money. He feels that this is important enough for the County to invest some County funds. He also feels that fall of 1999 is the time to buy the bonds for school projects. He asked if this amount includes County projects and John Link said no. The County would need to identify projects before that time. Moses Carey made reference to the 10.3 million dollars of excess in the last six years, and asked if this is the County's one-cent plan. John Link said that the funds may be designated for County projects. Chair Gordon feels that we need to look at the County's space needs and look at the projected needs and rationale. She feels the County facilities need to be consolidated. She made reference to the school parks reserve, and said that we are waiting for the Parks and Recreation master plan and the School and Land Use Councils to come up with a plan. She questioned the allocation of those funds, and said that it was not decided whether these funds will go someplace else, but that it would be decided each year. She also feels there should be a plan for justice facilities. Commissioner Halkiotis agreed with Commissioner Carey about not getting involved with a power struggle for the tobacco settlement. He feels the County needs to move ahead with an agricultural resource center. He feels that the administration needs to figure out what to do with the 10.3 million dollars and bring forth a proposal. The Board should go ahead and commit to this project before someone else claims the funds. Commissioner Brown asked for clarification on the 10.3 million dollars, and if it is taking away from the other funds. John Link clarified that this does not take away from any of the other funds. Commissioner Brown made reference to the animal shelter, and noted that it will need some type of work before 2004. Donna Dean said that the Animal Protection Society (APS) have not formulated their plans for shelter repairs. There has been some money allocated in the budget to take care of the top priorities for this building. Commissioner Brown feels the Board needs to do a priority list of the County needs for office space and facilities, and what departments may expand over the years. She feels an analysis needs to be done before money is put into projects. She suggested that before we proceed, there needs to be more clarification on where the funds are going. Commissioner Carey said that he is assuming that when a new facility is proposed, that there has already been an analysis done about needs, staffing, and space. If not, it needs to be done. He thinks that staffing projections should be done over the next few years, because the County facilities have been neglected for too long. He noted that there is a desperate need for meeting space in the center portion of Orange County. Commissioner Brown suggested leaving the Carr Building for Agricultural Extension and developing another facility for Planning and Environmental Health. Commissioner Carey feels that may be a possibility. He asked about the school park reserve, and said that he remembers that from 1999 forward that this money was going to be used for County projects. He differs with Chair Gordon in that he thought we decided to allocate funds for County projects. Chair Gordon said a decision was not made as to exactly what was going to be done with that money. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to Commissioner Halkiotis' question about the 10.2 million dollars and said that if the one-cent is still open for discussion, there needs to be clarification as to whether the one-cent funds can be used for County projects, or does it have to come out of the 10.2 million dollars. John Link said he appreciates all the questions that have been asked. The one-cent is for part of the County funding. In answer to Commissioner Carey's question, since that one-cent has been a general revenue source for the County side of the CIP, then that money is in projects that are located in the CIP during those first ten years. He thinks it is important that there be clarification as to the purpose of the one cent for schools, parks or County functions. 3. Proposed 1999-2000 Board of Commissioners' Goals a. Affordable Housing This is a new goal. Chair Gordon asked for additional language in the first objective on page two of the handout. Commissioner Jacobs suggested adding something on developing methods and approaches to bolster the single family rehabilitation and urgent repair program. Commissioner Carey asked if there was a decision made about a home for the urgent repair program. Commissioner Brown asked how the decision was going to be made, and if the Board would vote on it. Chair Gordon suggested the Board either vote or direct the staff to bring something back if it's not worked out. The staff would like to get a sense of what the Board's priorities and goals are. John Link recommended taking the existing report and amending it to address the items listed on the handout. He pointed out that Orange County is very supportive of manufactured housing, whereas the other jurisdictions are not. Commissioner Halkiotis feels it important to show the total contribution of Orange County. Commissioner Brown asked to include the number of mobile homes in each township. b. Communications - To adopt and implement a strategic plan that promotes more effective communication between and among the Board of Commissioners and Orange County citizens, other local officials, and within the BOCC. Chair Gordon explained the handout on the Strategic Communications Plan. If the SCP is adopted, it will go into the goals as the Commissioners direct. Commissioner Brown added an item for the Clerk's office to help produce a parks brochure as part of the parks task force this year. Commissioner Brown requested to add a veterans resource page on the web site, stating what the County offers as part of the Veterans program. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the development of the web page. There needs to be a coordinated sense of what the Board of County Commissioners wants on the web page. He also made reference to the discussion on developing signage and staff sensitivity to improving accessibility to non- English speaking citizens. He would like to add this to this goal. He also said the use of the intranet needs to be improved. There is not sufficient access to the resources there, such as the staff telephone directory. He also suggested that the goals of the Commissioners be developed for the web page, and that there be pictures of the Board of County Commissioners. Chair Gordon suggested looking at the strategic plan and how it relates to the goals. She suggested adopting the orange version and putting the strategic plan on the agenda as a report. She pointed out that this may have budget and personnel implications. Commissioner Halkiotis said to make sure and include the statement about the non-English speaking population, and how we are going to communicate with this population. The Board adopted the Communications strategic plan, and agreed to prepare a proposal for signage and staff sensitivity to improve accessibility to non-English speaking citizens. c. Economic Development Districts Commissioner Brown commented on page 6 and asked about "expansion" of the EDD. John Link said that this is a carry over from the former Economic Development Director. This plan will not move forward without the Board of County Commissioners approving it. Commissioners Jacobs suggested taking out "expansion of" and move forward. Chair Gordon asked that the objective be added to this goal. John Link said that the objectives and timelines will be added to this goal and brought back to the Board of County Commissioners. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the status report, as to which January for cooperative planning in Hillsborough the statement is referring to, 1999 or 1998. This will be clarified and brought back as well. Commissioner Brown asked about #7 and she was told that it was an old goal. She said that if this is to remain she would like to include HOV and include park and ride lots. It was decided that this goal will be reworked. Chair Gordon said that she just wants a definition of what this is at this time. Regarding the Orange County loan pool, she questioned the cost. John Link said that $50,000 is the actual amount put in the loan pool. The total cost is $65,000, it is not an additional amount. Chair Gordon asked about sustainability and noted that it should be mentioned here. Three Commissioners asked that the staff write this up, and the Board of County Commissioners will decide where to put it in the goals. d. Education - Effective and Sufficient School Funding Commissioner Brown would like to add that the manager develops the budget guidelines for the schools, and that the manager develop a goal for value engineering. Commissioner Carey would like to see a policy on the schools setting priorities and for that to be done now. John Link said that Commissioner Halkiotis had offered to work with the staff to move forward on value engineering. Commissioner Brown suggested changing the wording to Value Engineering/Construction Management Liaison position. John Link will write something up on the manager developing the budget guidelines, independent value engineering/construction management as a function, and prioritization of projects. Chair Gordon asked about the objectives that were in the previous goals which are not included in these new ones. Rod Visser said that the previous version had four objectives. The view on equitable funding at the Board of County Commissioners' retreat was that the focus needed to be more on effective and efficient funding rather than equitable funding. This one was not included in the goals. The last two were issues related to joint use of facilities, and those are to be addressed in the Parks and Recreation task force and Schools Land Use Council. Chair Gordon would like for Rod Visser to look through and see where the previous goals are. e. Human Services Commissioner Brown asked about the emergency response center, and would like to get some information on what the emergency evacuation plans are. Specifically she would like to know what will happen if something happens at Shearon Harris, and how the County would handle a chemical spill. She would like to have a report on this. Chair Gordon made reference to the handout on the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Plan. Commissioner Brown said this addressed the concerns, except for the emergency evacuation plan now. The Board agreed to adopt these goals, adding the emergency evacuation plan. Commissioner Brown said that we need to be prepared to say what we want in the service analysis that has been suggested by United Way. She would like an inventory of all the programs being offered in the County, particularly for children and the needy. Chair Gordon feels the goal should be to provide programs for youth ages 13-19, and an objective under that should be to create a countywide youth council. John Link feels youth council needs to be defined. Commissioner Carey made a comment about the evaluation of County services. He knows that there is a difference between assessment and evaluation. He wants to know what the objective is before an evaluation is done. He wants to know what it will be used for. John Link will prepare something and bring it back, reflecting a Public Health Emergency Preparedness Plan, Orange County youth programs, and an evaluation of County services. Commissioner Jacobs distributed a multi colored handout from Jerry Passmore. He feels that there has never been an overall look at the aging population in Orange County and issues associated with the aging population. He gave some statistics about how the 65 and older population is going to increase 131 % in the next 24 years, compared to 38% for the rest of the country. John Link feels that there needs to be a comprehensive plan to address the needs of seniors and their health and well being. Chair Gordon asked about the scope of this plan. John Link said that Jerry Passmore has begun looking at this but it needs to be inclusive of the Department of Social Services, the Health Department, and others. Commissioner Jacobs said that there needs to be a special goal for developing the plan. There will be a fourth goal, and John Link will bring back something for the Board to review. Commissioner Brown asked what has happened to the Work First families. She would like to make this a goal for one year and then a report after that. John Link will prepare something on a comprehensive look at the outcome of welfare reform on Work First. Commissioner Jacobs would like to hear how the Work First participants are being included in the County hiring goals. f. Innovation and Efficiency Commissioner Brown suggested, regarding Assessment of County Office Space and Inventory and Analysis, that the staff look at this and see if a consultant is needed to help. She would like to know if the rental space can pay for new facilities. She also thinks that storage should be included. John Link said storage has been included in the CIP, and he neglected to mention it in the CIP presentation. g. Long Range Planning Craig Benedict pointed out that some of the Rural Character Preservation goals address some of the concerns about Long Range Planning. Chair Gordon suggested that the items be articulated so they can be tracked. The goals will be combined and placed in only one category so they can be tracked. Commissioner Jacobs asked about adequate public facilities. He thinks that the abbreviations should be spelled out the first time they are mentioned. Commissioner Brown said that the ultimate goal should be for Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough to work cooperatively. Chair Gordon referred to the analysis of fiscal impacts of development. She said it was stated more broadly before and she would like the staff to go back and recapture the fiscal and other impacts. Commissioner Brown mentioned developing an ordinance for drainage and storm water management. Commissioner Jacobs would like to investigate the feasibility for a performance bond for violations. He would like to have some more information about the present enforcement and a report if it is not adequate so that it becomes a goal. Chair Gordon questioned whether a Cooperative Planning Agreement should be implemented with Orange County and Hillsborough, or if cooperative projects should continue. The Board agreed to try the Cooperative Planning Agreement again. 7 Commissioner Jacobs suggested that the previous agreement be reviewed to see how it might still be applicable. John Link suggested that more concrete goals be made, for instance, the first objective can be that the town of Hillsborough come to an agreement on the entranceway of 1-40, etc. One of the more critical issues is to pursue a small plan of mutual interests. Chair Gordon mentioned that the last time the Board talked to Hillsborough about this, they seemed very clear on not wanting a comprehensive agreement, but very interested in working on small projects of mutual interest. Commissioner Jacobs would like to show them a document including those things that Hillsborough is interested in. Chair Gordon suggested listing Hillsborough's interest and then listing the County's interest. The goal will be rewritten to say "Implement Orange County Hillsborough Cooperative Agreement," taking out the word `planning.' Chair Gordon said that the Rural Character Preservation looks good. Commissioner Jacobs said this is where the review of the Agricultural Resources Center should be added. John Link asked David Stancil to tell him what the Agricultural Preservation Board is pursuing in terms of who are the stakeholders, how they are invited, when the Commissioners will be given updates on the progress, etc. David Stancil said that this has only been discussed by the Agricultural Advisory Board for one or two meetings, but the intent is to get away from the negativity of the past, from the bond referendum that failed. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about visual resource protection, and whether there are buffer requirements that are not required. Craig Benedict said all private roads do not have the 30-foot requirement. He will rewrite to clarify this statement. Commissioner Carey thinks it is ambitious to say the buffers will be examined and the very next month come up with some new proposals for buffers. Chair Gordon asked about the objective that states, "review minor and major subdivisions to limit direct access to roadways." She thinks it should read, "review minor and major subdivisions and recommend whether to limit." Commissioner Jacobs asked that there be some reference in the Farmland Preservation goal indicating that it is coordinated with the open space acquisition program. Also, objective 3 under Rural Character, it should say, "and in a manner that will create contiguous stretches of open space." Commissioner Brown asked about the open space, whether it is adequate, and should it be mandatory. The Board decided to postpone discussions on the remaining goals until a later time. ADJOURNMENT With no further items to discuss, Chair Gordon adjourned the meeting. The next meeting as listed on the regular meeting calendar will be held on Wednesday, April 14, 1999 at 7:30 p.m. in the Boardroom at the Southern Human Services Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Alice M. Gordon, Chair Beverly A. Blythe, Clerk