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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 04-25-2001APPROVED 11/712001 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION APRIL 25, 2001 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Budget Work Session on Wednesday, April 25, 2001 at 7:30 p.m. in the Southern Human Services Center; Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Stephen Halkiotis and Commissioners Margaret W. Brown, Moses Carey, Jr., Alice M. Gordon, and Barry Jacobs COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Manager Rod Visser, Acting Clerk to the Board Evelyn M. 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. OPENING COMMENTS Chairman Halkiotis called the meeting to order. He welcomed the audience and staff. He explained the green mugs that are being presented to the volunteers and to each Commissioner. Regarding item two, Chair Halkiotis said that there would be a story in the News and Observer in the morning in reference to the Eubanks Road Landfill situation. He said that a UNC class had taken on the situation as a project study. He said that a reporter called him and he told the reporter about how the County had taken over the landfill and had been listening to the citizens in the community. He explained to the reporter all of the actions that had been taken by the Commissioners concerning the landfill operation. 1. Community College Task Force Report and Financial Information Commissioner Carey gave background information about the proposed Durham Technical Community College satellite campus in Orange County. He said that it is appropriate to give all involved an update on what the County is planning to do. It will take about five years to see the campus come into being. He realizes there is a cost to the County and feels we can attract and receive funds from citizens, the economical community, and others. He recognized representatives from Durham Tech that were there to answer questions. A decision on the location and curriculum still needs to be made. Commissioner Halkiotis asked Barbara Baker to explain the expenditures, especially contractual services for security. Barbara Baker and Budget Officer Matt Williams explained the security arrangement at Durham Tech. Security is provided 24 hours a day. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about capital requests. Barbara Baker said that most of the requests would be for building renovations. She said that there would not be a lot of capital at first. Commissioner Carey asked for an explanation of the budget process. Barbara Baker told how Durham Tech has done their budget. They present the budget to the Durham County Commissioners for approval. Durham County supports bath campuses in Durham. The City of Durham does not support either campus. Commissioner Gordon asked if the staff had done any analysis of the cost of this satellite campus. John Link said that the startup costs were not alarming as a percentage of the budget. Should the Board see it as an important endeavor, the County would be able to absorb the costs. Commissioner Gordon asked if the cost would compete with the school budgets. John Link said that it would be set as a departmental budget. Commissioner Carey asked if it was safe to say that this projected budget is a budget for a mature campus or if it was mainly start-up costs. Barbara Baker said that this budget was pretty lean and pretty close to what is going to be needed on an annual basis. Barbara Baker said that they were looking at shared services. Some jobs would not need two positions. Commissioner Brown said that she would be delighted to have a community college in Orange County. She would like to understand what services that Durham Tech can provide. She is concerned about high school dropouts. Barbara Baker said that they da not usually take 16 year olds, but they consider those an a case by case basis. There is an adult high school program and they try to encourage high school students to stay in school. High school students may take classes far college credit and possibly high school credit. Commissioner Brown asked who would run the school and Barbara Baker said that there would be an administrator. Commissioner Brown asked how accessible the space would be to the general public. Barbara Baker said that Durham Tech lets the public use their space and encourages it when classes are not in session. A fee is charged for utilities and security when the public is using the space. Commissioner Brawn said that she was surprised that the proposed campus was on a development site proposal. She said that she would feel uncomfortable having the Durham Tech campus tied to the development. Barbara Baker said that Durham Tech would not select the location but that the task force would do it. Chair Carey answered that the task force referred the decision about the location to the Board of County Commissioners with a recommendation to develop a set of criteria far a site. Commissioner Brown expressed a concern that she does not want the location to be tied to an application for another development permit. Chair Halkiotis added that Durham Tech is innocent of any wrongdoing. He gave some information about how the discussion came about. He said that Durham Tech told Orange County that at least 20 acres were needed for a site. Commissioner Brown also expressed a concern about the recurring capital costs of this building. She does not feel the cost is accurate and does not want to spend public money like that. Commissioner Jacobs asked if there was a standard orientation package that could be put together for County Commissioners and Barbara Baker was not sure. Commissioner Jacobs said that he would be interested in looking at how other counties fund community colleges. Commissioner Jacobs said that there was some lack of clarity on what is going to be included in the college. He said that we are taking a leap of faith. He thinks that this campus would be a very important component for our community. Commissioner Brown said that she was still unclear about the specifics of location and design. She would like to add to the list of criteria to consider the values and the goals in Orange County, specifically co-location. She would like to be sure that the Board of County Commissioners is included in the process. Commissioner Carey asked the Board to refine the criteria for siting the campus to make a recommendation as to what our goal is. He said that if this Board decides to move forward, then the Manager could work with Durham Tech and the task force and come back with mare information. Commissioner Gordon said that she would like to make a statement that in principle we are interested in proceeding with the community college and that we send it back to our staff for an analysis of the costs and the funding strategies if there is not a bond. She would like some specific information on the Skills Development Center and how it would relate to the campus. She would like some information an the statute that would expand the board of trustees to include representatives from Orange County. Barbara Baker said that the Skills Development Center is being used for instruction more than the Durham Northern Center. Commissioner Gordon asked about the hours and the classes offered at the Skills Development Center. Barbara Baker said that classes were offered from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. during the week. Some classes are also offered on Saturdays. Chair Halkiotis said that this is one of those things that the Board has talked about far a long time. He feels the Board expected something free and nothing is free. He pointed out that we have treated the budget as a sacred caw. He said that we need to decide if this is important to us and if it can fit into our budget. He said that this board would ask questions that na other board would ask. He said that a community college needs to be here and it will be even more important in years to come. He is supportive of moving ahead with this. He is also supportive of the need far permanent seats on the board of trustees. He said that we have to understand that there is going to be money involved in this. He said that this was just as important as protecting land and streams. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Carey to endorse in principle the siting and future development of the Orange County Satellite Campus of Durham Technical Community College. Commissioner Gordon was hoping for more specificity. Commissioner Jacobs said that there were several years to work out the details and that this was a statement in principle. Commissioner Carey said that he saw the motion as direction to the staff to begin the planning process. John Link suggested that when the motion is adopted that the Board instruct the staff to work with the Durham Tech staff to bring information back on matters discussed tonight. The Board agreed to this. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 2. Efland Area Sewer Extension Process Craig Benedict made opening statements an the Efland Area Sewer Extension and pointed out the different areas on a map. The staff has reaffirmed the adopted overall service plan as of last week. The issue for consideration tonight is how to review subdivisions in the areas where there is an adopted overall service plan. He continued by pointing out on the map the properties serviced by the Orange-Alamance Water System and the proposed subdivisions in the Efland area. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the water situation and said that she understood that Orange-Alamance was just about at the end of their allocation. She said that we should be very careful before promoting sewer service without getting the water supply under control. She said that maybe the density should not be increased in the Efland area at this time until the water supply is worked out. Craig Benedict said that there were two questions at hand -comprehensive planning and providing utilities. Commissioner Jacobs said that he was in total agreement with Commissioner Gordon. He said that we could essentially shape growth in the Efland area by how we provide utilities. He said that in this case it makes sense to extend water and sewer together. He does not have any confidence in the water utility supplier because Orange-Alamance does not want to talk to the County. He does not want to put a developer in an awkward situation because of the water issue. He agrees that we need to make decisions about the water. Commissioner Brown concurred with both Commissioner Gordon and Commissioner Jacobs. She feels that it would be irresponsible to proceed with permitting and development until questions can be answered about water and sewer. Chair Halkiotis asked the County Attorney how the County could act in a responsible and legal manner when there is a water supplier that will not talk to you. Geoffrey Gledhill said that the issues are far more complicated than he can answer right now. He said that a sewer system subdivision could be developed without public water. It is a policy decision to put public water with public sewer. He said that the decisions linking public sewer and public water have not previously been put before this Board. The bond project will complete the master plan that was approved and the bond project assumes that there would be connections to the sewer system within the band project area. There are some policy decisions to be made. Commissioner Brown does not want to make a motion that will have a time limit. Until the policies are clarified, she would like for action to be held up on any applications for this sewer area. Commissioner Jacobs agreed with Commissioner Brown, without the time limit. He would rather direct staff to bring back a decision tree including the policies and implications. Commissioner Brown asked if the citizens of Efland realize the high density that all of the development would bring. Geoffrey Gledhill said that this was not about higher density, but flexible development plans that concentrate the housing units into smaller areas with extensive open space. Chair Halkiotis suggested that two Commissioners, the County Manager, the County Attorney, the Planning Director and the County Engineer get together and bring back a recommendation. Commissioner Brown and Commissioner Jacobs volunteered. John Link suggested that the study group make the assumption that the County would not necessarily be the utility provider. He said that it was very hard to separate the role of zoning and planning and that of a utility provider. Commissioner Gordon reemphasized the inter-basin transfer issue. She said that this could have implications to the Jordan Lake water allocation. The Board agreed to put together a study group on this issue and come back with some additional information. 3. Library Services Task Force Report Library Director Brenda Stephens introduced task force members Dana Thompson, Diana McDuffee, and Miriam Jackson. Commissioner Jacobs made comments about the short-term task force that met for 10 months. He said that Orange County's resources were not adequate at this time to provide for the needs of library services. Brenda Stephens made a presentation of when the task force met and gave information about what they talked about and how they reviewed requests. She spoke about the difference in funding by other counties and Orange County for library services. Several clarifying questions were asked by the Commissioners and answered by Brenda Stephens. Commissioner Carey asked about the records center and Commissioner Jacobs clarified that it would not be for all County records, but an opportunity for departments that are in a crunch far space. Commissioner Brown asked about per capita for library services. John Link said that it is a measure that is used many times. He said that he would be curious to compare Chapel Hill to the other city or town libraries. He said that it was important to look historically at the origination of the library system within the community. Commissioner Jacobs said that the task force was open to using per capita for library services. Commissioner Gordon expressed her appreciation for the task force providing this information. She asked about prioritizing projects. Brenda Stephens said that the task force talked about prioritizing and they could not do that because they felt that everything was important. Diane McDuffee spoke about the difficulty in prioritizing. She said that she agrees that per capita is a measure but maybe not the best measure. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the recommendation about the Chapel Hill Library. She asked for insight about what to do when Chapel Hill comes to ask for money because a lot of people use the Chapel Hill library that do not necessarily live in Chapel Hill. Commissioner Jacobs said that giving some funding gives all citizens the right to use the library. Discussion ensued about the Chapel Hill Library and the request for funding from the County. Diana McDuffee said that the basic request from Chapel Hill was for more money per capita. She said that na one on the task force was willing to give this a higher priority than any of the other proposals. She said that because the Chapel Hill Library takes County funding, they are obligated by law to be open to all citizens of Orange County. Dana Thompson pointed out that making services available was not the same as serving everyone in the County. Commissioner Carey said that he feels that we have been relatively fair to all libraries and he is not inclined to provide funds the way that Chapel Hill wants. He would like to know the standards, the level of service, and what is included. He likes the idea of people not having to drive far to receive services. He said that the per capita does not mean much to him. Commissioner Brown asked why libraries were not connected to the new schools that were built. Brenda Stephens said that this was being considered in building Orange County schools. Cedar Ridge High School could include a public library because there will be a separate entrance. 4. Solid Waste Matters a. Disposition of Greene Tract John Link made reference to page four of the agenda abstract, and said that the staff was asking that the Commissioners consider the content of this draft. It will be brought back as a resolution on May 1St. He said that it would be advantageous for the County to take the lead in adopting a resolution first. The content has not been changed from last week. Commissioner Gordon said that she thinks the work group should be composed of elected officials only and not the Planning Board Chair and Vice-Chair. She asked about the timing of when the group will report back. Commissioner Brown agreed with keeping the group to elected officials. John Link said that the County needed to take the lead to move ahead on this. The money will come from the LOG fund. He asked the Commissioners to adapt this resolution with any changes and sand it on to the other jurisdictions. Commissioner Carey said that when he met with the mayors there was a fair amount of consensus. He does not have a problem with not including the Planning Board. He said that whatever is done will go back to the Planning Board. Commissioner Jacobs suggested including open space and other non-solid waste public services in the Greene Tract instead of having a limitation. Commissioner Gordon disagreed with adding non-solid waste public services and said that we should not open the Greene Tract up to new uses not previously suggested by member governments. Commissioner Jacobs said that we heard other governments talking about other uses and we have not had this discussion yet. He asked the Manager to review what was said. The staff will bring back what was said on this issue. b. Chapel Hill "Pay-as-you-throw" Proposal John Link made reference to the draft letter in response to the questions raised by Chapel Hill in January. He said that the County basically endorsed the idea of trying to reduce solid waste. This item does have some expense. The County is asking that Chapel Hill wait as we pursue the pay-as-you-throw proposal. Commissioner Brown said that it would be a good idea to meet to talk about it because this issue is very important to Chapel Hill. She said that she understood that Chapel Hill was moving ahead and had purchased some items to implement this program. Gail Wilson was not aware that Chapel Hill had done anything. John Link said that Chapel Hill had the authority to do this on its own, but the question is who pays far it. The Board agreed that Chapel Hill should have a response to their letter. The Manager will work an a response and bring it back. c. Ordinance Regulating Recyclable Materials This item was postponed. 5. Additional Information on Soccer Field This was accepted as information. 6. Closed Session A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Brown to go into closed session "To discuss the County's position and to instruct the County Manager and County Attorney on the negotiating position regarding the terms of a contract to purchase real property," NCGS § 143-318.11(a}(5}. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 6. Adjournment With no further items for the County Commissioners to consider, a motion was made by Barry Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Brown to adjourn the meeting at 10:30 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled far April 30, 2001 at 7:30 p.m. in the Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Stephen H. Halkiotis, Chair Beverly A. Blythe, CMC