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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 12-15-2020; 4-a - Presentation of The Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award to Former Orange County Commissioner Dr. Alice M. Gordon 1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: December 15, 2020 Action Agenda Item No. 4-a SUBJECT: Presentation of The Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award to Former Orange County Commissioner Dr. Alice M. Gordon DEPARTMENT: County Manager ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Biography Bonnie Hammersley, 919-245-2300 Randee Haven-Odonell, Council Member, Town of Carrboro PURPOSE: To recognize former Orange County Commissioner Alice Gordon for receiving The Order of the Long Leaf Pine award from Governor Roy Cooper, the highest honor the Governor can confer on individuals. The award recognizes her significant contributions to the state and her community through her exemplary service and exceptional accomplishments. BACKGROUND: Dr. Alice Gordon served as an Orange County Commissioner for 24 years, 1990-2014. Her most outstanding contributions recognized by this award are in the areas of environmental protection, school excellence, and improved regional transportation. Of these contributions, the most memorable are as follows: (1) She created Orange County's innovative and national award-winning Lands Legacy Program, which has now protected over 3000 acres of Orange County's most precious natural and cultural lands (2) She championed excellent public schools, with special attention for many years to the renovation of older schools, for which she was recognized when the "Alice Gordon Science Building" at Culbreth Middle School was named in her honor and (3) As Chair of the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization Board, she was co-leader of a successful cooperative effort to craft a multi- jurisdictional agreement, the Triangle's first ever joint Long Range Transportation Plan, which received a national planning award. She was also known as a public servant with integrity, who always remained true to her core values. Environmental Protection. With the approval of her fellow commissioners, Alice Gordon created the national award-winning Lands Legacy Program in 1998, the first comprehensive county land acquisition program in North Carolina, which won a national planning award in 2007 for its innovation. The program has protected some of Orange County's most critical natural and cultural resources, such as forests, watershed riparian buffers, prime farmlands, and future parklands. Also with the commissioners' approval in 1998, she created a new environmental department (now part of the Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation) so that environmental protection would be a separate function and focus of Orange County 2 government, a special advantage in this era of climate change. The Lands Legacy Program and Alice's other initiatives to protect the environment will be among her most enduring contributions to Orange County. Having the institutional structure for environmental stewardship in place to protect critical resources, such as clean air and clean water, will help Orange County mitigate some effects of a warming planet. School Excellence. Alice was a dedicated champion of high quality education for all public school children in Orange County, and consistently supported the funding necessary to foster school excellence because of her commitment to the success of all students. She led the effort to pass the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance so that new schools would be built when needed. She also promoted a systematic program to renovate all of the older schools in Orange County, and worked toward that goal for many years. For her achievements, the Alice Gordon Science Building at Grey Culbreth Middle School in Chapel Hill was named in her honor in 2014. Improved Regional Transportation. Alice promoted public transit and improved regional transportation planning, and she served as Chair of two multi-jurisdictional regional transportation boards, Triangle Transit (now GoTriangle) and the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization. As Chair of the latter board, she led a cooperative effort to create the joint 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan, the first plan for the entire Triangle region, a successful endeavor that received a national planning award in 2009. Before becoming a commissioner, Alice was Chair of the Orange County Planning Board and President of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools PTA Council. As a commissioner, Alice served as both Chair and Vice Chair of the Board of County Commissioners. Alice Gordon's other honors and awards include the 2006 Goodmon Award presented by Leadership Triangle for "Exemplary Regional Leadership by an Elected Official" and her designation as a "Town Treasure" by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 2012. FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with this presentation. SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: There is no Orange County Social Justice Goal impact associated with this presentation. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: There is no Orange County Environmental Responsibility Goal impact associated with this presentation RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board congratulate former Orange County Commissioner Dr. Alice M. Gordon for receiving The Order of the Long Leaf Pine award. 3 BIOGRAPHY OF ALICE M. GORDON, Ph.D. Alice M. Gordon was born in Columbus, Ohio, and grew up there. After graduating from Columbus North High School as valedictorian of her class, she received a B.Sc. in Psychology summa cum laude from The Ohio State University. At Ohio State, she was elected to the academic honor society, Phi Beta Kappa, and also to Mortar Board, a national honor society recognizing college seniors for their exemplary scholarship, leadership, and service. Alice received a Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University, California, specializing in children's cognitive and language development. She then studied children's language development on a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. Alice is a former research psychologist at the University of North Carolina's Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, where her focus was the study of children's language development. Alice has been a resident of Orange County since 1972. She and her husband, Alan Biermann, have been married over fifty years, and have two grown children and four grandchildren. RECORD OF SERVICE IN NORTH CAROLINA Alice M. Gordon, Ph.D. is a distinguished leader who began serving Orange County when she was appointed to the Orange County Planning Board in 1980. Elected to the Board of County Commissioners in 1990, she served as an Orange County Commissioner for six terms, 1990- 2014. During her 24 years as a commissioner, Alice made significant contributions to Orange County and the Research Triangle region of North Carolina in the areas of environmental protection, school excellence, and improved regional transportation. Two visionary initiatives for which she provided leadership Orange County's "Lands Legacy Program" and the Triangle's joint 2035 "Long Range Transportation Plan" — received national planning awards, and the "Alice Gordon Science Building" was named in her honor for her stellar leadership in promoting school excellence. Alice was also known as a public servant with integrity, who always remained true to her core values. L SERVICE IN NORTH CAROLINA PRIOR TO BECOMING AN ORANGE COUNTY COMMISSIONER, 1980-1989 • Chair of the Orange County Planning Board. Appointed in 1980 and a member for six years, the last two as Chair. • Second Vice President of the League of Women Voters. • President of the Chapel Hill - Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) PTA Council, a group representing all of the PTAs in the district. She also served on PTA boards of individual schools. II. SERVICE IN NORTH CAROLINA AS AN ORANGE COUNTY COMMISSIONER, 1990-2014 A. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION - To make environmental protection a significant function of Orange County Government, Alice Gordon was the architect of three noteworthy initiatives, including the Lands Legacy Program. When the commissioners approved them, her initiatives: 4 • Created the Commission for the Environment, established in 1997, to advise the Orange County Commissioners on environmental matters. • Created, in 1998, the Environment and Resource Conservation Department (now Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation). • Created, in 1998, Orange County's innovative and national award-winning Lands Legacy Program (Comprehensive Resource Conservation Program). Since the year 2000, this program has preserved over 3000 acres of the county's most critical and high-priority natural and cultural resources before they could be damaged or destroyed. Having this program for critical resource protection already in place and functioning is an increasingly important asset in this era of global climate change. • In 2007 the Lands Legacy Program won the "Excellence in County Planning Award" from the National Association of County Planners. • To recognize her contributions, the Orange County Commission for the Environment dedicated two of their six State of the Environment Reports, in 2004 and again in 2014, to Commissioner Alice Gordon. The"State of the Environment 2004" dedication read in part: "In 1998, she proposed the creation of the Environment and Resource Conservation Department and the Comprehensive Resource Conservation Program now known as the Lands Legacy Program." The dedication also noted that the Commissioners had established the department and authorized the Lands Legacy Program. • Alice was a featured environmental leader in the 2008 book, Saving Magic Places, by Emily Eve Weinstein. B. EXCELLENT SCHOOLS - To champion excellent public schools, Alice worked both to build new schools when needed and to renovate older schools. • Chaired the county-wide group of elected officials that crafted the "Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance" (SAPFO) to plan ahead for future school facility needs. Adopted in 2003, SAPFO ensures that there is a plan to build new schools when they are needed, thereby preventing overcrowding. • For many years promoted renovations and other improvements to all of the older schools in both of Orange County's school systems, and supported a systematic program of "substantial equivalence" to fund these improvements as soon as financially feasible. As part of that effort, she was a dedicated advocate for the addition of a science building to Culbreth Middle School in Chapel Hill. Her vision was that this building would be the first in a comprehensive program for the renovation and maintenance of all of the older schools in the county. • The Culbreth Middle School science building, completed in 2014, was named the "Alice Gordon Science Building" in her honor by the Chapel Hill - Carrboro City Schools Board of Education because of"Dr. Gordon's commitment to the success of all students." • Alice was honored as a "Town Treasure" by the Chapel Hill Historical Society in 2012 for her contributions to the Towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro over the years. The society recognized her contributions in the areas of public education, environmental protection, and regional transportation. 5 C. IMPROVED REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION - To promote public transit and improve long range transportation planning in the Triangle region, Alice was a dedicated leader of two regional transportation policy boards. (1) Triangle Transit(now GoTriangle) Board of Trustees -Member and Chair • Chair of the Triangle Transit Board of Trustees in 2006-2007, after being an officer for the preceding four years. During her 16 years of service on the board (late 1995-early 2012), she promoted improved public transit and other alternatives to cars, and efforts to improve air quality in the Triangle region. • Leadership Triangle honored Alice with the Goodmon Award for "Exemplary Regional Leadership by an Elected Official" in 2006. The award citation recognized her contributions in the areas of environmental protection and regional transportation. (2) Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Transportation Advisory Committee (now MPO Board) -Member and Chair, and Co- leader of a Nationally Recognized Transportation Planning Effort • Chair of the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro (DCHC) Metropolitan Planning Organization Board in 1996 and 1997, and again in 2007 and 2008. During her 24 years of service on the board (1990-2014), she was an officer for eight years, including four as Chair and four as Vice Chair. The DCHC MPO is the regional organization responsible for transportation planning for the western part of the Research Triangle, while the Capital Area MPO (CAMPO) does the planning for the eastern part. Previously the two MPOs produced their long range transportation plans separately. In 2007 and 2008 Alice worked with the leader of CAMPO to craft the Triangle region's first ever joint"Long Range Transportation Plan" (LRTP). • The joint 2035 LRTP won the "National Award for Outstanding Achievement in Metropolitan Transportation Planning" in 2009 from the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations as an example of "exemplary practice within the planning process." D. OTHER SERVICE - Alice Gordon served on many boards and commissions during her tenure as an Orange County Commissioner, including the Orange County Board of Health (member), Orange County Commission for the Environment (commissioner representative), Intergovernmental Parks Work Group (convenor), and Triangle J Council of Governments (TJCOG Board of Delegates and Executive Committee member).