Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20070301APPROVED 3/27/2007 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION March 1, 2007 7:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Work Session on Thursday, March 1, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. at the Link Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr., and Commissioner Alice M. Gordon, Barry Jacobs, and Mike Nelson COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Valerie P. Faushee COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: Geof Gledhill and Brian Ferrell COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blackmon, Assistant County Manager 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. ALL RECORDINGS OF THE MEETING WILL BE KEPT FOR 5 YEARS. Chair Carey said that he drafted a letter (melon sheet) to the U. S. Regulatory Commission. He said that the County Commissioners were contacted by the Mayors of Chapel Hill and Carrboro regarding the public forum with Progress Energy that was cancelled last month. In view of the fact that it was cancelled, Senator Ellie Kinnaird has requested a local hearing and has asked the County Commissioners to support this. He supports this request and he asked for any changes to the letter before tomorrow morning. There was also some information from Budget Director Donna Coffey related to an issue that is likely to come up in the legislature (hot pink sheet}. The blue sheet is an email from the Chair of CHCCS related to Elementary #10. Chair Carey said that the County Commissioners' work sessions are designed for comment and dialogue among the Commissioners and public input is not taken, unless requested. Donna Coffey said that she attended a special meeting yesterday of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners Taxation and Finance Steering Committee. The purpose of the meeting was to alert county representatives and officials on property tax relief options that the General Assembly is contemplating in the upcoming session. She said that, regardless of what population is excluded from the property tax, it will have a negative impact on the 2008-09 Orange County budget. One of the options is the blanket approach, which means that the first 20°~ of everyone's valuation will be excluded from property tax. This means a loss of $11 million in property tax revenue in Orange County. She said that this is a very hot topic and once the bill starts to roll, it will move quickly and will mast likely pass. Commissioner Jacobs asked about local revenue options to make up for the loss. Donna Coffey said that the State is offering the land transfer tax and Medicaid relief, but she said to be cautious with this. Commissioner Gordon suggested talking about this as tax assistance instead of tax relief. Tax assistance is a more neutral term. Commissioner Jacobs asked if it was too early to make a comment to the legislators and Chair Carey said no. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board should share the information about the fiscal impact to Orange County. Donna Coffey said that the $11 million is just the amount that the County might lose. This does not include the amount far the towns, schools, and the local fire departments. This is the worst case scenario. Chair Carey said that the Board will send a letter to the legislators. Commissioner Jacobs said that the County Commissioners do support improvement in the Homestead Exemption for eligible seniors. Chair Carey asked the Manager to draft a letter for the Board to the legislators. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the Medicaid relief and said that there is also a proposal that this be partially paid for with some sales tax revenue. He asked that this be included in the letter. 1. Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) Elementary #10 Update Laura Blackmon made reference to the blue sheet, which is an email from the Chair of the CHCCS. She said that there are some options about Elementary #10. The Board was notified on February 2"d about the total budget, which was a little over $24 million and was over budget. She said that the staff came up with some pros and cons far each option. Commissioner Nelson made reference to option 1 and said that, as he reads it, there are two options under option 1. Laura Blackmon said that there are two options -pay the amount in the bid -or not pay it. Under the first option, the County can approve the full amount, or approve funding for sewer construction only and have CHCCS re-bid the construction bids for Elementary #10. Chair Carey asked for a rationale for separating the infrastructure from the school construction part. Laura Blackmon said that this is budgeted with the debt issuance under two line items. One is the $22.1 million for Elementary #10, and the other is $1.2 million, which is the County's share of infrastructure, which is for the school and Twin Creeks Park. The sewer construction bid came in much lower than the amount that was budgeted. Staff is recommending to accept the bid and value engineer down the $1 million, or accept the sewer portion and re-bid the school portion. Option 2 is accepting the bid as is - $24.3 million -and then coming up with the difference. The Chair of CHCCS has indicated that they would be willing to make up the $1 million shortfall in option 2. Because of the bond issuance, the only way the County could make up the shortfall would be to delete $1 million from one of the projects in the debt issuance. Donna Coffey said that historically the CHCCS has used an increase in the district tax for things such as this, but there will probably already be a sizeable increase in the district tax with the opening of Carrboro High School and other issues. Commissioner Gordon said that there should be two options under option 2. One is that CHCCS figure out how to deal with and pay for the shortfall, which is the school system's proposal, and the other would be that the County Commissioners figure out how to deal with the shortfall and pay far it. CHCCS Board Chair Jamezetta Bedford said that her Board is meeting tonight and they have not formally approved this proposal, but she has talked to everyone except one member, and most members agree on this proposal as stated in the email. She said that the school board would prefer to have the flexibility to make up the $1 million. She said that the board does not want to use the district tax for this. Their other options are pay-as-you-go dollars and fund balance. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the amount of the fund balance and Jamezetta Bedford said that it is just over $5.5 million. The school board could take'/ million dollars from the fund balance and '/ million dollars from pay-as-you-go. Commissioner Gordan said that it is important to open this school on time and the County Commissioners should not ask the CHCCS to re-bid this. She said that if this school is delayed, it could trigger the SAPFO provisions relating to the issuance of CAPs. That would mean that affected development would have to stop until the school came online. She said that since the CHCCS has not asked the County to pay for this, then she is leaning toward what the school board requested. Commissioner Jacobs said that he would like to see what the student projection was versus what this actually turned out to be. He would also like to see a history of the fund balance. He said that going overcapacity could trigger SAPFO, but it could also trigger what was done for the high school capacity in CHCCS, which was to suspend it until the school came online. This was also done in OCS until Gravelly Hill came online. There are other options. Commissioner Nelson thanked the CHCCS board for coming up with this collaborative proposal. Laura Blackmon said that this will come on the March 13tH agenda for a formal decision. Commissioner Jacobs asked if the Board has actually seen all of the elements that were value engineered. It was answered yes. He would like to have this in the packet for the 13tH Chair Carey said that Commissioner Gordon questioned whether staff felt comfortable with the $24.3 million for the cost of the school, and he thinks that, in view of the fact that the staff recommended option 1, that they are not comfortable with $24.3 million. He said that he is concerned also because this is the same school that was constructed four years ago for $14 million. He appreciates CHCCS for volunteering to cover the difference. Laura Blackmon said that staff is looking at changing the way the County does construction projects. For example, the Construction Manager at Risk program would include value engineering through the entire process. Commissioner Gordon said that it is her understanding that the SAPFO would be triggered, assuming that the level of service goes over 105°~. She said that the initial suspensions as mentioned above by Commissioner Jacobs were built into the agreements by all of the jurisdictions, and would not apply in this case. Geof Gledhill said that Commissioner Gordan's interpretation is correct. Chair Carey said that this is clear to the Board. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the capital facilities process and said that the Board should look at this to make sure that there are no holes in the process and that there is no inadequate communication. Jamezetta Bedford agreed and said that there were several entities at a meeting last week to discuss this school and it went well. Chair Carey said that this item will be included on the March 13t" agenda with any additional information as requested by the County Commissioners. He said to bring back option 2, with the flexibility for the CHCCS Board to decide how to make up the difference in cost. 2. Bid Award: Construction of Walnut Grove Church Road Solid Waste Convenience Center Expansion Laura Blackmon said that the County purchased property in order to move the solid waste convenience center from a leased property to owned property. The County received notice in January that it had to move from the NC 57 site. She said the contractor needs to start as soon as passible on the new site in order to get the facility ready. She said that the staff is requesting acceptance of the bid to Jerry W. McCullock Grading Company of Hurdle Mills, North Carolina. The contract calls for work on the solid waste convenience center to be completed by April 24tH Public Works Director Wilbert McAdoo said that it will be a challenge to mitigate the traffic coming into the new site. Commissioner Jacobs asked if the County Commissioners would see a design for this or if it would be a standard template. Wilbert McAdoo said that this is a temporary expansion. The existing containers would be used. The staff will come back with a permanent design at a later time. Solid Waste Director Gayle Wilson said that the goal is to have a full service center. Commissioner Jacobs asked how much of the work would have to be redone at a later time and Gayle Wilson said about 75%. Commissioner Jacobs said that the County is trying to accommodate the public as much as possible and it has been looking for a Highway 57 site, and will continue to look for one. Chair Carey said that the County Commissioners normally do not take action at work sessions, but time is of the essence in this case. A motion was made by Commissioner Nelson, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to award a bid to Jerry W. McCullock Grading Company of Hurdle Mills, North Carolina for a total of $197,387.05 and authorize the Purchasing Director to execute the necessary paperwork. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Jacobs said that when he drives up Highway 57 and he is making a left turn into the center, the gate is not in his sight. He said signs are needed so that people cannot miss any signage about the closing of this site. 3. Orange County Transfer Station Update Laura Blackmon said that Gayle Wilson gave a tour today of the Greensboro transfer station. Solid Waste Director Gayle Wilson said that the two towns were unable to respond to the County's letter about the transfer station, but bath are working on a response. Chair Carey said that he sent a letter to bath Mayors to respond by the 23~d ar tonight, and there has been no response yet. Gayle Wilson said that at the February 20t" meeting, the Board requested a tour of the Greensboro facility, and this was conducted today. Chapel Hill Town Councilmember Jim Ward participated as well as three Carrboro Aldermen -O'Donnell, Broun, and Mayor Chilton. The Public Works Director and the Sanitation Manager for the Town of Chapel Hill also participated. He said that this transfer station is the newest, mast modern one in the state. It is about 35°~ larger than the Orange County station would be. It is located in an industrial area. The facility cost $8.5 million. Commissioner Nelson said that Randee Haven-O'Donnell called him and she wants to schedule a second visit with a broader group of elected officials and citizens for March 10t" Commissioner Jacobs asked for information on the US 70 site. Gayle Wilson said that he has spoken with the owner of the property and driven around the property. Commissioner Jacobs said that he is interested in seeing this lot an a map so that he can see haw it relates to the natural areas. Gayle Wilson said that there are some small streams and even one on the property. He said that there is nothing that he has determined that would make the site unsuitable far a transfer station. He said that the site has been heavily graded and it is all flat. He is not sure haw compliant it would be with the stream buffers, etc. Laura Blackman said that the staff would have to do an environmental analysis. Commissioner Jacobs said that he gave a phone number to staff of someone who has another piece of property far sale. Gayle Wilson said that he walked this property, and it is three different parcels combined for about 19 acres. It is in between US 70 and NC 10. It appears to be suitable for a transfer station, but there is a lot of water on the property, there are a number of homes around it, and there is a bridge. Chair Carey said that the Board should move forward an this decision at its next regular meeting. Time is of the essence in this matter. Commissioner Gordon asked if the decision would be made in the absence of analyses of the alternate sites. She needs to think about this. Commissioner Jacobs said that he agrees with Chair Carey about having the decision on the agenda for March 13th, but he thinks that the choices should be to pursue more investigation of alternative sites or not. He suggested bringing a timetable for when the landfill will close, how long it takes to build a transfer station, and an elaboration on the pros and cons of the alternatives. Chair Carey said that time is critical. Laura Blackmon asked if the Board wanted a location map for US 70 and parameters of the additional site and Chair Carey said yes. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board should be proactive about notifying the citizens in the US 70 area about the possibility of a transfer station on both sites. Gayle Wilson said that the staff could do door-to-door handouts. Jahn Link asked if the action taken would include having a public meeting similar to the one held at Eubanks Raad and Chair Carey said that they will decide about that, depending on the direction the Board decides to go. 4. Follow-up from the BOCC Retreat Laura Blackman said that she included additional information on the abstract and she said that the other handout is for the County Commissioners to peruse at their leisure. She said that she is giving this information to the Board to study prior to the budget. She went through the bullets as shown below: Proposed Order of Business for BOCC Regular Meetings At the retreat on January 19, 2007, discussion concerning BOCC regular meetings focused on creating an agenda format that was respectful of the public attending the meeting as well as streamlining the process to create a more orderly and efficient order of business. The following recommendations are proposed for Board discussion. • Start time for regular Board meetings should be moved up to 7:00 pm with an adjournment time of 10:00 pm. Such a move will allow adequate time for everyone to have dinner and still make the meeting on time. The earlier start will enable citizens to attend the public meeting and still get home at a reasonable hour to relax and prepare for work the next day. Commissioners are not making important decisions late at night and staff is not at a disadvantage the next day from having worked for more than 14 hours on meeting day. • Special presentations, proclamations and recognitions are acts of celebration and should take place at the beginning of the meeting. Such special guests can stay for the remainder of the meeting but are not being held captive to endure items not of interest to them. • Decisions on items on the consent agenda should be made earlier in the meeting to allow citizens in attendance for those items to leave as soon as the Board has voted. Routine and non-controversial appointments and resolutions can appear an the agenda under the consent portion. • Public hearings, regular agenda items and reports constitute the bulk of the meeting and should be considered prior to public comments on issues not on the printed agenda. Resolutions that are likely to generate discussion can appear under regular agenda items. Public comments should not be added to the agenda and considered for Board action at the same meeting in which they are presented. Such items should be referred to staff for analysis and future Board consideration. • Board comments and the county manager's report can be made after the majority of the county's business has been conducted. Under Robert's Rules of Order, issues brought up under Board comments for which the commissioners want to make a decision can be added to the agenda by a majority vote. • Generally appointments can be made under the consent portion of the agenda. However, if there are appointments the Board wishes to discuss, they can be made at the end of the meeting since the interested parties are generally not in attendance at the meeting. • Closed session remains at the end of the order of business but consideration should be made for removing it from the agenda and convening closed session meetings prior to the regular board meetings. • Any item on the agenda, regardless of the section under which it is listed, can be moved up on the agenda if a significant number of citizens are in attendance for the discussion and the commissioners wish to address it in a timely manner. Below is a side-by-side comparison of the current and recommended orders of business: Current Order of Business Additions or Changes to the Agenda Public Comments Board Comments County Manager's Report Items for Decision-Consent Agenda Resolutions or Proclamations Special Presentations Public hearings Items for Decision-Regular Agenda (Including appointments) Reports Closed Session Adjournment Recommended Order of Business Additions or Changes to the Agenda Presentations/Proclamations/Recognitians Consent Agenda Public Hearings Regular Agenda Reports Public Comments Board Comments County Manager's Report Appointments Closed Session Adjournment Laura Blackmon said she is open to suggestions. Commissioner Nelson said that he agreed with a lot of this, but he thinks that the public comment portion should be earlier. He said that he could not do 7:00 p.m. meetings, but he would be okay with doing the closed sessions at 7:00 p.m. Commissioner Gordon agreed with moving the public comment up on the list. She would also like to see the appointments moved up. She said that she first thought starting meetings at 7:00 p.m. would be good, but now she does not want to do meetings that early. She suggested having dinner with closed sessions if they are earlier. Commissioner Jacobs said that the public comment should came before the consent agenda because it is a free opportunity for citizens to come in and talk and then leave. He would also urge The People's Channel to put the consent agenda on the screen. He said that he does not think that the Board Comments are such a toxic part of the agenda. He would rather leave the appointments at the end and move the reports after the County Manager's Report. The reports could then be clustered. He thinks that with the recommended structure, the Board will run out of time and not get to comments. He thinks that Board Comments are a good way to communicate with one another and with the public. His suggested order is as follows: Board Comments after the Regular Agenda, County Manager's Report, and then other reports. He has no problem having closed sessions before the meetings instead of after. He said that he had suggested the 7:00 p.m. starting time to begin with and then an automatic adjournment of 10:30 p.m. He suggested just leaving the flexibility with the option of starting the meeting at 7:00 p.m. sometimes if there is a really heavy agenda. He withdrew his suggestion of starting every meeting at 7:00 p.m. Chair Carey said that he agrees with moving the public comments earlier on the agenda. He said that he would suggest moving the public hearings before the consent agenda and then moving public comments up after proclamations. He agreed with moving the reports down further on the list. He also agreed with considering closed sessions at 7:00 p.m., but he does not think that the regular meetings should be moved to 7:00 p.m. Laura Blackmon said that she would do a couple of renditions based on the comments, with options for the Board to look at before there is a vote on this. Commissioner Jacobs said to wait far Commissioner Foushee to make a comment on this also, since she was the one who brought up the change. Geof Gledhill said that if meetings are started at 7:00 p.m. for closed sessions, this might start a regular meeting notice problem. These would have to be noticed as special meetings. Commissioner Gordon said that it is fine to put reports below the comments because they are not action items. She said that when there are presentations, proclamations, and recognitions, there should be a time limit on these items. She suggested considering putting a limit on how many presentations there are on one agenda so as to balance the agenda out. She said that the Board rarely ever gets to appointments, and there needs to be a better way to address this. Laura Blackmon said that the special presentations, etc. could be scheduled so that there are not so many atone time. She said that she did not include issues that may be informational items on the agenda. She said that she may add this to the agenda packet as informational items only and would be part of the public record. She is still working on this aspect. Commissioner Gordon said that, as far as reports, they usually meet a sad fate too. She suggested having written reports. She does not want the staff member to have to sit and wait. Laura Blackmon said that a report should only be 5-10 minutes, and if they are any longer they should be work session items. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board has tried to spread out presentations over meetings before, and they can try to da appointments and reports in a similar manner. If the appointments or reports have been on an agenda twice and were not addressed, then they could became part of the decision agenda on the third meeting. Laura Blackmon said that new appointments could be moved to the bottom of the decision items. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the closed sessions, and said that having them at 7:30 p.m. accomplishes nothing, unless the meeting is going to be short. Geof Gledhill said that there is a bill in the legislature about creating additional notice requirements for special meetings. Laura Blackmon said that the additional packet she handed out to the County Commissioners is basically staff updates and solutions. There are ten areas, with many attachments. She said that she would give the Board time to read through this later. She said that the staff is continuing to work on this. There is not any additional information on Loose Ends because staff has been working on the very broad list, trying to determine which things need to be accomplished. Chair Carey asked for a target date for refinement of this document and Laura Blackmon said by the end of March, since some of these may have budgetary implications. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the Lands Legacy Program. She suggested that Laura Blackmon should look at the action strategies because they gave the direction for the program. Commissioner Jacobs said that in the Manager's Memos, Laura Blackmon asks for feedback. He asked that, if there are no questions or comments, should the Board assume that the item will go forward to a category. Laura Blackmon said that it depends on the item. She said that the memo is just giving the Board a heads up. Commissioner Nelson said that staff should feel free to use as little paper as possible and to use the Internet. He said that he also does not need the agendas for the committees that he is not on. Laura Blackmon said that Donna Baker, David Hunt, and Todd Jones will be working with the departments to post agendas and minutes on the website. Chair Carey asked who would like to have the Manager's Memo in electronic format and Laura Blackmon said that she would like to get away from the Manager's Memo and put it in the information items. Commissioner Gordon said that she treats the Manager's Memo as an update only. She generally does not comment on them. She agrees with getting the memos in an electronic format. Chair Carey said to encourage the Manager to use less paper. Commissioner Jacobs said that he reads the Manager's Memo at home and does not use his computer. Commissioner Gordon said that sometimes she needs information in a paper format. She does read items on paper a lot as well as in an email format. It depends on the item. With no further items to address, the meeting was adjourned at 9:31 p.m. Moses Carey, Jr., Chair Donna S. Baker Clerk to the Board