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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 04-19-2012 Work Session APPROVED 8/21/2012 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION April 19, 2012 7:OOpm The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Work Session on Thursday, April 19, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center, in Chapel Hill, N.C. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Bernadette Pelissier and Commissioners Valerie Foushee, Alice M. Gordon, Barry Jacobs, Earl McKee, and Steve Yuhasz COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Pam Hemminger COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: John Roberts COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Frank Clifton, Assistant County Managers Gwen Harvey and Michael Talbert and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) Chair Pelissier asked that the Board add a closed session at the end of this meeting. A motion was made by Commissioner Yuhasz, seconded by Commissioner McKee to add a closed session for the purpose of: per NCGS per 143-318.11(a)(3) to consult with an attorney regarding the ongoing case of Orange County vs. Eno River Parking Deck. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 1. Discussion of Proposed Public Affairs and Information Officer Position Frank Clifton said that staff has developed at the direction of the Board of County Commissioners a draft job description of the Public Affairs and Information Officer Position. There was a staff retreat and Laurie Paolicelli created a video on external feedback from citizens on Orange County's assets. Laurie Paolicelli showed a video of citizens answering questions of the staff. She said that staff worked with a professional video company to find people throughout the county to interview. Frank Clifton said that this highlights the difficulty of trying to reach the many diverse segments that reside in Orange County. He said that Orange County is getting ready to advertise and a lot of the direction they pursue depends on the strengths of the person they hire. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the relationship with the Clerk's office. She said that this is proposed to be under the Manager, but it seems separate from what the Clerk and the Commissioners do. She asked about the relationship. Frank Clifton said that David Hunt gets the official messages out for the Board of County Commissioners and this will continue. He said that one person cannot do it all. Commissioner Gordon asked about the Strategic Communications Plan and noted that the Board of County Commissioners would like to have input into the new plan which is to be created. The way it is written, it will be left to the new staff person to develop and implement the plan. Frank Clifton said that it depends on the primary skill sets of the person that is hired. Some of it will piggyback on other functions and the plan would be to bring it back to the Board in an organized fashion. Commissioner Gordon said that, in terms of the broader policy, the Board of County Commissioners will be involved. She said that they need to be mindful that when they are dealing with controversial or complex items, that the County Commissioners receive this information ahead of time so they can be prepared. Commissioner Jacobs said that there have been repeated discussions about the Chair and Vice-Chair picking issues at agenda review and doing news releases. This would be a simple place to do this. They need to be more proactive. Commissioner Jacobs asked who is going to be responsible for maintaining the listing for the media members. Frank Clifton said that it will be both David Hunt and this PIO. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to page 3 of the abstract and the third bullet: - Develops and implements public information programs for internal and external distribution. Promotes awareness of County operations, services and programs utilizing multiple media outlets such as radio, televisions, cable, print, and social media. Serves as Orange County's media representative on significant endeavors, breaking stories and news features; writes and distributes media advisories, press releases, fact sheets, annual reports, legislative responses and other official documents. Develops and delivers presentations for community groups. Coordinates a variety of special events, relevant news conferences and community meetings. He said that this is the key function, to let people know what they are getting for their money. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the $80,000 budget for this position. Laurie Paolicelli said that she and Frank Clifton talked about this and it would be a line item from the Visitor's Bureau budget for the marketing process. It would be stretched over two years. It is a ballpark estimate. Commissioner Jacobs said that he wants to be careful in using money for self- promotion. Laurie Paolicelli said that the $80,000 is for programming costs. Frank Clifton said that this process is not to promote the Board of County Commissioners individually but the County as a whole. They need to hire someone that may not be currently involved in county government but can communicate with the regular citizen that may not know about county government. 2. Specific Policies for Board of County Commissioners' Advisory Boards County Attorney John Roberts said that the Board of County Commissioners adopted the overall advisory board policy about two months ago, but they need a specific document for each board. These drafts are based on the current procedures that are in place with the exception of the Economic Development Commission, which is brand new. The Commission for the Environment and the Human Relations Commission have submitted changes and they are not included in the packet. The Human Relations Commission thinks that these policies are complex, confusing, restrictive, and will result in fewer and less diverse applicants. The process was not open and sought no input from the advisory boards. It imposes a burden on current volunteer advisory board members. John Roberts said that these 11 boards are ready for the Board's review and discussion. Commissioner Gordon said that a few of the board policies have some things about attendance and residency but others did not, some had information about special meetings and others did not, etc. John Roberts said that each board policy will be different. The general policy has provisions for residency and such and that would cover all boards. Commissioner Gordon said that if something, such as residency, is specifically in an individual board policy, then it should be in all of them. John Roberts said that each board has different responsibilities and Commissioner Gordon said that she just wanted to find out the process that was used, and how it was applied to the policies of the various boards. Commissioner Yuhasz said that some of what he said is similar to what Commissioner Gordon said because these are not all formatted the same. It would be helpful to have the same items under the different sections under each board's policy. OUTBoard Commissioner Gordon made reference to Duties, Section 2a, and said that she would like to acknowledge that the board will work on things besides roadway and transit needs. She suggested adding, "and other transportation needs" to this sentence. The Board agreed. Chair Pelissier made reference to page 4, 3-b, and said that she thought there was no Transportation Services Board anymore. She suggested striking this. The Board agreed. Commissioner Jacobs asked why it stipulates that members have to serve one year, etc. John Roberts said that this is a holdover from the current policy. Commissioner Jacobs suggested eliminating the language about the specific terms and create a template for new boards should something like this be needed. Commissioner Yuhasz said that in a lot of these bylaws there were specific times and locations for meetings. He suggested striking these. John Roberts said that this is in the OUTBoard bylaws at the request of staff members because there was concern from staff that the start times for this board have been extremely random. Commissioner Jacobs said that the bylaws could state that the boards should adopt a set meeting schedule annually. Commissioner Gordon said that there could be a general wording such as "every 1St Wednesday," etc. Commissioner Foushee said that it does not have to be in the specific bylaws but in a general location such as the website. Commissioner Yuhasz clarified that the general policy would be that each board would adopt a meeting schedule annually for time and location and that it would be distributed. The detailed information will be deleted from these particular bylaws. Economic Development Advisory Board (New Board): Economic Development Director Steve Brantley said that he participated in drafting the bylaws for this board. Frank Clifton said that the key to this is decided on how many members for this board. He suggested that membership be between 7-11 members. Steve Brantley said that there are some enthusiastic candidates that are calling about this board — Chambers of Commerce and representatives from various business sectors. Frank Clifton said that there will really be two groups — an advisory board and those with a specific skill set to help with special projects. Chair Pelissier said that there was discussion about spinning this off to be a private entity at some point. She asked if that would be a role of this group. Frank Clifton said that he would want to make sure they have the right people in place before spinning off. Commissioner Yuhasz said that spinning off would be better as a specific charge to the board after it has been in session for a while. Commissioner Jacobs said that the working group idea is similar to the MPO format. He said that it sounds like they are not going to advertise for any citizen applicants or have any Board of County Commissioners' recommendations. Frank Clifton said that they wanted to go out to the community to find the people with the credentials they are looking for and bring back that list to the Board of County Commissioners. Commissioner Jacobs said that this Board has traditionally looked at the demographics for boards. He does not think that it is appropriate for the staff to do this. It is a function of the Board of County Commissioners. He would like to have some appearance that this process is open. Commissioner Gordon said that the way she reads this is that this is an advisory board and it should be appointed by the Board of County Commissioners. Also, she does not want the majority of this board to consist of non-Orange County residents. Commissioner Yuhasz said that this board does not need an open recruitment format because of the nature of this board. He suggested adding in that the majority of the board should be residents of Orange County. Frank Clifton said that the reality is that the development community does not know the boundary line. Commissioner Foushee said that she tends to agree with the comments that Commissioner Yuhasz said with moving forward on this board in a different manner. She said that this board needs the expertise to move forward with economic development. Commissioner Jacobs suggested also having someone from the non-profit sector because it is a different perspective. Chair Pelissier clarified that the Board does not want to open this up to the open recruitment process but wants to see more than 9 recommendations to vote on. She said that the County is also partnering with the Chambers of Commerce and there would be some vetting there too. Commissioner Gordon made reference to page 9, Section 3, item 3 and suggested leaving out "having direct economic development interest in Orange County." All other Board members wanted to leave this comment in. Commissioner Jacobs said that if there is a non-profit representative, there would be 10 members. Discussion ensued because the positions are not listed one-to-one. The Board agreed to change the membership to 10. Commissioner Gordon made reference to page 9, item 6-c, and asked if they should take out "and/or" because it seems ambiguous. Frank Clifton said that this is the technical group of advisors that would work on an individual project. The people chosen would depend on the type of project. Commissioner Jacobs suggested saying, "in consultation with appropriate members of the Economic Development Advisory Board." This is clear who would be choosing. The Board agreed. Arts Commission Commissioner Yuhasz asked if these membership terms should be the same as the rest of the boards. John Roberts said that Martha Shannon was very tied to the existing bylaws. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he would like to see these specific bylaws reduced by the general bylaws that are applicable for each of these boards. He suggested only putting into the individual bylaws those things that were not in the general policy. He said that someone needs to develop a format. John Roberts said that each board was given the exact same format and Commissioner Yuhasz said that the format was not followed. Commissioner Jacobs agreed with Commissioner Yuhasz and said that there are the general standards for the boards and to ask staff to make sure that there are not duplications in their individual policies. Chair Pelissier said that she remembers discussing this and that the Board decided to have all of the terms the same for the different boards. Chair Pelissier clarified that the Board wanted the specific bylaws to only have the items in them that are different from the general policy. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he does not want to review these policies until the changes have been made by each board. He proposed deciding on a specific format and sending out to all boards and having them follow the specific changes only. Commissioner Jacobs agreed. John Roberts made reference to page 9, #5 and Length of Service. This should have gone into the general advisory board policy. He said that he could bring it back for review at an agenda in the next couple of months. Chair Pelissier said that she noticed that some boards asked for a representative from Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough, but no rural representative. She asked if the Board wanted to consider adding that. The Board agreed to add this for boards that specify the three towns only. Commissioner Yuhasz asked that Mebane be considered as well. Commissioner Gordon asked if it was appropriate to mention that something is in the UDO, like for the Planning Board. She suggested that this be allowed. This item will come back for further discussion at a work session. 3. Follow-up Discussion of the Manager's Recommended 2012-2017 Capital Investment Plan (CIP) Paul Laughton said that he has provided updates from the March 15th meeting. There is also an hour set aside for discussion on May 24th Commissioner Jacobs asked if the school presentation could be first since the OCS representatives are present. Paul Laughton made reference to bullet#5 on page 2 of the abstract, which references Attachment 4, a letter from the OCS Board Chair and Vice-Chair regarding some emerging capital needs. OCS Board Chair Donna Coffey said that OCS is starting to grow and Mebane has kicked Orange County into a growth spurt. There is a need for a new elementary school sometime between 2015-16/2016-17. Since the SAPFO was created, there has been a great pre-K program, but they have lost 154 elementary seats in this process. The capacity numbers in SAPFO do not allow for this loss, so the capacity numbers are over stated. CHCCS has the same issue. When she wrote the letter, they assumed they would lose 225 seats in the reassessment, but it is actually 352 seats. If OCS can build the addition onto Cedar Ridge, then high school capacity will last until 2020-21. Commissioner Yuhasz asked if OCS has talked with Mebane to find out if the residential growth will continue in Orange County. Donna Coffey said that she has not spoken with anyone from Mebane. She said that there is capacity now that the sewer line has been extended near Gravelly Hill Middle School. Commissioner Yuhasz said that if more growth is expected from Mebane, then a new elementary school should be placed near the Mebane growth area. He sent an email to the Manager of Mebane asking whether the subdivision regulations include the provision for reserving school sites. He has not yet received a response. Donna Coffey said that there is also a lot of growth from Hillsborough and Churton Grove. Commissioner Jacobs said that there was a meeting with Mebane last year and both parties agreed to do joint planning. Nothing has been done in this regard. He urged the Board to get on with this. Chair Pelissier suggested focusing on the Mebane area or the Hillsborough area for a new elementary school. In the long term, both areas need to be considered for future school sites. Chair Pelissier asked what would happen to the debt ceiling if the County decides to fund this new elementary school #8. Commissioner Gordon said that the question is where Mebane is going to grow, then the urban services boundary, and then the MPO boundary. She said that the Board cannot act on information tonight contained in the new handouts or in the CIP because it needs to go through the SAPFO process first. She thinks that the Board should follow the SAPFO process. Using the 105% level of service criterion, the elementary school would not be needed until 2020. She said that there needs some kind of policy regarding pre-K. Commissioner Jacobs agreed with Commissioner Gordon about pre-K. He suggested asking staff and the school collaboration group to make a recommendation about incorporating pre-K. Commissioner McKee said that if Mebane is not following the SAPFO process, then it is probably skewing the figures for OCS. Commissioner Foushee said that the school collaboration group should review this and bring it back to the Board of County Commissioners. Commissioner Yuhasz said that development has never been denied because of the SAPFO and it should not matter if Mebane is not following the SAPFO because the County would never let things get to this point. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he wants to look at the costs for the proposed expansion for Cedar Ridge and for a new elementary school. Commissioner Jacobs said that he thinks that Mebane's growth is factored into the SAPFO, but he is not sure about the accuracy. He said that the school collaboration group should look at this and have a systematic conversation and recommendation on this process. Clarence Grier said that Orange County would go over the debt service limit in 2014-15 if the funding started in 2013-14. Frank Clifton said that the key is that the County's budget is not growing and the economy is not growing. Paul Laughton went back to the first item - McGowan Creek Outfall. The State has approved contingently the loan funds for this project. This will be a standalone CIP project and not part of the Central Efland/North Buckhorn Sewer Expansion Project because of the loan. Attachment 2 is additional information from Solid Waste Director Gayle Wilson regarding landfill closure and estimated cost for this of$86,113/year. Paul Laughton made reference to other possible discussion items: - Board of Commissioners Meeting Room Space (Whitted Building or elsewhere) - Environment and Agriculture Center (Planning and Ag Building) — see Attachment 3 (this attachment was presented to the BOCC at the March 1, 2012 budget work session as an example of costly maintenance projects needed at older County facilities). As a reminder, this building/project is currently not included in the FY 2012-17 CIP. Construction of a new Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation building is included beginning in Year 6 within the Blackwood Farm Park project (page 36 of the CIP document) - Southwest Branch Library (site search) - Emergency Services Related Projects (pages 32-35 of the CIP document) Frank Clifton said that the staff did an analysis of the Whitted Center and they would gain an additional 50 parking spaces if parking construction were done on the grassy areas. This would bring the total number of spaces to 220. Regarding the Link Government Services Center Annex, Frank Clifton said that this is in a flood plain. Staff will need to research the cost for making this area usable (bringing electrical up two feet above the flood level, etc.). Flood insurance will be required. Commissioner Yuhasz asked what this space could be used for if there was no annex. It was answered that a parking lot could go there, but not a parking structure. Commissioner Jacobs suggested considering taking out the parking beside the Link Government Services and putting in a new structure. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the Millhouse Road Park and discussion about a gymnasium through a partnership with the town. There was just a proposal from St. Paul's to build a gymnasium. He asked if there could be a three-party agreement for a community gymnasium instead of duplicating a gymnasium a mile away for more money. He wanted to raise this as an issue. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the North East District Park and said that he would like to see the pre-concept plan for this park. Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation (DEAPR) Director Dave Stancil said that he would provide this information to the Board. It is a preliminary plan and not a master plan. Commissioner Yuhasz made reference to the Whitted Building and asked if this space would or would not be acceptable for a meeting room. Frank Clifton said that the political leadership on both sides needs to discuss this. He has not had any follow-up conversations about this issue. Commissioner Gordon said that she believed that there should not be a meeting room at the Whitted Building because it is a residential area. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to landfill closure costs and the potential revenue from the sale of methane gas. He asked if there were any figures for this yet. Frank Clifton said that he thinks it is a long time before this produces any revenue for the County. Commissioner Jacobs said that the southwest library site search is an election topic and he would like some articulated statement of where the County stands as of now. Frank Clifton said that it is scheduled for one of the work sessions before the summer break. Commissioner Jacobs asked for some recommendations and analysis of the CIP if elementary #8 will have to be built fairly soon. CLOSED SESSION A motion was made by Commissioner Yuhasz, seconded by Commissioner McKee to adjourn the meeting to closed session at 9:46 PM for the purpose of: per NCGS 143- 318.11(a)(3) to consult with an attorney regarding the ongoing case of Orange County vs. Eno River Parking Deck. VOTE: UNANIMOUS RECONVENE INTO REGULAR SESSION: A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to reconvene into regular session at 10:45 p.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS ADJOURN A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to adjourn the meeting at 10:45 p.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Bernadette Pelissier, Chair Donna S. Baker, CMC Clerk to the Board