HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 10-17-1978 AGENDA
ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
COMMISSIONERS ROOM, COUNTY COURTHOUSE
HILLSBOROUGH, WORTH CAROLINA
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1978
7: 00 P. M.
1. Does any Board member desire to add additional items to this agenda?
2. The Clerk submits minutes of Board meeting held on October 2, 1978 for
Board consideration.
3. The Regist r of Deeds will review a proposal From the State Department of
Administra ion soliciting applicants for a Land Title Records demonstration
project. Agenda Attachment I)
4. Continued onsideration (and possible decision) of the question, extension
of extrate ritorial zoning jurisdiction for the Town of Chapel Hill .
5. Continued onsideration of the Grady Brown renovation proposal .
6. Review witi representatives of Chapel Hill , Carrboro and JOCCA the Board of
County Co issioners` allocation of Title VI positions for FY 78-79.
AGENDA .ATTACHMENT I
LAND TITLE RECORDS PROJECT
The State Department of Administration has inquired if Orange County would be
interested in working with them on a demonstration project aimed at developing a moder
computer based land record system that will result in lower land title settlement
cost.
the state has received a grant to implement part of this program from the
Department of Housing and Urban Development. All budget details of the grant have not
been finalized; therefore, I cannot precisely say how financing the project will
develop. Both the state and HUD expect substantial current local . financial
commitment, however, as well as some assurance the county will implement the system
if it is proven feasible. In general , they expect to share on a 50.50 basis the
cost of' any equipment necessary for this project. Initially, computer hardware
acquisition was excluded from the list of equipment eligible for matching funding.
Now HUD seems willing to negotiate this point. The state is willing to place a
$50,000 limit on equipment requirements. In the personnel area, the state expects
the county to fund one position, a County Land Records Manager, who would ultimately
have responsibility of implementing the developed program. During the planning and
development phase, this person would be entirely involved in that process. The state
envisions this person at the department head level with a job title such as assistant
county manager for land records and salary and fringe benefits running to $24,000
annually; however, the salary is negotiable. They also expect the county to provide
office space and supplies sufficient for four persons, three of whomtli6y will provide
(one full time here and two part time in Raleigh and here) . Further, they expect the
county to provide staff time of the Register of Deeds, Tax Supervisor, Tax. Collector
and other department heads in moderate amounts to assist in planning then program
critique, without reimbursement. It is unclear what computer time resources will
be required. However, the project budget at this time does not clearly identify funds
to defray this cost.
The project as proposed envisions federal funding of 3B% and state -local funding
of 62%. Using suggested state figures for salary, a local budget to support this
program might look like this:
Salary and Fringe - I position $24,000
Rent 2,000
' Office Supplies, Telephone & Equipment 2,000
Additionally, a significant but unidentifiable time allocation must be given
by the tax mapping division of the Tax Supervisor's office during the implementation
phase.
As an ongoing program, the new department might have four employees and
necessitate some reallignment of responsibilities involving the Tax Supervisor's
mapping division.
°2`
I have not encountered many demonstration grant proposals that seem to require
as heavy a local financial commitment as this and have no real feeling about how
negotiable some of these funding arrangements are. Unfortunately, I was not able
to reach the project director to review my concerns today and had to discuss them
with his assistant. He seemed to feel these concepts in principal would not be
changed a great deal .
I would sugge t that we explore the grant proposal further even tentatively
committing ourseIv s to proceed if selected. In the meantime, we can more definitely
determine the funding pattern for this grant and attempt to renegotiate some items.
It seems to me the state is requiring an unusually heavy financial commitment for
a demonstration pr ject and further that we have something to sell .
If you desire to proceed, the staff can prepare and file the information
required by the st to and immediately get to work on the funding problem. prior to
making any commitment, we will report back to the Board.
The state is equiring some response from the county by the 19th.