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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20060120APPROVED 3/21/2006 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ANNUAL PLANNING RETREAT SOUTHERN HUMAN SERVICES CENTER JANUARY 20, 2006 9:00 a.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for its annual Board retreat on Friday, January 20, 2006 at 9:00 a.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs, and Commissioners Moses Carey, Jr., Valerie P. Foushee, Alice M. Gordon, and Stephen H. Halkiotis COUNTY ATTORNEY 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) FACILITATOR: Andy Sachs STAFF IN ATTENDANCE: Pam Janes, Ken Chavious, Elaine Holmes, Donna Dean, Craig Benedict, Lori Taft, Nancy Coston, Rosemary Summers, Jerry Passmore, Todd Jones, Dianne Reid, David Stancil, Tara Fikes, Jack Ball, Todd Jones, Milan Pham, Gayle Wilson, Bob Moratto, Brenda Stephens, Wayne Fenton, Tara Fikes, Jo Roberson, John Smith, Janet Sparks, and Dave Stancil 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. BREAKFAST GATHERING AT 8:30 A. M. The meeting began at 9:OOam. INTRODUCTIONIROLE OF FACILITATOR: Chair Jacobs introduced Andy Sachs from the Dispute Settlement Center as the facilitator for the retreat. Andy Sachs said that he would be doing three things: helping the County Commissioners stay focused on the purposes of the meeting, helping them use their time well, and helping them work together. He made reference to the detailed agenda, which lists the desired outcome of the retreat: "Clarification of the challenges facing the County in preparation for establishing budget and policy priorities in the January and February work sessions." He reviewed the schedule for the agenda. He then reviewed the ground rules for the retreat. He asked that people not type on their laptops unless they are taking notes on the meeting. FISCAL OUTLOOK Two-Year Outlook on Looming Budget Issues: Budget Director Donna Dean made reference to attachment 1 a. She said that one cent on the tax rate would bring $1.2 million. There is increased debt service next year by $4.3 million, which is about 3.6 cents on the tax rate. They anticipate somewhere between a 10-15% increase in Medicaid, which would be between $400-600,000. Based on a three-year average of student increases of 355 new students, this equates to almost $1 million based on the current per-pupil allocation. There are several new facilities coming online in the next two years such as (specifications and projected costs are included in attachment 1 a}: Chapel Hill Senior Center, Central Orange Senior Center, Durham Technical Community College satellite campus, Fairview Park, Justice Facility, Northern Park, and Sportsplex Operations. Other issues include removing the hiring delay, implementing the new County capital funding policy (restore one cent in recurring capital to schools and one cent in long-range capital to County), Pay Plan, and employee benefits. Other issues further down the road include operational increases far new school openings {OCS Gravelly Hill Middle School and CHCCS High Schaal #3}, custodial strategic plan, mental health transition, addressing long-term temporary employees, employees' transportation/courthouse shuttle, staff attorney, water resources initiative, outcome of fire and rescue study, Efland sewer, sanitation transition to solid waste, and anticipated additional revenue from lottery proceeds. Commissioner Halkiotis said that when Public Works is doing a strategic custodial plan, they need to look into using private cleaning services. Both school systems have done this. John Link said that they would be looking into this with Orange Enterprises. Commissioner Carey asked about the costs of the fire and rescue study and where they would come from. Rod Visser said that there are no assumptions on this yet. There might be little to no impact on the general fund. Donna Dean made reference to row 31 of attachment 1 a and said that all of the known items add up to $12.1-12.9 million. There are a lot of unknowns. This equates to 10.1-10.8 cents. John Link said that they were not saying that there would be a 10-cent tax increase next year, but these are the budget drivers. Commissioner Carey said that this is the worst-case scenario and he noticed that the debt service begins to go down in the second year. Chair Jacobs asked how much of the debt service was what was promised to the voters in the 2001 bond. Donna Dean said that she would do some analysis for this answer. Everything that has been financed to this paint was on the original debt issuance schedule for the 2001 bond. Chair Jacobs said that he thinks they projected aseven-cent tax implication. He just wants to know if the Board did what it promised with the bond. Commissioner Halkiotis said that this needs to be answered as soon as possible. Chair Jacobs said that there are other casts in the goals and objectives and he would like to keep a list of these expenditures also that are not captured in the larger expenditures. Commissioner Carey suggested adding another expenditure item, school equity, as #27. Fund Balance: Donna Dean made reference to attachments 1 b-1 and 1 b-2, which deal with fund balance. Attachment 1 b-2 is a chart of the last five years and the staff equated the amount of fund balance appropriated each year to what the tax rate would be. This year, no fund balance was appropriated. Chair Jacobs asked if there was an estimate of what the fund balance would be at the end of this fiscal year. Donna Dean said that they do not have this information yet, but they will look very seriously at it in late February and March. John Link said that they intend that it will be na less than 10°~. Commissioner Halkiotis requested that they avoid getting fund balances far both school systems so late. He would like to get this information earlier. Jahn Link said that they will try and forecast earlier, but the numbers may be shaky if it is too early. It should be assumed that no fund balance would be appropriated. Chair Jacobs made reference to attachment 1f-1 and said that staff has projected an annual increase of 9°/n in the County's revenues. He asked for an explanation of this when the item comes up. His point is that projections are done with less information than they have for the fund balance. Segal Efficiency Study Identified Savings and Disposition: Donna Dean said that the Board had requested information from the Segal review, and these are attachments 1 c-1 through 1 c-3. These attachments show the County's net savings that Robert Segal was able to find and the last two pages are the savings for the schools. Chair Jacobs asked what became of the discussions about joint purchasing. He suggested bringing this up again at the collaboration meeting. He said that these discussions are what instigated the Segal study in the first place. He said that he feels that they did not get all that they needed from this review. Commissioner Halkiotis said that, because of the request to use Robert Segal, there has already been a savings of over $1 million with Orange County and the school systems. He said that very few school systems and government agencies call in firms like Segal to review them. He wants to note that they have done this in the name of the citizens of Orange County and that it is a direct offshoot of the efficiency study committee set up over eight years ago. Commissioner Carey asked about the pro-rata share of sales tax reallocation of $424,000 and how many years this goes back. Finance Director Ken Chavious said that this goes back three years. He said that Mr. Segal would use the sales tax refund request from all non-profits, school systems, and Towns to make sure that they claim sales tax in the appropriate counties. Commissioner Carey asked, now that Mr. Segal has shown them how to do this, if they were going to rely on Mr. Segal or if this can be done in-house. Ken Chavious said that this is labor intensive and Mr. Segal knows how to do it. The Finance department cannot do this with the current resources. Commissioner Carey said that if they can get further savings by adding resources, then they need to go for it because it would save even more money. He wants to examine what it would take to get this done without using outside help. Commissioner Gordon echoed what Commissioner Halkiotis and Commissioner Carey said to follow up to see if this can be done in-house. Revenue Growth Projections: Donna Dean made reference to attachment 1 d and said that this is a quick reference on the revenue picture for the next two years based on what has happened aver the last several years. She made reference to the yellow highlighted line, and that next year the projection is $1.8 million of natural growth. This is based on na fee increases and the trends. She said that this is a very conservative projection. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about the estimated growth for last year and Donna Dean said about 2°/a, which was about the same amount. Chair Jacobs said that this counterbalances the proposed 10%. Debt Capacity: Donna Dean made reference to attachment 1f-1, the debt capacity spreadsheet. She said that they are projecting a 9% increase and this is based on what has happened in the past. They have tried to anticipate what the debt service would be based on the current debt issuance plan. She made reference to the year 2007-2008, and said that with the current 15% debt capacity limit, Orange County will be really close. John Link said that if there were some emergency situation that they needed to address, the Board could amend the debt capacity policy. Chair Jacobs pointed out a chart from CHCCS Board Chair Lisa Stuckey. There are two different potential timetables far Elementary Schaal #10. He said that the County has money for the school, but not far the water and sewer and the connector road. The County has to pay half of this because of Twin Creeks Park. This will be another capital cost that will have to run parallel to the school construction. He said that the County Engineer would need to give an estimate of this cost. Possible 2007 Bond Referendum: Donna Dean made reference to attachment 1 g-1, which provides specifics on the 1997 and 2001 bonds. Everything from the 1997 bonds has been spent, and with the 2001 bonds, they have spent a little more than half of what the voters approved. Most of what has not been spent relates to OCS Middle School #3 and CHCCS High School #3. Chair Jacobs asked about the overage far the middle school and Donna Dean answered $4 million. Attachments 1 g-2 and 1 g-3 are spreadsheets that the Board has seen before regarding the long-range funding since 1988. This outlines that the schools have received 75°~ and the County has received 25°l0. This does not include the additional amounts for Middle School #3 and High School #3. Commissioner Gordon asked that this be updated. Commissioner Halkiotis suggested enhancing the pie chart later and listing what the County/Partner projects were for $85 million and all of the school construction for $254 million. He thinks this is a dramatic statement of the Board's priorities. Chair Jacobs suggested putting the dates on the construction projects also. The Southern Human Services Center was the last County building to be built, which was in 1998. Construction Update an Pending County Projects: This was attachment 1 h, which gives a quick reference on the timelines for the projects coming online in the next few years. Chair Jacobs said that he is not sure where the Twin Creeks Park infrastructure falls and he wants to track this. Commissioner Gordon agreed. Chair Jacobs said that when they met with OCS to discuss putting money toward the power lines for the new middle school, they indicated that this was amodel/precedent for what would be done at Twin Creeks; that it is a partnership because it is serving a County need and a school need. Orange County Impact Fee Authority: Geof Gledhill said that he was asked to look at whether or not the County can implement a County public transportation system impact fee, and he found that there is no legislative authority for them to do this. He said that there is no place in North Carolina that has broader ar amore comprehensive impact fee authority than in Orange County. He said that he tried to lay out a path for Orange County to approach the General Assembly about securing public transportation impact fee authority. He said that impact fee authority would be a difficult and tricky way to public transportation. The easiest way is to convert the impact fee authority into an impact tax. Chair Jacobs asked about page two of Geof Gledhill's letter where it talks about there being authority if working through a municipality. Geof Gledhill said that this is not for public transportation. This is a power that has been there forever and Orange County has not implemented it, and it relates to public transportation systems around municipalities. It involves contracting with the municipality and transferring all of the impact fee money to the municipality, and then the municipality does the road construction as part of the plan. Chair Jacobs said that if they are doing a strategic plan update with Hillsborough for the fringe areas, they could work out an agreement and ask for contributions to build up the road system. Geof Gledhill said that this is talking about municipal roads and this is not directed toward construction of state roads and this is principally to help with city roads. Chair Jacobs said that when Geof Gledhill does look into general statute 153a-331 that relates to the municipalities, it might be simpler to ask for a change in that statute and instead of saying "roads" say "public transportation". Commissioner Halkiotis asked staff to fallow up on what it would cost Orange County government to keep the OPT system running if all outside funding dried up. Chair Jacobs said that if they do joint planning with other jurisdictions, he would like to explore other avenues within their purview. For example, Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh are talking about wanting to raise the sales tax to help pay for public transportation. Orange County has not signed onto this, but they could explore it. Geof Gledhill said that he would look at this. Commissioner Gordon agreed with talking about other sources of revenue. She said that this is a regional conversation that needs to take place. Chair Jacobs asked Geof Gledhill to speak about where the County stands with payment-in- lieufar parks. Geof Gledhill said that the County does collect payment-in-lieu funds all the time and the money goes to the individual trust accounts set up for the parks system. The issue is that it is difficult to justify on a house-by-house basis because it is a small amount of money. Craig Benedict said part of the Tischler study was to examine the existing level of service that Orange County now has with parks and trying to set a standard that new development would adhere ta. The first phase of the Tischler study was reviewing the level of service standard now in place and the projected level of service based on commitments the County is making. Tischler said that if the County's level of service commitment hits a target for the facilities coming online, the development community could be held to a payment-in-lieu to match this standard. The funds far the last stage of the Tischler study were pulled out of the budget, so it is in limbo right now. They will suggest the last phase in the upcoming budget. Chair Jacobs said that he would list this as an additional expense that may appear in this year's budget. He said that he keeps thinking about all the 300-unit subdivisions that Mebane is putting in Orange County's jurisdiction. All of these people will be coming to Orange County for services. Passible Establishment of, and Charge to, Budget Committee: Commissioner Carey asked about the role of this committee. John Link said that he suggested taking the management team and including one or two Commissioners, sharing where they are with the budget during the upcoming months, and sharing minutes of these meetings with the rest of the Board. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the budget process should be improved over last year. He does not want to come dawn to the third week in June and still be getting handouts, new numbers, etc. He said that he was receiving information late last night and they need to improve the delivery system of materials. He said that they need to relate to schools and the citizens soon what the County can and cannot afford. He said that a committee could speed up the process but he does not want to be on it. Commissioner Carey agreed with Commissioner Halkiotis about the delivery of information. He said that the issue is how the County Commissioners can all stay up to date. He thinks that the Board needs to be the budget committee as a whale. He is wondering what the budget committee would contribute that goes beyond the priorities the Board sets. He wants to set some clear priorities. Commissioner Gordon agreed that the budget process should be improved. She is willing to work with anyone as early as possible. She said that the difficulty is getting information too late and they need to move the process up. She said that the statutes say that the school boards get information to the Board by a certain date and the Manager has to give his recommended budget by a certain date. She suggested moving everything back a couple of weeks. She wants to eliminate the last minute crunch. Commissioner Foushee said that she is in support of a committee at an earlier point in the process. Her thinking is that it does not matter what the composition is. She said that if the Board does not establish priorities early in the process, then it makes it difficult for everyone to know what the goals are. She had problems last year with not knowing what the priorities were. The Board needs to make clear statements as to where Orange County is going. She said that she does not agree with the whole Board being the budget committee. Chair Jacobs said that he suggested putting this on the agenda because several Commissioners had complained about this last year. He suggested having a few options to consider about the budget process. He would like to see how other entities approach the budget -Chapel Hill Town Council or OWASA -and if they have a smaller group to look at the budget. He said that a smaller committee would be able to hash out the smaller stuff and not have to have more County Commissioners' meetings. The Board agreed to have staff bring back options on the budget committee. General ObservationslComments: Commissioner Gordon said that she is willing to go to any budget meeting that is scheduled, be it for the budget committee or just the County Commissioners. Commissioner Carey made reference to the possible 2007 band referendum and asked what the Board thought about this. He said that they made a conscious decision last year not to da a band this year, sa if they want to do a 2007 bond they need to put it on the radar screen starting this year. Chair Jacobs said that it seems that past 2007-2008, there are some opportunities to increase the debt capacity. He made reference to page three of fiscal outlooks, which includes some projects that could be considered. It was suggested that at the joint meeting of the Town of Hillsborough and Orange County in February that they discuss including Fairview Park in a possible bond. He wants to look at half-finished projects and commitments that have been made in good faith {i.e., CHCCS Elementary School #10). John Link agreed and said that the staff would need to get started in late spring. Commissioner Carey said that the process has not been good in the past and they need to be making decisions earlier. At this point, the Board took a break from 10:46:16 4~i--10:56:11 AM CHANGING HUMAN SERVICES LANDSCAPE Social Safety Net: Jahn Link made reference to attachment 2a, which gives an indication of what has been done. There have been substantial appropriations to help cover the changes and shortfalls created by the state and federal governments. The shortfalls total $700,000 in three and a half fiscal years. Chair Jacobs suggested sending copies to the legislators and U. S. Representatives about the shortfall of $700,000 and how counties are picking up the slack. He said that this does not even include the Urgent Home Repair Program, which used to be funded by the State. This is between $50-75,000 a year. He wants to make citizens aware of this. Commissioner Halkiotis thanked County Manager Gwen Harvey for the aggressive language in this narrative. Commissioner Carey asked if all of the $700,000 was recurring costs. Chair Jacobs said that he thinks some are recurring and some are one-time costs. Child Care Task Force: This is attachment 2b. Commissioner Foushee said that their thinking was to establish a work group to look at the challenges of providing quality childcare and how it impacts the workforce families. She said that childcare is very expensive in Orange County. They want to bring together a group of people -business owners, business leaders, daycare providers, and other stakeholders - to keep an ongoing look at what is happening and haw the business partners could be a part of solving these issues, particularly related to tuition payment. There is a need for a mechanism to keep information out there for partnerships. Commissioner Gordon said that this task force is a terrific idea. Commissioner Carey said that the objective is to increase the awareness of businesses that assume that they have no stake in this. He said that this is an opportunity to provide sustainability in what the County is doing. Chair Jacobs said that he met with Ken Broun recently about Carolina North, and this would be a perfect place to build in some child care possibilities. This is a good opportunity to set a framework of what they would like to see happen. Commissioner Halkiotis said that this is a good idea. He would like to keep in the forefront that you could send a child to UNC-Chapel Hill far fewer dollars than you can send a child to quality childcare. Outside Agencies: Jahn Link made reference to the outside agency report and said that Orange County supports non-profits, and that $1.5 million of County funds go into funding these allies of human services. He pointed out pages 5-7, which indicates those agencies that also provide direct support to the school systems. There are not many counties in the state that have this level of commitment to non-profits or outside agencies. Mental Health Reform UpdatelFunding: Commissioner Carey asked for an update about Durham County and their new agreement with the state that provides an incentive for Durham County to keep patients out of the big hospitals. He asked what was different between this model and what was promised a few years ago. OPC Area Director Judy Truitt gave an update. She said that mental health reform is changing on a daily basis and she finds it difficult to write anything that remains current for more than one day. In terms of the Secretary's proposal, for certain functions there has to be a regionalization of these functions. They now know that the area programs across the state did propose alliances and came out with 12 proposed alliances as opposed to 1 d. Also, the Division of Mental Health has indicated that they are an schedule and will announce who the lead will be in the 12 alliances by the end of January. Orange County's alliance includes Durham, Alamance, Caswell, and Rockingham Counties and what is now known as Five County {Vance, Franklin, Warren, Granville, and Halifax Counties). Of the four area programs, one of the four will be chosen to be the lead. The lead would take responsibility for the two functions of utilization review, screening triage and referral by April 1St. They were told last Friday verbally that this deadline is now fluid. It was also verbally confirmed that OPC is looking to lose $1.3 million starting in July. They have not seen this in writing. As indicated in the packet, they are moving forward with the release of RFP's for divestiture of service programs. She said that one of the basic precepts of mental health reform is to get consumers back into the community, and the expectation of reform is to downsize the hospitals and individuals would move back into their communities. As the hospitals are downsized, the money is supposed to follow. There are projections of how much we would receive and how much capacity we would be expected to build. What has happened is that we have not built the community capacity to the point where people can be moved out of the hospital. Until people are moved out of the hospital, the money is not available. She said that they are struggling to figure out haw to build the capacity without the money to support it. She said that Durham County has made a priority to cut hospital admissions and keep people in the treatment community. In order to do this, they have made a proposal to the state indicating that if they cut their hospital admissions the state might fund their capacity issues so that they can provide treatment. They have described a pilot project to the state and the state has approved the pilot project to see if Durham County can demonstrate and get the money flowing. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the whole game has shifted around so much and one person is making the mandates {the Secretary). He does not understand how OPC can negotiate an alliance. He thinks they are just making the best of a bad situation. John Link said that Judy Truitt and her staff are doing an extraordinary job with this situation and the lack of funds. Judy Truitt said that the new Medicaid service definitions are now approved and will be going into effect on March 20, 2006. This is a huge systemic change for the state. There are some concerns about the implementation and her staff is trying to project the impact of these new definitions. Chair Jacobs suggested that as they go forward that they try to develop press releases with OPC so that the public can be informed. Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness: Housing and Community Development Director Tara Fikes said that the Partnership to End Homelessness has begun work to develop aten-year plan to end homelessness in the community. They are striving to outline some strategies for reducing homelessness. The process began last October and they hope to have a plan completed in October 2006. A major part of the plan will be implementation, which will take place over the next ten years. She said that some of the strategies include transitional housing, permanent housing, and support services and this will take some community investment. Chair Jacobs asked if anyone was actively working to access bond monies for SRO's now. Tara Fikes said that some of their non-profits are still trying to develop housing projects for all sectors of the population. She has not heard anything specifically about SRO's. INITIAL DISCUSSION ON SCHOOL EQUITY Overview Establish Working Definition of Equity Thinking About Equity in Different Ways Preparation for Additional Discussion at February 2046 Work Session John Link said that they have given the Board a brief background {book} on what has been done at this point with regards to school equity. The outstanding issue is for the Board to agree upon a common working definition of school equity. One of the things that have been discussed is fiscal equity. Other areas have been discussed that both systems share as needs that are being addressed in different ways such as School Resource Officers. They have talked about how to help these systems create greater efficiencies through purchasing together, etc. Another element is looking at the study from Dr. Grumet that looks at the programmatic issues of equity. The inequities in staff begin at the middle school level, with CHCCS having more staff resources. Chair Jacobs said that they anticipated more discussions on this before the budget process. Perhaps this issue can be taken up again at a work session in February. Commissioner Halkiotis said that it would be helpful to get a list of items that the state used to pay far, such as utilities. He would like to knave the combined cost of utilities for both school systems. He would also like to know the combined bill for SRO's and social workers for both school systems. He said that Orange County stepped up to the plate to take care of many of these services that the state has mandated but refused to pay for. Commissioner Foushee said that any definition they came up with should put equity in the context of services and opportunity. She thinks that no opportunity should exist for one student that is not available or accessible to another student. She thinks that when they hear equity tossed about, it is more related to those opportunities that exist for some students but do not exist for others. Commissioner Carey said that this issue got started because of the merger issue. He wants to raise the issue again for the children in this County that do not have the same opportunities as others. He thinks it is incumbent upon the Board to equalize the opportunity. He wants the opinion of the school boards on this issue and the Board needs to bring some closure to the discussion of equity and merger. The discussion was tabled when the studies were commissioned. He thinks it is also incumbent upon the Board to articulate what was learned from the recent tax referendum about the school district tax. Commissioner Gordon said that she agreed with a lot of the points that the other County Commissioners made. She thinks that they need a definition of equity, and in this definition they need to take into account that the needs are different in each school system. The OCS need programs and resources for support staff and CHCCS need new schools. The issue is how to get more operating and programmatic funds to OC5 and capital funds to CHCCS. They need clear guidelines on how to do this and the school boards need to be intimately involved in this process. The other difficult thing is how to pay far it. She said that they do owe all students the best possible education. Chair Jacobs said that if they identify non per-pupil funding as the mechanism for addressing equity, as part of the discussion, they should talk about whether there is a relationship between that and the special district tax that only CHCCS has that perpetuates the gap in funding. He said that there could be a five-year plan to index the money put into the district tax and reduce the district tax by a certain rate as the non-per pupil funding is increased. This would leave the CHCCS harmless and perhaps lower the gap between the two districts. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the County Commissioners received a publication and an article from two conservative groups. One of the publications gathered information on administrative casts in school systems across the state. They have found that places where there is even declining school enrollment, there is increase in school administrators. They also talked about some school systems that merged that increased their administrative staff right after they merged. He said that the people that write these publications are trying to take the government out of education and trying to downsize government. He thinks that the County Commissioners should do something with merger or put it to bed. Andy Sachs made reference to services versus opportunities and asked if the Board has talked about what this means. Commissioner Foushee said that there is enough information in the executive summary of the Grumet report that talks about the opportunities available, such as AP courses that are not available in OCS. Transportation is an issue, however. She said that she does not think that anybody should be viewed in a negative light because they are willing to pay more money as opposed to people who believe that the resources are there but are not being used that might be effective. She sees the opportunity issue as a real problem and she hopes that the Board, along with the partners, can put aside those personal agendas and look at real solutions to these challenges. She gave examples of the different services that are provided in the two school districts and how they are delivered. Commissioner Carey agreed that they need to put emotions aside when they talk about equity issues. He wonders if they asked someone like Bob Segal to look at this issue for them, and he wonders what he would say about the issue of how to achieve equity and whether the school systems should be merged. He made reference to the Grumet report and said that maybe they should ask the school systems to take along-term view. The school boards may have a different perception than the Board. He learned from the tax referendum that people in the County system do not think that a district tax is the best way to address the equity issue. Chair Jacobs said that he agrees that they need to have the school boards to say what they think. He also believes that, at some level, by funding outside the per-pupil, they will free up money that now goes to per-pupil expenditures. The schools can then set their own priorities. He sees this as an opportunity to give the schools more flexibility. He also agrees that the referendum said something about the district tax with the Orange County school system, but two different groups were speaking simultaneously. He agreed with Commissioner Foushee that we should not demean people who want to spend more to educate their children, and that was one of the voices. He said that there are only three options -merger, status quo, or raise taxes. Commissioner Gordon said that they should get the school boards' opinions and they need to ask bath of them what they think about funding. She would like to get a statement from the OCS about the district tax and how the difference should be funded. If you lower the CHCCS district tax, then you raise the countywide property tax. Chair Jacobs suggested working on articulating questions for each school board and asking them to consider getting back to the Board by the work session on March 13t" Commissioner Halkiotis said that he read a survey in the Chapel Hill newspaper about an OCS district tax and these residents were overwhelmingly in favor of it. Andy Sachs asked that the Board discuss what questions they would ask the school boards. Commissioner Gordan suggested big picture questions like "How would you define school equity?"; "What do you think about the per-pupil approach versus a non per-pupil approach?"; "If it is a non per-pupil approach, what would you like the Board of County Commissioners to include in that?"; and "How would you like the schools to be funded?" Commissioner Halkiotis said that this is too open ended. He does not want to hear from the OCS Board about their differing views. He wants to deal with the merger issue and then move on to equity. He said that if another series of questions were opened up, then they would be going back to point zero. He thinks the Board knows where everyone stands. John Link said that when you talked about merger, you had to talk about financial impact. One system was revenue neutral and the other faced an 18-cent tax increase. He said that the message from the OCS citizens in November was that they do not want a district tax. There is a question that he thinks is fair to ask the OCS Board - "What is the means by which you as a school board wish to have with funding addressed in the future?" Commissioner Carey said that he thinks that they need to come up with some questions to both school systems and have the collaboration group to look at the questions. The answers are still just advisory to the Board because the Board has to make the decision. Chair Jacobs said that he does not want to ask for direction from the school districts. He can see three questions: "What is your definition of equity?"; "We're inclined to increase funding on an equal basis outside per-pupil. What areas would you be most interested in seeing us adopt?"; and to the OCS: "Do you want mare funding? And if you do, how do you see that coming about?" He thinks that the OCS Board needs to give a clear statement. He said that the Manager tried to offer the option of outside the per-pupil and it was repudiated by the Chair and another member of the Board. He wants to try and move it forward as expeditiously and simply as possible. The Board agreed that each County Commissioner would write out a definition of school equity and share it at the next work session. LUNCH BOCC PRIORITIES Andy Sachs said that there are two pieces to this section -one is preparation for the priority setting efforts {2 hours set aside for this) and the other is Boards and Commissions. He made reference to the blue binder, which includes goals that the Board set in 2002 (blue binder) and short-term priorities set last fall. Commissioner Gordon asked about the previously established goals and objectives. She said that she did not have time to review these because we just received the goals and objectives notebook last night and she is not prepared to discuss this. She needs more time to review it. Chair Jacobs said that he has heard from 2-3 Commissioners that they wanted to start out the retreat with goals and objectives. He said that the one page cover sheet makes it at least accessible. County Commissioners' Priorities List: John Link made reference to the first page after tab 4, the Top Priorities, and said that these are not the total of top priorities, but they are ones that have welled up during the course of the last few months. He suggested that the Board start discussing from this page. Andy Sachs suggested that from 1:34-2:15 that the Board look over the priorities in the white binder, and then at 2:15 the Board could brainstorm priorities for 2446-47. Discussion ensued on how the Board should discuss the priorities. The cover sheets for each priority begin an attachment 4b-1. These were listed by exception only. 1 }Improve Budget and CIP development process (provide regular in-depth updates of the budget drivers affecting the operating and capital budgets, thereby facilitating fiscal responsibility): This was discussed previously. 2} Define new capital funding policy (finalize the new capital funding policy}: Commissioner Carey said that they adopted a new capital funding policy last year. Chair Jacobs said that they did not adopt a formal statement and then Commissioner Carey said that they adopted the text. Commissioner Foushee said that she would like to see the written text since there does not seem to be clarity between Commissioners about this. Commissioner Carey said that this is important because the lottery money now needs to be incorporated into the policy. 3} 2006-16 CIP (Develop the 2006-16 CIP early in the budget cycle}: Commissioner Gordon said that this is very important and they used to do it early in the budget cycle. She would like to get back to this. 4} Review Changes to EMS planning reflective of Board of County Commissioners Comments: Chair Jacobs said that after Hurricane Katrina they discussed this issue, made some suggestions, and asked far an update. 5} Launch study of emergency management/firelrescue squad services: This is on a future agenda. 7}Adopt small area plan for Efland-Mebane: This is included in the Long Range and Current Planning tab in the blue binder. Chair Jacobs said that it would be good to develop priorities of what they want to accomplish with Mebane. He said that there is no real framework for the Board having given direction for these discussions. Commissioner Carey said that there are 3-4 substantive principles to glean from the current joint planning agreements with the towns. Chair Jacobs asked that these principles be brought back on January 31St 8} Establish plan to create assessment project for water and sewer in Economic Development District: Chair Jacobs said that this should be in place by the time the middle school opens. There are already same inquiries from the Department of Commerce for the EDD. This is one of the things that should be discussed with Mebane since it is going to provide the utility. Commissioner Halkiotis said that it is important far the budget drivers to do this in a timely manner. Chair Jacobs said that under the Goals and Objectives, there is Water and Sewer System Development. The first line is Expansion of the Efland Sewer System and a secondary aspect of this is, when the Efland/Mebane work group makes its recommendations, according to this timetable in March, it also has relevance to water and sewer. He would like to get this on a work session during this budget cycle. He thinks it is important to set up a timetable before asking for more bond money. 9} Continue talkslpursue long-term agreement with Orange-Alamance Water System: Commissioner Carey said that they have all learned something from the discussions when Orange-Alamance has been in the room in the past year. Chair Jacobs said that having a plan for Efland/Mebane will give some direction on where development might occur. Orange-Alamance expressed an interest in helping with infrastructure. 1 QI11 }Adopt Environmental Responsibility Goal Implement an environmental responsibility goal within County government Implement structure to advance Environmental Responsibility goals within County government: Chair Jacobs said that one of the goals and objectives mentions an internal group of department heads that were looking at other areas like pesticide use, offering low-flow fixtures to the public, and he did not see any place where this responsibility was invested. He asked who would follow through on this goal. Jahn Link said that he would ask Dave Stancil to follow upon this. This will be added to the list. Chair Jacobs said that the alternative would be to ask the Commission for the Environment to work on it so that it would not take up more staff time. 12} Develop and implement an energy conservation initiative: Commissioner Halkiotis said that he is still committed to this and it is moving forward. 13} Develop SustainabilitylGreen Building Standards: Chair Jacobs said that this was in the Environmental Responsibility Goal. 14} Implement the Water Resources Initiative: Commissioner Gordan said that the Board adapted this last May, but it has not been implemented. She wants to concentrate on things that will help the citizens. Commissioner Carey said that this is an initiative that cuts across many stakeholder groups and they all need to play a role. Jahn Link said that the most recent statement on this is in the blue book under Resources Protection and Development, and the goal is Water Resource Quantity and Quality. There will be a short-term working group that he will be leading on this issue. Chair Jacobs asked about the statement on the back of this goal page that reads: "The Planning Board would like to participate in the process of haw policies are implemented through land use regulations that are part of their regulatory review during subdivisions, special use permits, and rezonings." He asked what this means. Planning Director Craig Benedict said that the Planning Board is concerned about rural subdivisions and what the water resource impact is. They are concerned that some ideas might be promulgated in other departments, which will end up in their lap to implement. They just want to be part of any early thought process on haw this affects development. 15) Decision on options to use in updating Comprehensive Land Use Plan: There is a schedule on making these decisions and receiving public input. 16}Accelerate Transfer of Development Rights discussions: Chair Jacobs said that they have a table from the Planning Director with casts attached. He said that they only empowered the task force to research the feasibility and not implement it. John Link said that their inclination of going with the people from UNC-Charlotte was that they were willing to approach it from a feasibility perspective and then the Baard would make a decision from the information on whether to go forward. Other vendors made the assumption upfront that the Board wanted to pursue TDR. Commissioner Carey asked about the timing for the last phase. Craig Benedict said that it could unfold within four to six months. The cost would be $40-60,000. 17) Devote more attention to rural activity nodes, non-conforming uses: Chair Jacobs said that this is happening in two different places -Planning and Economic Development. He wants to make sure that they are coordinated. The EDC group may have a different take on this than Planning. 18) Meet with Durham Economic Development District owners and Durham elected officials: Chair Jacobs said that they met with the owners on December 29t" and the minutes should be coming soon. There is a tentative date to meet with the Durham elected officials at the end of February. He made reference to the goals, Cooperative Agreements-Durham, and said that the standards are dysfunctional. This is a key unresolved issue for him. He said that the EDDs in EflandlMebane and Durham need to have standards at the same level of simplicity and predictability as Hillsborough's EDD. He wants to make sure that this moves forward. 20} Bring closure to school capacity issues for SAPFO: Commissioner Carey said that the collaboration group did something and Rod Visser said that this item is on the agenda for January 24`" Rod Visser said that at the collaboration meeting an November 10t", it was a consensus among the Chairs, Vice-Chairs, Manager, and Superintendents that the best approach to take is to signal the intent to move to the lower class size standards effective with the opening of the next elementary school, which looks to be 2008-09, and that this should be footnoted an the forms until then. Craig Benedict said that the looming issue related to this is school impact fees. He asked at what point the Board of County Commissioners would be interested in reexamining impact fees. There are over 1,400 units coming online in Mebane. The impact fee schedule is from 2001 and it is using construction standards from the 1990's. He said that this could be added as one of the potential expenses for the budget because a consultant might be needed or the attorney could address it. Chair Jacobs said that the Economic Development Commission funded a Cast of Community Service Study, which revealed just what they thought it would reveal -whether residential growth pays for itself or whether it keeps the County in a deficit. Geof Gledhill said that the impact fee ordinance itself requires an annual technical update. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about the estimated costs for an update and Donna Dean said that the last one was $56,000. 21) Revision of school construction standards: Chair Jacobs said that the school collaboration group agreed to take this on and is meeting on February 13tH 24-25) Solid waste contract with Alamance County for use of their landfill and pursue municipal solid waste talks with Alamance County: There is a meeting with the Chair and Vice-Chair of Alamance County for lunch on January 31St 26) Retain ar adequately replace NC 57 Solid Waste Convenience Center: Chair Jacobs said that he talked with the Mayor and one of the Town Commissioners last night, and the sooner they can develop a map that shows where all of the houses are in relation to the Public Works property and the possible sites, the better. Purchasing and Central Services Director Pam Jones said that Roy Wilkerson visited her office yesterday and said that he is willing to extend the lease for $500 a month with a 60-day notice clause -both the County to him and him to the County. This will be on the agenda sometime in February. Chair Jacobs said that the issue is, they have now stirred up a hornet's nest in Fairview and they still need the map. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he had asked staff if they knew where consumers who use this center were coming from -north or south. He asked that this information also include how many Hillsborough residents also use this site. This would be important to know in talking with Hillsborough. 27} Resolve issues regarding land clearing debris landfills: Commissioner Halkiotis said that they are continuing to work with this, because it is an issue. He wants to work with a proactive approach, in the event there should be another Hurricane Fran. There has to be an area that the County can utilize to deal with debris. A small group met last week and told the Manager and Assistant Manager to look at other ways of approaching this. For example, a farmer with same extra land could be paid so much a year as a retainer to reserve 30 acres of space if it is needed for debris. Chair Jacobs said that the other part is land-clearing debris from subdivisions. Staff is looking far a site to put a park and have this all-organic decomposition facility. Commissioner Gordon asked how big this site would be and Dave Stancil said about 120 acres. 28} Reevaluate siting and sewer requirements of new solid waste headquarters: Commissioner Carey said that this needs to be done because it also helps to determine how it is going to affect the affordable housing issue an the Greene Tract. The two may be related. 31) Orange County Durham Tech campus -Monitor the construction of the Orange County Campus of Durham Tech to ensure that it meets Orange County standards and also proceeds in a timely manner: Chair Jacobs said that when they met with Senator Burr's economic development representative a couple of weeks ago, he suggested that they are going to bring all community colleges in the state together an Monday to tell them that they are going to have to work together for their money. Donna Dean will be going to this meeting. 32) Include green building standards at DTCC: Chair Jacobs said to add this to the budget drivers and possible expenses. 35}Animal Shelter: Chair Jacobs asked if this money is in the CIP and Donna Dean said that planning money is in the current CIP. There is also $5 million in later years in the debt issuance schedule for the construction. It would be an alternatively financed project. 36) Continue to promote the Buy Local Campaign: Commissioner Gordon said that this is very important. Chair Jacobs made reference to the item about possible non per-pupil support for the school systems, and said that there was an incentive to purchase local produce. Commissioner Gordon said that the Buy Local Campaign was kicked off by both Chambers of Commerce. She pointed out that now with the new TTA route, people could get to Hillsborough from points in Chapel Hill. Information about buying locally could be put at bus stops. 37} Adopt a form of districts for election of BOCC: Commissioner Carey would like to bring this to closure by the end of February. Chair Jacobs said that there is a work session on February 16th, a meeting on February 21St and they could decide on March 2"d The Board agreed. 38} Ensure that the Mill Creek community health water project proceeds in a timely manner: Health Director Rosemary Summers said that the hold up is the state lab's examination of water samples due to a staff shortage. They are hoping to get all of the samples in the state lab by the end of March. There is usually atwo-week turnaround time. They have not found anything overwhelming ar significant yet. There are a few homes with some bacteriological issues, but this is true across the County. 39) Improve employment diversity: 4Q) Recruit and select new Human Resources Director: Yes to 39 and 40. Candidates are being interviewed for the HR Director. 41 }Make it a top priority to include complete information in the BOCC agenda packets and post it on the website in a timely manner. (Note that if the information is not in the agenda packet, it is difficult to get it posted an the website so that members of the public will have time to review it): Commissioner Gordon said that this is important for the Board of County Commissioners and how the public can have access. 42) Increased pace for park development: Commissioner Carey said that this had something to do with justifying the past bond issues before going back to the public with another band. 43) Continue to promote the provision of transit and other transportation options to the single passenger automobile: Commissioner Gordon said that she thinks they are doing this, and that they just need to keep doing it as much as possible. Commissioner Halkiotis asked to be educated as to why people who advocate public transportation are chastised by those who promote private use of automobiles. It becomes a political issue. Jahn Link referred back to item 4b-41 and the staff comments. He said that this is always their goal. Commissioner Gordon said that she does appreciate when the staff tries to get everything in really good shape so that it is right when it gets to the County Commissioners. Other BOCC Priorities Commissioner Carey asked if the Board wants to continue to have listening sessions that were started last year. If so, the schedule should be published now. If the Board does not want to do it, he will attend the sessions alone. Chair Jacobs said that there were too many of them and maybe they should have only three or four a year. Commissioner Gordon said that she thinks there may be some merit to not limiting it to two Commissioners, especially if there were fewer sessions. Also, it is more complex when it is an election season. Commissioner Foushee supports continuing the sessions. She echoes the sentiment as to who can attend because it limited who could attend. Commissioner Halkiotis said that if three or more County Commissioners showed up, it would violate the open meetings law. He wants to be careful with how it is structured. Commissioner Gordon suggested doing it an an off year. She thinks that all of the County Commissioners want to get out there and listen to the citizens. Chair Jacobs suggested thinking mare about whether it should be done during non-election years or every year and how often, and put it on a Board of County Commissioners' agenda. He said that the Board never actually endorsed the listening sessions. He would like to make a formal decision. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to small business owners who have been complaining about the difficulty in getting up and going in Orange County. Susan Mellott has scheduled a group to go to Randolph County to look at aone-stop permitting process to learn how to help citizens set up a business in Orange County. This would include Environmental Health, Inspections, and Planning would work as a team, with one person being the case manager. This would make it mare user-friendly to small businesses. Commissioner Gordon said that she would be pleased if the BOCC could get through the items on the BOCC priority list this year. She wants to be ever mindful of the communication with the public in terms of process. It is always important to tell the public what they are doing because they spend taxpayer dollars on behalf of the public. She said that this is a progressive board that cares about people and when the Board has a success, they should let the public know. Chair Jacobs made reference to the Communications goal, in particular the branding of County publications and services and that there is a standard design. He said that this would be cost effective and less confusing. Also, combining printing projects for Senior Times and Recreation and Parks could be more efficient. Chair Jacobs made reference to Affordable Housing and said that he would like to see the Board directing to work more on the issue of mobile homes and mobile home parks. This is a tremendous aspect of the affordable housing stock. He thinks that they need some strategies and creative thinking. Chair Jacobs made reference to Youth under the goals and said that he was thinking they need to do some creative work now that the County controls the Sportsplex and how to plug some of the youth programs and services there. Sharron Hinton could work on this. Chair Jacobs made reference to the ten-acre lot issue and said that under the ordinance you can develop aten-acre lot development and then later on it is only the homeowner's association that would prevent you from further subdivision and it is just a staff review process. This is a large percentage of the development in Orange County and a huge loophole that people are exploiting to avoid having to do some comprehensive planning. He would like to direct staff to work on this and bring it back to the Board. Andy Sachs asked what was needed for the work session on January 31 ~. John Link said that the staff has made collective notes and they will pull this together and will work with the Chair and Vice-Chair. COUNTY BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS Written InputlUpdates from BoardslCommissions: Alice Remini, Chair of the Historic Preservation Commission, said that the HPC has a reputation of being quiet. She said that they actually work really hard and are proud of this. She spoke about two issues -the irretrievable loss of historic properties and the greater loss of their context of the rural landscape. The HPC is stressing two approaches in dealing with this loss -education and partnership. One of their accomplishments during 2Q05 was the approval of a quick response team whose purpose will be to inspect any property over 50 years of age for which a prior permit has been requested. They will work with the owner either to save or at least to protect by photographing and documenting the building before its destruction. The HPC realizes that much more education will be needed to bring about a preservation outlook in the County. This past year they worked with a teacher at Cedar Ridge High School who had a number of his students undertake all reports with older County-born residents. A good part of their future planning involves working with average citizens of the County, both young and old. They would also like to have rehabilitation workshops where homeowners can learn about historically friendly building materials and techniques. Another educational achievement will be the proposed update of the countywide inventory of historic resources. They would also like to continue to pursue a heritage scenic corridor program. In this regard, they are speaking with residents of the Arthur Minnis area, and they also support the work of the Agricultural Preservation Commission and their efforts to save farmland and the Lands Legacy Program. Chair Jacobs asked about the County inventory of historic resources and Alice Remini said that it started in 1991. There is a lot of updating to do. Dave Stancil said that the money has already been set aside for this update. Chair Jacobs said that he would like to see this come to fruition. Alice Remini said that it was decided that it would be done in a manner that is available to residents of the County as a reference book. Alice Remini said that they were also going to try and get a list of local contractors for interior details. Chair Jacobs recognized Caroline Wood, Chair of the Commission for Women. Caroline Wood thanked Commissioner Foushee far being faithful in attending their meetings. She said that they usually have the Women's Agenda Assembly in the fall before the state legislature goes to budget. This assembly is under the auspices of North Carolina Women United. One of the top priorities this year was mental health. Also, each spring they have a Women's History Month event, and last year the topic was "Where My Feet Have Taken Me." Girls as young as age 10 and women up to the elders participated, and they wrote short pieces an what their life journey has been or some specific event. This year, an March 26t" at Carrbaro Century Center, they will have a national theater troupe coming to present a program called "Words of Choice," which is about the history of women's reproductive rights and choices in the United States. Caroline Wood said that they try to make their voices heard all the time and the diversity of women in Orange County is both a blessing and a curse. It is a real challenge to invite women to participate on the commission and include everyone. They would like to have a more diverse representation. They would like to have younger women, Latinos, and different groups represented. Commissioner Gordon made reference to pay equity and asked if the Commission for Women had a stand or an initiative on pay equity and Caroline Woad said that they would add it to their agenda. BOCC RoleslMeeting Schedules: Clerk to the Board Donna Baker said that they were asked to take two months out of the calendar year and document the rest of the meetings for the month and color-code them. There was concern about having boards and commissions meetings on the same day that the County Commissioners have meetings. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he has brought this up several times during the year. He sometimes gets a calendar with his name an two different meetings at the same time. There is no way that this can happen. He said that this sends the wrong message. He said that if County Commissioners are expected to attend certain boards and commissions meetings, then thane meetings should not be on the same night as County Commissioners' meetings. Chair Jacobs said that the Chair and Uice-Chair are meeting with the advisory board chairs on February 2Qt". He said that they need to again explain what it means to be a liaison versus a member. He said that the department heads that have an advisory board should consult with the Commissioner about the meetings that conflict and see if the Commissioner would like to move the meeting. Commissioner Gordon said that some of the time two advisory boards meet at the same time and the same Commissioner is on both. She questioned this assignment of commissioners to boards. Commissioner Foushee said that at minimum, they should be in the same town. Commissioner Gordon suggested that the staff come up with a recommendation on how to handle this, because the County Commissioners meet an every night of the week except Friday. John Link said that the Board of County Commissioners creates boards and commissions, and some are created by the general assembly and mandated. Even in the mandated cases, if the board expects a Commissioner to be there and there is a conflict with a County Commissioners' meeting, it is up to that board to make the adjustment. He said that the answer is to do it as quickly as possible in the year, and as soon as the Board of County Commissioners has the calendar established, the advisory board can make the adjustments as soon as possible. Chair Jacobs said that sometimes there is a conflict of inadequate meeting space, and the Space Needs Committee will be looking at this issue. John Link said that everyone has other parts of their life, and he wants to make sure that every meeting, once it is set, if they cannot have it, that it be canceled. RETREAT PROCESS EVALUATIONICOMMENTS Commissioner Halkiotis said that everything went smoothly. He said that the Board does a lot and staff is asked to do too much at times. He appreciates that all of the County Commissioners have the same sense of caring about doing the best they can for people, and they never get to the point where there is personal animosity that he sees in a lot of elected boards. He is glad to do this retreat on a Friday. Commissioner Foushee agreed with Commissioner Halkiotis. She thinks that the atmosphere in the room was conducive to what needed to be done. Chair Jacobs agreed with having the retreat on a Friday. He thanked Andy Sachs for facilitating the meeting. Commissioner Gordon thanked the staff for all they have done. She suggested a slightly larger table. She feels good about the retreat and the day. Commissioner Carey said that they have the best staff in the state and the retreats always bring value and focus the Board on its priorities. The proof for this retreat will be in March. He wants to continue the progress. John Link echoed what the Board said and thanked Andy Sachs, the Chair and Vice-Chair in developing the agenda, and the staff for all of the hard work. ADJOURN With no further items to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 3:53:05 PM. Barry Jacobs, Chair Donna S. Baker Clerk to the Board