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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20040401APPROVED 06!0212004 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION April 1, 2004 5:80 p.m. The Grange County Board of Commissioners met far a work session with the Board of Health on Thursday, April 1, 2004 at 5:30 p.m. at the Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs and Commissioners Margaret Brown, Moses Carey, Jr., and Stephen Halkiotis COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Alice M. Gordan COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill and S. Sean Borhanian COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey and Deputy Clerk to the Board David Hunt (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) BOARD OF HEALTH MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Alice White and members, Lee D. Werley III, Alan Rimer, Jessica Y. Lee, Matthew Vizithum, Christina Harlan, and Timothy Carey BOARD OF HEALTH MEMBERS ABSENT: Sharon E. Van Horn and Edith Wilder BOARD OF HEALTH STAFF PRESENT: Health Director Rosemary Summers, Maria Hitt, Wayne Sherman, and Ran Holdway NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. Discussion Topics from Board of Health Included in March 26. 2004 Memorandum to BOCC Primary Care: Chair Jacobs called the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. He welcomed the Board of Health and the Health Department staff. Chair Jacobs said that Commissioner Gordon sends her regrets for not being able to attend tonight's joint meeting. The Board of Health members introduced themselves. Alice White thanked the Commissioners very much for this time and said that there would be no formal presentation but only a discussion format. The first topic is a proposal to introduce some primary care services in the Health Department. Lee Werley made reference to the primary care services. It is identified in the community assessment. The services will start with people the Health Department is already dealing with in the clinics. It will be mainly at the Whitted Building. The proposal is very conservative and the majority of the cost will be lab work and pharmaceuticals. The investment would be approximately $44,000 the first year. The community has asked for this and he thinks the staff can take it on initially and work on it the first year. They would like to have this approved and started by January 1, 2005. The services could be expanded in time. Tim Carey said that he thought this was a great idea because the risk is very limited and they would be working with existing patients. Lee Werley said that he thinks this will improve the health outcomes of the vulnerable population. John Link made reference to the nurse practitioner position and asked, when it comes to primary care, how far a nurse practitioner can go and at what point the patient has to be referred to a physician. Tim Carey said that all nurse practitioners in the state work under a joint board and there are explicit conditions. His guess is that 95% can be managed by nurse practitioners. Wayne Sherman said that there is a medical director on staff, who would be consulting with the nurse practitioners on a regular basis. Commissioner Halkiotis asked far someone to speak to the increase in cost of pharmaceuticals. Lee Werley said that the cost would be around $17,000. They will be able to get special federal health pricing because it is the Health Department. They will still use the sliding scale for patients to pay for the drugs. Most of the people are on the lower end of the scale. Health Director Rosemary Summers said that the committee and staff developed a basic set of drugs that would be offered in-house. She said that 90-95°~ were all generic drugs. Commissioner Carey asked how they would charge for the prescriptions. Wayne Sherman said that there would be a minimum $3 fee for in-stock medications and then there is the sliding scale. This is the same as the Medicaid minimum charge. Rosemary Summers said that they have heard from the community that they would prefer to have these services at the Health Department. Commissioner Brown said that she does not understand specifically what medical services will be provided. She asked for more specific information. Healthy Carolinians Coordinator Maria Hitt said that they get calls all the time for mammograms and pap smears. Wayne Sherman said that in primary care, a patient would have to be enrolled and it would not be a drop-in service. Commissioner Brown asked about a sliding scale and haw they get payment. Rosemary Summers said that with the preventive services, they have policies that outline steps the staff must go through. Patients are assessed for their level of service. Anything below 250°~ of the federal poverty level is scaled from 0-100%. In the preventive services, there is not a minimum charge. There are people who pay nothing. For the others, they get a bill before they leave the office. If they cannot pay then, they get billed three months in a row. After that, if they come back in for another service, they are required to stop by the financial office to make a payment or at least a partial payment. They try and make the patients responsible without requiring them to pay and not receive services. With primary care, there will be a minimum charge of $15. The dental program also has a minimum charge and they have very little trouble collecting it, with a 95°~ collection rate. Commissioner Brown asked if the Board of Health was going to put this into their budget Rosemary Summers said that this was not blended into their budget because they felt that it was a separate request. The Budget staff knows about it. They did send a request to the Manager for increasing the Nurse Practitioner from half to full-time and for a Billing Specialist. Commissioner Brown asked about the space at the Whitted Building. Rosemary Summers said that they do not have additional space, but she believes with the no-show rate that they can use the space more efficiently. Chair Jacobs referred to the bottom of the first page and emergency room visits to UNC Hospital. He asked how many of the Health Department patients would otherwise visit the emergency room. Rosemary Summers said that before they started the business plan, a group of students did a needs analysis and they looked at the emergency room admissions. Chair Jacobs asked about the target population. Wayne Sherman said that 56°~ of the Whitted clients surveyed had used the emergency department one to three times in the past year. Chair Jacobs said that this raises the issue with him about asking the University to help subsidize this program. Wayne Sherman said they are working with UNC Hospital with patients that have conditions beyond the capabilities of the Health Department. Rosemary Summers said that she and Commissioner Carey have been working on a Community Care Network to care for people with Medicaid and those who are uninsured or underinsured. They have been unsuccessful in getting UNC Physicians and Associates to help plan for this. There has been a change in leadership, so this might change. Chair Jacobs said that he and Commissioner Brown met today with the Director of EI Centro Latino and talked about underserved populations and the Northern Center. He said that a partnership with the University could help bring health care professionals out into the community in ways that would benefit their teaching functions. He would like to try and bring in partners. Rosemary Summers said that they are committed to building partnerships. Commissioner Halkiotis said that years ago people used to call 911 to get an ambulance just so they could get their blood pressure taken. He remembers when Rosemary Summers first came on board and she was instrumental in getting the Kellogg Grant in Efland. He said that these people couldn't advocate for themselves. He said that he thinks that every school and public building should have a defibrillator in it and someone trained to use it. He thinks that there are a lot of people in the County who are not receiving proper medical and dental attention because they do not have insurance. Rosemary Summers said that there are same free pharmacy programs that they will be working with. The Billing Specialist will help people apply for these programs far reduced cost of pharmaceuticals. Commissioner Brawn said that the transportation issue always Games up. She asked if they had discussed taking this service to other areas of the community to help with this problem. She also asked if there were any thoughts of doing something on nights or weekends to provide more access. She is also interested in understanding the linkages to referrals to mental health and social services. Tim Carey said that evening hours have been contemplated. There are some infrastructure issues regarding different locations. Rosemary Summers said that they da intend to have more screening events in community centers (i.e., blood pressure, diabetes, etc.}. Regarding transportation, they are dealing with this now. Most of the prevention services patients have made arrangements to get in. They have worked out with maternity patients that a cab will take them to the hospital in an emergency for a flat fee. She said that they also refer to DSS and Mental Health regularly. Chair Jacobs said that it seems that the Board is in favor of this proposal. Public Health Task Force 2004 Recommendations: Commissioner Carey made reference to the task force recommendations. He said that there would be several public hearings around the State regarding the recommendations. He said that the County Commissioners' Association is urging caution to go slow because some of the recommendations have cost implications for counties. Many of the recommendations were already in the pipeline before the task force was put together. There is still a lot more work that needs to be done. Alan Rimer asked Commissioner Carey about the comments he has received. Commissioner Carey said that mast of the comments are about inadequate funding. He said that 40°~ of funding comes from the federal government, 40°~ from the local government, and 20°~ from the State. The rules about what public health has to do come from the State. He said that there is a lot of restructuring to do. Rosemary Summers said that there is the thought that these recommendations are going to be morphed into an adoptable bill during this legislative session. She said that we should keep an eye on this. Alice White asked about the estimates of what these things would cost and if this was on target. Commissioner Carey said that some are good and some are not sa good. He said that there is no real significant vision of how spending at the State level is going to affect costs at the county level. Communitv Health Assessment Priority Areas Alice White added, as an At-Large member from Northern Orange, that Hillsborough is not Northern Orange. A lot of people think that this is true. Rosemary Summers said that she knows Commissioner Brown and Commissioner Carey were at the presentation of the Community Health Assessment. She has copies of the full document and it is also online at the Healthy Carolinians website. She asked if Maria Hitt could come to one of the Commissioners' meetings to present this with some PowerPoint on results of the assessment so that the community would have a broad exposure to the results. She made reference to the grid and said that these priorities were selected by over 700 community members as being the top priorities. She made reference to the executive summary and said that it is with a graphic designer to be developed into a brochure that will be distributed across the County. Maria Hitt said that they were in the preliminary stages and she would appreciate ideas from the County Commissioners on people that could provide some leadership on some of these issues and who should be involved that are not involved at this time. They need community partners in this process. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to the breast cancer rate in Orange County and that it was the highest in the State from 1996-2000. He asked what this was attributable to. Rosemary Summers said that it might be that they have better screening than other places in the State. Tim Carey said that there is not a lot of geographic variation on breast cancer rates. Commissioner Carey recommended that this presentation be shared at a County Commissioners' meeting. Commissioner Brown asked about #6, air quality, and said that they work on this in land planning and transportation issues. She said that they are trying to convince the schools to reduce parking for kids who are driving in order to meet air quality standards. She suggested connecting with some of the efforts that are already underway. Maria Hitt said that one of the priorities of the community was air quality and people are concerned about this. Alan Rimer said that he sees all of this as, "Pay me now or pay me later." He said that if you do not pay it now, we are all going to pay as a society later. He does not want to pay higher taxes later when he can pay laver now for prevention. Chair Jacobs made reference to air quality and said that Orange County has not been a leader in addressing it. He said that he read that the Republican Party is advising its members in Congress that there is no relationship between childhood asthma and air quality. Chair Jacobs said that the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools are rated as the top achieving school district in the State, but not in terms of minority achievement. Also, there are 14% of people living below the federal poverty level. A lot of this is University students, which may also be reflective of the higher suicide rate. He suggested looking to see if there was ways to address the University population because it skews some of the picture in terms of poverty and possibly in terms of suicide rates. Maria Hitt said that the suicide rate is really spread out from teens to elders. She said that she would check with Economic Development Director Dianne Reid. Chair Jacobs said that Planning Director Craig Benedict also would be a good partner for air quality. Alice White suggested inviting Bill Rokfort to the County Commissioners' meeting where Maria Hitt makes the presentation. He is a possible partner with UNC in the primary care services. Alan Rimer said that one of the recommendations from the environmental group was the formation of a Water Resources position. He advocated for this individual to reside in the Health Department. He said that as a Health Department, they have had a long history of non-regulatory advocacy for these issues. He said that two years ago they asked the Caunty to look at ways of taking the USGS data that was developed and asking people to let them monitor their wells and approach it scientifically. He said that he had asked the staff at their last board meeting to came back to the Board of Health with a look at how the board could liaise with other boards to make some formal connections. His recommendation is, if the Board of County Commissioners agrees to fund this position that this position should go to the Board of Health and not in the Planning Department. With no further items to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 7:25 p.m. Barry Jacobs, Chair Donna S. Baker Clerk to the Board APPROVED 06/0212004 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION April 1, 2004 7:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Work Session on Thursday, April 1, 20Q4 at 7:30 pm at the Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs, Margaret Brown, Moses Carey, Jr., Alice M. Gordon, and Stephen Halkiotis COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill and S. Sean Borhanian COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Rod Visser and Gwen Harvey and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below). Chair Jacobs asked if the regularly scheduled meeting on May 6t" could be moved to May Stn He asked the County Commissioners to let the Clerk know if this will be okay to change. 1. Interim Report and Recommendations from the Animal Shelter Operations Task Force on GovernancelManagement of the Orange County Animal Shelter Commissioner Carey served as the convener of this task force. Commissioner Carey thanked the County Commissioners for letting him serve. He said that he would introduce this item and then he would turn this over to Linda Schmoldt, a task force member. He acknowledged the others that served on this task force. Commissioner Carey said that they were asked to come back with a recommendation on the governance and structure of the animal shelter to the Board of County Commissioners for the Board to make a decision. The task force met this charge. The Board also asked the task farce to make some recommendations on the future of the physical facility. They will have to reconvene and continue to work on this. Commissioner Carey said that during the deliberations of the task force, there were some questions asked about a no-kill shelter and the cost of the governance and structure recommended. He tried to steer them away from costs during this stage because he did not want the task force to feel constrained in the recommendations because of the costs. He said that he assured the task force that the County was going to run a quality shelter no matter who runs it and how much it costs. The cost issue is for the County Commissioners to consider and the task force just makes the recommendations. Linda Schmoldt explained the different options in the recommendations. Option A is to continue as is, contracting with the APS. Option B was the mast popular. This option had a factor of an animal bureau. This would allow for more organizational latitude, it would more likely appeal to volunteers, it would have better financial management through an identifiable budget, and it would have a softer edge than a County department. There would be direct accountability to the County Manager and the Board of County Commissioners. The task force would like to make this as painless a transition as passible. Option C is the creation of a County department/division. Commissioner Gordon asked about options B and C and said that it seems that both could have an advisory group. She asked about the differences. Linda Schmoldt said that it is the approachability, with the Bureau option being something different from a County department. Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey said that the difference is to be able to construct a mechanism that acts like a county department but has a face for the public and would be more conducive to grants and contributors. It would be like the Visitors Bureau. Linda Schmoldt said that it is more of a perception. Commissioner Gordon asked about the differences and how the municipalities would figure in. Gwen Harvey said that there was representation on the task force board from Chapel Hill and Carrboro and there was no interest in financial participation other than what they da now. Commissioner Carey said that Chapel Hill funds some of the Visitor's Bureau function from their occupancy tax and the remainder is funded from the County's occupancy tax. The difference is that this Animal Bureau function would be funded with County funds and not from any particular other source of funds. They would hope to get some contributions from others. Chair Jacobs asked about the perceived relationship between the Board of County Commissioners and the people working in the Animal Bureau. He asked if the Animal Bureau employees would be accountable to the Board and the Manager. Linda Schmoldt said that these employees would be accountable to the County Manager and not the Board of County Commissioners and it is not meant to be a board that hires and fires. Gwen Harvey said the advisory board would be appointed by the Board of County Commissioners, but it would not be on the same level as the Board of Health. It would not be regulatory. Chair Jacobs said that they do not invite public comment at work sessions but if someone from the task force would like to speak, that would be fine. Dan Textoris said that Commissioner Carey told the task farce not to consider costs. He said that had that been considered, his guess would be that option A would have beaten out option C. He said that he thinks that using costs may have made a difference in options B and C. Chair Jacobs said that the idea of accountability to the County Manager is a given. He would have liked to see a model of a more public/private partnership, where they might have the Executive Director, Volunteer Coordinator and Veterinarian be County employees and try to work with other entities to develop other aspects of programming and staffing. Linda Schmoldt said that they did discuss having an option of anon-profit but that did not ring a bell with the group. Chair Jacobs said that Commissioner Halkiotis had said one time that he did not want to create another bureaucracy. He is concerned also about going in this direction. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he was a bit perplexed about option B and the broken line that goes from the Health Board to Animal Control. He said that there is a whole menu of offerings in the Triangle area, and if we create another bureaucracy with this issue, we are in trouble. He said that it appears that all of these other groups are coming back to the Board of County Commissioners somehow. He thinks this is misleading because their plates are already full. He said that he does not have time to do this. Now, if the Commissioners want to know anything about County operations, they go through the County Manager for information. He said that he voluntarily left the Tourism Board because there were two County Commissioners on it. He understands where they are going with an animal services board, but he thinks option C is the better option. He does not want to see another bureaucracy created. Commissioner Gordon asked what kind of statutory authority remains with the Health Department if Animal Control is taken out from under it. Commissioner Carey asked Rosemary Summers to talk about this issue and he said that they discussed many different scenarios and felt that these schemes would allow for the statutory regulations of the Health Department to be carried out. He said that the Health Board did not prefer any of the options recommended. He said that there are other counties where the animal contra) and APS functions are not housed in the Health Department. Health Director Rosemary Summers said that the primary function of the Health Department and Animal Control is the rabies control. If Animal Control was not in the Health Department, they would need to establish very clear procedural lines that if there is an animal bite in the County, that it would be referred to a communicable disease nurse without question or complication with the resident that was bitten. The State laboratory reports an testing for rabid animals came back to the Health Director. In recent years, the Health Department has become more involved in dead birds and West Nile Virus. Commissioner Gordon asked about the Board of Health's preference and Rosemary Summers said that they would like far Animal Control to remain under the Health Department and bring sheltering under the Health Department's purview. John Link said that the Board was not being asked to make a decision tonight but it needs to be made soon. He said that if the Board wishes for the operation of the animal shelter to be a County operation, then the staff needs to know where that function should reside by April 20t". He said that they have to make all of the moves by mid-June and APS will vacate by June 30t" and the County has to make purchases by July 1St or before. The employees have to be in place before July 1St. In terms of the Health Department and Animal Control issue, they can make that decision in-house at a later point. This does not have to be addressed now. The recommendations have to be addressed first. Commissioner Carey said that they do not have much time and if this Board of County Commissioners wants to consider more options then it cannot make a decision as to the running of the shelter and that means that the APS may still run it for a longer period of time. Chair Jacobs asked if the task force could meet again before April 20t" and discuss different permutations. Commissioner Carey said that he was busy and had a tight schedule where he would be out of town. John Link said that the Board could give him the direction of haw they want this to be a function of the County. This does not mean that all pieces will be in place but they need direction so that they can start ordering equipment. He said that he talked with APS Interim Director Suzy Cooke and she said that they will finish their contract with the County on June 30th and they were not interested in a month-to-month continuation unless APS was considered for part of the operation for 6 to 12 months. He thinks that the County needs to be ready by July 1St to run the shelter. Chair Jacobs asked the County Commissioners if any member thought that the shelter should not be under the direction of the County and the County Manager. Commissioner Gordon does not believe that it needs to be under the County management because she does not have any cost estimates. The initial estimates were that the County's costs would be higher. Commissioner Carey said that the Board asked him to convene this committee in a short period of time and to came back with a recommendation. The task farce worked hard and they did not get into the cost area. They assumed it would be more expensive and he held them on task because he thought the Board wanted a stronger influence of the County Manager's office but not a department so the Board would have more direct policy influence aver this function. The County Commissioners also told him that they wanted to protect and sustain the volunteerism. He said that if they had factored in the range of casts, there would not have been any agreement because the policies had not been set. They knew that options B and C would be more expensive. Chair Jacobs said that he understands Commissioner Corey's analysis, but it is the Board of County Commissioners that will consider costs. He said that advisory boards make recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners and the Board makes the final decisions. Commissioner Brown said that the bottom line for her is that she wants accountability. She saic that she has never been able to accept any responsibility for the shelter operations and haw it treats people and animals, the health issues, and haw the County collects animals. She has no answers for the people that call her and complain. She said that there is no response from anyone in trying to correct any of the issues. She would like to see how the responsibility piece connects back. She wants to know haw the money is spent. She said that it appears that the APS is going off on its own. She said that this is the first time that she has heard Rosemary Summers say that her board would take over everything. She said that this still leaves the County Commissioners not having any control or authority over it. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he appreciates everything that Commissioner Carey has done with the task force. He said that the recollection of what the Board asked the task force to do was totally right. He said that if he had to decide right now, he would go with option C because he wants to see the County Manager at the top. He does not want to see a bunch of lines under the County Commissioners going to different places. He just wants to see County Manager under the County Commissioners. He thinks the key is how to maintain the volunteer piece. His greatest concern was that there would be a bureaucracy that was not conducive to volunteers. Chair Jacobs said that he shares Commissioner Halkiotis' and Commissioner Cordon's concerns. He is not against having staff work through some kind of cost estimate. He would like to look at a hybrid model and staff can look at this. Commissioner Gordon would like to know what the hybrid model is. She said that she would always ask about costs. Commissioner Carey asked what kind of hybrid Commissioner Jacobs was talking about. He thinks that option B is a hybrid that captures the best of everything that has been mentioned. He said that the task force protected the potential of volunteers to control casts. He said that protecting the influence of any hybrid that employs people of different entities would be difficult. He said that he recognizes that any citizen group is an advisory group, but he thinks the Board should give their recommendation heavy thought in their final decision. Otherwise, the task force members have wasted their time. He said that if they had considered costs, they would have gone with option A. Chair Jacobs said that his proposal is a hybrid of option B, where instead of having just an advisory board, that it is a partner. He would hesitate to make everyone that works at the shelter to be a County employee. He said that adding 19 positions to the County employee base is a huge addition, and he is not ready to make this commitment without looking at other options. His option is close to this and it leaves the authority residing with the Board of County Commissioners and the County Manager. It would even have some executive oversight that would report to the County Manager. The other entity could participate as a volunteer group that would bring resources, people, and expertise and would foster openness. Dan Textoris said that he agrees with Chair Jacobs, but he disagrees with the way he put it. He said that they did not get into the policies for option B. With option B, he would like to see that every animal that is handed over goes through a County mandated adoptability screening and is held for some period of time. After that, the adoptable animals could be handed over to anon- profitgroup orgroups rather than being held at a County facility. He feels it is very important that citizens feel that it is safe to bring their animals to the shelter. Commissioner Brown agreed and said that she remembers five times she was called by citizens that said that their dogs had been picked up and they called the animal shelter, who denied that the animal was there. The citizen went to the animal shelter and looked around and did not see the animal, and then a few days later went back and the animal was there. No one ever called them to say that their animal came in. She said that on three occasions, the animals were put down. She said that this is outrageous and heartbreaking. She said that there was no one to go to and she could not get a response. This should not happen when the County is paying for this. She said that the health issue that HSUS found is really important and she does not know how it is being corrected. Commissioner Halkiotis asked if everyone was in agreement that option A is not an option and the County Commissioners agreed. John Link said that he knows what has to done. He said that the County has gone through two transitions in the last few years with Solid Waste and Rescue. It is going to take the staff every single day from now to July 1St to make this work, and that is assuming that the core of the employees are County employees. Volunteers will not be the core; it will be the employees and all of that will be more expensive than the present operation. The staff will come back by April 20tH with the numbers. Commissioner Halkiotis reiterated what Commissioner Brown said that the APS budget that was presented a while back was bogus, frivolous, and catering to the sublime. He thinks if you make the volunteer piece work, then costs can be reduced. He will support a realistic budget. Commissioner Brown said that the budget should come from the County and not from APS or other people. She said that she likes the idea of the advisory board and this has not been at the present shelter. She would like to see it fleshed out a little more. Chair Jacobs said that the task force could forward comments to the Clerk or to the Manager if another meeting is not possible. Commissioner Brown asked the task farce member if they felt that the group addressed all issues in the HSUS report. Linda Schmoldt said that there was only a small section on governance and the part that applied to the task force was minimal. Chair Jacobs asked the task farce to talk about what the programming might be like and how it would affect the kind of building that would be recommended. Commissioner Brawn made reference to valunteers and said that they could get the list from APS and contact the volunteers and invite them to come to a training session. Linda Schmoldt said that they would not want to start with APS's list, but do an open invitation for volunteers. John Link said that it would be helpful to have a small group to confirm for the Board of County Commissioners and the Manager those functions where volunteers should be involved and the functions where volunteers should not be involved. For example, volunteers would probably not be involved in euthanasia or the final adoption process. He would like to know who is doing what. He said that there would be a lot of people interested in volunteering for this and everyone needs to be clear as to where the volunteers will be working. Commissioner Brown said that answering phones should be left to employees, unless the volunteers are very trained. 2. Boards and Commissions Clerk to the Board Donna Baker was asked to sit with the Board of County Commissioners regarding this issue. She walked the Board through the list of items in the packet. She said that basically tonight they are to choose which boards and commissions they would like to be on, which is attachment A. Chair Jacobs said that the colors on attachment A reflect the votes they took about all the boards and commissions {i.e., what should be sunset, what should have a liaison, what should be appointed by the Board of County Commissioners, and what is statutorily required}. Chair Jacobs said that he does not think they came tonight prepared to make choices, so he proposed they go through the policies and make other decisions. He said that, for the sake of making it easier, he and Commissioner Carey have proposals, which are similar, and Commissioner Cordon's is not very different. He said that it is reasonable to accept Commissioner Cordon's proposal and then draw lots. He referred to attachment E. Commissioner Brown said that she has questions about the boards that are listed under her name. She said that it looks rather inaccurate because she does not attend some of the board meetings. She would rather give up some of the boards or have them in a package like all of the housing-related boards ar human services. Commissioner Gardon explained the reasoning behind her proposal in attachment E. She indicated that she preferred the current seniority system. However, since the Commissioners appeared to prefer a change, she drafted a proposal that might lead to a consensus. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he does not have time to go to any of these boards. Chair Jacobs suggested to the Clerk to take off all the red (sunset) boards and all the blue (BOCC Liaisons) and what would be left would be the care of what people are serving on. This will be brought back to see if further discussion is needed. The Board agreed. Chair Jacobs made reference to attachment H {proposed amendments to the Volunteer Resolution} and the amendments to the volunteer resolution. He explained each of the proposed amendments an attachment H. Commissioner Gordon said that she would like to ga farther and say that the member should be a registered voter. She said that she looks at boards and commissions as an extension of the Board of County Commissioners and that is why she feels that they should be Orange County citizens. Commissioner Carey, Commissioner Halkiotis, and Chair Jacobs disagreed with Commissioner Gordon. Commissioner Brawn said that she thinks the members should have paid their taxes and not have done anything against the ordinances of the County. Chair Jacobs said that three County Commissioners said that they are comfortable with an amendment that says "any resident" instead of "any citizen" can serve. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he would prefer that they find somebody who was a resident of Orange County. Commissioner Brown said that she is interested in the expertise piece. Otherwise, the members should be a resident of Orange County. Geof Gledhill verified that these are boards that the BOCC has created. He said that there are some requirements of the General Statutes far a member to be a citizen an some boards. Commissioner Brown asked to find out which boards must have Orange County citizens. Chair Jacobs made reference to attachment I and asked that any changes be brought back on the consent agenda on the 13tH Commissioner Gordon said that attachment I says that the alternate cannot join in the discussion, and she wants to clarify the intention of this. Geof Gledhill said that 'd' paints out that an alternate may not participate. Chair Jacobs made reference to "I" {definition of an alternate} and he thinks that it means that if an additional Orange County Commissioner attends a meeting at which the two appointed County Commissioners are present. Commissioner Brawn said that she does not want to be called to task with having a quorum of County Commissioners in any meeting. Chair Jacobs said that "I" was an attempt to cover this because there were cases where County Commissioners wanted to participate even though they would create a quorum. Chair Jacobs made reference to attachment "J" and said that this is a definition of Commissioner Liaison. Commissioner Gordon asked about #6 on item "J" which states that a Commissioner Liaison "would provide procedural direction and relays Commissioners' position to the board or commission, and communicates to the board or commission that the liaison's role is not to direct the board/commission in its activities or work". She said that she thinks it is not needed. Commissioner Brown said that she wants #6 to stay because it fleshes it out. Geof Gledhill said that #6 focuses on procedure and that is the difference between #6 and #1. Commissioner Halkiotis said that #6 says that it tells the Commissioner not to get involved in that discussion of that board or committee. The Board agreed to leave in #6. Chair Jacobs said that attachment "K" (revised Volunteer Resolution) is the resolution in one document with the changes. Under #1, the sentence about non-residents has been deleted. Commissioner Brown said that she thought atone time we were asking our boards and commissions to look through the applicants and invite them all to the meeting, and bring them to the Board of County Commissioners as the only criteria if they came to a meeting and showed interest and wished to be considered. She thought that the boards and commissions were not supposed to recommend anyone. Chair Jacobs said that he does not think that there has been consensus on the Board of County Commissioners on this. Chair Jacobs suggested that Commissioner Brown develop a procedure and present it to the Clerk. Commissioner Brown said that we should also make sure the members on subcommittees are also chosen members of the larger board. Chair Jacobs said that this is already in the resolution. Chair Jacobs suggested that the Clerk take the revised resolution and put it on the consent agenda with the changes. Commissioner Brown made reference to #9 (Volunteer Members Orientation) on the resolution and asked if we do a volunteer orientation program. Donna Baker said that the last time it was done was in 2000. It will be done again this fall at the same time of the Chairs meeting. Commissianer Brown asked how to guarantee the Planning Board and Board of Adjustment members have specific training on their position as a board member. John Link said that he would set it up with the Institute of Government and the County can pay far the members to go and tell them that it is required. Chair Jacobs said that it is already written in the resolution. There will be asterisks indicating that Institute of Government training will be required of the Planning Board and the Board of Adjustment. The Clerk will come back with the revised resolution and the list of sunset boards and boards with a liaison for the consent agenda. 3. Appointments a. Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau A motion was made by Commissioner Brown, seconded by Commissioner Carey to appoint Linda Canvissor, Director of Local Relations at UNC, to fill the position of UNC-Chapel Hill Special Representative with a term to expire December 31, 2006. VOTE: UNANIMOUS b. Chapel Hill Planning Board A motion was made by Commissioner Brown, seconded by Commissianer Halkiotis to reappoint Julie Raimondi-Coleman to the ETJ position #8 with a term to expire June 30, 2006. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Commissioner Gordan, seconded by Commissioner Brown to appoint Mitch Strobin to the ETJ position #10 with a term to expire June 30, 2006. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Brawn suggested that the County pay for his Institute of Government training. c. Southern Orange Senior Center Design Committee Commissioner Gordon nominated Peachee Wicker and Ann Johnson for the Chapel Hill Senior Center Program Participants. A motion was made by Commissianer Halkiotis, seconded by Commissianer Carey to nominate the list from the February 25, 2004 letter from Jack Chestnut. Chair Jacobs nominated Nate Davis as an At-Large member. Discussion ensued an the gender and racial diversity of the group. Chair Jacobs nominated Nate Davis and Thelma Perkins. The Board voted as follows on the appointments. The revised appointments are the individuals who received 3 ar more votes: ^ At-Large -Don Willhoit 3 yeas (Commissioners Carey, Halkiotis, and Jacobs) ^ At-Large -Nate Davis 5 yeas ^ At Large -Robert Seymour 4 yeas (Commissioners Carey, Halkisotis, Gordon, Jacobs) ^ At-large (Representative from UNC Hospitals} -Carey Gurlitz 5 yeas ^ Friends of the Chapel Hill Senior Center -Thelma Perkins 5 yeas ^ Friends of the Chapel Hill Senior Center -Robert Weatherly 4 yeas (The Board asked Jack Chestnut whether Robert Weatherly was the current or past president and Jack said the current president and that Fred Schroeder was the past president. Commissioner Gordan suggested that we should leave the current president of the Friends on this appointee list. The Board then asked Jack Chestnut if the president or past president would prefer to be appointed and he said that the current president would prefer to be appointed. ) ^ Chapel Hill Senior Center Program Participant - Peachee Wicker 5 yeas ^ Chapel Hill Senior Center Program Participant -Ann Johnson 5 yeas ^ Northside Senior Center Program Participant - Lula Alston 5 yeas ^ Northside Senior Center Program Participant -Juliette Reynolds 5 yeas ^ Advisory Board on Aging -Jack Chestnut 5 yeas Jack Chestnut asked, after the vote, if the Board would please allow flexibility for Mr. Weatherly to ask that Mr. Schroeder take his place, if he so chooses and they agreed. Commissioner Gordon pointed out the appointment for Carey Gurlitz is made on the condition that she is a resident of Orange County. d. Adult Care Home Community Advisory Committee A motion was made by Commissioner Brown, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to appoint Dr. Laurin Easterhorn, Ann Chamberlain, and Shannon Pounds to the Adult Care Home Community Advisory Committee for positions 1(full term to expire 3131/2006}, 2(partial term to expire 6!3012005), and 6{full term to expire 3/3112006}. VOTE: UNANIMOUS e. Substandard Rental Housina Task Force Commissioner Brown said that she was concerned about a County employee, Tara Fikes, being in charge of a jurisdictional subcommittee. She is not interested in having other people use the County staff's time. She asked John Link to contact Carrboro's Town Manager to get some clarification on this board since it is a board of elected officials. Commissioner Halkiotis also wondered how Tara Fikes got involved in this. This appointment was deferred. 4. Storage Issues -Potential Lease Approval Chair Jacobs suggested having staff to develop a conceptual plan far a storage building between the County's Public Works building and Hillsborough's Public Works building in Fairview Park. Commissioner Halkiotis would like to look at the County's own property at Public Works. He has a problem putting lease money out until 2009 for the building in Efland. Commissioner Brown and Chair Jacobs agreed. John Link said that they would come back with an aggressive timeframe for this storage building. Commissioner Gordon said that John Link needs to bring cost options back and John Link said that they would bring back what debt service would be with the building compared with a lease Purchasing and Central Services Director Pam Jones said that, based on the amount of money put into this lease, the County could build a storage building with 4,500 square feet. Chair Jacobs said to tell the Eflands that the County is studying the option of its awn property and that they will be contacted by the end of the fiscal year. Commissioner Brown asked what would be stored. Pam Jones said that it would be heated storage for storing records and voting booths, etc. Commissioner Halkiotis said to bring back information on the storage units in southern Orange and what type of structure it would be (metal, brick, etc.). Pam Jones said that they would bring back information. A motion was made by Commissioner Brown, seconded by Commissioner Carey to adjourn the meeting at 10:15 p.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Barry Jacobs, Chair Donna 5. Baker Clerk to the Baard