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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20060420APPROVED 6/27/2006 Orange County Board of County Commissioners {BOCC) Orange County Affordable Housing Advisory Board {ARAB) JOINT DINNER MEETING Thursday, April 20, 2006 5:50 pm {Dinner) 6:00 pm {Meeting begins) The Orange County Board of Commissioners and the Orange Caunty Affordable Housing Advisory Board met in joint session far a dinner meetinglwork session on Thursday, April 20, 2000 at 5:30 p.m. in the Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs, and Commissioners Moses Carey, Jr., Valerie P. Foushee, Alice M. Gordon, and Stephen H. Halkiotis COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John Link, Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker {All other staff members will be identified appropriately below} ARAB MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Allan Rosen, Vice-Chair Artie Franklin, Barbara Mull, Steven Clemens Sr., Alejandro Hansen, Gary Gaddy, Bonnie Gates, Martha Hoylman, Jack Chestnut, Jabrina Robinson, and Betty Tom Davidson ARAB MEMBERS ABSENT: Vivian Herndon-Latta, Elizabeth Preddy, and Nannie Richmond ARAB STAFF PRESENT: Tara Fikes, Roxanne Reynolds I. Introductions and Opening Comments Barry Jacobs, BOCC Chair Allan Rosen, ARAB Chair There were introductions by all. Chair Jacobs said that when he was Planning Board Chair in 1987, there was a Low and Moderate-Income Housing Task Force. Tara Fikes said she is looking for the report so they can see what has been done in 20 years. He wants to bring up how mobile homes are a viable part of the affordable housing stock, which was a big focus of the report in 1987. Allan Rosen said that they would not be asking for budget requests tonight. He said that he and Jack Chestnut were the original appointees to this board. Tonight they have 11 members out of 14 in attendance. He thanked staff and Commissioner Foushee {Commissioner liaison on the ARAB). He said that they would like to increase the pace of the work and that there is more that they could do. II. Bond Program Administration Recommendation Tara L. Fikes HousinglCD Director Tara Fikes said that one of the responsibilities of the ARAB is to monitor the affordable housing bond program. They are thinking about changing the administration of the program, which would require a change in the band policy that the Board approved in September 1998, but it was amended in June 2004. She made reference to the information in the agenda packet on the bond policy. She said that all of the money from the 1997 Housing Bond Program has been expended, but it did not happen until April 2005. There was an obligation of $350,000 far Orange Community Housing and Land Trust for Meadowmont that they ended up not needing. So the Board agreed to transfer that $352,500 over to add to the land banking of $260,000, which gave them approximately $600,000 available for land banking. Also, the 2001 Housing Band funds have been expended except for the Sykes Street Project for $60,000. Also, there is $300,000 set aside for Affordable Rentals. This is supposed to be expended before the end of the fiscal year. She made reference to the Land Banking Program and said that they received two proposals -one from Habitat for Humanity and one from EmPOWERment, Inc. They spent $336,000 of the $612,000 that was available. They received another request yesterday from Habitat for $116,000 from land banking far a project in Fairview. There is now $256,257 remaining for the Land Banking Project, in addition to the $2.7 million that has not been obligated from 2001 Housing Bonds. She made reference to the draft page and said that they are proposing that they have an open application process instead of a specified request for proposals process. In other words, the money would be available until it is gone. The AHAB discussed the pros and cons and the main advantage is that the money would always be available. Regarding the disadvantages, they discussed that if they had an open application then they might end up with one kind of requests such as all land banking, special needs, etc. Also, with this type of application process, they may get more applications than they have funds for and if this happened, it would be hard to prioritize. Chair Jacobs said that land values will go up when they put in infrastructure and they can land bank properties near these proposed areas. On May 4t" they will be voting on the water and sewer to ga to the middle school in Efland in the Economic Development District. This may be a good place to put density. He said that they might want to beef up the capability of targeting their awn land far where they want to have affordable housing. Gwen Harvey asked if this means that the County would use the land banking reserve as opposed to a developer or nonprofit. Chair Jacobs said yes and that staff and same nonprofits could get together and talk about the best places with the idea that someone will build the housing there. Commissioner Carey said that with the open application process he has concerns because it is hard to determine if the applications would be consistent with the County's vision. He said that someone will always have more information than other groups and that may put some at a disadvantage. He said that this proposal may put money in projects that are not consistent with the County's highest priority needs. Commissioner Halkiotis echoed what Chair Jacobs said and said that no one in this room, except for staff and the County Commissioners, knows what it took in time, effort, and money to get the water and sewer to the new middle school in Efland. There have been countless meetings and the paperwork has been unbelievable. He said that not to take advantage of the fact that there is going to be water and sewer out there would be stupid. Chair Jacobs said that there is also an EflandlMebane Small Area Planning Group that is almost done with its work and the second phase of the water and sewer project will be coming to Efland. There will be additional opportunities in Efland and also near the Petro Marton I-85. Commissioner Carey said that he does not mind saying no to a proposal that is not consistent with the County's priorities, but sometimes people do not understand "no" if there is no other project on the horizon and they think theirs is the best one in town. This is one of the dawn sides of the open process. Commissioner Gordon asked about the process now and how often they meet to select projects. Tara Fikes said that they have not been accepting applications far anything other than land banking projects since 2002. They do have an open application process for land banking. When people are interested in land banking, they ask far apre-application conference and the Project Review and Selection Committee convenes and holds the conference and gives information about how to apply. The committee then reviews the application and makes a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners. Commissioner Gordon asked how they would handle the open process for all applications. Allan Rosen said that the Project Review and Selection Committee could handle this from a process standpoint, but the issue is when the money runs out. Commissioner Gordon said that they should think about having maybe quarterly meetings to help with the process of applications. Gwen Harvey asked if there has been any interest expressed about this since 20Q2 and it was answered no. Tara Fikes said that it is probably because there are other monies available such as HOME, etc. She thinks that the nonprofits' plates are full. Jack Chestnut said that the nonprofits they work with now have infrastructures that are so small that they cannot handle any more. Allan Rosen said that their board has talked about this twice before and the big issue is whether there is a way to draw down the money faster and produce more affordable housing units. Another part of the equation is capacity related issues. Tara Fikes said that the capacity issues brought them to #2 about broadening the definition to allow for-profit organizations to also apply. Commissioner Gordon asked if there was a possibility to give a contract to the for-profits so the County would have control and it could be targeted. Commissioner Carey said that he does not have a problem with government contracting with for-profits since they do it all the time such as with building of schools. He wants to hear mare about this possibility. Chair Jacobs said that San Diego has a smart growth fund, and they make grants to private entities to do things that they want them to do. This would allow for some control. Tara Fikes said that they would like to discuss this further. Artie Franklin said that it sounds as if there are already templates in place within County government for this type of project. Commissioner Carey said that this is passible, but it needs to be discussed further. Jack Chestnut said that he thought it would be cheaper far the nonprofits if AHAB were to buy the land through land banking and then the nonprofits can build on it. III. AHAB Committee Reports Advisory Board members will make a short presentation of the work of AHAB's three standing committees. Following the presentations the Advisory Board would like to receive comments and suggestions from the BOCC regarding this committee work. a. 2000-2001 Affordable Housing Task Farce Follow-up Committee Allan Rosen b. Collaboration Committee Alejandro Hansen Alejandro Hansen said that they investigate what kind of collaboration is going on between nonprofit organizations, for-profit organizations, and combined collaboration between nonprofits and for-profits. She said that they want to learn about what is happening in the community and to find out what works and does not work and they are exploring nonprofit collaboration efforts. There were some goals set based on the December retreat for the committee. The first is to begin exploration of nonprofit collaboration. The organizations identified for initial contact are Orange Community Housing and Land Trust, Habitat for Humanity of Orange County, EmPOWERment, Inc., Inter-Faith Council, and the Affordable Housing Alliance. Secondly, there are programs that they are trying to continue to study such as HOME Consortium, The Narthside Initiative, Durham Homebuyer Program for Teachers and Police, Town of Cary Program, and Raleigh's 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness. Another Baal was to have same members attend the Affordable Housing Alliance meeting to gain more information. She said that so much happens in an AHA meeting and the benefits of collaborating with them is that they have come up with a joint application process and someone could just fill out one application to acquire a home. John Link arrived at 6:51 p.m. The second collaboration issue is the Rental Housing Manager Position and this is an excellent opportunity for collaboration. They strongly encourage the Board to support this. She said that they are an advisory board but they have felt like a research board and they would like guidance from the Board of County Commissioners about what kind of advice the Board would like. Chair Jacobs said that the Rental Manager Position was going to be a budget request and Allan Rosen said that they have discussed this and the specific motion they as a board passed was that they supported this in concept but they did not necessarily endorse the very specific dollar proposal. c. Land Use Policy Committee Jabrina Robinson Jabrina Robinson said that this subcommittee has tasked itself with being educated on potential land use policies to develop and protect affordable housing in Orange County. They have looked at inclusionary zoning policies in general in North Carolina and throughout the country to see what would be viable in Orange County. They also want to integrate themselves into the comprehensive plan and to make sure affordable hauling voices are being heard through this process. Chair Jacobs said that they are reconstituting the land use plan update process, but there will be a recommendation from the Planning Board about how to proceed. He said that they have discussed having advisory boards create a vision of what they think in their area of expertise should be the goals and objectives. In regards to research, he would like to see what others are doing to preserve manufactured housing as a viable option of the housing stock and what the County's options are under the law. Commissioner Foushee made reference to the articles distributed by Chair Jacobs and said that in some cases the renters of the land are given first option to collaborate and purchase the land that may be sold. She said that in Chapel Hill, there are owners of mobile homes in mobile home parks, but they do not own the land. She said that if these parks are closed, these people will no longer be homeowners. Commissioner Halkiotis said that these people are on borrowed time and the County needs to advocate for these people in mobile homes. Alejandro Hansen asked Chair Jacobs to forward this article to them. Allan Rosen said that the reason he skipped the presentation that he was going to give was that the subcommittee is coming to some level of closure. He wants to make sure that these subcommittees are going forward. The important question for him is how the AHAB will integrate into the emergning new strategies for the comprehensive planning process. He asked that they focus on this for the rest of the meeting and how to flesh out this charge. Planning Director Craig Benedict said that they are reconstituting the process of the land use plan update and last night the Planning Board met and they discussed looking at the charge of the Planning Board and other advisory boards as it relates to the land use plan. One of the questions is whether this plan is going to be a policy document or a growth management document. There will be more Planning Board meetings about this issue. Gary Gaddy said that he endorses this issue and he thinks that the mast important single decision they can make is the minimum lot size decision. Jack Chestnut said that he is glad to see that the advisory boards will have input in the land use process, especially with regard to senior-friendly housing and affordable housing. Jabrina Robinson said that they would like to be more engaged than just submitting a document and they can bring value to the table as far as the land use plan. Chair Jacobs said that part of why they gave the Planning Board the task of reorganizing the land use plan update was so that the advisory boards that have expertise in specific areas could articulate their vision. Also, Allan Rosen came to all public hearings about the land use plan. IV. Upcoming AHAB Focus Areas Allan Rosen V. Closing Comments Allan Rosen thanked the County Commissioners for the meeting and reminded them that this is a big task to rethink the planning process. He said that there may be a need to bring in additional resources to the table for this process update. VI. Adjourn With no further items to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 7:21 p.m. Barry Jacobs, Chair Donna S. Baker Clerk to the Board APPROVED 6/27/2006 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION APRIL 20, 2006 7:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Budget Work Session on Thursday, April 20, 2006 at 7:30 p.m. at the Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs, and Commissioners Valerie P. Foushee, Alice M. Gordon, and Stephen Halkiotis COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John Link, Assistant County Managers Rod Visser and Gwen Harvey and Clerk to the Board Donna Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. 1. Approval of Eauipment and Vehicle Purchases for Fiscal Year 2005-06 The Board approved the purchase of Sheriff Department vehicles at the April 18, 2006 regular meeting. Tonight the Board is being asked to take action on the remaining vehicles. John Link said that they would like to go aver the major elements of examining the possibilities of alternative fueled vehicles. There are two installment purchase instruments and page five lists the disbursement of the vehicles. Public Works Director Wayne Fenton said that he generally tried to look at replacing all vehicles with alternative fuel models provided they met the needs of the department or unless it was on State contract as an AFV. They looked at each vehicle being replaced with either a CNG vehicle, a hybrid, or an a-85 ethanol. He said that they are looking at purchasing bio- diesel for the diesel-fueled vehicles. Commissioner Halkiotis said that last night there was a major news story about General Motors and Ford putting out 700,000 units next year of flex fueled vehicles. The only thing that is wrong is that the only ethanol being sold in the U.S. is in the Midwest. He said that, with respect to the hybrids, he has changed his thinking on Honda Civics. He thinks that he would take a Civic before he would take an Insight because an Insight only has two seats. He asked about the compressed natural gas station and Wayne Fenton said that they are still waiting on the fueling equipment that did not have UL listing. They hope to have this within the week. They have been proceeding with the site work. He thinks that the worst-case scenario is 4-6 weeks for the station to be open. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he would encourage staff to delay purchases to see where the flex-fueled program is going. He asked if the State had any a-85 fueling stations and it was answered na. He thinks it is a shame that the State is not showing any leadership in this area. He thinks that it would be cheaper to wait for these new vehicles from Ford and GM rather than spending money an conversion units. Chair Jacobs suggested talking to the local auto dealers that might be converting their vehicles. Purchasing and Central Services Director Pam Jones said that the State would award a bid if they can find someone who can build the vehicle. She said that they could buy local if they can find some alternative fueled vehicles. Chair Jacobs made reference to an article in the News and Observer today about how several billionaires are now going into things like Flex Car, which is a car sharing service. This is being seen as the Internet opportunity of the 21St century. Jahn Link said that GOVdeals is a goad place to look for hybrids off line from the State. Commissioner Gordon asked Pam Jones about what the State is willing to do and Pam Jones said that the State solicits bids annually for a car model to manufacturers and then the manufacturers respond with a price and assign local dealers. The County participates in this and these vehicles are substantially less than what the County could purchase locally. Commissioner Halkiotis suggested having a vehicle summit and inviting local dealers to the table. A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to approve the equipment and vehicles purchases (outlined on Attachment 1 of the abstract} and authorize staff to bring to the May 4, 2006 Commissioners' meeting the Equipment and Vehicles Capital Project Ordinance and executed documents required to accomplish the financing with SunTrust Bank, and to state clearly that the ambulances are diesel fueled. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 2. 2006-16 Manager's Recommended County Capital Investment Plan (CIP) a. Presentation of Manager's Recommended 2006-16 CIP John Link said that they tried to make sure that they have sufficient funding for existing projects and tried to reach a balance in areas such as Information Technology. This is an attempt to balance all of the needs. He expressed appreciation to staff for putting this information together. This is the Manager's recommended CIP for the next ten years and whatever the Board adopts will be its CIP and not the Manager's. They anticipate changes and questions. Budget Director Donna Dean-Coffey pointed out the additional items that are at their places and she explained them. She made a PowerPoint presentation as follows: 2006-16 County Capital Investment Plan Presentation to Board of County Commissioners Orange County, NC ApriI20, 2006 Toniaht's Presentation ^ CIP Revenue Observations ^ County Project Highlights ^ Next Steps Revenue Observations Pay-As-You-Go Revenues . Follows principles of County Capital Funding Policy adopted by Board an May 5, 2005 . Dedicated revenues offset a portion of County and School annual debt service payments . School Construction Impact Fees, Public School Building Funds, Dedicated Property Taxes . Slight variation regarding earmarking of property tax to fund School and County projects . Based on March 15, 2006 Board work session discussions, revenue projections for fiscal year 2006-07 continue at current year Board approved funding level of 1 cent for School long-range projects and no dedicated property taxes for County projects . Restoration of adopted policy earmarking of three cents {2 for schools and 1 for County} occurs in fiscal years 2007-08 {1 penny) and 2008-09 {additional 1 penny) Revenue Observations Non-Pau-As-You-Go ^ Debt Financing . In accordance with debt issuance plans shared with Board at January 20, 2006 Board retreat . Issued, unspent 1997 voter approved bonds . Issued and not issued 2001 voter approved bonds . Alternative financing ^ Restricted Revenues . Grant funds and fees for service County Proiect Highlights New Facilities ^ New Animal Services Facility - $5.7 million ^ Justice Facility Construction and New Courthouse Renovations - $10.5 million ^ Meadowlands Annex - $1.9 million ^ Orange County Campus of Durham Technical Community College {county share} - $4 million County Proiect Highlights Current Facilities ^ ADA Compliance - $925,000 ^ Central Recreation Repairs and Renovations - $635,000 ^ Jail Renovations - $1.1 million ^ Northern Human Services Center - $891,000 County Proiect Highlights Preservation Protects ^ Land Preservation - $26.6 million . Conservation Easements, Lands Legacy, Greenways ^ County Facility Preservation - $14.2 million . Includes structural preservation and repairs for all County facilities . Report presented to Board last spring identified nearly $18 million in pending needs for repairs and maintenance to all County facilities (roofing, HVAC, flooring, parking lots, etc.} County Proiect Highlights Parks and Recreation Facilities ^ Fairview Park - $850,000 ^ Homestead Aquatics Center - $4.3 million ^ Northern Human Services Park - $1.2 million ^ Southern Community Park - $2.8 million ^ Twin Creeks Park - $1.8 million ^ West 10 Soccer Complex - $2.2 million County Proiect Hiahliahts Energy Conservation Proiects ^ Compressed Natural Gas Station - $112,000 ^ Utilities Demand Reduction Initiatives - $1.3 million County Proiect Highlights What's Next? ^ Capital Investment Plan Work Session ^ May 18, 2006 Document Availability ^ County Budget Office ^ 208 South Cameron Street, Hillsborough ^ County Website ^ www.co.aranae.nc.us ^ Local Libraries Commissioner Halkiotis asked about the basement of the jail, which is housing voting equipment. This is wasted space. Pam Jones said that they have not looked at this, but they did stub out restroams, so it would not take a lot to put something there. Commissioner Halkiotis said to add this to the space study. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to the Northern Human Services Center and said that this has been going on for over 20 years and he hopes that something will be done to finally get it up and going. John Link asked about the status of the water and sewer at the Northern Center and Wayne Fenton said that the water and sewer is the stalling component. Jahn Link asked about the money for this and Donna Dean-Coffey said that the money is in place with 213 net debt from prior years. Wayne Fenton said that the design for the well has been submitted to the State and the septic design as well. The main holdup is that the septic system is at capacity now. They are going to do some work for the restroom renovations and they are going to be meeting with experts in this field. John Link asked how many elements of the improvements the Board of County Commissioners wants to see in 2006-07 or 2007-08. Commissioner Halkiotis said that his frustration is that there have been several presentations in the last eight years from two ar three engineers. Chair Jacobs said that they had a meeting recently about the Northern Human Services Center and he suggested having a detailed analysis about what the $891,000 is to be used for and to have monthly updates on this facility. He asked if this amount includes the water and sewer and Donna Dean-Caffey said yes. Commissioner Gordon agreed with Commissioner Halkiotis about getting something done on this building. She thought the water and sewer was a little more definite. Commissioner Gordon asked about the money for the house at Southern Human Services Center and Pam Jones said that when the space study was done the plan was to have a conference center, but the actual work to be done included updating the restrooms, making the kitchen area a kitchenette for meetings, painting, etc. Commissioner Gordon asked about the $50,000 and Donna Dean-Coffey said that it would be used to stabilize the facility. Pam Janes said that they couldn't use the house for County purposes until it has adequate restrooms updated to meet public building regulations. John Link said that the function that the Space Committee discussed was the proposal by Social Services to use this for family conferences by their staff. It might take $100,000 or mare to make the house usable. Pam Jones said that the next step is to bring in the building assessment group to have them look at this to see what it could be used for, the codes it would have to meet, etc. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the County has had this property for about 12 years and if they cannot figure out how to use it by now, then it should be deconstructed. He suggested getting another footprint for this site and building a new building because it will be cheaper that way. He proposed having one visit and then deciding what to do with it and Commissioner Carey agreed. Chair Jacobs said that they are coming forward with a master plan for this property, and if the assessment group that is going to Cate and Blackwood Farms could look at this building, then an intelligent decision could be made. Chair Jacobs asked about paved parking lots and said that when the County Commissioners discussed reallocating monies to cover the Efland portion of the water and sewer, the Manager recommended not taking all of the parking lot paving money from the Whitted building and using it far the human services side of the building. He asked when this was scheduled to be paved. John Link said that they do not have a plan at this point. Chair Jacobs asked for a date for this paving to take place and Jahn Link agreed and asked Wayne Fenton and County Engineer Paul Thames to take note. Paul Thames said that the construction plans are an the shelf and all they need to do is go to the Town of Hillsborough and have the plan approved and go through a bidding process. John Link asked him to move ahead on this for the eastside of the Whiffed Building. Commissioner Halkiotis asked if the $112,000 for the compressed natural gas station included the grant money and Donna Dean-Coffey said yes. The grant money was $49,000. Commissioner Halkiotis wants to give a message that there was a considerable grant piece that came along with this that ERCD Director Dave 5tancil worked to achieve. Chair Jacobs made reference to the Homestead Aquatics Center and said that this does not include the money from the Town of Chapel Hill, and even with the money that Chapel Hill has allocated, it is $750,000 over budget. There is a meeting next week to see how this can be whittled down. John Link said that these amounts represent what was agreed upon with Chapel Hill four or five years ago. b. County Construction Projects Update i. Animal Services Facility (page 3-4 in CIP notebook} Pam Jones said that they are still getting the RFP together and should have a recommendation before the summer break as to an architect. The land closes pending the SUP with the Town of Chapel Hill. Commissioner Gordon asked about the SUP process and Pam Jones said that the architect needs to get on board and then it is an 18-month process and we are not even in the 18-month process yet. Commissioner Halkiotis asked Pam Janes to keep green building concepts in mind. He said that he saw on CNN that a group in California is harvesting dog waste and using it as a bio- mass base for fuel. He thinks that this should be seriously considered. Pam Jones said that local architects might not have experience designing shelters, so there may be a partnership with local architects, who know how to navigate the Chapel Hill SUP process and outside architects, who are familiar with animal shelters. John Link said that there is a shelter being built in Catawba County by an architect who has built these throughout the country. This would be a possibility for a visit. ii. County Campus Development (page 3-15-in CIP notebook} Donna Dean-Coffey said that they have programmed a few years in the future about $1.8 million to secure land if the Board so chooses, and $11.2 million to construct a facility, but this is unfunded. Pam Janes said that they hope to have a recommendation to bring back to the Board from the space study group in reference to this. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom window casings are rotting and he asked if the historic code would prevent the use of vinyl or aluminum clad windows. Chair Jacobs said that this came up with the Justice Facilities expansion and there were a variety of opinions among the historic preservation community. There should be a better idea about this when they talk about the new courthouse expansion with the Historic Hillsborough District Commission. Commissioner Halkiatis said that they should convince the historical society that the smart thing to do in the long run is preservation of a different sort. John Link suggested exposing the historical preservation community to the new materials because they might have a different perception. iii. Justice Facility Construction and New Courthouse Renovations (page 3-40 in CIP notebook} Pam Jones said that the Exterior Planning Committee agreed to a design this past week and the next step is for the architects to work one more time with the Interior Planning Committee and that will be the final planning. She said that the architect hopes to be able to put it forward to the regulatory people soon. She said that they hope to get a text amendment for the new height and this will be going to the Town of Hillsborough Planning Board soon. They hope to get this out to bid in the fall and then plan to break ground on this facility in January 2007. It will come back to the Board of County Commissioners before it goes out to bid. It is an 18-24 month construction time. iv. Meadowlands Annex (page 344 in CIP notebook} Pam Jones said that this property is set to close an April 24t" and the architects have met with department heads on who will be moving there -Economic Development, Information Technology, and administrative staff from EMS, in addition to the storage that will be in this facility. There will also be a large room to be used for training and other things. She said that they opted to include an elevator in the building. After there are meetings with the departments about what the floor plan needs to be, they can determine whether this has to be bid out or whether the up fits can be done in-house. They would like to move in by July 1St Chair Jacobs asked if the entrances would be ADA compliant and Pam Jones said yes v. Orange County Satellite Campus of Durham Technical Community College (page 3-50 in CIP notebook} Pam Jones said that Durham Tech has submitted the plans to the State and the State still has not released them. As soon as the plans are released, then they will be put out to bid. The easements have been approved far the Town of Hillsborough to get the sewer line. The County Commissioners will see this again when the bids come back. There were some added alternates for the green building standards, and the County Commissioners would be able to select which of those to fund. Chair Jacobs said that he read in the newspaper that there was a visit by Durham Tech officials. He suggested trying to make Durham Tech more of a partner so that when there is another visit, someone from the County is there also. Commissioner Gordon suggested following upon this very soon -nicely but firmly. She would like to get same Orange County representatives on the Durham Tech board. Commissioner Halkiotis asked for copies of the final drawings that were submitted to Raleigh and asked that they be posted in the Government Services Center foyer. Chair Jacobs said that he spoke with Greg Wilder today about getting in touch with Senator Burr's office about grant funds for the green building added alternates and Senator Dole for the senior center commercial kitchen. Chair Jacobs said that there needs to be a better process for developing a relationship with Durham Tech and if we are partners then Orange County should be treated as partners. John Link said that the only way this will happen is if it is an institutionalized process by the Board of County Commissioners. Chair Jacobs suggested inviting the Chair of the Durham Tech board and the President to come to agenda review to meet with the Chair, the Vice-Chair, and the Manager and talk through a satisfactory process. vi. Senior Centers {page 3-62 in CIP notebook) Pam Janes said that the Seymour Center is further along in construction and they hope to be finished in December 2006. Chair Jacobs asked about tree protection at the Southern Human Services Center and Pam Janes said that the Town of Chapel Hill regulates where the fence is located. Chair Jacobs would like someone from forestry to look at this fencing under the tree. He said that this tree would die if something were not done. He said that the Town's standards are wrong in this case. Chair Jacobs said that they are going to honor the seniors for coming up with the Homestead Road Crosswalk and one of the things that they also identified was that there was no sidewalk on the front of the County's property. Pam Jones said that she would check on this. Pam Jones said that the Central Orange Senior Center work group is making progress with this design. They decided to go with a more flexible place instead of a full blown multi- media center. The seniors are driving the planning process and the process will be the same. She said that there is some concern about moving the elder day health center to the Sportsplex and they are looking at an option that includes a mezzanine over the ice rink. The eldercare space would require some outside space as well. She said that they hope to get it up and going by the end of the year. Commissioner Gordon asked if they resolved the seniors' concerns about sharing the space with the Sportsplex and Commissioner Halkiotis said that they have asked the Manager to set up a separate group and they are having difficulty getting a meeting with the management company of the Sportsplex. Chair Jacobs said that they assured the seniors that they would not be sharing space with the children, but there was an issue about exercise equipment and sharing of the equipment. Commissioner Gordon asked if the seniors asked for their own entrance and staff responded yes. There will be 15,000 square feet of dedicated senior space. c. County Park Projects Update i. Blackwood Farm {3-7) Environment and Resource Conservation Director Dave Stancil said that funding would be needed far surveying work after the first of the fiscal year far the master plan. ii. Efland-Cheeks Park {page 3-19) Recreation and Parks Director Lori Taft said that they have completed Phase II and they will celebrate this on April 28`". This includes the lighting, the new picnic shelter, and the playground. She said that they did set aside money to expand the trails in the wooded area to the northwest of the property, but they learned that Americorps was being cut from the federal budget so they do not know how they will finish the trails. She said that the lighting portion was partnered with the Smith Middle School soccer field lighting and they saved funds by bidding them out together. iii. Fairview Park (page 3-27} Dave Stancil said that the Board of Commissioners approved the master plan on April 10t" and they are waiting for the Tawn of Hillsborough to consider it. There may be a few bits of text that the Town wants reviewed again. Once the Town approves it, the plan will be posted at the community substation. There are several things to discuss with the Town before the construction phase, such as the proposed land swap between the County and the Town for a potential Town Public Works site and what role the Town would play in the operation and maintenance of the park. iv. Millhouse Road Park {page 3,46) This is the working title for the Julia Blackwood property and this funding will address upgrades to the house. The plan is to get the inspections team there soon to look at the possibility of getting ERCD moved in there soon. v. Northern Human Services Park (page 3-49) Dave Stancil said that this park as well as Twin Creeks Park are both ready to go into the pre-construction phases. There is engineering work to be done at both places and RFPs will be going out. Commissioner Gordon asked about a sheet of scheduling for park statuses and Dave Stancil said that he would do this. Chair Jacobs suggested as a follow up to this meeting, that staff attach a timetable for each of these projects for easy reference. vi. Smith Middle School Lighting (page 3-63} This item was addressed with Efland-Cheeks Park. vii. Twin Creeks Development (page 3-68) viii. West 10 Soccer Complex (page 3-72} Lori Taft said that there were economies of scale exercised with the pre-grading part of the project along with the middle school. The grading has been done and there is $700,000 left to potentially complete two of the six fields. The funds would not be enough to construct the building for restrooms and lighting. This is an hold right now. Commissioner Halkiotis asked for an explanation of the leftover money. Lori Taft said that the Board of Commissioners approved an additional $375,000 last year from the remaining Soccer Superfund and the $635,000 that was appropriated from the Soccer Superfund was to go to the purchase and the pre-grading. Commissioner Halkiotis would like to get this information on how much money is left for this complex and what exactly could be accomplished because there seems to be some uncertainty. Commissioner Gordon said that there is probably about $300,000 left and not $700,000. Lori Taft said that this is probably right and she apologized. Commissioner Halkiotis asked how much it casts to do a field and Lori Taft said that she does not have an estimate for this. Jahn Link asked Dave Stancil and Lori Taft to work an a chart like the Lands Legacy chart with starting revenue, land and infrastructure expenses, net still outstanding, etc. Chair Jacobs suggested adding the Southern Community Park and the Aquatics Center to this list and to share with the taxpayers what Orange County is doing. John Link said that items 2-b and 2-c represent an enormous amount of work by the County, and the citizens need to know about how the landscape of the County is going to be changing for the better as a result. Commissioner Halkiotis said that at the planning meeting for the senior center, they discussed being able to lease and use school properties such as auditoriums. He wants to bring this up to the school systems next week because he does not want to be asked to fund any more big buildings that they will not allow County agencies or citizen groups to rent. It is not fair, it is not happening, and people are getting frustrated. This has been happening for years. Chair Jacobs said that they talked about this at the last School Collaboration meeting and representatives of each Recreation board ar department were present and stated their concerns. Chair Jacobs said that Orange County did make a commitment to Lake Michael and he did not see it anywhere. Donna Dean-Coffey said that there is $25,000 for this starting next year. This is on page 3-41. d. Information Technology (page 3-37) Donna Dean-Coffey said that the items on page 1 of 4 and the first half of page 2 of 4 are included in the Manager's Recommended Budget. Everything else -the second half of page 2, page 3, and page 4 were the other items that were requested. She pointed out the very last block on page 4 and that there were 95 field laptops requested, and of those 95, they have been able to fund 65 with the Manager's Recommended Budget. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he is pleased with what staff has developed here and what the Manager has recommended far approval. He met with the Sheriff about field laptops and the Sheriff already has eight ruggedized laptops. He made reference to the report that was presented to them by Planning that showed haw many people hours could be saved by going with technology, and said that the Sheriff has two and a half staff every day that are taking field reports from deputies. He also read a report that EMS is using four full-time EMTs to key data collected in the field into the State's tracking system. He thinks that it is important for the County Commissioners to know which departments have to key in information. He wants to do the work smarter and better by using technology. He thinks that the proposal by the Manager far Planning, EMS, the Sheriff, DSS, Tax Assessor, Animal Services, and the Health Department is good. Commissioner Faushee asked about software support and those departments who use software that is not supported by Information Technology. Her fear is what type of disasters might occur when some application has been put together by someone who may leave the County and others might not be able to provide support when the application crashes. She has heard that this has gone on in particular departments. Todd Janes said that far the mast part they are working with third party vendors that have great support. There are occasional applications that do not have the full support. He said that Information Technology can look at putting together along-term support plan to deal with anything like this. Chair Jacobs said that the County Commissioners all agree with Commissioner Foushee on this issue. Chair Jacobs asked about the Animal Services kiosks and Todd Jones said that the Animal Services department is interested in having publicly available touch screens so the public can query on animals that are available far adoption andlor have been recently impounded and may be lost. Chair Jacobs asked about the placing of pictures of animals on their website and Todd Jones said that the technology is in place to do so, but they need to incorporate that into the intake process so that as soon as an animal is admitted, they are photographed right away rather than after the fact. They are still trying to resolve the intake issues. Chair Jacobs said that he almost had an animal put to sleep there because when he called na one could identify the animal. He would like some resolution to the computer problems at the animal shelter. Todd Jones said that they would follow upon this. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to Land Records and the three items being purchased this fiscal year and he asked about this. Todd Jones said that they were able to find some monies in the current capital and they were also able to use a lot of the cost reductions enabled by the storage area network. The additional money requested for next year is to make sure that all of the workstations can interconnect with the new system. Commissioner Halkiotis said that some of this stuff is collection of data to be used by the State. He said that it seems that there is a whole different set of unfunded mandates where counties and other local governments have to feed into certain State databases at their cost. He would like to know what the State is requiring that the County has to provide and send. e. Efland IBuckhorn Water Sewer Update Pam Jones said that the County Engineer certified the low bidder; so the $1.5 million is the bid that will be brought forward on May 4tn f. Other Projects Commissioner Halkiotis asked about the $25,000 for Lake Michael and Donna Dean- Coffey said that it was $75,000 total and $25,000 is left, which was to build a pier, a playground, and other improvements. With no further items to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m. Barry Jacobs, Chair Donna S. Baker Clerk to the Board