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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 03-29-2000APPROVED NOVEMBER 1.2000 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION March 29, 2000 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met on Wednesday, March 29, 2000 at 7:30 p. m. in the Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey and Commissioners Margaret W. Brown, Alice Gordon, 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 Assistant Clerk to the Board Evelyn Cecil (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. Chair Carey called the meeting to order. 1. Discussion of Recommended 2000-2010 Capital Investment Plan tCIP1 a. Bonds and School Sites John Link stated that there are no presentations but he hoped to respond to questions and receive some guidance from the board. He said that at some point a bond referendum would need to be considered by the County. He referred to the presentations on school sites and asked the Board to look at a policy for the School-Park fund because the Board may want to reexamine the way the County is paying for school sites and parks. John Link also asked for direction for the April 24t" budget work session, such as should he pursue as last year the tax increase scenarios. He said that at some point he would like to share with the Board what the staff thinks the major steps are for a bond referendum. He explained examples given on the handout for the timing of the bond referendum. He said that in order to move up the bond referendum date, there should bean acceleration of various task force issues such as space study and justice facility. Commissioner Gordon asked about the justice facility date and Pam Jones said that there would be a report on the master plan on April 1 tt" Commissioner Gordon said that the space study is taking a long time because Pam Jones is doing the study herself. Commissioner Jacobs would like the staff to do a scenario on how the bond referendum would work if it goes to the voters in November of 2001. He said that he has no problem with working through the summer on the task force. John Link said that a task force worked through the summer one year and there was low attendance. Commissioner Halkiotis agreed with Commissioners Gordon and Jacobs in that the Board should revisit a summer schedule. He is alarmed at the number of night meetings the staff must attend, including the County Commissioners. He said that the schools could not wait till November of 2002 for a bond referendum. He said that the justice facility study needs action now. Commissioner Brown is concerned about the school equity issue and the difference in cost of the schools. She would like to look at this imbalance and at what is happening. Commissioner Gordon is interested in knowing what the student enrollment figures are for the different schools in comparison to their capacity. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the numbers are to be debated. He said that he requested last week that the staff bring back all of the school standards that the Board has worked on. He would like to revisit this issue during a work session and set a limit an how much money will be spent on building new schools. Commissioner Brown said that the actual cost of the school is her concern. She asked John Link if this comes up in his joint meeting with superintendents. John Link said that it has been discussed and he explained some ways to calculate the actual cost of a school. Commissioner Brown said that she just read the standards based on services provided to the community. She would like to see what kind of use the community is going to have with the school building. She feels that a price tag should be put on future schools as soon as possible. John Link said that a way to do that would be to have the Board work up numbers as to what is expected of the school systems. Commissioner Brown said that it is important to place schools where parks could be attached. Commissioner Gordon said that it is important to find out what the facts are. She said that the Board should find out if both school systems are using the same approach in acquiring school sites. Commissioner Jacobs agreed with revisiting the standards. He said that the Board should consider setting the inflation figures. He feels the Board should revisit the issue about road and utility improvements. He also feels that the County Commissioners should be clear to the school systems about the value-engineering principles they expect them to follow. Commissioner Hatkiotis said that there are two different philosophical engines driving the two school systems. Orange County Schools already have in place the architectural prototype design of an elementary school and have built the same one with a few minor changes, thus saving on cost. He invited the Board to visit the site of the new school being built now. He said that this new school is built in anon-traditional way. There is a lobbying effort to not allow this school to be built. Two of the biggest architectural firms that build schools have come out with prototype models for schools. Commissioner Jacobs clarified that the school Commissioner Hatkiotis was talking about was costing $12.7 million. Commissioner Brown said that this issue was becoming more sensitive on developing Shaping Orange County's Future. She sees more need for equity between the north and south Orange split. Chair Carey agrees that there are different philosophical issues, and the Board needs to better understand the differences in costs of the two systems. He said that if the Board does not understand he feels the public will be totally confused and there is a risk of a public backlash if there is uncertainty about differences in cost of the schools. He feels that the County must proceed with the bond issue, but he is nervous about going too fast. He suggested that the staff bring back the revised scenario and see what the implications would be. Commissioner Gordon thinks the Board is on target and should be proactive and act in a cooperative manner and go a little farther to articulate to the school systems exactly what the Board's expectations are. Chair Carey thinks that the Board should communicate to the school systems right now that the inflation rate will be set at 2.5%. John Link made a recommendation that the staff come to the next work session on April 24th in a coordinated way and have a suggested transmittal letter to both school systems. The letter will be based on how the Board is now responding to capital projects (planning, land acquisition, structure costs, etc.). Chair Carey thinks the letter should be approached in a comprehensive matter. He thinks the Board should incorporate the value engineering expectation. John Link said that the school systems could be told not to start planning buildings until some decisions could be made. Chair Carey said that the Board should be clear about what is expected of the school systems in building new schools. John Link said that he does not understand how any money could be spent now on any school that has not been approved by a governing body of the County. Commissioner Brown said that the Board needs to get involved with the Town of Chapel Hill on their stipulations for sidewalks and other issues concerning schools. Commissioner Gordon said that the Board talked one time about the qualifications of sites and standards for any type of sites. She said that there should be suitable school site criteria. Commissioner Brown said that any time there is a school donation in the works the Board of County Commissioners should be involved. Commissioner Hatkiotis said that he went with David Stanch and others to meet with Senator Kinnard yesterday. One of the big issues is that schools should not be built near water sources because of the humid conditions in this part of the country. The location of schools should be decided by more than one group of people. He said that there should be a centralized planning process in siting schools. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School system's retreat and said that they talked about the new central office, a new elementary school, and apre-K facility at the Meadowmont Site. They also talked about designing an elementary school by October 2000 and having it ready by November 2001. Commissioner Brown said that the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School system feels that this donated site should be valuable to them, but maybe the Board should let them know that they can let the site go if it is not cost effective. Commissioner Jacobs suggested incorporating a park into the site. Chair Carey suggested concluding this portion of the discussion with a clarification of what the staff is to bring back on April 24th John Link made reference to the Recommendations of the SchoollParks Reserve Committee from May 6, 1999 and pointed out the last paragraph that reads, "The Board of Commissioners should establish a "Strategic Issue Team" to meet with the Manager, Finance Director, ERC Director, and others as needed, to address future opportunities and problems of school/park proposals when they arise." He suggested bringing forward the Lands Legacy Program that has criteria on how to evaluate a particular site before it is pursued. He said that the school systems should know that before they pursue a school site, the County has expectations that they address particular criteria. He said that five sites were presented by the school boards, and two of the sites might accommodate bath a park and a school. He suggested that the sites be examined more fully before the Board approves them. Commissioner Jacobs said that he agreed with the Manager's idea and he knows of a site near the Chapel HilllCarrboro border, but the school system is not interested in pulling the two towns together. Commissioner Gordon said that the recommendation to which John Link referred had not been adopted by the Commissioners and that the concept of working with the school systems on standards for school sites was a different concept that should be articulated to the school systems. Chair Carey said that the Board would look forward to getting some recommendationsfyom the staff. b. Law Enforcement Firing Range Jahn Link made reference to the second page of the abstract and asked if this is the direction the Board wanted the staff to take. Chair Carey is confused about the defensive driving portion. Purchasing Director Pam Jones said that this was an issue that was raised by the Chief of Police in Chapel Hill. As part of the EMS certification, defensive driving training is required. Since the firing range would likely need to include a buffer area, this could be a possibility for the defensive driving area. Chair Carey asked if it would require more pavement and Pam Jones said that she is not sure. Commissioner Halkiotis attended a meeting with all police chiefs and they requested that the County provide driving pavement for defensive driving. He stated that there were some donations coming for this. He said that there was a commitment made for a certified architectural design program to be done at no cost to the County for this facility. He said that this would be a limited use facility. He feels that the Board needs to move ahead with this thing. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the 5th item under "Location" and what was meant by, "purchase of property with another governmental function." Pam Jones said that there was some OWASA property and there might be other governmental agencies that the County could tie into. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the "Law Enforcement Agency" portion and asked if the County has had contact with the state parks department. Commissioner Halkiotis said that every law enforcement agency in Orange County has had input into this issue. Commissioner Jacobs agrees with Commissioner Halkiotis that the limits should be articulated. He said that there should be some standardized hours of operation that would not change the character of adjoining neighborhoods. Chair Carey said that this was the first time he had seen the pavement issue and the defensive driving training. He said that the hours of operation should be adhered to. Commissioner Brown asked how many firing ranges were in the County. Pam Jones said that there are none. Chapel Hill had one that is not functional and the other firing ranges are in Wake County and Alamance County. Commissioner Gordon asked whether the cost of the firing range would be $350,OOD which does not include any gifts-in-kind of land or other donations. Budget Director Donna Dean gave an explanation of where the amount came from. At this point the cost of the firing range is a guess. Chair Carey said that the Board should proceed and see if some land could be donated. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board should pursue the OWASA property. He said that OWASA was interested five or six years ago in working with the County an active recreation at the reservoir. He feels the County should work with OWASA more to see what OWASA is willing to do. Commissioner Halkiotis said that if the land could be donated it would not cost that much to build the building. He said that most of the work that would be done is earth moving and berming. Chair Carey asked about the Board's pleasure on the action steps. Commissioner Gordon agrees with the action steps and said that the Board should indicate some focus on the primary goal. now. stated below: Commissioner Jacobs suggested working on the design issues without knowing the location right There was a consensus by the Board that the staff would proceed with the proposed action steps as Reconvene the law enforcement agencies that comprised the original consortium (may also want to include other emergency responder personnel to gain input regarding the defensive driving component of this effort). Discuss and agree upon location and design issues. Pursue actually pulling together a design, complete with cost estimates. This will enable us to make better choices as we pursue land acquisition. Begin the land acquisition process. c. Focus on CIP Assistant County Manager Rod Visser said that the staff would like any suggestions, directions, or any questions about projects. John Link said that he would like to know if there were any major questions about why something is in the CIP. Commissioner Gordon commented that she has looked the CIP plan over, but she has nat studied it. She would like to be able to come back at a later date and ask questions about the CIP. Chair Carey said that, as always, questions could be asked after this meeting and at the public hearing. Commissioner Brown said that many of the projects are open-ended because the task forces have not reported yet. John Link said that the CIP is always an evolutionary document. He said that this year it is much more of an evolutionary document because of the decision last year to approve the actual expenditure of funding by each project. Commissioner Gordon made reference to page 8 and the Reserve for County Space Study and Debt Service and asked where the figures came from. John Link explained that the "Reserve for County Space Study Project" sets aside funds for future projects or for payments associated with future debt. Its purpose is to address many of the outstanding issues that will hopefully converge over the next year such as the County Space Study and the Master Aging Plan. Since these major issues do not have dollar amounts associated with them at this point, staff calculated the estimated amount of half-cent sales tax monies available for those years, deducted the amounts recommended for capital allocations to "known" projects, and the difference in those two numbers was reserved in this particular project." Chair Carey asked if the source of money for the land legacy had been sales tax. Donna Dean said that it was a combination of sales tax and a contribution from the general fund from property taxes. Commissioner Jacobs clarified that the $100,OQ0 pro rated was for establishing agriculture conservation easements. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the $178,549 for agriculture and Donna Dean said that the $78,549 was being used for the Duke Forest property and $100,000 is earmarked for agriculture. d. Non-Gas Vehicles Commissioner Halkiotis reminded the staff that the group that met with Senator Kinnard was looking at putting some money into the solar powered bicycle experiment. He said that state assistance is available for a non-gas van or bus that would be a community-wide resource tool exposing people to alternative energy sources. Commissioner Brown said that this was discussed last year. John Link said that he was not sure where the staff connection is on this issue. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the Commission for the Environment is really fired up about this possibility. He said that he would be more than willing to work with David Stancil on getting this started in Orange County. He said that this was a good opportunity and it would not cost the County anything. John Link suggested sharing this at the next department head meeting. He said that a County Courier would be a goad person to drive the automobile around the County. e. Park Fund Money Commissioner Brown made reference to the Chapel Hill park project and asked what money had already been received above and beyond the two million dollars on page 62 of the CIP. John Link said that the Board has discussed this, but he does not know whether bond money would be used for planning a park project. Commissioner Brown made reference to the Recommendations of the School/Parks Reserve Committee of May 6, 1999 and pointed out the third criterion for evaluating funding which reads: "County funding contributions should not be made for parks design or planning, unless County funds are used to complete the project." She asked what had been paid out far the Northern Chapel Hill Community Park and Homestead Park. Finance Director Ken Chavious has not disbursed any funds for the Northern Chapel Hill Community Park or Homestead Park, but he will check it out. Commissioner Brown asked for a statement on how bond money was promised to be disbursed and how the bond money is being spent. Commissioner Jacobs asked for clarification of any money committed for Smith Middle School fields. Commissioner Brown mentioned that she stopped by Homestead Park and that the skate board park that the County helped to fund was jammed with kids. Chair Carey said that this part of the park should be publicized. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to page 20 and the Chapel Hill schools plan far expanding their parking and said that maybe the school systems could get involved in the energy efficient vehicles. f. Agriculture Center Commissioner Jacobs made reference to page 28 regarding the Agriculture center and asked about the time frame for the recommendations coming back to the Commissioners and David Stancil said that it would be October or November of 2000. Commissioner Jacobs would like to know if this effort is still worthy to pursue. Commissioner Brown said that this also interfaces with the space study. g Orange Enterprises Commissioner Jacobs made reference to page 40 and clarified that the matching funds were in the amount of $10,500. Budget Director Donna Dean said that this appropriation was made several years ago in hopes that Orange Enterprises could use it as matching funds to receive a grant from the state. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the status and Donna Dean said that she has not heard from Orange Enterprises this fiscal year, but she has received a request for funding for the upcoming fiscal year. John Link clarified that Orange Enterprises has not asked for capital money. Commissioner Jacobs wants to know about the long-range plan for Orange Enterprises. h. Senior Centers Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the Senior Centers on page 45 and asked about pursuing some space for a centralized center. John Link said that he is expecting a report back from the group working in central Orange County. Department on Aging Director Jerry Passmore said that these reports would be coming back in the Master Aging Plan. i. Land Legacy Commissioner Jacobs made reference to pages 73 and 75 and the utility expansion and suggested considering the land legacy program a high priority along with affordable housing as having a dedicated funding source. As far as utility expansion development monies, he would like to know what years these monies were appropriated and whether this is the best way to spend this money to promote economic development, ar whether it should be a grant or a loan. He would like to consider other ways to use the money to promote economic development and produce an equal number of jobs. Chair Carey said that this is something for which the Economic Development Commission could come back with some recommendations. Commissioner Jacobs said that he was not suggesting appropriating more funds, but looking at the concept and whether there was a better way to promote economic development. John Link agreed and clarified that the purpose was not being changed, just the definition to expand the funds to use for other purposes. John Link clarified that in terms of the public hearing there would be a note that this issue would be broadened in terms of possible utility expansion. Commissioner Brown asked if there was anything in the budget to upgrade physical building problems at Parks and Recreation. Public Works Director Wilburt McAdoo said that as part of the overall project, there were items included for the building. Commissioner Brown said that she was specifically talking about the problems with the windows. L Bond Money for Chapel Hill Planning Purposes Chair Carey asked about Chapel Hill's request to use bond money for planning purposes. He would like to know from Chapel Hill the time frame of this project if the County allowed them to use bond money for planning purposes. He has concerns and wants to reconsider this policy. Commissioner Gordon does not understand why Chapel Hill does not have money for parks planning. Commissioner Brown said that Chapel Hill has to purchase land but they are coming to the County for planning and development of the park. Commissioner Gordon clarified that Chapel Hill is requesting $1 gQ,000. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the bond money in general. He said that there was two million dollars for the development of two parks in Chapel Hill. He said that there was not a set of criteria to apply the money. Commissioner Brown said that the County did not have any development money, only money to purchase land. Chair Carey said that he would like to see the project move along as quickly as possible. Commissioner Gordon asked whether the County wanted to spend money for design. Commissioner Jacobs wants to know if Chapel Hill will kick in their money for the final product. John Link said that at the time of the bond, the County committed one million dollars to the southern park and one million dollars to the northern park. Commissioner Gordon said that the concept the County had was that as County money goes into a park, that involves the County in the planning and the implementation. Commissioner Brown said that with the schools, the County gives money and then the school systems spend the money the way they want. Commissioner Halkiotis said that maybe the Board needs to continually weave in the issue of public purpose. Chair Carey will draft a letter to Chapel Hill about the use of bond money for planning purposes. He will work with the Manager on this letter. 2. Time-limited and Grant Funded Positions John Link said that the intent with this item was to try to remind the Board of the discussions from the last budget period. Commissioner Brown said that she was confused about how grant money was spent and the status of people who work under the grant. Personnel Director Elaine Holmes explained the grant-funded positions and said that the people who work in grant-funded positions are familiar with the type of employment they are serving. Commissioner Brown asked at what point the process of the time-limited positions is done. John Link said that during the course of budget deliberations the time-limited positions are determined. Commissioner Gordon asked how the employee was told when the grant had ended. Elaine Homes said that the employee is told up front that the position is grant funded and that continuation of the position is determined by the continuation of the grant fund. Commissioner Gordon asked several more questions and Elaine Holmes explained the difference between grant funded and time-limited positions. Commissioner Brown asked about the number of time-limited positions where people had left early and the positions were hard to fill. Elaine Homes said that of the 17time-limited positions in the County, six are vacant. She said that it was more difficult to recruit and there was more turnover intime-limited positions. Commissioner Brown made reference to the technical positions where companies are hired to do the job instead of setting up atime-limited position. John Link said that this was being done now in Information and Technology. He made reference to positions that had a lot of competition in the Triangle such as social workers, nurses, and health care professionals. John Link gave some examples of grants that were different. He said that same grants were much more permanent than other grants. Commissioner Gordon said that certain agencies give grants so a position would be started. Chair Carey said that in most cases the County decides to keep the time-limited and grant funded positions. Commissioner Jacobs said that there were only five time-limited positions that were not grant related, so this is not a really big issue. Commissioner Gordon questioned the point of the discussion of these positions. Commissioner Jacobs said that the staff wanted to eliminate time-limited positions and the Board did not think it was necessary. The Board agreed by consensus to keep time-limited positions. 3. Wastewater Treatment Management Program Expansion Proposal Health Director Rosie Summers said that this issue was brought back at the Board's request. She said that the funding scenarios were provided in appendix 1 in the agenda packet. These were the scenarios that were presented at a work session a year ago and nothing new has been added. She reminded the Board that the intention was to start this in year one with an education plan for homeowners, businesses, septic installers, banks, etc. on the project itself and developing maintenance modules for septic system owners. The emphasis in the first two years is heavy education. In the second year, a GIS database will be established so that the systems can be mapped. The first year will also be used to establish grants. Commissioner Brown said that this goes back two and a half years. She thinks this is a good thing to do and would like to go ahead with this and stay closely involved with this sensitive public issue that could be misinterpreted very quickly. Commissioner Gordon said that she really appreciated all the work that was done on this. She thinks that the reason to do it is to protect water quality. One of her concerns is that there is some distance between what is being done at the outset and establishing good water quality. She questioned the amount of education that homeowners actually need. She said that it seemed straightforward and afull-time educator was not needed. Rosie Summers explained that there were some educational materials that have been developed, but most of it is not of very high quality and does not lead anywhere. There is not a package or program, but small pieces. The concept here is that there is a series of modules that would be developed that homeowners could take and learn about their septic systems. Commissioner Halkiotis and Chair Carey gave arguments that some people with septic systems needed same education about them. Commissioner Jacobs pointed out that some of the education would be letting people know that what is done on their property could affect the environment. He would rather be cautious and educate the people before anyone comes on their property for an inspection. He feels the County should seek grant funding from C}WASA, Hillsborough, C)range-Alamance, Mebane, and Durham since this effort would be helping to protect their water supplies. Rosie Summers said that the staff was asked to look at grant funding. Commissioner Jacobs said that he would like to approach the utilities that would benefit from Orange County's effort. Chair Carey said that this ties the burden closer to the beneficiary. Commissioner Jacobs asked why the health educator would not be atime-limited position. Rosie Summers said that the staff is asking that the health educator position be funded out of the County general fund, so it would be a permanent full-time position. The staff sees this as an ongoing, educational need. She said that there are people moving into this area all the time and there are a lot of aspects of this. Moses Carey stated that it was 10:00. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis to make Evelyn Cecil the temporary acting recorder for this meeting. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Halkiotis said that he thinks the education is critically important and it is going to take a couple of years for people to comprehend what is going an. Commissioner Brown thinks the program should be reviewed after the first year and a committee should stay involved with the person who is hired as the health educator. She said that the GIS database should be examined in the second year. Commissioner Jacobs said that there was very little data in North Carolina on septic systems and how successful they are. Rosie Summers said that this program would also be building a solid database that tracks the performance of systems by location. She said that the health educator could be hired out, but having an internal database would be very valuable. Commissioner Gordon thinks that this is a good idea philosophically, but she wonders about how the program would be evaluated. John Link said that there would be an ongoing evolution of the education. He knows how to take care of his septic tank and there are a couple of things that can be done in terms of getting feedback. He suggested sending a self-addressed post card to the citizens. The Board agreed that Rosie Summers would come back with some more specific recommendations for the first year of the Wastewater Treatment Management Program. ADJOURNMENT With no further items to discuss, the meeting was adjourned. The next meeting on the regular meeting calendar will be held on March 30 at 7:30 p. m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Moses Carey, Jr., Chair Beverly A. Blythe, Clerk to the Board