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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 01-27-2017 1 APPROVED 2/21/2017 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ANNUAL PLANNING RETREAT RIGMOR HOUSE January 27, 2017 9:00 a.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for their annual Board retreat on Friday, January 27, 2017 at 9:00 a.m. at the Rigmor House in Chapel Hill, N.C. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Mark Dorosin and Commissioners Mia Burroughs, Barry Jacobs, Mark Marcoplos, Earl McKee, Renee Price and Penny Rich COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: John Roberts COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Bonnie Hammersley, Deputy County Manager Travis Myren and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker. FACILITATOR: Andy Sachs, Dispute Settlement Center Department Heads: Gayle Wilson, Janice Tyler, Dave Stancil, Steve Brantley, Craig Benedict, Jeff Thompson, Jim Northup, Brenda Bartholomew, Gary Donaldson, Theo Letman, Tracy Reams, Janet Sparks, Dinah Jeffries, Bob Marotto, Carl Maytac, Greg Wilder Others: Brennan Bouma, Alicia Jones (Housing), Kirby Sanders (ES), Lee Worsley (TJCOG) Observers - Members of the public and news media. Convene Chair Dorosin welcomed the attendees. He said the retreat is an opportunity for conversation and dialogue beyond what occurs during formal Board meetings. Chair Dorosin reminded the group of these collaborative principles to guide the day, as well as future Board meetings: • Be open to disagreement • Be committed to sharing relevant information • Do not surprise each other • Be honest • Seek truth through the synthesis of all participants' contributions. Chair Dorosin invited all to provide him with feedback and criticism — call or email him at any time-- so that he can learn to be more effective in this work. The facilitator acknowledged this year's retreat planning committee (Commissioners Jacobs, McKee, and Price), which developed the retreat Desired Outcomes, Agenda, and Ground Rules. Commissioner Jacobs said that a key component of the County's resilience is the notion of being sustainable in all things. Commissioner Price said that the first of the two retreat's Desired Outcomes should be "Ideas for making the County more sustainable and resilient...," adding the word "sustainable." Commissioner Jacobs noted that the planning group had agreed to approach the retreat with the aim of a zero tax increase. 2 Commissioner Burroughs asked where that would be discussed under the retreat agenda; she asked if there was an intention to direct staff to prepare a budget this year with a zero tax increase. Commissioner Jacobs replied that the planning group had directed the staff to approach today's discussions with the idea that we are aiming for a zero tax increase. Bonnie Hammersley said that the staff presentations for today had been prepared with the aim of a zero tax increase. The group added "Be Present" to its set of retreat ground rules in keeping with a request from Commissioner Dorosin that participants not text, Tweet, or check their emails during the retreat. Commissioner Rich acknowledged that Lee Worsley, Executive Director of the Triangle J Council of Governments was in attendance. She said she invited him to the retreat because TJCOG has been focusing on transportation and broadband for the past few months. She said his presence will help her and him bring what they learned today back to the COG. Bonnie Hammersley called attention to the star-shaped badge holders, "Orange County Stars," at each Board member's place. She said these are tokens of appreciation to be given to employees who attend the Manager's quarterly information sessions. She wanted to be sure each board member also had one because they are also stars on the Orange County team. Preparing for Change Agenda Item Overview Facilitator and planning committee members explain the focus of this agenda item: "How can the County prepare for significant changes that might take place in the natural environment and society?What does it mean to be "sustainable" or "resilient" given climate change, demographic changes, fiscal limitations, and our commitments to social justice, economic viability and environmental stewardship? Our intention is to use this time to (a) recognize the challenge, (b) clarify our terms, and (c) generate ideas for making the County more resilient." The group talked generally about sustainability before hearing three substantive staff presentations. Commissioner Rich noted that the term "sustainability" can be overused, and asked if the retreat planning group intended for today's discussions to be about sustainability in a broad sense — how we're sustaining the budget and our larger projects— or with a more narrow focus. Commissioner McKee said that the retreat planning group wanted the Board to clarify what it means when it uses the term -- it is a code word that means different things to different people, he said -- and to come to a common understanding of the word's meaning among Board and staff for when we talk about County projects and tax levels. Commissioner Jacobs said that the intention of the retreat planners was to talk about sustainability in a broad sense, to avoid dealing with things episodically. It would similar to the way the Manager is trying to deal with the budget using a five year financial outlook. Another buzzword they could use is "holistically. " He said they want to look at things as if they were all interrelated, because they know they are, and articulate that view when explaining what the County does so that other people can follow it. Chair Dorosin said that one connotation for him of both "sustainability" and "resilience" is maintaining the status quo. That's helpful in the context of threats we face from the General Assembly and the federal government, but they also should be thinking about moving forward. For example, the bond has passed and they now have an opportunity to move forward on housing. Commissioner Jacobs said that another way to look at "sustainability" is to consider the County as a living entity. It has to be forward-oriented in order to survive but it also has to be 3 responsive and flexible to the environment. They should be proactive within a context that they can understand rather than a context that is episodic. Commissioner Marcoplos said that "sustainability"was a simple term when it was first introduced; it has become complicated by people using it to back certain positions. He suggested the Board stick with the simple meaning that is contained in the word itself: can the system continue moving ahead in the face of factors that would cause it to stop and die. He said let's keep it simple, and apply it on a case by case basis. Example 1: Public Transportation Manager presented on (a) the status quo, (b) anticipated forces of change and likely consequences, (c) how the County currently plans/prepares/provides for resilience in this context. Travis Myren recognized Theo Letman, the County's new Transit Director. Travis Myren then led a presentation on the status quo, forces of change, and resilience measures planned or being taken by the County with regard to public transportation. Status Quo ➢ Orange Public Transportation (OPT) ➢ Two Fixed Routes o Hillsborough Circulator o Orange/Chapel Hill Mid-Day Connector ➢ Medical Transportation o Seniors and Residents with Disabilities o All Medical Appointments & One Shopping Excursion per Week ➢ Senior Center Transportation -Bus and Rail Investment Plan Funds Other Services ➢ Public Transportation- graph ➢ Public Transportation- graph -Funded but not Implemented Expansions and Services o New Routes Expected by July 1, 2017 o Efland-Hillsborough Commuter Loop-map o Orange-Alamance Connector-map Commissioner Rich suggested doing a field trip once routes are done for the BOCC. o Rural Deviated Zonal Routes-map Additional Service Improvements ➢ Dispatching and Routing Software ➢ Fare box Equipment Efland-Hillsborough Commuter Loop-graph Orange-Alamance Connector- graph Rural Deviated Zonal Routes — NW& NE In reply to a question from Chair Dorosin, Travis Myren said funding for OPT (two fixed routes, medical transportation, and senior center transportation) comes from County sources as well as sources other than the County, including Article 43 and the federal government. This applies both to operational and bus capital purchases. 4 In reply to a question from Commissioner McKee, Theo Letman said there would be some overlap during the morning and evening peak times between the Hillsborough Circulator and the Efland-Hillsborough Commuter Loop. Commissioner McKee said riders would appreciate any steps the County could take to shorten the trip from Durham Tech to downtown. In reply to a question from Commissioner Price, Theo Letman said the Efland- Hillsborough Commuter Loop is currently planned to go in one direction but that there will be some reverse routing introduced to the Hillsborough Circulator. Travis Myren added that staff could look at the feasibility of adding a stop to service Perry Hill. Commissioner McKee said he expected such a stop to be used because there are 100-150 homes near there in a subdivision just off of US-70. In reply to a suggestion from Commissioner Rich, Theo Letman said the staff would organize a field trip for the Board to ride the new routes expected by July 1, 2017. In reply to a question from Commissioner Marcoplos, Theo Letman said service in the part of the County south of Chapel Hill around Smith Level/Heritage Hills is provided by Chapel Hill Transit. In reply to a question from Commissioner Jacobs, Theo Letman said a deviated zonal route is a demand-response type of service. It is a shared ride. The plan is to serve different quadrants on different days. The advantage is that service comes closer to where patrons are located. The disadvantage is that the riders are taken off-route to accommodate others' needs, which adds time to each rider's trip. Travis Myren added that time is built into the schedule to allow for the deviations; riders can rely on the schedule to be somewhere at a certain time. Commissioner Jacobs said the public should be helped to understand that the deviated zonal route is a work in progress, that when they get on the bus the route will not be what they expected; some people will be on a tight schedule and not very pleased. Commissioner Price said she has spoken with people who have used EZ Rider in the past and ACCESS in Durham, which are analogous to the Rural Deviated Zonal Routes. Riders tell the schedulers what time they have to be somewhere and then are told what time they will be picked up to accommodate that need. If the rider cannot work with the pick-up time, then they have the option of using a taxi. It is similar to using Super Shuttle service for an airport; you expect to ride around for a while but the timing has been worked out. She said most people are happy with this; they like the luxury of door to door service. Riders know what will happen when they get on the bus. In reply to a question from Commissioner Jacobs, Theo Letman said there is no future service planned for the southwestern/White Cross quadrant of the County. Staff needs to update the transit study from the one conducted in 2015 and to explore the transit options for the southern half of the County. Commissioner Jacobs said maps and other communications with the public should explain that the NW and NE quadrants are not the end of our transportation planning, that we are looking at additional options. If not, then members of the public are going to want to know about their own parts of the County, and why future service is not shown on the maps. Bonnie Hammersley said she appreciated the Board's discussion about public transportation today. She said she is proud to note that Theo Letman is the County's first Transit Director. She said we need to look at how we are doing transportation. They are hearing from residents that we need more transportation in the north. Maybe we can be more creative in how we do the Rural Deviated Zonal Routes, how we run a door-to-door dedicated system, or how we run a route that does not have deviations. 5 Bonnie Hammersley said the direction she has given Theo Letman is to look at ways to improve this without stopping the current system. They will always have communication plans in everything they do, now that they have their new Community Relations Director. Bonnie Hammersley said the Board puts much money into OPT because of our residents' human service needs, including aging, while the other resources we receive for transportation would go towards the routine, frequent ridership. She said she is expecting their new Transit Director will help them to improve the human services component, including building their partnerships. Craig Benedict, County Planning Director, added that the zonal routes operate two days a week to accommodate people who need services or shopping but not daily commuters. As you look at future services you might consider ways to get those zonal riders to the commuter lines. There are some fixed routes from Cedar Grove down to US-70. If these zonal routes could bring people to the east-west lines, to Durham, or to Hillsborough and then down to Chapel Hill, then we could get that commuter element into it. It is now time to weigh in on the future, as we look to the Bus and Rail Investment Plan update, looking out to what could be funded for 2035 or 2045 by the transit tax. Chair Dorosin said the County's communication strategy should convey the immediate, three to five year, and longer ranges. One of their challenges is being able to talk about the arch of long range, high cost projects, like GoTriangle and Economic Development Zones. He does not think they do a great job keeping people up to date on what has happened, what is happening, and what is going to happen into the future. They need to come up with a better name than "Rural Deviated Zonal Route." He later suggested "Flex Routes." Commissioner Jacobs said destinations—for example Little River Regional Park, the Cedar Grove Community Center, churches, Ruritan clubs -- should be identified when the transportation plan is updated so they can figure out how to help people get to them. It might be worth surveying people in rural Orange to help us identify where people would like to go on their buses; we could adjust or plan accordingly. Commissioner Price added that shopping centers also should be identified as destinations. They need stops where people actually go. Travis Myren said, in reply to a question from Commissioner Marcoplos, who noted bumper-to-bumper traffic on NC54 west of Carrboro going toward Chapel Hill during rush hours and on game days, one of the elements of the Bus and Rail Investment Plan are bus capital projects, which includes Park and Ride lots. They will need to reserve money in the plan for Park and Ride lots if a need is identified. Craig Benedict added that a demand study was conducted 4-5 years ago. In reply to a suggestion from Commissioner Price, Travis Myren said County staff could ask Alamance County about sharing the cost of bus shelters/bus stops along the Orange- Alamance Connector. They would not collect fare box revenue from riders getting on the Connector route in Alamance County; these are midday connections. Craig Benedict added that the Connector links the Orange County system to Piedmont Rapid Transit; they hand off some passengers that continue with us to Durham. Chair Dorosin agreed that the two counties should explore cost sharing. Commissioner McKee also agreed. Commissioner Rich said the County should have a regional perspective when looking at bus service. She said she is not saying they shouldn't ask Alamance County to cost share but the most important goal is to help people who need to get to places while getting them out of their cars. If we're collecting fares from them, then they already are helping to pay for the system. Travis Myren continued with the "anticipated forces of change" portion of his presentation. 6 Public Transportation Anticipated Forces of Change o Bus and Rail Investment Plan — Update Pending • Funding Allocations and Potential Financial Exposure ➢ 2020 Census o Urban growth will Increase Federal Funds for Urban Services o Results in a Proportionate Decrease in Federal Funds for Rural Services ➢ Transportation Represents and Increasing Barrier to accessing County services o Human Services & Mental Health Services o Criminal Justice System ➢ Human Services Transportation Needs Analysis- graph ➢ Human Services Transportation Needs Analysis-graph Small Sample Size - 23 Public Transportation Planning and Resilience o Review and Update Transit Study - 2015 ➢ Commuter Benefits Program for County Employees o 50% Position Cost Share through TJCOG Transportation Demand Management Grant o Administer Telework Program, Carpool Ride Matching, GoPerks Incentive Program, and Subsidized Bus Passes ➢ Human Services Needs Analysis o Implement deviated zonal routes o Analyze Impact Post Implementation Public Transportation Planning and Resilience ➢ Criminal Justice Resource Office Collaboration o Court Events o Reentry ➢ Solicit Funding Partnerships; Grant Opportunities; Alternative Funding Sources o Replace Funding for Rural Services or Other Federal Reductions ➢ Board of Commissioners Policy Priority 2016 o Provides Support and Guides Budget Recommendations Chair Dorosin asked why the sample set for the Primary Form of Transportation portion of the Human Services Transportation Needs Analysis survey was 505 people, but only 23 people for the Difficult Start Locations portion. Travis Myren said the overall pool of people surveyed was the same but that participants were reluctant to provide their home addresses for the latter question. Commissioner Burroughs added that in both cases the sample population is of people already accessing County services; there probably are people not getting County services who also have transportation needs. 7 Commissioner Price said "resilience" should include consideration of how County residents' needs for transportation to human services can be met if federal funding is insufficient. Some people think there will be an increase in funding for transit in rural areas but we just do not know. Travis Myren then described the County's efforts to provide resilience to the public transportation system. The Board then had a general discussion prompted by the agenda questions: (1) what significant forces of change other than those presented by staff do you anticipate in the context of public transportation, (2) what other likely consequences of those forces are you concerned about, and (3) how else to think about resilience in this context? Commissioner Price said students' ability to get to their educational institutions -- high school or Durham Tech, for example -- should be factored into the County's transportation resilience planning. Commissioner Jacobs, the Board's representative on the Burlington-Graham MPO, noted that their transportation entity is trying to partner with GoTriangle as much as possible. But it is not getting the support it needs from the Alamance County Board of Commissioners. This has been demonstrated in discussions about the quarter-cent sales tax for transportation. Meanwhile, they have a bus route that follows NC54 from Graham-Mebane to UNC that is so overused that people drive west in order to have a seat when they get on the bus. They don't have the money to add new buses, but people are sitting on the floor of the buses. He said he is open to direction from the Board to open an exploration with them about meeting our residents' needs for public transportation in that corridor in a way that would meet their needs too. Commissioner Rich reiterated that Orange County should pursue funding from Alamance County— however long that might take --while at the same time moving forward now on our own plans to provide the needed services between the two counties even if additional funding from Alamance is not forthcoming. She said she wants them to be committed to helping our residents get where they need to go without needing their cars. Craig Benedict said the 2012 Bus and Rail Investment Plan had an unfunded project called the White Cross Express. Maybe staff can revive that, he said. Piedmont Rapid Transit runs a route from Graham to UNC and then on to Duke University. It takes 45 minutes on that route to get from UNC to Duke. Maybe we can take some of those Duke passengers in Mebane in exchange for the capacity that might provide for picking up some passengers in White Cross who want to get to UNC. Commissioner Dorosin noted that 80% of people drive by themselves to access human services. Maybe they can offer some type of"Uber" program to get people out of their cars while also putting some needing funds into other residents' pockets. Since people are already driving to DSS or to a Senior Center from, say, Cedar Grove, why not recruit or engage them to pick up additional passengers, perhaps in return for some small compensation. Bonnie Hammersley said that in other counties a Mobility Coordinator position connects drivers and riders. Orange County's Mobility Coordinator is in the Department on Aging and so is not currently connecting drivers and riders for all of the County's services. Commissioner Dorosin added that churches have vans that sit in their parking lots except on Sundays and Wednesdays; perhaps they could be integrated into the transportation system. Janet Sparks, Child Support Services Director, cautioned against relying too heavily on the 80% statistic. These are the people they know about, but they are not the underserved. The survey was taken at one point in time and was a new process for them. They are talking about revisiting this survey with the Informatics Team to improve our methodology, for example by partnering with OCIM. Also, people might have their own car or scooter but those vehicles do not always work. 8 Commissioner Jacobs recognized Brennan Bouma, Orange County's Sustainability Coordinator. Among Brennan Bouma's responsibilities is to develop and support programs for Orange County employees' mobility. Brennan Bouma highlighted the Commuter Benefits Program for County Employees referenced in Travis Myren's presentation, including the staff Telework Program and Share the Ride NC, which provides anonymous car pool matching for neighbors who otherwise would not know they are driving to the same destinations at the same times. He is collaborating with Theo Letman to apply for the 50% cost share grant referenced in Travis Myren's presentation, which will go towards a Transportation Demand Management position. If the grant proposal is successful and the Board decides to provide the other 50% for that position then the County will have a person to coordinate diverse projects and programs aimed at getting people out of their single occupancy vehicles. In reply to a question from Commissioner Jacobs, Brennan Bouma said his view of "sustainability" is consistent with the general consensus he is hearing in the Board's discussion today: a holistic view. If any project can advance social equity, environmental quality, and economic prosperity then he would consider it sustainable. Any time they can identify the missing element in a project across those three elements they are working towards sustainability and he said he is happy to take the Board's direction on this. Commissioner Jacobs referenced Commissioner Price's earlier point about Durham providing subsidies to Durham Tech students to use public transportation. The Orange County subcommittee considering a scholarship program for Durham Tech students might want to consider how to help the scholarship recipients get to class using public transportation at a reduced rate or no cost. They would be helping an economically disadvantaged group access services using public transportation, thereby integrating all three elements of sustainability. Commissioner Price said sustainability would be advanced by increasing the frequency of the buses. People need flexibility within the ten hours of the day that they are trying to get to stores or to work; they might also consider night buses as demand picks up. People will get out of their cars when they know they can rely on the bus. Commissioner Burroughs said she was inspired by the "Uber" ride share idea raised earlier by Commissioner Dorosin and developed further in a practical sense when the Manager explained what a Mobility Coordinator does. It combines all three of the sustainability elements, and reminded her of Project Engage, where they are connecting different tiers and staff and churches to make something happen. If they were voting now she would put all of her dots on that idea. Commissioner Marcoplos noted that people drive long distances to get to Tanger Outlets in Mebane. Perhaps Tanger Outlets would be interested in partnering with Orange County on public transportation since our buses deliver customers to them and there is an environmental impact from all the drivers. Commissioner Rich noted that at least part of their parking lot is located within Orange County. Chair Dorosin said another angle on sustainable transportation is bringing things to where people already are located. He said he often buys stuff on line, for example. This links this conversation to the next one they are going to have on broadband. It also can direct them to services that they might bring to community centers in the rural parts of our county. A lot of counties have satellite offices at which rural residents can pay fines, access court documents, apply for SNAP benefits, etc. They need not be elaborate facilities; they can be store fronts or small office buildings. What services or programs can be moved closer to residents? Commissioner Jacobs wondered if UNC Hospitals contributes to the Hillsborough routes. If they can approach Tanger Outlets then certainly they should approach UNC Hospitals. It has a major impact and is about to add another wing. If Hillsborough does not ask them then they should. 9 Commissioner Jacobs noted that the Manager is conducting an analysis of how growth in the municipalities is affecting County services. They can take a less passive approach to transportation impacts now that they have transportation staff. Perhaps a team can be assembled to engage proactively with municipal staffs about the impact of development on the County transportation system. For example, what if Carrboro wanted to develop more intensively along Old 86? Our participation on the MPOs is formulaic, and getting a project onto a TIP is a 7-10 year process. They need more creative ways of getting involved in the transportation planning process with the neighbors who affect them, including Alamance. Commissioner Rich noted that Commissioner McKee has been asking for years to bring services and programs into the rural parts of the County. It does not have to be permanent: periodic flu shots in Cedar Grove, for example, or blood pressure or diabetes screening. Commissioner McKee said the Cedar Grove community center has smaller rooms that would support the kinds of services that Commissioner Rich is talking about. He asked Janet Sparks what the status is of bringing such services to the community centers. Janet Sparks replied that the Department Directors recently met with the Cedar Grove staff for initial conversations. Bonnie Hammersley said her direction to David Caldwell when he was the Community Center Coordinator was to assess needs and coordinate with the Department Directors and Manager in developing a plan for bringing services to the centers. He recently took a different position with the County and they are recruiting now to refill the position. The new coordinator will continue the work that Mr. Caldwell started. In the meantime, she is meeting weekly with representatives from the community centers, talking mostly about facilities because the winter is a down time for programming. Commissioner McKee expressed support for asking Tanger Outlets for a contribution, and for improving the ability of rural residents -- including people in Bingham Township -- to access services via public transportation. There are a lot of elderly people in this county who do not have family who can drive them to appointments and they need to keep that in mind. Commissioner McKee said they also need to keep the LRT component of our transportation plans in mind. The increase in its cost impacts everything they are talking about today. If they are truly committed to holding down their local taxes then this Board is going to need to ask some very serious questions about LRT. None of them imagined a year ago that the borrowing for that project would go out to 2062. He said he only found out about that a month ago, and only because he asked a question from out of the blue. As Commissioner Dorosin said earlier today, sustainability is not only about holding the line, it also is about moving forward. They won't be moving forward if they commit themselves to repeated tax increases; they'll just be spinning their wheels. Commissioner Price said most of the community centers hosted County services before those services were cut back. Cedar Grove hosted Durham Tech, the library, and day care for example. Efland-Cheeks and Rogers Road had services as well. The issue now is whether they are behind decentralizing services again. The people want it, but the "powers that be" at the time shut it down. Example 2: Broadband Following a stretch break, Travis Myren presented on the status quo, forces of change, and resilience measures planned or being taken by the County with regard to broadband. The PowerPoint presentation is below: Broadband Access National Statistics-graph Orange County Statistics 10 Status Quo o Approximately 3,000 Households Countywide without Traditional Broadband Access ➢ Broadband Survey/Needs Assessment o 1,179 Households Responded o 94% have Internet Access o 76% with Access are Dissatisfied with Current Service Broadband Access-graph Broadband Access-graph ➢ Legislative Constraints o Current Law Does Not Allow Counties to Provide Internet Service ➢ Current Orange County Initiatives o Free public wireless @ County facilities o Public Computer Access with Free Internet ➢ Libraries, Community Centers, Hillsborough Commons ➢ Library Hotspot Program ➢ 94 Units in Circulation ➢ 563 Loans Since Program Inception ➢ 90 to 150 on Waitlist Depending on Month Broadband Access-graph Library Hotspot Checkouts Broadband Access-graph Anticipated Forces of Change o Increasing Importance of High Speed Internet Access • Education, Economic Development, Public Safety, Health ➢ Technological Change o Improved Wireless Capability and Speeds • Potential Replacement for Fiber to Home but not Backhaul ➢ Urban/Rural Service Disparity Continues o Population Density and Customer Base Drive Private Investment o Lack of Regulatory Mechanism to Mandate Internet Service in Targeted Geographic Areas Broadband Access Planning and Resilience o County Owned Fiber Installations with Partner Agencies • Current Fiber Study— Results in March/April • Dark Fiber Access to Internet Service Providers ➢ Emergency Radio System o Tower Infrastructure o High Speed Wireless Service to Home o High Speed Backhaul Leased to Commercial Providers ➢ Public Private Partnership Analysis o Public Investment to Serve Rural Areas o Regional Planning with TJCOG — Regional CIO Meeting 11 o Orange Public Education Network (OPEN) • Collaboration among Orange County Agencies— Local Governments, Education, Utility Providers ***Suggestion by Board: Purchase more hot spots Lobby Legislators ➢ Board of Commissioners Policy Priority 2016 ➢ Priority Legislative Agenda Item In reply to a question from Commissioner McKee, Travis Myren said "traditional" broadband services are those not provided through a satellite connection. In reply to a question from Commissioner Price, Travis Myren said the estimate of approximately 3,000 households without traditional broadband access came from knowledge that 6% of the county's population does not have a connection. The 6% comes from replies to a County survey in which 94% of the people who responded said they have a traditional connection. Jim Northrup, the County's Chief Information Officer, said that participation in the survey was promoted through radio spots and accessible via paper ballots at the town halls and libraries, and an online link. Travis Myren said it was not a comprehensive mail survey. They relied upon these venues to collect the data. Commissioner Price said she knows where the broadband cables run throughout the county, but that it is difficult to determine who is not being served. Time Warner will put the cable in the ground but they will not connect to people's homes. Commissioner Jacobs asked for either an explanation today or for the Board's representatives to the Schools/County Collaboration Work Group to seek an explanation, of the school districts' disinterest in the County's hotspot program. Bonnie Hammersley said she would follow-up on that. In reply to a question from Chair Dorosin, John Roberts, County Attorney, said the County's authority to provide broadband access is unclear. A UNC School of Government professor has written that, on one hand, counties may own infrastructure and lease excess capacity but, on the other hand, counties may not own infrastructure and lease excess capacity. He said he thought there are ways to get some lines in the ground and get internet capacity to people who need it. But the County may not function as an internet service provider and it is open for debate how the County may participate in partnerships with private providers. They will have to do some experimentation and he has some ideas about how it may work. He said that Chair Dorosin's earlier analogy, as follows, was a good one: the County can lay the pipe but cannot provide the water or connect the pipe to people's homes. Commissioner Rich said the issue is that corporations do not want to compete with local governments because counties and municipalities can lower the price of this utility that the private sector is providing. Chair Dorosin asked how municipalities are allowed to provide free Wi-Fi access in their downtowns. John Roberts explained that there is nothing under law requiring a local government from putting in an access code or password at a public hot spot; on paper the local government is the primary user of that access. Jim Northup said it is allowed because the local government is not charging people to use the Wi-Fi; there is no customer base. We can't bill for the service, but the Wi-Fi in all of their facilities fits within the law, and everyone is doing it. 12 John Roberts said they are giving their employees access not serving as an internet service provider; if anyone else happens to gain access then that is OK. In reply to a question from Commissioner Burroughs, John Roberts said a School of Government professor probably would say that the County cannot pay a private internet provider a subsidy to extend service to unserved parts of the county. However, there is a way to give a grant to a service provider who builds something for the County. The County would have control over part of the access and the provider would have control over the other part. They are still looking at how to do that within the bounds of the very restrictive statute. Commissioner Burroughs said can't they simply give them a grant to extend the service. John Roberts said that may be an option. This statute is two years old and there has been no challenge to it yet. Any County can be as aggressive as it wants to be; it will take a taxpayer or private internet service provider to come forward with a lawsuit saying that the County lacks the authority or is giving unfair advantage to a competitor in order for a court to give an opinion on the limits of this statute. Commissioner Jacobs said the new President and the new FCC Chair are both against net neutrality. At the same time, the new FCC Chair believes there is a digital divide in the country. Let's keep in mind the option of negotiating some kind of net neutrality in systems we subsidize. They could provide grants and make arrangements for broadband infrastructure to Cedar Grove, for example, but it might cost households in rural areas an extra $10 or more to download a PowerPoint presentation from our website because without net neutrality the provider can charge by the amount of data received on top of the monthly fee. He added that the Board should be kept apprised of changes under discussion at the federal level regarding broadband and net neutrality. He said federal policy will set the context for the State's policies. Commissioner Marcoplos said the General Assembly pays lip service to helping out rural areas, yet stifles progress. He asked what the status is of broadband-access policy at the State level, and whether the Association of County Commissioners has any influence on this matter. Rather than our going through contortions, they should try to get rid of this restrictive law. Commissioner Rich said she meets regularly with Travis Myren and Jim Northup to talk about broadband. She also is on the National Association of Counties Telecommunications and Technology Committee. There are federal bills under consideration now to make it harder to extend broadband to underserved communities. Maryland is the leader in resolutions on all of this and she can pass along additional information. Commissioner Rich said TJCOG brought in some people in the McCrory Administration to a conference on broadband access. She said she and Jim Northup participated. The state officials pushed the conversation to the limit without supporting changes to the state law. They make it sound like they are doing the best they can to help everybody, but they did not try to change any of those laws. The problem is the lobbying by the telecommunications companies. Commissioner Rich said that the County already is providing subsidies through its hotspots program. They are already partnering, and need to figure out how to expand the partnership. In reply to a question from Commissioner Rich, John Roberts said it is not specifically prohibited under state law for the County to distribute hotspot devices to residents. In reply to a question from Commissioner Burroughs, John Roberts said one or two North Carolina municipalities, including Wilson, have special legislative authority to provide internet service. Commissioner Burroughs said it would be good to know how much it is costing these municipalities to provide internet services. They keep thinking that it would be better if they had the authority but they also need some ballpark estimates in order to understand whether they could afford it. Is this really something they should be hoping for. Jim Northup said each hotspot costs the County $480 per unit per year. 13 In reply to a question from Chair Dorosin, John Roberts said incentives for extending broadband service could indeed be provided in the context of negotiations with internet service providers over their access to the County's emergency radio towers. In reply to a question from Commissioner Marcoplos, Jim Northup said it became legal for Greenlight, the City of Wilson's fiber optic network, to expand beyond the county borders after the FCC required internet service providers to be regulated as a utility. North Carolina and Tennessee then won a lawsuit against the FCC on that point. But since Greenlight already had extended its network into Pinetops, Wilson agreed to provide internet service for free to Pinetops until special legislation is passed allowing Wilson and Pinetops to have a business partnership. Commissioner McKee said a representative of Piedmont Electric asked him to convey the Cooperative's interest in collaborating with the County on broadband. Their towers and poles might be able to play a role in the extension of broadband. Jim Northup explained a recent County attempt at attracting smaller providers. The County began collaborating with the State on a vertical assets inventory in August 2015. In that context they were able to do customer market research for internet service providers as an incentive for them to extend into underserved areas. Eight or nine providers attended a meeting, including landline and wireless services. They briefed the attendees on all the vertical assets located in Orange County, including towers not owned by the County and County buildings (our most numerous vertical asset). Only one company gave them a proposal, but it had an exorbitant fee and showed no interest in expanding into their underserved areas. Commissioner McKee added that there was not a lot of enthusiasm. Jim Northup said that they learned from that. Now they are looking at what other communities do to attract providers, and that appears to be internal fiber projects: providing fiber networks to "backhaul" to existing towers so that smaller providers can be more competitive against the larger providers. The fiber they are installing will connect our facilities to each other while at the same time providing something of value they can offer to smaller providers needing incentives to connect to the larger system. John Roberts said, in reply to a question from Chair Dorosin, even if the law prohibiting local governments from becoming internet service providers were repealed, there is still no authority under any legislation permitting counties to do so. In North Carolina, if the State has not authorized a county to do something then the county may not do it. In addition, since there is special legislation allowing some municipalities to act as internet service providers, then the absence of explicit State authority for counties to act as internet service providers is especially prohibitive. Chair Dorosin said that a better legislative strategy for Orange County would be to get local authorization to serve as an internet provider rather than to repeal the existing prohibition. Commissioner Jacobs said Orange County is an aquarium inside an ocean. ALEC promulgated a model law that has been adopted by dozens of states to prevent local governments from providing this kind of service. Now that we at least have a Democratic Governor, they might explore whether there is interest in pursuing legislation to help all rural communities. Rural development is supposed to be an interest of the people who control our State government. He said he happened to believe that they are immune to the notion of contradiction or hypocrisy, and so appeals to such notions will do nothing. But Senator Tillis was in the General Assembly when the restrictions on local governments were passed. He might be able to tell them why he is opposed to local authority. They could then go to someone who might be willing to propose an adjustment to the legislation. He said he does not think the legislature is going to be supportive of a local authorization for an individual county, and if it were, then only Durham would be less likely to get an individual authorization from the legislature than Orange. He said there might be specific points in the law that they can get clarified in our favor by either the legislature or the Governor making a statewide proposal. 14 Commissioner Price said there are efforts taking place at the state and national levels to give local governments authority to expand internet access into underserved areas. But they are not there yet. The N.C. Association of County Commissioners has been getting more support for its broadband initiatives because the rural counties are speaking up. If you add in the growing interest statewide in telehealth, internet-based education, workforce development, and economic development, then they are getting close to a winning coalition. At the national level, USDA has broadband grants for rural economic development. And NACo's leadership training is focused on seeing internet as a utility; those sessions included people from AT&T. Commissioner Burroughs said one thing the Board can do in the short run is to cost out what it would take to get more of the hotspots. Jim Northup said that the hotspots work only at locations receiving good, strong cell coverage from Verizon. They are being loaned to people who do not have internet, either because cable service is not available on their street or because they cannot afford it. The $480 annual cost per unit is paid by the County to Verizon. That cost already is negotiated through a State contract, so the County would not be able to reduce the cost by purchasing more units. The hotspot does a good penetration into areas that are not served by cable; about 4% of the County's geographic area does not have internet access, and the hotspots cover about 50% of that unserved area. Chair Dorosin said that as they think about using space on their cell towers as incentives, they could also be thinking about expanding cell service to underserved areas, and then extending the hotspots there. Jim Northup said, in reply to a question from Commissioner McKee, Verizon could at any time end the hotspot program. Once they negotiate the State contract they could pull the program. So it really is a Band-Aid approach. Hotspots are not a long term strategic solution. However, equipment failure is not a factor in our sustainability analysis. The contract requires Verizon to replace lost or broken units that have been in our possession for more than three months. There is no cost to the county. The range is like the wireless router in a home which is limited to about three rooms away. However, one could supplement a hotspot with a range extender. Commissioner McKee wondered whether power line towers and poles could be used in conjunction with repeaters or range extenders to serve a greater area than the hotspots alone. Jim Northup said that the electric utilities are trying to determine whether their easements would allow the placement of communications infrastructure. Hotspots are pretty much a household solution and not for a more extended range. Commissioner McKee said he was not hopeful about achieving local authority to do more from either Raleigh or Washington, D.C. Commissioner Rich said that decision makers in Raleigh and Washington will either have to provide a solution or admit that they do not want to supply broadband to rural residents. There are bills in Congress right now that will tie their hands further: they are about cell towers and who can use them. They need to be aware of this and she will distribute those bills to everyone. Example 3: Infrastructure The Manager presented on (a) the status quo, (b) anticipated forces of change and likely consequences, (c) how the County currently plans/prepares/provides for resilience in this context. Following a stretch break, Travis Myren presented on the status quo, forces of change, and resilience measures planned or being taken by the County with regard to infrastructure. Travis Myren made the following PowerPoint presentation: Infrastructure Status Quo 15 ➢ Environmental Responsibility Goals (2005) o Orange County Environmental Action Committee o Interdepartmental Cooperation —Sustainability Coordinator o Sustainability website: www.orangecountync.gov/departments/asset management services (ams)/sustain ability.php )=. Resource Conservation — Energy, Fuel, Water o Reduction Goals Established Based on State Energy Office Goals o Electric Vehicle Charging Stations -2 New Sites in 2017 o Technical Assistance through SolSmart Program to Build Solar Energy Systems o County Fleet Study • Reduce Total Fleet Size • Replace Older, Less Efficient Vehicles with More Efficient Vehicles • Create Shared Vehicle Pools ➢ Waste Reduction and Recycling ➢ 62% Waste Reduction Rate Compared to 1991 Base Year ➢ Waste and Recycling Audit for Public Facilities ➢ Waste Wise Events Toolkit and Administrative Policy for County Events ➢ Infrastructure ➢ Green Building Standards o TJCOG High Performance Building Standards Adopted o Geothermal Systems o Six Facilities o 30%-50% Reduction in Heating and Cooling Energy Costs o Passive solar design o LED High Efficiency Lighting Design o "Cool Roof" Design Principles o Bio-retention and Water Reclamation Initiatives o Emerging Technology Research - Battery Storage to Replace Generators ➢ Air Quality through Transportation Alternatives o Transportation Alternatives Program for County employees o Bike Share Program with Town of Hillsborough — In Development ➢ Environmentally Sensitive Chemicals and Materials o Restroom Floor Sealing — No Wax to Avoid Stripping o Pesticide Review on County Owned Properties ➢ Water Quality and Conservation o Hydrilla Task Force— Eno River o Falls Lake Water Quality Testing with Upper Neuse River Basin Association o Increased Inspection and Maintenance of Stormwater Control Measures at County Owned Sites ➢ Growth Management o Commission for Environment Review of Flexible Minor Subdivisions o Service Demand Study Related to Current and Projected Growth ➢ Information Technology 16 o Paperless Work Order System —AMS o Computer Recycling Program with Schools o Electronic Document Processing and Storage ➢ Infrastructure-graph ➢ Infrastructure=graph Anticipated Forces of Change o Population and Service Demands • Traffic Congestion • Air Quality • Impervious Surface Constraints • Water Quality and Capacity ➢ Climate Change o More Frequent and Extreme Weather Events o Design and Operation Considerations of Major Systems and Equipment o Emergency Management Reponses to Weather Events In reply to a question from Commissioner McKee, David Stancil, Director of the County's Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation, said a voluntary program through which farmers cooperated to monitor farm ponds for Hydrilla easily could be pursued, perhaps through the Soil and Conservation Districts. In reply to a question from Commissioner Rich, David Stancil said Hydrilla is no longer used in home aquariums as typically as in the past, but it is not prohibited. In reply to a question from Commissioner Jacobs, Jeff Thompson, Director of Asset Management Services, said the Sheriff's automotive fleet is getting higher mileage than in the past, but as heavier vehicles they are generally going to be less efficient. Commissioner Dorosin suggested that heavier vehicles— especially ambulances and buses — be plotted separately from the rest of the County's fleet on the County Utilities Reduction: Goal vs. Trends chart. In reply to a question from Commissioner Rich, Jeff Thompson said the fluctuation in water use on the chart was due to new square footage on the west campus coming on line during 2009-10. Many of those facilities have water reclamation projects associated with them. Some of those projects are not working as well as County staff would like, and so there is intermittent use of those systems. Jeff Thompson also said the schools are not included on the chart. Commissioner Rich said it would be good to see that data too. Chair Dorosin said the reductions illustrated by the chart are even more significant in light of the County's population growth, growth in the number of County employees, and increase in square footage under the County's control. As they are telling this story they need to be able to overlay that context onto these data. Commissioner Jacobs said it is clear that Orange County is doing a great job trying to address environmental concerns in every way possible. But if they don't tell their loved ones that you love them, then they can feel taken for granted. They don't discuss the environment anymore in this community. They just assume that they are doing a great job. Since there is about to be the largest impact on environmental standards than ever before, because of the new federal administration, he would like to suggest that this Board form an environmental action committee. While staff is great at doing this, the elected perspective is different and might 17 open opportunities for new ideas that staff are not able to suggest. It also will help us to communicate about these issues to the public. Commissioner Dorosin agreed. In reply to a question from Chair Dorosin, Brenda Bartholomew, Human Resources Director, said information was collected about a year ago and could be reported to the Board in aggregate regarding the counties in which County employees live, how they are getting to work, and over what distances they are commuting. Chair Dorosin said he would like to understand the infrastructure picture from a wider perspective, such as whether water and sewer will be extended up Old 86 and where it is on NC-54 and where it can go to, what is going to happen in the areas around the Economic Development Districts and Perry Hill and Washington Street. Maybe they could have a work session on infrastructure external to the County government. "Meeting in a Minute" The group adjourned for lunch. When the group reconvened, Bonnie Hammersley presented a short video: an example of a new communications tool produced by Todd McGee, the County's Community Relations Director. It was a one-minute video encapsulation of a recent Board meeting narrated by Chair Dorosin. The County webpage will post a similar "meeting in a minute" video after each Board meeting. Infrastructure, continued The group then continued talking about resilience and infrastructure. Commissioner Marcoplos said there is about 15-20 years worth of landfill space left in North Carolina; costs can only go up. They will be on a more sustainable path if they treated their waste like it was a resource. They need to site a transfer station in Orange County in order to save fuel and money, reduce pollution, and make ourselves less beholden to the waste management corporations. Chair Dorosin said the County's waste management issue—the discussion about controlling our destiny -- is much broader than waste transfer; they are still taking their waste to some other community. Commissioner Marcoplos agreed and said he has a proposed plan for a presentation at another time. Commissioner Jacobs recalled a recommendation from the Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling Task Force that the County treat the communities receiving their waste with the same care they would have for their own community. He said he does not think they have followed through on this. If they are going to have a transfer station, then they should visit the communities near the landfills where they would be sending their waste, learn how they are being treated, and speak to their elected officials. Commissioner Jacobs said they have had discussions about taking responsibility for their own waste within Orange County, but two-thirds of the waste generated in Orange County comes from Chapel Hill and Carrboro. They have no intention of having that waste disposed of within their jurisdiction. If their policy were to take responsibility, then their officials would want to dispose the waste somewhere near a community in rural Orange; that would be no more ethical or equitable than the current arrangement. Sometimes he thinks people feel they are not being environmentally just because they are sending their waste out of the county. But there are no environmentally just solutions that are cost effective. They are too small and the environmentally safe technologies are too expensive. This is a tough one to crack, and they should keep working on it. Commissioner Marcoplos described a field trip he took to the Sampson County landfill. It is a much more beat down community than Rogers Road. The landfill is closer to the houses. He said you can see it through the pine trees from very impoverished homes. There is trash on 18 the roads for miles around the landfill. he would say they have taken a step backwards in terms of environmental justice. They should not be hide-bound by the much longer term considerations when they talk about a transfer station, because the transfer station is a necessary step no matter what else they do. Bonnie Hammersley said on the next Monday night, staff will be updating the Solid Waste Advisory Group on the transfer station process. The Board approved $100,000 in the Capital Improvement Investment Plan for collaborative planning. She said they have met with Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough, and are inviting Durham (because there will be an impact to Durham if we decide to build a transfer station) and UNC to the next meeting. They have had the same conversation about not letting something else detour the process, but everybody around the table agreed they need a longer range plan that includes what they are going to do next because otherwise they will be shipping their waste away without knowing what is happening to it. The conversation today is helpful because it informs her as to what the Board needs. Commissioner Jacobs said he believed the Board had adopted the recommendation of the Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling Task Force into policy, and if that is so then, as Commissioner Marcoplos had done, the Board should visit the communities where Durham is shipping Orange County's waste. Commissioner Jacobs suggested the Board refresh itself on the County's land use plan in order to have the understanding it needs to make strategic investments in high-value infrastructure. He said they have not looked at it in years. They assume staff is taking care of it in accordance with what they have done. Land use planning is to an extent a guarantee to home owners: they are making the biggest investment in their life, and getting some level of assurance from local government that they know the kind of neighborhood they are living in. There is an element of fairness or justice to the people who are relying on them, to make sure they are taking their expectations into consideration when land use changes are being considered. Chair Dorosin noted that the infrastructure presentation before lunch was focused internally on the County government. The anticipated forces of change are also relevant to non- government actors. How can they serve as a model to help others be more sustainable. Commissioner Rich agreed. She said they have talked about this at the most recent Triangle J COG meeting. They learned that some companies within the RTP are cutting back on telecommuting, for example. They might want to tap into the communications the COG is preparing to have with some of the larger companies within RTP, perhaps doing the same kind of communicating externally here. They do try to pass along what they know about green building to the residents of Orange County. Chapel Hill had a grant to help lower-income residents weatherize their homes; they could look into things like that. Chair Dorosin said it would be helpful to anticipate the infrastructure needs associated with the new Hillsborough growth and with growth near the County's economic development nodes, and to be ready to show "the next Morinaga" how they do resilience in Orange County, so they also can apply sustainable practices. Commissioner Rich said that Apex is encouraging people who are building new homes to prepare for adding solar panels, because it is easier to wire the homes for solar when they are being built rather than retroactively. That would be really good for Hillsborough, since they are adding thousands of homes. Commissioner Burroughs added that sustainability considerations also could be added to the housing that the County is promoting through the bond. Commissioner Jacobs recalled a retreat at which the purpose was to improve communications to the public about what the County does. They offered domestic partner benefits to our employees before the Towns, for example, and that never gets reported. They did living wage increases before the Towns. Orange County is only one of two counties in the 19 state that has had affordable housing bonds—and they have done three. They are investing in recycling and achieving results like no other county is. They had one of the first land use plans and watershed protection plans in the state. Their Joint Planning Agreement is still unique and the creation of OWASA. If they want to serve as a model for resilience in infrastructure, then when they do something positive they have to communicate it. Chair Dorosin suggested an "Orange County First" moment at the beginning of every Board meeting. They could announce their achievements in reducing water and fuel use, for example. In reply to a question from Commissioner Marcoplos, David Stancil said the County's environmental health staff would be able to inform the Board of the extent to which all county residents have access to safe drinking water. They have aesthetic issues throughout the county, he said, from naturally occurring contaminants. Iron manganese discolors some residents' well water, for example, but the levels are below those at which they would have any concerns about drinking water safety. He said he is not aware of any safety issues related to the public water supplies through Hillsborough or OWASA. Environmental Health can review their well water records for any pockets or patterns of contamination. Commissioner Marcoplos asked about the water supply in the Rogers Road neighborhood and a cancer cluster he has heard about in the Mebane/Efland-Cheeks area. Commissioner Jacobs recalled a neighborhood near Governor Burke Road where residents thought they had a cancer cluster. The Health Department got the State to investigate and there was no evidence of that. Commissioner Jacobs said part of why the county paid to put public water into the Rogers Road community was because people were complaining about their water quality. Commissioner Marcoplos recalled that none of the governments wanted to investigate the presence of contaminants in the soils around Rogers Road because then they would have been responsible for clean up. Commissioner Jacobs said he was not sure how those concerns were dealt with, although he recalled that the County had dealt with some of it. Gayle Wilson, Solid Waste Management Director, said the question was raised in the late 1990's about whether the landfill was contaminating the Rogers Road water supply. Environmental Health did a large number of environmental tests in the neighborhood and concluded that there were no indicators. All a resident had to do was call for a test; even if it was four times a year Environmental Health did it. There were contaminants found related to landfills, but for the most part it was the residents' failing septic systems that were contaminating the wells. That seemed to be the overriding issue of water there. The Board extended public water to the neighborhood not too long after that so the contaminated wells should not be so much of an issue over there now. Commissioner Jacobs recalled that Tara Fikes, former Director of Housing and Community Development, had informed the Board that some county residents did not have access to functional wells and septic systems, but she could never pin down who they were. We might look at the US Census data to see if there are still people reporting that they don't have functional wells or septic systems. David Stancil added that in groundwater studies conducted in the late 1990s near NC-54 South, in the southeastern corner of the county, the Chatham granitic pluton soils showed elevated levels of radon. This is not significant with regard to drinking water, but can be a concern with regard to the aeration of the radon: hot showers would have aerated that radon. About a decade ago Environmental Health distributed flyers to residents in the area about this. Commissioner Jacobs said Fairview has higher levels of arsenic in its soils; before they built the park there the county investigated to see if there was some manmade source but it turned out to be naturally occurring. 20 General Framework for Making the County More Resilient The group then focused on a more general discussion, prompted by these three questions on the agenda: What policy issues other than the three examples are especially vulnerable to external forces of change?What external forces of change other than the ones already discussed in the three examples are of interest/concern to you?What are some ideas that might be applied across the County's policy agenda for making the County more resilient? Bonnie Hammersley distributed a handout with examples of potential additional policy issues relevant to the general resilience discussion. She said these issues have not been included in other County planning documents, such as the CIP. They are items they have heard about in other forums and from other entities that she thought the Board should be aware of. Chair Dorosin said that Orange County has a rural-urban divide, much like the divide in the rest of the country illustrated by the most recent presidential election results. He said he does not want to make too much of it and would rather highlight what they have in common. How do they in their local rural and urban communities reaffirm their commitment to each other? What broader collaborative efforts would advance partnerships across their rural and urban communities in Orange County? How can they recognize the different needs in these communities as well as their shared goals? Chair Dorosin said in addition, he is acutely aware, as Board Chair, that some groups are more sophisticated at reaching out to them and better organized than others; how do they provide ways for all people in their community to communicate with them. Commissioner Jacobs said local agriculture brings people together in unique ways. He noted that next month Chair Dorosin will give the opening remarks at the 19th Orange County Agricultural Summit. They are one of the leaders in this state of promoting a local agricultural economy. This included their Lands Legacy Program, their conservation easements, PFAP, and what they are doing in Cedar Grove. They do this well and can look at their endeavors with an eye toward identifying what they can do better. Commissioner Jacobs said they can communicate with people in their urbanized areas to let them know how all of this contributes to their quality of life, to educate them about the value of the Rural Buffer. They also can communicate with people in their rural areas to ensure that they know they respect and appreciate what they do, and want to make it possible for them to make a living in agriculture. If they can identify things like that, it would smooth out the edges between the communities that sometimes see themselves as adverse when in fact they are interdependent. Chair Dorosin suggested the County recruit a cadre of"ambassadors" who would travel around the county, learn about all the wonderful things that are taking place, and then talk about those things back in their civic organizations, churches and neighborhoods. There are Friends of the Animal Shelter, for example, and Friends of the Library, so why not Friends of the County or Friends of Solid Waste? It is easy for people to know about the things that affect them directly, but harder for them to know about all of our parks or our Lands Legacy Program. Commissioner Marcoplos suggested "Friends of the Tax Office." Chair Dorosin added that the Tax Office has programs to help veterans, the elderly and the disabled; every meeting they get requests from people who say they did not know about programs they're eligible for. They need a "Friends of the Tax Office". Commissioner Rich said that the Family Success Alliance uses a similar model: they have ambassadors from their different neighborhoods whose job it is to learn about what is available for their zone, and they bring that information back. Every working parent cannot come to their meetings, but their ambassadors serve as conduits of information. Commissioner Rich said there are different ways to share information. Everything is not going to be in the meeting minutes or on TV. These new and different ideas for communicating are an important theme coming out of today's conversation. 21 Bonnie Hammersley said that the "ambassadors" idea reminds her of a Residents Academy. She said that is something that she has wanted to do here for a long time, but she hasn't had the resources until now (for example, through the new Community Relations Coordinator, Todd McGee). The Academy can help them to communicate, and it can help them to develop interest among residents in serving on their advisory committees. She said she has had conversations with Chapel Hill Town Manager Roger Stancil about doing a joint Residents Academy, to help people understand the differences across the Town and County. Project Engage does this for Aging services, but as they talk about doing something that would have a County-wide focus she thought this was important and worth considering. Commissioner Price said that Carrboro has a similar kind of"academy." Travis Myren said the Sheriff's Office also has one. Commissioner Marcoplos said the urban/rural divide is real. It keeps popping up in a number of issues— landfills, airports; the Light Rail is a good example. One of the key drivers is the way they elect their County Commissioners. It is not the most democratic way they can do it. There is never going to be a Republican County Commissioner in Orange County; that fuels a lot of understandable resentment, because people feel that they are not even a part of the process. He said in 1992, he and others brought up the issue of fair representation. A task force was formed that initially was completely against changing the way the County Commissioners were elected (five at-large seats), but they heard from the community and put out a report in 1993 recommending that it be changed. One recommendation was for Cumulative Voting, or Instant Runoff Voting. They need to give people a real vote. He said he would propose that they do this. It doesn't mean that a minority is going to run the County, it means that people can have a meaningful vote and might get one representative --which is fair for the proportion of people who are in that camp. It is an elegant system and a great way to bring people together by taking away the resentment. When the storm comes, it will be a lot better for everybody if they are closer together, less resentful, having more community. Chair Dorosin noted that the Board will have a work session in March to talk about the voting system; it's a good point that the voting system is relevant to the local urban/rural divide. In reply to a question from Chair Dorosin, Mr. Roberts said that Cumulative Voting is not prohibited in North Carolina. Commissioner Burroughs said that the Firearms Safety Committee is an example of an effort to collaborate across rural and urban residents. She said she does not think that should be a one-off. She said she could think of other issues that might benefit from a facilitated committee process, such as the bicycle issue. The value of the facilitated committee is having people representing all sides, taking time to have a thoughtful discussion, and develop recommendations to which they would be highly responsive. It's a model she hoped they will continue to use creatively. Commissioner Burroughs said on another note that there is an enormous risk from the new federal administration of losing funding for important County functions, including the risks that come from not knowing the status of federal funding until late in the local budget planning cycle. Commissioner Jacobs agreed, and said part of preparing for that risk is to remind themselves and their constituents that the County will not be able to fill the hole. They will need to strategically patch the biggest chasms. Commissioner Rich asked whether the Board should take another look at the CIP, given that the County needs to be more cautious about spending. Bonnie Hammersley said that the Board has an opportunity to review the CIP every year; the Board votes on funding items in the CIP one year at a time. As they go into FY 17-18 budget cycle the Board will have the opportunity for thoughtfulness within the context of our changing times, to decide whether it wants to change directions. Commissioner Jacobs said he is not sure that the annual CIP review is sufficient because it does not force the Board to confront its priorities. Staff often tells them they can 22 postpone projects for a year or two, but the project remains even if it is something no longer as important as something else that has come up or if it was based on a commitment made by a previous Board that this Board is not as committed to. Maybe they should have a real review of the projects, with an opportunity to reprioritize according to what the current Board really wanted to accomplish. Maybe they will need to free up more flexible money to enable them to deal with the holes that are going to open up. Maybe they can have a Plan A that lays out how they would like to expend their capital dollars if they can, and a Plan B that enables them to reconsider expenditures in six months. Their fund balance gives them a little flexibility, but its size is set before they even know what they are going to need. Bonnie Hammersley said that the structure is in place to do the CIP as Commissioner Jacobs was suggesting. They can do it that way but they don't. There are budget policies they can put in place to protect themselves. In another county she worked in there were so many uncertainties that they did not make capital expenditures in the first quarter of any fiscal year, for example. They also can take a look at the relationship between the operating and capital budgets. As Manager, she can control the CIP better than she can control the operating budget. She can hold back on bond financing when she needs to. They might take a look at how they do "pay as you go" funding. They can bring some tools back to the Board and they can give us further direction. Commissioner Jacobs recalled that he voted against buying the parking deck a few years back because it was presented in the spring. This was during the recession, and he thought they should understand how the purchase fit into the CIP. Commissioner Jacobs suggested the old Chapel Hill Town Hall be added to the Manager's list of potential additional issues. Commissioner Marcoplos noted the community's water supply is about 90% within our borders. This is a fortune and unique circumstance, and has enabled them to ensure that it is one of the cleanest water supplies in the nation. But they hear occasionally about the General Assembly tinkering with different jurisdictions. If a company needs water and the supply is not available then the legislature just makes it so the company can run the supply from another watershed. What would they do if a statewide drought took place and the legislature tried to take their water. Chair Dorosin said that he is concerned about the growing intolerance towards people of color, the LGBT community, Muslims, and other excluded groups. They think of themselves as a tolerant community, but he also thinks there is going to be increasing volatility between their residents. How do they talk about that, about racial equity, about protecting diverse residents, how their schools are engaging around these issues. These questions are vital. They need to be prepared for this component of the storm. And it is already happening. Commissioner Burroughs asked what the status is of local sanctuary jurisdictions. Commissioner Rich said that Carrboro calls itself a sanctuary city, but the Board of Aldermen has not passed anything. Commissioner Jacobs said that the federal government has not defined the term. The county passed a resolution years ago. Commissioner Marcoplos said he would like to understand better what authority the federal government has to take away local funds in the context of immigration issues. Commissioner Rich said some local faith congregations are considering themselves to be sanctuaries. Even if the county does do not identify itself as a sanctuary County, there are many places within the county that consider themselves sanctuaries. It is not clear how that fits into the federal, legal language. Commissioner Jacobs said the local governments in this county take each other for granted. They say we have the same values and stand together, but they don't put all of our umbrellas together so we all stay dry. One of the examples we as a Board can set for the larger community is to stand together with our fellow local governments. He said they almost never 23 see an official from another jurisdiction at the Pauli Murray Awards, for example, and very few at the Human Relations Commission gathering unless it is held at the Century Center. Do they have events like that that we should be going to? The schools should be included in this as well. They should be included when we celebrate "Orange County First," because they are doing a lot of things that are unique, innovative, exceptional, and pride worthy. Commissioner Jacobs said how many elected officials or residents even know about the Joint Planning Agreement anymore. It is a central pillar of our land use planning and in our relationships with the other governments with regard to annexation and providing public services. But they assume everything is good; that the Managers and Planning Directors will take care of it. Then something pops up, and they wonder if it covered. It used to be that the governments would keep each other informed about what they were doing through an email. If you didn't see the email you wouldn't know what the other governments were doing. Now we at least put things in writing. It is that kind of casualness; if we want to stand together you actually have to put some effort into it. Commissioner Price said there is a divide between the Haves and the Have-Nots. The middle income has dissipated since the recession, creating a huge divide. Our policies seem to forget sometimes that they have people with lesser means. Commissioner Price said they need to remember that people in this county have different values. Some are values that they share and some that are different. They need to respect other people's values. Commissioner Marcoplos cited the lack of home rule as being a large barrier to achieving many of the goals being discussed by the Board. They would be in so much better shape if they had the powers like California's municipalities. Sometimes he said he wondered if they could band together with other progressive counties in a lawsuit. They are getting down to crunch time for civilization, if you look at some data. It's a real impediment that they cannot do a lot of stuff that they need to do. Continual Monitoring and Evaluation of the County's Goals The Board reconvened after a stretch break to consider how the County evaluates its progress. Travis Myren called attention to a handout prepared by staff with a table containing each of the goals prioritized during the Board's 2016 retreat and, under each policy priority, what staff believes has been accomplished and what is left to do. Commissioner Burroughs said she appreciated the planning group putting this item on the agenda. She said the staff's handout was great, showing the goals, progress, and remaining efforts. She also credited staff with the Master Aging Plan process. The Board agreed, in reply to a request from Travis Myren, to add Public Safety as a priority area. Travis Myren said there is a lot going on in Public Safety/Criminal Justice even though it was not a priority from last year's retreat. Commissioner Jacobs asked that the Detention Center and body cameras be included under Public Safety. Travis Myren also suggested the inclusion of the Training Center and Emergency Radio network. Bonnie Hammersley added that this was the first year for tracking these goals. She said there is always the wish that things can be done faster. She said she is hoping that within the next six months to a year they will see additional progress on affordable housing. One achievement that does not show on the handout is the improved relationships they have built with the affordable housing providers. Staff will also be bringing a Housing Affordability policy to the February 16 work session. All the providers have had their say on that. Sometimes it does not look like a lot is happening, but behind the scenes they have made good progress. 24 Commissioner Jacobs said the Collins Ridge development is an opportunity for the Board to be proactive about its priorities. They are offering affordable units for veterans, but he does not know how specific their proposal is. Hillsborough's policy basically is that anything built in Hillsborough will be affordable. The County has some funds for affordable housing, and the developer was receptive to talking with our Planning Director about traffic issues. Maybe they will be receptive to talking with them about affordable housing too. Commissioner Jacobs said for them to make sure affordability is built into the development before it even gets off the ground. Bonnie Hammersley said the County's communications plan for affordable housing is one way to do this. They will be reaching out to developers, to encourage them to apply for County affordable housing funds. By reaching out they will show that they are serious about being willing to help them. They can add this as part of the affordable housing priority as well as in the communication plan. In reply to a question from Commissioner Jacobs, Bonnie Hammersley said the County is working with affordable housing providers to get at energy efficiency in manufactured housing. This has not fallen off their radar and is an important part of their affordable housing plan. She said Susan Levy, Habitat for Humanity's Executive Director, has done a really good at pulling the County and the Towns together. Bonnie Hammersley said she has been bringing in experts, including a Mr. Will Clark for the next meeting, who is an expert on manufactured homes. The mobile home strategy and the land banking strategies are pending items. This is an example of behind the scenes progress. Commissioner Rich said that the Community Home Trust Board had asked its Executive Director, Robert Dowling, to talk with Hillsborough and the developer of Collins Ridge. Hillsborough does not think it needs to have these kinds of conversations because, as Commissioner Jacobs said, it thinks anything it builds will be affordable. They need to switch that mindset, because it will be a missed opportunity for Community Home Trust if it persists. Commissioner Jacobs said that the BOCC can tell Hillsborough during an upcoming joint meeting that they would love to work with them on this without intruding on their prerogatives, and that they have directed their staff to talk with theirs. The voters of Orange County have said they want to advance affordable housing, and that includes the voters of Hillsborough. Hopefully, they can present this in a way that is less threatening to them than if they just read it in the paper. Craig Benedict reported that at a recent public hearing on Collins Ridge he learned that CASA will be a partner in the development of 88 units, although there were not many specifics. Hillsborough is interested in integrating affordable homes with the market rate single family units. They were a little bit at odds at how to achieve that. Commissioner Jacobs said that this was encouraging. Commissioner Price said she would have like to have seen more progress on solutions for people who are in crisis: people living in their cars or who had been living in substandard housing and forced to move to Alamance or Durham. This could be pursued in parallel to longer term affordable housing solutions; people have immediate needs that we are not responding to. It's hard to talk with people in immediate need about waiting until a bond passes and then waiting another year before funds become available. Commissioner Jacobs said the Board could have a conversation about Section 8 housing. It is another topic for which the change in the federal government is going to be a driver, but maybe there is something they can do to shorten waiting lists. It is similar to what they do from to time with child care. Maybe they need to put more money into the urgent home repair program, which is one of those holes they did fill but which keeps getting bigger. Chair Dorosin noted that there are things on the Manager's list (update on Goals) that are objective—they either accomplished something or they did not—and other things that are more subjective. "Develop a mobile home strategy" is an example of the subjective. Wouldn't it 25 be better to break the bigger topics down into smaller, observable pieces, so they can see what the progress is on these goals. They are more likely to initiate and complete the smaller, observable tasks than they are the things that are bigger and less well defined. Commissioner Burroughs said the Manager already is doing the smaller tasks; it would help us to see and hear about these smaller pieces when she reports on these goals. Chair Dorosin said the BOCC has a reputation for being really good at planning things— "let's have a mobile home strategy!" — but less good about actually executing things. They passed the bond and he is hoping that in a year they will be able to point to 100-150 housing units that were built as a result. It helps them to hold themselves accountable, and helps the community to hold them accountable, to have some of those types of goals that one can really see if they did it or not. Or they said they would build 100, but we built 75. They can tell people that they have the most innovative environmental policies in the state, but it is better if they can show people the reservoir that exists as a result of those policies, or the parks, or a map with all the land that has been preserved forever. Commissioner Jacobs said that some programs provide tangible outcomes better than others. The Lands Legacy program provides a report every two years. He said he does not know that they do anything like that with Agriculture or the Tax Office. He said revaluation is coming. The more they can show how the tax process is open to scrutiny and how it is helping people—accepting late filers under the Homestead exemption, for example, or how they work with people on Use Value -- the better it will be. People aren't always going to read a report, so they need to consider other things. Commissioner Jacobs said maybe Chair Dorosin's earlier idea about having an "Orange First" moment at the start of each meeting would be helpful. They can have a featured County service each week: how they help you. They don't really explain to anybody what they are doing in economic development; Morinaga is already four years ago. What are they doing now? They can talk about how they are helping small businesses, or putting the small business directory on line. Maybe they can ask senior staff to think about which services to highlight over the course of the coming year: They should be able to cover every department in 50 meetings, 25 of which are regularly scheduled. "What are they doing this year that is new or better than what they had done before?" Commissioner Burroughs agreed. They could do something very short at the start of their meetings, and accompany it with a ready-made press release or visual for the media and public to run with, so the outreach is ready to roll. Commissioner Jacobs suggested a link. Commissioner Burroughs said at least the people in the meeting room will have heard it and they could target the content to the people they think will be attending given what is on the agenda for the night. They can package it so it will be amplified beyond what Chair Dorosin says in that short message. Commissioner Marcoplos asked what the most successful communication efforts have been in the past year. Commissioner Rich said she was extremely impressed how well County residents were organized to talk about guns. The message got out quickly, and there was overflow attendance. They see this with the schools every year at budget time, but this was not as predictable an agenda item, it was off the cuff, and she was impressed with how it worked. They can learn from it: you can get the word out there. They just have to figure out how. Commissioner Burroughs said that passion plays a factor in how responsive the public will be to an issue or a message. Bonnie Hammersley said consistent communication is important. They have an opportunity now to put together a communications strategy. They are always going to have things that don't touch everyone. If an issue doesn't really touch you, you are not going to show 26 up to a meeting. In one of her other counties they passed millions of dollars of human services funding and no one said anything; then they went to buy chairs for a courthouse and they had to come back three times. That's because everyone had bought a chair. They are going to do better at communicating because everything they do now will have a communications plan attached to it. But remember that just because a lot of people do not show up it does not mean they have not communicated effectively. Bonnie Hammersley said they need to be consistent about getting the word out, whether it is a big topic like fracking or something where there is no interest, it should have the same level of attention from staff in getting the message out, so everybody knows what they are doing in County government. Commissioner Jacobs said the County did a good job in 2004 when the school merger issue was raised. He said then-Commissioner Carey brought it up at a retreat. They organized it, they got public information out, they held public hearings, people had a chance to have their say, they received reports, and then they went through a process of decision making. People might not all have liked the outcome, but it was a controlled explosion that worked well. Another example, he said, was the Master Aging Plan. That's about 100 people working on something that is not explosive. There is a wide range of representation; they work on all these different options, and they come back with a plan. That's successful. Commissioner Jacobs said when they took over the animal shelter it was explosive. They put the issue out there, said there was a problem, people had extremely strong feelings, and they are way better off now with our Animal Services Department than they were back when they did not have it. Commissioner Jacobs said for the more explosive issues they need to be ready. They did not do such a good job with roadside recycling. There was too much confusion. Commissioner Marcoplos suggested that Board meeting agenda items have a sustainability or resilience Impact Note, much like what they do now with fiscal or social justice impacts. It would highlight the importance of environmental sustainability/resilience to the public and keep it on their minds. Commissioner Rich suggested that Commissioner Dorosin briefly relate each Board meeting to one or more of the Board's goals during his "Meeting in a Minute" recap. Travis Myren said it was suggested during the last Department Directors meeting that fifteen or thirty minutes be set aside before each Board meeting as an opportunity for each Department to update the Commissioners and the public on what that Department is working on, emerging issues, or accomplishments. They would orient the presentation to the audience, not the dais. Travis Myren said they are prepared to do this if the Board would like for them to do this. Chair Dorosin said that the idea runs counter to his "shorter meetings" initiative. However, the larger issue, he said, is that the Board meetings are not as transparent as they would like. Not that many people come, not that many people watch, and sometimes by the time they talk about something important the people who were there have left or those who were watching have stopped. I think that having Department updates is a good idea, he said, but I don't think adding them to our meetings will help. Commissioner Dorosin asked all the staff in the room if the Board is overlooking anything important in its stated priorities. He asked staff what they were hearing from the public that was not encompassed on today's monitoring and evaluation handout; what needs elaboration: • Bob Marotto, Animal Services Director, suggested that the community centers become a better point of contact between the County and community; this relates to the Residents Academy idea and to the larger issue of Communication, he said. Mr. Stancil agreed. 27 • Jim Northup said he was surprised that residents do not know the quality of work happening within the County. Once residents get exposed to the information they seem pleasantly surprised. This might be solved by the Residents Academy, getting the word out, and increasing interactions between residents and County staff. • David Hunt shared a story and an observation about Communications. He said they then were approaching the time when the Visitors Center and Historical Society in Hillsborough holds the annual Living History Day. Last year they posted some pictures on social media, to which others responded that the event looked like a great time and why did they not hear about it in advance. The sponsors replied that publicity for the event included newspaper advertisements, signs in front of the Visitors Center, and Twitter and Facebook postings. The sponsors asked if there were suggestions others could make for better ways to get the word out more effectively. The lesson is, messages can go out but sometimes people are not receptive. A message put out today by Emergency Services on how to prepare for a snowstorm would not get a lot of attention, but if there were a blizzard on the way then people would be much more receptive. Timing is important. How the information affects them immediately is important. And sometimes they are just not going to reach them. • Janice Tyler, Director on Aging, spoke about the importance of our becoming an "Age Friendly" community. When the Department on Aging surveyed 1,000 folks this summer we learned that people are concerned about getting dementia and about running out of resources. • Bob Marotto said the challenge of managing scarce resources while continuing to meet needs and expectations for excellent services. There's the challenge of effectively integrating government services in our County, of not seeing them as opposed to each other but rather finding the best ways to coordinate them. That's a continuing challenge here, and the opportunities for creating smarter, streamlined service delivery continues to beckon; necessity might move us there again in the coming years, as we should go there willingly. • Kirby Sanders said he only had three-years tenure but he wanted to speak on resilient leadership. They should consider a process for growing and nurturing our own leaders from within; an academy like they have been talking about for residents only this one for young and aspiring leaders within County staff. Commissioner Marcoplos said he is hearing that messages are best received when there is a pressing event or controversy. It seems like they are going to have a lot of pressing issues arise over the next several months. This means they have an opportunity to get a message out in reaction to whatever craziness comes down the pike, to get people's attention. Commissioner Jacobs added that revaluation could be difficult, although they have done a much more scientific job than in the past in trying to determine values. They ought to have a plan in place —and the Board ought to know what the plan is in advance-- so that when they go to the public with the revaluation they can have some assurance that staff has this covered, so they have the answers to the FAQs, and so they have had the opportunity to review and improve the FAQs. Revaluation is one pressing issue they know is coming. Bonnie Hammersley said she sees revaluation as the County's next big issue. Scientific or not, the revaluation touches on people's property and they will be engaged. They will be calling Commissioners. We have a communications plans set up, and the Community Relations Director will be contacting each of you to go over the FAQs and to help you prepare to be helpful to members of the public who contact you. February 7 is the next time we will be talking about the revaluation, and Todd McGee will be in touch with the Board before that. Commissioner Jacobs said that the first two revaluations he was involved with as a Commissioner raised little interest in the public. The one conducted at the cusp of the recession was different. People were upset. A community meeting filled the Senior Center while the Board 28 met at the courthouse. Part of what will affect the temperature is what is happening outside of Orange County. In response to Chair Dorosin's earlier remarks about the Board's meetings not being as engaging to the public as they could be, Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board could consider changing its meeting agendas. The first part of our meeting could be externally oriented. Then in the middle we could have a presentation from one of the Departments. We could leave the dais at that point and turn the podium over to the staff. And then we would come back for the more internally oriented agenda items after that, such as procedures for advisory boards or appointments, for example. Just like they have moved public hearings up to the front, because that is what is of interest to most people in the public, they could identify the items that most people in the public do not care about, and address them later. Commissioner Burroughs asked the Manager if her intent is to have the monitoring and evaluation document distributed today serve as a living document; that over time items would be added or removed, and updates shared with the Board. She asked how frequently would the goals be revisited. Bonnie Hammersley said as long as they continue to look at the goals as they have done today then they will be fine, but when they start to lose interest in the goals then it will be time to reconsider them. Right now they are fresh and new, and they have not yet accomplished what they wanted to accomplish. Some of these will fall off as priorities because they will have them underway. They will amend them according to how the Board wants to amend them, until they all think they are ready to redo them —and maybe there will be new Commissioners who feel that way. But they will amend them as often as the Board wants. Commissioner Price said that her own personal approach to communicating with the public is to get out into the community. The staff could be our ambassadors, telling their own personal stories about working in the County. A lot of people don't understand that an issue is going to affect them directly until after the fact. Consider what they did in Efland on emergency preparedness. They formed an emergency preparedness group that met over and over. They created a booklet, and were able to keep each other informed. They made connections with County and State staff. That's how you get the word out: you make it personal, so people understand. Commissioner Rich said a lot of that personal connection happens within homeowners associations. We have an emergency phone tree in my neighborhood. They were able to keep informed about trash collection schedules during the recent snowstorm, for example. It is about personal touch, and getting the community involved. The staff might reach out to homeowners associations to develop those relationships. Commissioner Price said what impressed her was that the residents in Mebane met proactively, and repeatedly, and face to face, before any storm was coming, to figure out what to do when any kind of emergency occurred. They even practiced CPR. Chair Dorosin said that communications goes in both directions. They need to figure out how to get their message out, and also how to get information from the community. County staff has direct contact with residents, but different Departments have different kinds of interactions with the public. Planning, Emergency Services, Aging, Animal Services, and the Sheriff's Office have direct interactions. They're good resources for getting information back. Commissioner Price's point also is a good one about us getting out there too. They need to be able to say how their work within the County is touching residents, and they need to be able to listen for the things that they are overlooking. Commissioner Rich reiterated that they should be open all the time for what the County might be missing. In reply to a question from Commissioner Jacobs, Donna Baker, Clerk to the Board, said the public does not call the Clerk's Office as much as it used to. Also, emails from the public go directly to Commissioners. They get calls about taxes, or an agenda item before a Board 29 meeting, or how do they access the web. David Hunt added that half of the calls are mistakenly for the Clerk of the Court's Office. Donna Baker said the telephone is no longer the public's main source of contact with County government. And the individual Commissioners' accessibility by the public through emails and telephone is much better known now; they have your contact information. They webcast the meetings now, so people know better what is going on; they put so much information on the web that they don't get as many calls as they used to, and many fewer complaints. Commissioner Jacobs noted that the County is doing a much better job at informing the public than it used to, but we don't ever give ourselves credit for that. Retreat Wrap Up So that future retreats can be planned and conducted even better than today's retreat, the facilitator asked the group what worked well with regard to this retreat, and what did not work so well. These ideas were raised: • Commissioner Burroughs said the retreat was great. The planning group put together an agenda that provided opportunities for substantive conversation. The conversation was at the level they should be working —the policy level. She appreciated having time to think about the goals. And the retreat was facilitated very well. • In reply to Commissioner Jacobs asking him, Commissioner Marcoplos said the retreat did indeed meet his needs as an incoming member of the Board. It was a great opportunity to spend time with each other in a relaxed setting. Great topic, great location (four minutes from my house). Great food. • Bonnie Hammersley said it is always very helpful for the staff to hear what the Commissioners' think. She said she has a lot of ideas for how they can implement some of the issues they talked about today. They appreciated it very much. • Commissioner Marcoplos said it was great that staff had an opportunity to participate. Maybe that can be a bigger part of another retreat. They have such a wealth of knowledge. • Commissioner Rich said during budget season the Department Heads come to talk with the Board. The retreat is a nice setting, more relaxed, they get to sit with folks during lunch to talk. But there are other opportunities too. She said she liked like that they incorporated their goals in this retreat, and think they should do that in every retreat. She recalled at her first retreat they did not talk about their goals at all. Even though they also talked about sustainability and resilience, it was good that they incorporated the goals into their overall theme. • Chair Dorosin said it was a great retreat. He said he valued the opportunities for them to talk back and forth. The structure—with a big theme (resilience) and then three areas to drive the discussion was a good one. He liked hearing from staff, and valued hearing how all the "stuff" they talk about plays out on the ground. He thought it would have been helpful to go one level deeper than they did: they started with resilience, and had these examples— and he liked the way they structured those examples -- but he would have liked to have talked about specific tasks or tactics, on the broadband, for example, and either connecting those conversations to their goals or identifying new goals. He would have liked to have looked at where they are today, and then see where they are on these issues when they 30 look back a year from now. Also, "retreat" sounds like they are moving backwards. They should call these from now on, the County Advance, because they are moving forward. • Bonnie Hammersley said she had been keeping notes throughout the day. The next step is for her to meet with Department Directors that have oversight of these areas, and going over some of the tasks that were identified. They can share what they see as the next steps in going to the next level. They will share that with the Board as a follow-up to this meeting. Last year they came back with the goals from the retreat and asked the Board to adopt them. She said she saw their follow-up from this year's "advance" as more of an information item as to what they are doing based on what the Board talked about today. • Commissioner Jacobs said that at next year's "gathering" he would like to spend time hearing and talking about the County's communication with the two school boards. Five of the Commissioners are not present for the School Collaboration Work Group meetings, and we all know communication with the schools is a sore point. It needs work. We talk about it every year in the spring, but it would be nice to get ahead of it. We might invite either the full boards or their officers to attend, and devote a portion of the retreat to talking about what's missing in this process that can make it work better for everybody, especially at a time of constrained resources. And to do it in a way that is not antagonistic; that's the most painful part of it. We all have the same goals. Other than that, he thought they did fine as a group today. They should credit Commissioner McKee and Commissioner Price for being on the planning committee. [Others noted that Commissioner Jacobs also was on the planning committee]. He said the retreat was genial and productive. • Commissioner Marcoplos suggested a half-day meeting with the school boards within the next few months. • Commissioner Jacobs said that the new CHCCS Superintendent could introduce a new paradigm. • Chair Dorosin recalled that last year there was a social reception with the two boards; it was a good first step. • Commissioner Burroughs thanked all the staff who made the facilities comfortable and provided the food. All applauded in agreement. Chair Dorosin offered a closing comment. He said these are challenging times. He said that he had been struggling with all the changes that are happening. The initial instinct is to crawl up in a ball on the couch. But he has found that most important is being connected directly, in person, with people engaged in and committed to making their community better. And that is all of you — his peers. He appreciated not only the substance of why they were here today, but also communing together. He said he gave him great hope and optimism to be in this together with all of them. And he thanked them for that. The meeting adjourned at 3:40 p.m. Mark Dorosin, Chair Donna Baker, Clerk to the Board