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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 05-10-2022 Budget Public Hearing and Work Session 1 APPROVED 6/21/22 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING AND WORK SESSION May 10, 2022 7:00 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Budget Public Hearing and Work Session on Tuesday, May 10, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. at the Whitted Human Services Center in Hillsborough, NC. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Renee Price, Vice Chair Jamezetta Bedford, and Commissioners Amy Fowler, Sally Greene, Jean Hamilton, Earl McKee, and Anna Richards COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: John Roberts COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Bonnie Hammersley, Deputy County Manager Travis Myren, and Clerk to the Board Laura Jensen. (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) Chair Price called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. 1. Opening Remarks Chair Price welcomed everyone and reviewed the agenda. Chair Price dispensed with reading the public charge. 2. Presentation of the County Manager's Recommended FY 2022-23 Budget (PowerPoint Presentation) Travis Myren made a presentation on the FY23 recommended budget: Slide #1 ORANGE COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA FY2022-23 COUNTY MANAGER RECOMMENDED BUDGET May 3, 2022 BOCC Business Meeting 2 Slide #2 F 2022-23 RECOMMENDED BUDGET BUDGET PRIORITIES Structurally Balanced Budget • Maintain funding of the Social Safety net services • Increase Public Safety and Education Investments • Retain and Recruit Employees • Long-Term. Financial Planning ORANGE COUNTY W-)Wrl I CAROLIN,x Slide #3 F 2022-23 RECOMMENDED BUDGET FV21021-22 to M022-23 Revenue Growth RealFtopeLtc S165M $1T2M $7.4.V I4.5% ;�14tKI�e:flcie S103M St1.4M SIAM 10.8% Sales Tax S28.9M $35.6M $6.W 123% f cool-goWmnlenni l5INT 5 AIM S00A 1.1% Senwe Res St2AM S14M S1.5%1 12.4% O71x,Reve;lkie S3-M S.,'-M 150.231j ,l l°'ol Total $238.7M Q5,54M $16.7M 7'l ORANGE COUNTY MOR77 I CAROLINA Travis Myren said most revenues in the county have performed well over the past year. He said sales tax is measuring a 23% growth from last year's budget. He said this means the federal stimulus payments and local efforts to support the economy were effective. 3 Slide #4 FY2022-23 RECOMMENDED BUDGET REVENUE A Proprlalud i�iSCeHen66u euna 6alarlGe p.yf• 1.9•.8 Cnarg—iar Sorvle+s Llceivsnx and g-may anlergrwcrnrnantal Permits �' f.i°i 0.1 h�x!stors Q.CA •RrOoeny raxe€ +Sales Tu •Ucens"endslermiu •Mlso¢hn¢ws +Pppro ted Fund Bal- i CI' QP4 ror$eryi[f5 •Intcrpv mental ■TWSfers ORANGE COUNTY NOR71 r CAROLIN.5 Travis Myren said property taxes and sales tax make up 86% of the county's general fund revenue, so recommendations in those areas are critical. Slide #5 ORANGE COUNTY FY 2022- 3 BUDGET FY 202 -23 Revenue Recommendations Property Tax Rate Increase 50-W25-rover debt to use of FY2021-22 onL-tulle fluids=S553,024 50-0100-allucare towuds eduratiov fun&ig=S2 212,097 Pan- rPMRted0IW3r Count- 281,400 i# 3al CIarrbouo S 3a2,2CO S 45.22 �h!pr1 HiD { i09 446 51-24 ru]lsbotaltgkl 3 254,900 5 31.86 Total Propern•Tam Collections Inca-ase w-Ith 2'/a nanaro vgroa•th= _8-5]Hilltop Sales Tax 4°!a grav-th o4Tr n 2021-22 rcar end projaGuons building=$6.7 aullion ORANGE COUNTY TORT]r CAROLINA Travis Myren said last year the Commissioners decided to use one-time funding to prevent a tax increase, which now must be replaced with a sustainable revenue source. 4 Slide #6 FY2022-23 RECOMMENDED BUDGET EXPENDITURES r,!Mrs edge Bffl SUmWe 5 �3A5 4A%U,n &Nm i _ mb TrareHn.raOfiar Fula: 2.0% •General Garemmant ouhnn Tach(Onn Cwntq Carp -Support Samosa V 14A% 0 3-4 -Cornmunq Services 139or9srnca-Cm .Human Serrates €+sr - -Public Saretp -Edxatlan «deft Samoa-Editation Debt Semee-CBUPoy erumu.n - DurhamTech;Qrenge Cauntp Cempua) ■Transfersio OlherFunds ORANGE COUNTY h3411173 r CAROLINA Travis Myren noted the highest expenditures are education, human services, and public service. He said when those categories are combined with the county's debt service obligation for school and county facilities, it equals about 83% of the total expenditures. Slide #7 FY2022-23 RECOMMENDED MMENDED BUDGET FV 2022-23 Recommended Expenditures Highlights Edti ation F4rblic 5a6etr Fm-estrnent Employee Re-eLkiitment aid Reteirion Outside:agencies Fine Districts Arnemcan Resole Flats Pict Ftu)duig ORANGE COUNTY h]t3RT]r CAR MIST . 5 Slide #8 FY2022.,-23 RECOMMENDED BUDGET ED1`iJCATION —STUDENT ENROLLMENT ChapeLHLIL Car rbsra4ZLty Schools F 4 �L,d _ 12,448 11,466 C%2) 1Z1155 151237_ [93B) neY L56 '_'03 +9 ml I 12 351 i k,442 (4UY F F mum �tudrn� 7,299 I 7,1L2 —JIL (in Less D.it o'Dmrw t 03 L 1.0 3 L9L I 7�U72 (114) clsrtrr 919 93L 32 �[oto 8 k1D ,%A10M 39.6% 4L2% 1.654 ORANGE COUNTY MOR71 L CAROLINA Travis Myren said current expense funding is distributed to the school districts based on student enrollment. He said both school districts experienced a decline in total funded students. Slide #9 FY2022-23 RECOMMENDED BUDGET EDUCATION —CURRENT EXPENSE FUNDING Ctuneni Expev�c 553,936 817 $62,983,553 155,00'7,882 51,0'1,065 P.Pup1L $4 3b r $5,081 54,808 5-143 Fff CkuomExpcl)st 335,4L6,370 541,454.134 535,5'0,900 33,L54,53U Prr.PLTa 54,367 $5,061 1 54," 5441 ORANGE COUNTY NOFM L CAROLINA Travis Myren said there is $93.6 million in total current expense funding. 6 Slide #10 FY2022-23 RECOMMENDED BUDGET EDUCATION — PER STUDENT FUNDING HISTORY Year I Fcr slva= 5 lareesse I 96 GF Fzyemit FY23i5-ia 5 3,b4 .50 S 126.30 49. °-a FY201d-17 I # 3,86&00 S 170.50 I so. F = I--]8 5 3.591.00 S l2_.00 49.-0, FY2018-19 5 4,165.00 3 174.00 50.1% FY2020-21 5 #,W..N 5 14.75 49.4741 FY2022-23 S 9,St16.04 S 441-00 4?.19e RANGE COUNTY Slide #11 FY2022-23 RECOMMENDED BUDGET EDUCATION Midget RecGmmcnd Ctuient E! eases* 5 777,092 5 822.020 5 M9.4U5 5 32,313 . PioinseScholaisb a** S 250.000 S 250.000 5 250,000 5 - •kttruAh►#Cwriurm#rth ap,r+ttr�#SrSr�rSaN�rY.B�iMnI#.#+IdlnsuF�nGl.�#�wlr�s#AkNI�Wt#� oParabngrera2ed expenses 'auharmTern Promise 5cnofarswriRsrbndedhyArbcJe46 Safes Tax:fip udes air addidwraj $SO-000 in FV M22-23 for their.MCR W wank I.Wtrabve ORANGE COUNTY 140FM I CAROLINA Travis Myren said the county also provides funding to Durham Technical College at the Orange County Campus to fund non-instructional activities. He said that those expenses are budgeted to increase by 3%. He said the back to work initiative and the promise scholarships are funded out of the Article 46 sales tax revenues. Slide #12 FY2022-23 RECOMMENDED BUDGET PUDI I C SAFETY- INVESTMENT Services _ 8.Mr S= - �er �rcry ?,150 .JRD Treawieut Court hfgr j 0. ()FTE $ - ] «Mff Drmnb'011 Offioers 15 FTE. _ 15 ;6_',496 Sub-Total PublfcSufe� _ 27.-;FTE '$ _V9,a.6: 1 unial Scrviccs VCtuillorian 1 FIE 5 134.()37 :Social Services Social&-rrices Asst 1 FTE---F"5 24,368 Health D6 LI621 1 FTE S Health D&aWAssist:kat 1 FTE Health Health Llrtrf II 0-40 FTE, $ EAPR Park f_'r�ordiaator 3 FTE $ 62,96- Total w/Public Safety 34.1)FTE S 611,018 Travis Myren said that another priority is public safety and investing in those work forces. He said this budget will add twelve full time positions in the Emergency Services Department and fifteen detention officers added in the Sheriff's office. Slide #13 FY2022-23 RECOMMENDED MENDED BUDGET EMPLOYEE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION age Adiustment Lining Absorbed by Attrition Sa HeinWi and Llent2l InsillAuce 5% 54?0,000 P.,6 rncnt Scstrrn 1.689 3ltoi[Tet131D�saL�ili , Lung WA^ Iaciease living"ge for permanent and tenipoiuy employees from S15_40 pri hoot to 5E5.85 perlirnti • Rdetorentent�n�sease psesciiLwed br Ural�oremnientF�t�senient S�^stent to,rsanage ciuxent b edits `+ E CWNTY !,:i T.e71 f�-h.T? l NA Travis Myren said because of higher turnover rates and inability to fill positions, turnover savings will pay for 3% increase for county employees. He said the county is mandated by the 8 local government retirement system to increase its contribution. He noted that the county is not immune to the competitive employment market and must try to keep up with the local employment market. Slide #14 FY2022-23 FXCOMMENDED BUDGET OUTSIDE AGENCIE Base Budget Request Manager Increase Recarnmend Agencies Funded 5% 58 53 (4) Total 51,729,953 $2,238,645$ 1.894,690 5 164,737 + An additional S45,001)is prmidrd to arm-•dated outsi&agcn{u5 in th[ViSiWES Btucau Fund. • 711C$owd of Counts Corn a7 Ssiancrs establislud a target of f n o of geiuiml fund espellsea to outside a8eociea FY2022-23 Recoeiunendation allocates 13YIo to outside agencies, ORANGE i*Ol'.r.'T- N)OR71tCARO.1 Travis Myren said this budget has 1.35% of expenditures dedicated to outside agencies. Slide #15 FY2022-23 RECOMMENDED BUDGET FIRS: DI 'TRY 'r FIREDISTRICT CURRENT REQUESTED RECOMMENDED TAX RATE INCREASE TAX RATE cedai Grove $0.0763 W" S0.0763 Cliaprel Hill S0.1387 SU_00 30.13a- — I]amaacus $0106Q1004.11ffi4 E eland $0.0728 $1.00 $0.0929 Eno $0,10898 $1.00 $0.0998 L,7t:sR3VEi 500639 sok7q 5F)C,539 New Hope � $0,1012 -- $1.41 $0.11516 (>•tackge Grove _ $0.0627 $1.00 $0.0727 C}ra.uge l�ua3 I 50.0949 SO_UO 50.09d9 SctS;lt t7�z:f�e 50,09�79 S{1.OG S��,G909 Scutherri Triarigle $0.1090 $1.00 $0.11$t3 V1ute Coos=_ S0.1234 50.00 SLM23.4 "-KfkNGiE COUNTY WR7]t CAR)I.ttv,} 9 Travis Myren said almost all the requested increases are due to increasing personnel costs and the inability to fully staff with volunteers. Slide #16 M022-23 FXCOMMENDED BUDGET AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT (ARPA) Firc D15trici P25 Phasc II Compliaat Radio Rcplaccmcat Hau4iug L+�catoe 5.��,895 Housing Helpliue $205,090 I_:Millord I uU unM-Prognin S2+],000 Broadband Iafrastracmrc Dcsign and Irnplcmcntatiav $5,W0,000 Childcare Support Nreat Fees S541i1,000 Housing_ Hsi and SOER D $4,797,643 Totalimm� $12,372,828 • If Re�a�iune�sded&tutgef is stppioved,AppiOs�niAtelC ,8�n,lLa�s tenta;.�ts ara�lable R.-coinnunded Budget also includes S5?0,OW in Gone=a!Fiuid wsources to beau&C transition froin ARPA to snstautabk,ongoing rrrmue_ ORANGE COUNTY 100R-n[CAROM NA Travis Myren said the county was awarded $28.8 million and this budget recommends allocating $12,372,372, with $4.8 million remaining. Slide #17 FY2022-23 MECOMMENDED BUDGET BUD E'T'CALENDAIt BUDGET PUBLIC HEARINGS DATE Budget and Capital Investment Plan(CIP) -May 10 8c Juule 2 BUDGET WORK SESSION SCHEDULE DATE Schools and Outside Agencies -Mav 12 Fire District,Public Safer quid Blunlan Sere ices Xrfty 19 Durham Tcch,Support Sr T'xs,Gm-end CTovcramcatand J1a3.26 camrntmit,sevyTxs Btulgct Armcadments and Rcsolutioa of Intrat to Aboot Juac 9 BOCC BUDGET ADOPTION DATE FYZ022-23 013crating;nd C F Budget Adoption J1311C 21 10 Slide #18 FY2022-23 RECOMMENDED MENDED BUDGET MISSION STATEMENT Orange County exists to provide governmental ser-iees needed by our Residents or mandated by the State of North Carolina. To provide these quality senices efficiently,we must,, ❑ Serve the Residents of Orange Courity—Our Re aidents Come Fist; ❑ Depend on the energy,skills, and dedication of all our employees and volunteers, ❑ Treat all our Residents and Employees with fairness,respect,and understandin& Qma," C'oynM Resrderrts Come F}rst ORANGE COUNTY MOR71[CARDLEWL 3. Public Comments The board held a public hearing to receive comments on the FY23 recommended budget. A motion was made by Commissioner McKee and seconded by Commissioner Fowler to open the public hearing. VOTE: UNANIMOUS PUBLIC COMMENTS: Allison Jaillet thanked the Commissioners for the opportunity to speak. She said teachers deserve more than the 3% raise and 6 weeks paid parental leave they are asking for. She said she has taught science for the last 11 years in three different states and 2 different countries. During these years she said she has had to break up physical fights resulting in her own injuries, been sexually harassed and stalked by a student with no support from administration because they said the student had to stay in her class to graduate, had weapons brought into her classroom, had a student who died from gun violence, had a student who overdosed, taken a pay cut when moving to North Carolina, had students cut themselves in her classroom, been told to go back to her own country, been screamed at by parents, had administration control her work visa, been emotionally abused by administration, and been cursed at and called names. She said in 2019 the building beside her school exploded and she sustained long term injuries. She said she returned to school after one week because her administrator did not support teachers taking off extended time. She said she developed PTSD and she still deals with the side effects. She said her husband left teaching, went back to school, and now his starting salary is her maximum salary. She said she loves being a middle 11 school teacher, but she is looking at a job as a curriculum writer that will pay $20,000 more as a starting salary than what she makes now with her masters and it has paid maternity leave. She said teachers are leaving so they can afford to live and have families. She said teachers are leaving due to being disrespected, injured, and insulted, and for their own safety and sanity. She said teachers are leaving quicker than they can be replaced and children will suffer. She said a fully funded budget is an attempt to gain back respect and make it possible for teachers to live and continue to work in their chosen profession. Laura Jensen, Clerk to the Board, read the following comment emailed to the Board of Commissioners from Erskine Alvis at 3:38 PM: "Thank you for the privilege to address you tonight via letter. I write you today as I am ill, and I cannot attend the Board of County Commissioners meeting tonight to hear comments for and against the budget for the County's upcoming fiscal year. If I was there, then I would certainly offer my comments below in person. I write you in the most vigorous language possible. I ask you to approve the budget for the Chapel Hill Carrboro City School system and the Orange County Schools. I ask you to do this without further delay and to do this without further delay. These two districts represent the best in elementary, secondary, and community education in North Carolina. In many ways, they serve as a model of education and educational leadership for so many in other parts of our country. We need this clarity now more than ever as we are a people more divided than we have been in 150 years since the horrors of the American Civil War. In Orange County, North Carolina, we are a beacon of hope. We are all so fortunate to live here. I am a retired 22-year U.S. Navy Chaplain. I deployed from Japan to Afghanistan. deployed to war. I have seen the Hell of what human beings can create for each other. I have seen the horror of inhumanity. And yet, it was my privilege to be in military service to our country. It was my honor. For the past 3 months, I have had the privilege to serve as a long-term substitute teacher for the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools. It is a PRIVILEGE to serve. It is my honor. Like my military service, I have already experienced the joys and the sorrows of humanity. In my role, I have seen the hope, the clarity, and the care mixed with and incredible mix of competence and commitment by our educators — be they in the classroom or elsewhere — as they work so hard to do so much for so many. I include ALL staff members in the term educators. This includes EVERYONE who works for the school system and in the school buildings proper and within the system. They not only serve our students by their high degree of professionalism, but they also serve our students' families, they serve our community, and most importantly, they serve what kind of future our country needs and will have long after all of us are gone from where we are now. To quote the late U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Chuck Yeager from about the time that he broke the sound barrier in 1947, "No bucks. No Buck Rogers." This budget represents the clarity of such thinking. I offer the following examples of why you need to approve this budget as presented in its entirety. First, there was the young student from a foreign land who is an immigrant. She struggles with English. When I covered the class for her teacher one day, she asked me if she had completed the work properly. Via email, I checked with her teacher. He contacted me. She has done it beautifully. When I shared his affirmation of her with her, she beamed in an ear-to-ear smile. She works so hard. She just wants to be part of the American Dream. Second, there was the young student that queried me about military service when he learned of mine. He wanted to know what it was like. He wanted to know if I was ever scared. I told him, "Of course I was scared. We all were. The main thing is if you are honest with 12 yourself and with each other." He had a better understanding of the challenges ahead of him as he had enlisted in the Delayed Entry Program of one of our military branches." At this point the comment time expired. Margo Ginsberg said she is the parent of a student at Ephesus Elementary in the CHCCS district and a homeowner. She asked the Board to fully fund the CHCCS budget request. She said in the past year the County has collected $6 million more in sales tax than was projected. She expressed her disapproval that the Commissioners have not approved CHCCS budget request. She said the funds are essential to providing the highest quality education to children. She said almost 50% of funding to pay teachers and staff comes from Orange County and is determined by the Commissioners. She said students have gone without needed services and instructors because of a historic number of open positions that have gone unfilled. She said the recommended portion of the budget for education is 1% lower than the Commissioners' own target and is 10% lower than what the Wake County manager is recommending. She said CHCCS is no longer in the top three for local supplement pay for teachers and staff. She said it is imperative to remain competitive in compensation in order to recruit and maintain the best quality educators. Lindsay Bedford read the following: "Good Evening Chairwoman Price, Vice Chairwoman Bedford, and County Commissioners. My name is Lindsay Bedford and I am Chair of the CHCCS Special Needs Advisory Council (SNAC). I come to you tonight to ask you to please fully fund the proposed budget that Dr. Hamlett and our Board of Education have brought before you. The education of many of the exceptional children, or EC, in our district is in crisis. EC students, the most vulnerable in our schools, have been disproportionately impacted by the great resignation. This is true across our nation. An NPR article published on April 21 spoke about the crisis facing special needs students, and highlighted Hawaii's efforts that started in 2020 to hire and retain more EC staff by increasing their pay by $10,000. In 2019, 30% of EC teaching positions in Hawaii were vacant, now the number is 15%. As you can see from the data I have provided to you tonight, 1/10th of the students in CHCCS receive EC services. Yet, 1/3 of the vacant positions in our district are those of individuals who provide direct services to EC students. There are occupational and physical therapists who are leaving because our state still considers them classified employees and pays them as such. There are general education teachers who are trying desperately to pick-up the pieces for students who are rapidly regressing academically, behaviorally, and socially, but do not have all of the necessary training and dozens of other students to educate. There are students in our district who have gone the entire year without certified EC teaching staff. Instead they are being served by a revolving door of hopefully long-term substitutes who show up every day and give their best, but are not trained in the specialized skills needed to provide our students with the Free and Appropriate Public Education that they are entitled to. A week ago, I sent you a petition that was signed by over 200 CHCCS community members supporting Dr. Hamlett's proposal to provide a 2.5% increase for EC teachers and an additional 2.5% for adapted curriculum teachers. In this petition, there are 88 narratives - stories of how vacancies have negatively impacted families, but also stories of how valuable our teachers who are here are to us. I hope that you took the time to read the document and will consider the stories you hear firsthand tonight. Our nation is in crisis. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools is in crisis. The profession of teaching is in crisis. It is time for our society to show up and value our teachers for the monumental work they do every day. I believe in Orange County and I believe we value our children's education and thus our teachers. It is time for us to be brave and bold to support the future of our community." 13 Marisa Kathard said her daughter is a junior EC student at East Chapel Hill High School. She said she has been a SNAC advocate for 10 years. She said the recent staffing shortages have become critical and detrimental to fulfilling the school's mission. She said that as a pediatrician, it is a struggle to juggle work and be present at home to support her daughter, especially when there was remote learning during the pandemic. She said her daughter has had four classroom teachers in three years because of the high turnover, and no classroom teacher since November 2021. She said there have been no applicants for the vacancy. She said her daughter's IEP goals are not being addressed due to the absence of a certified EC teacher. She said the second TA in the classroom resigned at the beginning of April, and her daughter's skills are regressing. She said the school speech therapist and occupational therapist also resigned. She expressed concern for EC students whose families cannot afford these services privately. She said CHCCS is touted as one of the best districts in the state but are falling short. She said EC resource teachers at East have 30 students instead of 17 due to vacancies. She said EC students have been disproportionately impacted by teacher vacancies. She urged the Board to support the CHCCS budget request and said it would allow CHCCS to recruit and retain high quality EC teachers for the most vulnerable students in the county. Mella Diaz said the most disadvantaged in society are always left behind. She said those who choose to teach EC students are exceptional. She said being able to instill the concept of what is safe and what is dangerous keeps children like her own son alive, and understanding how to teach communication to EC students is paramount to their existence. She said many students in the adapted curriculum classes have behavioral complexities that need to be baselined, mapped, and have support built into their daily lives that enable them to access the academic environment. She said the school district must have the ability to hire EC teachers at competitive rates and must provide the training and support EC students need including undervalued occupational and physical therapists. She said the lack of availability of teachers who can facilitate much needed care for the disabled is astounding, and the few who do are underpaid. She said the average salary for teachers in North Carolina is a disgrace, and the workload for EC teachers is beyond the norm which is reflected in the number of vacancies. She said it is regrettable that EC administration must spend countless hours searching all over the country for teaching staff. She requested the Board fully fund the CHCCS Budget request to support EC teachers, EC administrative staff, and resources needed to fully staff schools with qualified teachers for students with disabilities. She said this is an equity and safety issue, and lack of adequate support for EC students puts them at risk physically and academically. Linda Gilchrist said her family moved to CHCCS district 11 years ago from the Chicago suburbs. She said she and her family are passionate about public education and dedicate time and resources to schools. She said she is disappointed the Commissioners will not fully fund the budget requests. She said many students haven't had a Spanish teacher or CTE teachers for most of the year at East Chapel Hill High School, and there is a lack of staff and assistant principals. She said education is the key to the success of society and the county needs to adequately fund good public education. She said she lives in a nice area of Chapel Hill, but many families in her neighborhood are planning to send their children to private schools. She said Chapel Hill is the cornerstone of education in North Carolina, and the community and county need to support students, teachers, and staff. Christina Clark said she is the president of the Orange County Association of Educators and is an English teacher at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough. She said the past two years have been difficult for everyone in school systems, but issues have been festering for years. She said after the state legislature has failed for many years to fund education and pay school staff fairly, the pandemic was the last straw for many. She said those who considered leaving education before the pandemic are gone, and those who never did are considering it now. She said long-term substitutes have become ubiquitous in classrooms and administrative 14 roles. She said substitutes are appreciated, but students are frustrated and demoralized with the disruptions and lack of relationship building. She said data shows that the most important factor in student success is the relationship between students and teachers. She said a survey of Orange County Schools' staff showed the top reason they would consider staying would be a raise in pay. She said the OCS budget request seeks to address long-standing issues with the way school staff is paid in OCS. She said one of the worst examples of the unfairness in the OCS pay scale is that hourly workers don't receive a raise until they have worked in the district for 22 years. She said classified staff perform numerous tasks that make it possible for administrators and teachers to do their jobs. She said turnover in these positions is unsustainable. She said it is not easy to learn the interworking of a school from scratch, but classified staff are not paid accordingly. She said fully funding the OCS budget request is a vital responsibility to this community and impacts all other areas of the Commissioners' work. She said her organization is committed to pressuring OCS to spend their budget responsibly and holding them accountable to investing in school staff. She said Orange County should be leading the state in innovating education, not losing students to charter schools and online corporate education. She requested the Board fully fund the OCS budget request. Ashley Sherman said she is the school counselor at Ephesus Elementary and has been with CHCCS for 10 years. She thanked the Board for their work and expressed appreciation. She said she is the only counselor at her school and serves 400 students, 90 colleagues, and several hundred family members. She said this is double nationally recommended average counselor to student ratio. She said in the past couple of years she has been hit, stabbed, punched, had a fire extinguisher sprayed on her, and run into traffic to try to prevent a student in crisis from being hit by a car. She said it is not news that working in schools is hard and compensation is not keeping up with the demands. She said she has seen a spike in mental health concerns in students and colleagues. She said she loves her job, it is important, she is good at it, and she is here tonight because she wants to be able to keep doing it. She said she is also here for veteran colleagues who make less now with inflation than 20 years ago, those who have put in 15 years of service and will not receive an increase for another decade, those who have to use donated leave time to stay home with newborns, and the 23 colleagues that have reached out this year for mental health referrals to cope with the impossible job they are all doing. She said most importantly, she is here for students and families that are losing educators who cannot afford to stay in the job. She said the CHCCS budget request is a first step in addressing the unprecedented school staffing gap. She said it isn't fair that this need has fallen to the Commissioners because in a perfect world the state of North Carolina would be leading the way in across the board educator compensation. She said Orange County is lucky to see increasing revenues and have the ability to meet school needs head on. She said CHCCS budget request includes salary increases and family leave benefits which will demonstrate a commitment to schools and directly support students. She asked the Board to amend the County Manager's recommended budget to fully fund the CHCCS and OCS budget requests. Brian Link said he is the president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Association of Educators. He said all in attendance want the best for school teachers, students, and staff and asked the Commissioners to keep the image of support in their minds when making budget decisions. He said there is a historic amount of building taking place in Orange County, valuation of homes are at historic rates, unemployment is at historic lows. He said those in education are told the budget doesn't look good, but these circumstances are as good as it is going to get. He said there is also historic inflation, record turnover rates and vacancies, the highest cost of living for one adult and one child in the entire state of North Carolina, record concerns about dissatisfaction in schools, mental health and safety, EC teachers are leaving in droves, and students have gone 100 days with a teacher. He said while the budget is better than past two 15 years, it isn't historic. He said the Board gave a higher percentage in the 1980s and 1990s, and what is presented now is the smallest increment other than during the Great Recession and the 2000 Crisis. He said this is inadequate and Orange County needs to follow Durham and Wake County, who are funding more in education and are willing to raise taxes to do it. He said the Board has had great initiatives like Broadband and the 203 Project, but that has meant no ARPA funding for schools and prevents a bond for education until 2026-27. He said there has been efforts in affordable housing but the funds that are being generated are disproportionately going away from schools. He said there is a lot of discussion about equity vs. equality and education having to wait for other needs, but schools need funds now. He said whether it's by raising taxes by 2 cents across the board or raising the special district tax, the Board needs to act now. Jessica Larson said she is a first year TA in an adapted classroom. She said she loves her job and works with children with varying abilities and needs. She said she is scratched, bitten, and more, but loves her job anyway and doesn't know if she can keep doing her job making less than $17 an hour. She said she is a mother of two students in Chapel Hill, lives in Hillsborough, and pays a lot of taxes. She said her niece currently makes more money at her yoga studio. She asked the Commissioners to please help her keep her job. She said she is honored to have her job and work with the students she does. She said the teacher in her classroom went out on maternity leave, which required her to borrow time from coworkers, and since then there has been a patchwork of substitutes who have not been able to last. She said through it all, all she can do is support the students the best she can while they ask if she will also be there tomorrow and as they move up in grade. Zoe Read said she is an EC TA and the classroom environment requires high level knowledge of behavior and behavior response that is individual to each student. She said consistency, familiarity, and knowledge of individual students and their behaviors is vital to their continued success and growth. She said you would think being in a career that requires such expertise would be compensated in a way that is livable. She said this is her first year working at Smith but has 6 years' experience in a self-contained classroom. She said her wage is 12 cents more than employees that have no working experience in the classroom, which values her experience at only 2 cents more a year for her experience. She said a bus driver earns $16.50 an hour and requires a high school diploma or GED., an Admin Assistant gets $17.41 an hour and requires a high school diploma, a secretary makes $17.04 and requires a high school diploma, and EC support staff earn $16.05 an hour and must be highly qualified with 48 credits of college, 2 years or 7 credits of core work keys. She said with one dependent for health insurance coverage, her monthly income is $1,448 as a single mom. She said having experienced employees is just as important in any job, but in this job familiarity of students and team is crucial to progress through daily challenges. She said safety of students and staff is a daily concern. She said receiving a livable wage will help retain staff and reduce turnover while creating an environment that will better serve students' individual needs. She said consistency and familiarity in EC classrooms will be huge benefits to students and help them receive the education they deserve. She said these students are often left behind, society does not fight for them, and families are often overwhelmed. She said these students deserve better and deserve a staff that knows how to teach them. She said in the grand scheme, the number of EC teachers will not have a great impact on the budget, but receiving a salary increase can make a big difference in the education EC students deserve and need. She said an EC teacher needs experienced staff and consistency or every year is a brand new start. She said students are not getting the education they deserve, and she said a significant increase in pay after continuous years of service reflecting commitment and dedication will be valued. Anne Tomalin said she is an ESL teacher in CHCCS. She said she has worked in the district for 26 years. She said she has witnessed the lack of progress in closing the 16 achievement gap, and the school system is in a worse position than ever in this respect. She echoed others' comments that the most vulnerable students are feeling the worst impacts of the lack of qualified teachers available to support them. She said If Orange County truly values equity and supporting most vulnerable, it's time to put money where its mouth is, otherwise comments about closing the achievement gap is empty noise. Julie Werry thanked the Commissioners for their leadership. She asked the Board to fully fund the budget requests for both school districts. She said she has two children attending CHCCS, is a homeowner, and is also the PTA co-president at Rashkis Elementary School. She said she and her husband chose to move their family to Chapel Hill in 2020 because of the public school system. She said the number of people who have made the same decision is amazing. She said with the growth happening across the state, especially in the RTP area, and the ability of people to choose where they live given that remote work is here to stay, Orange County continues to attract new residents due to the school systems' record for excellence. She said the record is now being taken for granted, and over the past 10 months as PTA co- president, she has seen the struggles going on in schools. She said Rashkis has operated short staffed all year long and they are not alone given the record number of vacancies across the district. She said jobs have remained unfilled due to budget constraints and the heroes left in the building are asked to do the impossible. She said a secretary position at Rashkis was posted for $12 an hour, which is less even than the going rate for a babysitter in her neighborhood. She positions will not be filled at this pay scale, which means people in other positions will have to pick up the duties. She said she recognizes the Commissioners have a difficult job and many projects are worthy of funding without enough money to go around. She thanked the Commissioners for the recommended per pupil increase they will likely support but said that it is not enough. She said there are a record number of vacancies in the district and said it is impossible to have excellent schools without the teachers and staff to run them. She said schools are the bedrock of Orange County and attract an inflow of residents which improves the tax base. She said schools are the greatest tool to leverage when thinking about equity in our community. She said the county is not spending what it takes to maintain excellence. Cassie Ford thanked the Commissioners for their work in making Orange County a place so many choose to live and build their families. She said she is the wife of a small business owner, parent of two children, and PTA council president and strongly recommends the Board fully fund the CHCCS and OCS budget requests including the expansion budget. She said after graduating from UNC Chapel Hill, she chose to keep her family in Carrboro due to the reputation of the public schools. She said this reputation cannot be taken for granted. She said she was surprised to learn that Orange County allocates a much lower percentage of the annual budget to education than surrounding counties. She said with the boom in remote work, people have more choice about where they will live and work. She said if CHCCS and OCS continue to suffer teacher losses and long stretches with open vacancies, the county will not be able to continue attracting families and businesses due to its schools' reputations. She said she recently learned that from the SLP and school psychologist at a CHCCS that they are not able to fill many positions despite receiving approval to recruit for them. She said the district salaries are well under the market rate compared to neighboring districts and nationally. She said she appreciates that the recommended budget includes an increase per student, but it doesn't address current need of schools. She said the state has mandated, but not funded, reduced classroom sizes and teacher raises, and the continuation budget simply keeps up with these. She said without the expansion budget being funded, schools will continue to pay below market rates, have positions unfilled, understaffed classrooms, and underserved students. She asked the Board to allocate some of the revenue growth Travis Myren spoke about to fully fund the CHCCS and OCS budgets including both continuation and expansion budget requests. 17 Caroline Wang said she is an 8th grader at Smith Middle School and has been part of the CHCCS community since kindergarten. She said she and her peers remember and have been impacted by every teacher they have learned from. She asked the Board to fully fund the CHCCS budget. She said teachers impact the education of hundreds and even thousands of students, are incredibly important to the community, and encourage students. She said CHCCS are below market rate locally and nationally. She said she has seen many teachers work hard for their students in classrooms and even extracurricular activities, often without extra compensation. She said many teachers commit years of their time to cultivating minds of students despite being inadequately compensated. She said it would be unfortunate for Orange County to lose these dedicated teachers. She asked the Board to put education at the top of their priorities for current students, teachers, and school systems, as well as those who choose Orange County as their home. She said schools and teachers are nurturing the minds of the future contributors of this county, state, country, and world. She said educators pour their hearts into what they do and that should be reflected in the budget. Michael Kang said he is a sophomore at East Chapel Hill High School. He asked the Board to fully fund the CHCCS budget. He shared his experience in Spanish class this year. He said at the beginning of the year, half of his classroom peers wanted to become fluent in Spanish and over half wanted to continue their education in SIP Spanish the next year. He said his Spanish teacher left during the second week of second quarter, so much of the work for the semester was completion based with few evaluations, and was much easier than he had heard from upperclassmen. By the beginning of the third quarter, only 3 people in the class wanted to continue their education in AP Spanish and no one in the class indicated they were fluent enough to live in a Spanish speaking classroom. He said thankfully a teacher transitioned to his class in the fourth quarter. He said 3 out of 5 Spanish teachers have left this year and all Spanish 1 and 2 courses were transitioned to remote learning and they have had 8 teachers so far. He said this isn't just the Spanish classes that are experiencing a lack of teachers and turnover. He said he would be better prepared for future Spanish learning if he had a consistent teacher all year. He said securing better teachers means support for the county to the Orange County academic community, and full investment is needed to keep the quality of schools so students don't limit their dreams. Jason Kary said he has been a resident of Orange County for 18 years. He said he supports all of the educators in the room and the pay increases they are advocating for. He said he had to take his daughter out of middle school because her panic attacks were preventing her from learning. He said the issue is far deeper than teacher compensation and the whole system needs to be looked at. He encouraged the Board not to approve the 2022-23 budget due to the broadband plan. He said he lives off of Redgate Rd. and his neighborhood has been left off the NorthState service map. He said the companies are reporting that his neighborhood has broadband options, but there is only one option and it is only 4 MBPS. He said NorthState told his neighborhood they were not part of the contract with Orange County. He said he believes his neighborhood of 14 households will have to pay around $62,000 as a whole for NorthState to run fiber to their area, based on the fact the County's $40 million contract covers 9,000 households. He asked the Board not to approve the budget and to help him and his neighborhood get the broadband they need. Whitney Robinson said she has a 1st grader at Northside Elementary. She said this is her first child in the public school system and he started during the pandemic. She said she is on the School Improvement Team at Northside and it has been eye opening. She said it's hard to fill vacancies even just for maternity leave. She said she feels the effects of burnout even in higher education, including emotional burdens, student needs, and having to do catch up. She said she knows a lot of first grade teachers who are trying to do catch up for students who started kindergarten during the remote learning year. She said seeing the budget on the school 18 improvement team is eye-opening because teachers don't make much money. She said the budget is strategic and lean and is focused on creating positions that can best care for student needs. She said she sees the challenges teachers are facing and understands why they wouldn't continue doing this work. She said she understands how organizations can get into a death spiral when there is continued understaffing and asking people to do more. She said it's about investing now vs. letting things spiral into a greater crisis later. She said it was great to see the budget presentation, but if you average out the proposed per pupil increase recommended for this year with the lack of an increase the past two years, this increase isn't that big. She said she would rather the issues be addressed now than have a crisis later. Molly Beak said she is a teacher at a Title 1 school in Chapel Hill and also has family members who were educators. She said she loves her job and wouldn't do anything else, but she sees people in other jobs, administration, decision-makers, etc. throw up their hands and say there just isn't money, supplies, and resources, while teachers have to go in and face students every day. She said teachers can't throw up their hands because they have to face the students every day. She said she understands the Commissioners have to make hard decisions, but asked them to imagine if they had to walk into a classroom the next day. She said she only has three students who speak English at home and got 5 new students between Thanksgiving and Christmas, including 2 from Afghanistan who had been in refugee camps. She said she didn't throw up her hands, she got to work and all of her students have grown. She said teachers have to continue to do their job every day no matter what they are given, and then have to beg for more pay. She said the only time she throws up her hands is when her own child wants something and she tells him it will have to wait until the end of the month. She said she loves her job and wants to continue to do it, and asked the Commissioners to imagine that they have to go into a classroom and tell students why they made the decisions they did. Hope Love said she is a theater teacher at East Chapel Hill High School, married to a science teacher, and has a child who attended elementary school in CHCCS. She said she was going to discuss a metaphor. She said there is a lot of equivocating and debate in her household. She said she asked her son to do something on Mother's Day and he explained to her that it wasn't a job for him and it was too hard. She said her husband told their son that his mother does things he asks her to all the time without explaining how she gets it done and instead of gifts, she needs his help when she rarely asks. She said educators have asked. Auburn James said she is a science teacher at East Chapel Hill High School, and it is her 7t" year teaching. She said her third year of teaching was the best year, which was also when she started working at East Chapel Hill High School, and felt like she won the lottery getting to work in CHCCS. She said that this year has been the worst of her career and is working 3 times harder than any time before to make up for learning loss from last year. She said she has held over 30 evening virtual office hours for her students to give them extra help and prepare them for AP exams. She said she can't keep working like this without appreciation. She said the rate of inflation is causing her grocery bill to go up. She said she doesn't know if she can afford to be a teacher anymore. She said she doesn't have a spouse's income and she pays her own mortgage. She said she wants to continue doing her job for her students and colleagues who deserve her best and asked the Board to fully fund the CHCCS budget request. A motion was made by Commissioner McKee and seconded by Commissioner Richards to close the public hearing. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 19 Chair Price said that the Board will continue to work on the budget and there will be another budget public hearing in June. She said the Board was listening to all of the comments and appreciates everything they do and thanked the students who spoke for their words. Commissioner McKee said the fund balance of CHCCS as of the end of December 2021 was $15 million. He said their required fund balance is 5%, or about $3 of $4 million, so there is $11 million in fund balance that the school board could allocate. He said a 3% pay increase would cost $1.4 million. He said he appreciates everyone for coming out and for speaking because the Board is responsible for allocating funds to the school boards, but the CHCCS school board could do something about this now. Chair Price asked for the person who spoke about broadband to provide their address. The Board transitioned to a Work Session. 4. Discussion on the Orange County Food Council and Next Steps The Board received a progress report from the Orange County Food Council regarding its work from 2019 through spring 2022 and discussed next steps. BACKGROUND: The Food Council Coordinator was hired in July 2019. This new Coordinator position was established through an inter-local agreement process and is jointly funded by Orange County, Chapel Hill, Hillsborough and Carrboro. The Coordinator is charged with coordinating the Food Council and helping it achieve its goals. This presentation and discussion will provide an update of the Coordinator's work and progress since late 2020 and an overview of the Food Council's plans for the 2022-2023 Fiscal Year. Ashley Heger, Food Council Coordinator, gave the following PowerPoint presentation: Slide #1 ode ORANGE COUNTY * 0 FOOD COUNCIL 20 Slide #2 Orange County Food Council 1' bo use are: Coordinator, elected liaii ons, council members, community partners Mission: Grow a sustainable and equitable local food system How we work: Invest in relationships, work with community experts to identify issues and opportunities, research and develop solutions, and build bridges between community wisdom and decision-makers Ashley Heger said the council includes one paid coordinator, four elected liaisons, a number of at-large council members, and designated members from Cooperative Extension, the AG Preservation Board, a food-access practitioner, or someone with an experience or expertise in food-access to make sure to hold space for people with lived experience. She said they also have very important community partners and stakeholders that drive the work. Slide #3 2020 0 - `,'022 Accomplishments & Projects Our work io 2020 included,.. + ae;eloped n mcinl equity scoreenrd&report for the countyfood system • F IWented n faad neeeea report at the County Comutie86MM annual retMM • Complered an equity aeaes&ment of 2 ao"Ituralprogranse • Supported the development of the Ornnoe County Blna--FsrmerOnmp • Basted waeFJ}then monthly ea%dd food system caardinadan cam • F41cOltnted community feedbneh to emwgency food nssestance prnrnms PrajKLs°0°2 to now... • Community road Aceeea aeaesement + Grwwing local food marlmts pilot progrnm • -Community-Ranted-Develapment TridrUng sritiL Commurddes us Pa.:- • Farm„-orlmr Adlrocnc{Network Ashley Heger said that this is a brief overview of their most important work in 2020 and projects from 2021 to date. She said that a couple of actionable items came out of the annual retreat which have since been followed up on. 21 Slide #4 Equity Framework (how we work part ) Lessons learned • It's not just what you do,but how you do it OperationWiaing equity • Moving at the speed of treat !relxtionshipa • Ask:Who makes decisions for whom,and howl • Shifting power and resources to those most impacted + Lived experience = subjeet matter expertise She said they learned that it is not so much what you do but how you do it that makes the impact and they have moved away from value statements around equity and environmental sustainability to operational izing that work. She said they are trying to make it practical and start dealing with the issues. She noted that lived experience is expertise. Slide #5 EQUAL€TY J I EQUITY —I� LIRERATIOM Ashley Heger showed this slide depicting the differences between equality, equity, and liberation. She said that equality was once the goal, now we have a better understanding of equity, and can strive for removing the barrier. She said that cultural and political norms change and it is okay that they do. 22 Slide #6 "citizen participation is a categorical term for 8 lrl c Cartrpl citizen pourer.It is the redistribution of power that enables the have-not citizens, 7 D&Ia prod Powar cttpn Pcmar pi*wntly excluded from the political and e-eononiie processes. to be deliberately 4 included in the future, It is the strategy by which the have-nots join in determining how information is shared,goal$and policies are set.tax resources are alloeated, programs are 4 1c sL&tWn xker,em operated.., There is a critical difference between going ` tlu ough the empty ritual of pardeipation and having the real power needed to affect the outeorne of th-e prooess." NampartKipa m 1 WN 21­IiWgurr•_rbcmdLdk brr}'•w_laca I3i,d.r•of•c::i_ru P_idP­.L..aL Ashley Heger said that looking at the ladder, the Food Council still often finds itself in the tokenism range because they work in a structure that does not allow for full citizen power. She said this ladder is a description of how decisions are made and access to power. She said that for anyone on the Board that has been participating in the ONE Orange GARE process, they are aware they this group is also struggling with how to move away from tokenism to citizen power within the existing structures. Slide #7 Community Fond Access Assessment The what&the how: Final Report will include: Resign process -6 Ccmmumrty-led analysis of Timeline budget data hi-2th" -J� Community experts gaps * Shifting power analysis * Centering community experts -J� Recommendations for decision makers from the most impacted con 2,ultaiioa eonimunities Partnership -1� tories and wisdom from lived axperi*nee that can wide future decisions Ashley Heger said that when reaching out to community partners, they said they wanted to hear about what is going on within these institutions. She said that circumstances were more precarious that originally thought. She said the assessment engaged citizens in the design process. She said they have been able to compensate the community leaders that provided insight into the process and work on the research team. She said their guidance and direction is being used to see how the county invests in ending hunger. She said they have been reviewing the county's last five fiscal year budgets and have been collecting data on anything directly related to food access. She said they have been grappling with how to shift power and defer to those who are directly impacted. She said they are moving from consultation to partnership. She said they hope that they can come to present at a work session in the next year to provide 23 additional information on that work. She said that another group of four community experts go through a multi-week photovoice project that has led to the collection of very important information being collected in diary format along with photo and video. She said they are about to present the budget data they have been collecting to another group of eight community experts from the most impacted areas in Orange County: the refugee and immigrant, Black, rural, and Latinx communities. She said they will go through a process of analyzing the budget data and then conduct a gaps analysis. She said they will create recommendations for the decision makers in the county to consider. Slide #8 0 . .cess Ashley Heger said they took the social determinants of health and turned it into the social determinants of food access. She said these are the five key areas that were included when analyzing the budget over the past few years. Slide #9 ARRA Funding fbe Fbbd AdbOts By C.04gbry Multiple category Hm5+rya represents wrup- AIR MuMpie around services,F(nr # Food example, oreanisations that provide both hausine. utility @ssistance 7. and;'or food 1 F assistmee. Ashley Heger said this is an example graph they will be sharing. She said that the multiple category is 2.9%. She said this is the ARPA funding collected in those years. Chair Price asked Ashley Heger to explain the difference between the slide on the screen and the one they received in their packet. 24 Ashley Heger said that the slide in the packet was the wrong slide and the one on the screen is correct. She apologized and said not to consider slide #9 in the packet. She said they created a category called "multiple" to include the Inner Faith Council and others that provide wraparound services. Slide #10 Expanding Local Food Markets Pilot Project At the reconiinen-Oii(w of the chair of the Onmge Couuty Boud of County Cornmis3ioners, the Foal Counoil anti Cooperative Extension have been exploring options for a pilot program to expand r=kets for Orange County goawers and increase acaess to lacol foods far reeanal buyers. a Stakeholder iutenkievrs • 18 nwntb pilot pragram a Support 6-8 growers in an aniline sellimg/mwketing platform to connect to regional buyers e Pilot participants will help advise pragram implem mtatian and evaluation e Data collection and 2-4 staff reports annually a Intended timeline, July 2022 to December 2023 Ashley Heger said that in Spring 2021, Chair Price recommended that the Food Council work with Fresh Fire. She said they asked for feedback from stakeholders, including the Black farmer group they've worked with, and asked them what they think about this. She said that she has worked with Cooperative Extension to complete those stakeholder interviews. She said they chose from a wide spectrum of food producers in the county, and they selected a diversity in product, size, and how long they have been around. She said they said they were already engaged in wholesale markets or looking to do so. She said that five years ago, the Board had created a gap fund for farmers, and they thought there would be a line out the door to help get them certified but farmers in the county were doing direct sales and said there was no desire to move beyond that. She said that now there has been a switch and there is a higher demand here for local goods. She said that this pilot program will help small local growers expand into wholesale. She said they are proposing an 18-month pilot that would start in July. She said the funding would support eight growers in the county to become able to participate in online wholesaling. She said this would cutout the middleman and allow more local engagement. She said they hope they can also supplement the buyers, but they are not quite sure what they buyer side looks like at this point. She said that the third portion of funding will be for more frequent and more detailed data on the local food system. She said that the Fresh Fire specialized in data collection and can do customized reports, help interview, and give them key information on how program is working or if it is not. 25 Slide #11 MOU Renewal Original MOU was signed iR 2019 Exeeutive Committee Reeommendations for an updated M 0 U • Remain in effect for 5 years Update funding percentages with 2020 census data • Remove the number of councA seats from the MOU * Include referen-ce to raeial mrork Ashley Heger provided information on the history of her position and the original MOU. She said it is an Interlocal agreement between Orange County, Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, Carrboro. She said it is similarly modeled after the Partnership to End Homelessness. She said the MOU expired in March 2021 and that the executive committee of Food Council is recommending it be renewed. She said that a redlined version of the new MOU will be provided in the next couple of weeks. Slide #12 Qw-scions & Discussion Ashley Leger alzeger�orangee ount��nc.gov Commissioner Richards asked when the community assessment final report would be done. Ashley Heger said it should be provided to the Board in sometime in July or August. She said the community consultations will end in May and afterwards they will just be writing it. Commissioner Richards asked if it will be when they come back from break. Ashley Heger joked that the Commissioners will not be overwhelmed at all when they come back from break. when the pilot project will be started. Commissioner Richards asked if the pilot project will end in June. Ashley Heger said the Expanding Local Markets pilot will likely come back as a budget amendment in June but said they would need to confirm this with Travis Myren. She said this 26 would hopefully allow it to start in July. She said the reason is they would like to cover two growing seasons and run it for 18 months. She said they would cover half of one growing season in the first phase and then a full growing season in the next. Commissioner Richards asked if the assessment would be after the pilot project. Ashley Heger said they are two completely different projects. She said the assessment will be available to the Commissioners upon their return from break and at that same time, they hope to be at the beginning of the pilot program. Commissioner Richards said in the summary for work plan, it would be helpful to show the amount things increased. Ashley Heger said they can certainly put that in. Commissioner McKee asked what the cost is for the pilot program. Ashley Heger said $25,000 over 18 months. Commissioner McKee asked if that would support six growers. Ashley Heger said they hope to support eight growers and between 1 and 3 regional buyers. She said the remaining amount would go to data collection efforts. Commissioner McKee asked how many growers there are in Orange County. Ashley Heger said she does not have that number, but this pilot program would be for growers with consumer ready products. She said this will not involve those that are producing meat. Commissioner McKee asked if it would include growers of corn or butter beans because that is crucial for him to know. He asked how many growers this program has made contact with. Ashley Heger said she feels like she has received this question a few times and that she is only one person and must rely on a network of partnerships because one person can only do so much. She said she utilizes partnerships with community organizations, such as the Ag Preservation Board, Cooperative Extension, and Breeze Farm. She said that she wants Commissioner McKee to know that if he ever has any farmer, or group of farmers, that he would like her to make contact with, she will show up for that. She said there is no master contact list in the county for farmers. Commissioner McKee said there is a list for certain products. Ashely Heger said that is correct but Cooperative Extension maintains that and they will not share it unless she has a very specific reason for needing it because the farmers on the list have requested not to be contacted. Commissioner McKee said that is a problem she is going to have and that he is a retired farmer that wholesaled his product. He said it was not food, but it was a farm product. He said it is an extraordinarily difficult market to break into. He said that $25,000 will not scratch the surface of the need. He said that his comments are not a direct attack on Ashley Heger or of the Council but that he has not ever thought this program would put food on the table and he is still of that mind. He said that farmers markets exist at several locations now in the county. He said other farmers are involved in direct marketing or selling directly from their farms. He said he fails to understand what this program is trying to do and where it is going. He said he has real issues spending as much time and effort on this and he does not know where this is going. He said there is massive hunger in areas of the county, but this is not being addressed. He said he does not want to look at data points, but wants to see providing food. He said there are other organizations in the county that are providing food directly to people. Ashley Heger said that is correct and that it is her understanding that she was not hired, nor was the coordinator position designed, to be a direct service but rather to coordinate systems-based issues. She said for example if they saw the email that she forwarded them from Commissioner Bedford, it is her job to stay in the know of what is happening across the region as well as coordinate direct action to the most impacted communities. 27 Commissioner McKee said he understood. Chair Price said she was also interested in seeing food on the table and when she was contacted by the co-chairs of the fresh buyers, that their data is about getting farmers in touch with consumers so they can get the food on the table that people actually want rather than just handing people a bag of food. She said that data will help them go from a philosophy to more of practical measures. Ashley Heger said this would include costs so they would get feedback from the buyers and the sellers of if this makes economic sense. She said the question that could be answered is can someone grow lettuce in Orange County, then sell it to Weaver Street Market, and that be an affordable and accessible good in that space. Commissioner McKee said the farmers do not need that. He said they are educated and capable of figuring out their own numbers. He said that he is not intending to hound her over this and that he does not mean to. He said that whatever the county does for food access, they need to be dealing with food access. He said he does not understand how this organization helps the farmers and those who have a lack of nourishing food. He said he sees that work is being done, but he does not understand how this is better than a facility that would collect aggregated product. He said that there is no way a small farmer in Orange County can supply the theoretical one hundred boxes of lettuce on their own. Ashely Heger said there is an issue with aggregation. Commissioner McKee said he thinks there is a regional collection facility in Durham County. He said he does not know how the logistics of putting UNC Hospitals in touch with local farmers is going to work and that it can be guaranteed. He said he thinks the effort does not seem to help the farmer make contact with the people that they need to sell to. He said when he was a farmer, he would have to do the legwork to convince them that they needed to buy from him. He said that help would be fine, but have they not been dealing with this for 5 or 6 years. Ashley Heger said they have only been dealing with her since 2019. Commissioner McKee said they are still at the 30,000-foot level. Ashley Heger said that Cooperative Extension, the Ag Preservation Board, and Economic Development that could be grappling with the larger issues he is talking about. She said that her job as coordinator is to examine those that have been most impacted by the systemic racism in our food system and how does she work with them to provide a bridge into this institution while also building out the capacity of the institution. She said coming back to the idea of moving at the urgency of those most impacted, she feels that it should not be her deciding what farmers feel is and is not urgent. She said that the design of this particular pilot program is to work with a very small group of growers to understand the impacts of them getting the kind of support that Commissioner McKee is talking about and to identify the gaps. She said some the already anecdotally know. She said that most farmers cannot afford a $30,000 refrigerated truck and there is no aggregation center in the county. She said that the aggregation center in Durham will only take GAP certified products and there is only one GAP Certified farmer in the county. She said that a number of farmers interviewed for pilots are already doing this work together. She said there is one farm that has already helped incubate two additional farms and they also have a contract with Weaver Street Market to grow and sell celery. She said that instead of taking a $100 thousand plus contract for himself, he split it between him and two other farms. She said that farmers, as Commissioner McKee knows firsthand, know it takes a community, a network and that they are very wise and very experienced. She said that it is not her directing people what to do, but rather asking for input from farmers about what is working well and what supports they need. She said that the pilot project will allow farmers to benchmark and lead the direction to say what is and is not working. She said they will have regular meetings with the cohort and the data from Fresh Buyer to 28 inform the work. She said she hears Commissioner McKee's frustration, does not take it personally, and knows there are always more farmers to reach. Commissioner McKee said the county is already working through this through economic development loans and grants and the farmers using Breeze Farm. Ashley Heger said those farmers were interviewed and they said they could use help in bridging the gap between incubator farm and wholesaling. Commissioner Bedford asked when the MOU will come back to the Board. Ashley Heger said hopefully very soon. She said this is an update and that she has to work with the Attorney's Office to finalize the MOU and that the Board can see the redlined version. Commissioner Bedford said the Climate Reorganization Subcommittee reviewed the MOU and Council Member Slade said the Food Council members choose their own members. She asked who approves their bylaws. She said that she does not want to create a group that the Board has no control over. Ashley Heger said this is the tricky part of embracing relationships and not seeing that as some form of nepotism or playing favorites. She said she is open to as much transparency as possible. She said that she can walk them through how they became a hybrid group of the county. She said in 2019 there was a desire that the Food Council remain an autonomous body that she would help coordinate and they could engage in state level advocacy work. She said now they are not getting close to that type of work. She said if there is a group, like the NC Food System Advocacy Coalition, then they can participate in it. She said they are not a formal advisory board and that one of the reasons is the community said they have disengaged from participating in most of these advisory boards because we see no return and is often a space that is not designed for us. She said when original legal agreement came through, it was decided that the executive committee would have all elected official liaisons and that committee would oversee all final decisions. She said the way members are selected is through a campaign for new members. She said the application asks for information about where people live, work, and how much money they generate. She said they want that information to know if the council is representative of the community and every part of the food system. She said the executive committee make the final decision after reviewing the applications. She said that probably feels informal because that is different than how other advisory boards work in the county. Commissioner Bedford asked for Ashley Heger to provide demographic information on the board. Ashley Heger said up until 2020 they were a majority non-white council. She said age ranges from eighteen and beyond. She said that gender-wise, it is heavily female. She said she would be happy to share trends overtime. Commissioner Greene said she is the elected liaison to the Food Council and has been involved in it since the beginning. She said if the Board is going to say the Council is not working because they are not putting food on tables then that is not going to get anywhere because that is not the purpose of the Food Council and that has never been the purpose. She said that the purpose of the Food Council is to work within and strengthen the food system in Orange County. She said this work is to help farmers that are already mission driven to be a networking farmers and to help them take advantage of changes that the Council can bring to the system. She said that they can use the help of the Council to gain access to places that they had not before. She said they saw during COVID what happens when the food distribution system breaks. She said that there was milk being destroyed in Midwest because they had put it in containers for school children and they did not have the big containers to send it to the grocery store and they found they could not switch on a dime and had to dump the milk down drains. She said that now there is a greater awareness of the need and interest in making local 29 food production and distribution system more robust. She said the comparison is to the Partnership to End Homelessness. She said the Climate Council never had an MOU to begin with. She said that this process is innovative and there is a lot of control from the executive committee. She said that it has a unique mission and unique history. Ashley Heger said it was modeled after the Partnership to End Homelessness. She said that is why the executive committee has so much power and that design was also what the citizen group gave up to gain more structure, resources and support. She said they still wanted to maintain the connection to values and communities they work with. Commissioner Fowler asked how the chair and co-chairs are elected and how long their terms are. Ashley Heger said there is a process every 1-3 years where people nominate themselves or others to become co-chairs on the Food Council. She said the Food Council votes. She said that the co-chairs choose the duration. She said that comes back to the community they work with and that there are no paid positions on the Council, and this is essentially free work provided by the members. She said who has the privilege to volunteer their time. She said they are still grappling with available free time. She listed the co-chairs since 2020 and said they were all nominated and elected by their peers and get to decide if they serve a 1-3-year term. She said they will be updating bylaws at June meeting and will provide to the Board. Commissioner Fowler asked why 5 years for the MOU. Commissioner Greene said the model from the Partnership is 5 years. Ashley Heger said Chapel Hill wanted 2 years in 2019 but all other entities agreed with five. Commissioner Fowler asked if this was something that is needed forever, or if there would be an endpoint to the work. Ashley Heger said she would love to work herself out of this job. She said that she thinks it will be needed longer than she hopes. She said that there are other models besides a Food Council Coordinator and it can be measured to see what is working. She said that Durham created a food access coordinator in Cooperative Extension. She said they are only dealing with access, not system-wide organizing or dealing with farmers. She said that she works closely with them and has drawn them into the TJCOG space because you can't separate those issues. She said that from the beginning, it has been said that housing cannot be left out of food access. She said that it is not just one coordinator's work. She said that the work could be disbursed because there is more work than one person can actually do. She said that more strategic alignment across all departments would likely be beneficial. Commissioner Fowler said that is true for a lot of the different work the county is doing and that most of them have some overlap. She said that is kind of the point — do we continue to make special projects or do we start working to bridge the overlap. Commissioner Hamilton said it is hard in this current iteration to be clear what the targets are and that it is too much. She said there is not the ability to be effective by getting the data and homing in on the work. She said she is concerned about the effectiveness and how it is currently designed. She said she wants to see the data to see what would make sense. Ashley Heger said the coordinator position was originally created to coordinate community spaces to align with the Board's social justice goals. She said she could help convene the impacted community members and bring that back to the Board. She said that at one time she was once coordinating a food access group and a food waste group and then they cut back and decided to only focus on the local food economy and food access. She said that nationally, as well as in other countries, all are grappling with what the correct metrics are. She said it is about capacity building within the organization. She said that data is important but is a flattened piece of information and the question is how to move beyond simplified data while also 30 embracing that there is knowledge and wisdom beyond it. She said Commissioner Richards and Commissioner Greene came with her to visit a couple of farms and hopefully can do more of that. She said that they can be doing better by doing a local ag census that is independent of USDA. Chair Price asked how many people are on the entire council. Ashley Heger said sixteen, but five are open seats. She said they are requesting to have stipends to grapple with the issue of free work because they do not want to create a Council that is majority filled with those that have privilege and access. Chair Price clarified that the co-chairs are not elected representatives. Ashley Heger said that is correct. Chair Price said she was skeptical in 2018 but sees that this is getting somewhere now. She said that she can see the need. She said she hopes the pilot works and that Ashley Heger has actually brought the Food Council a long way. She asked about the proposed 5 years for the MOU. She said she hopes it is five years. She said she does not think Ashley will work herself out of this job because the need will be continuous and ever evolving. She said she is thinking about three years instead of five. Commissioner McKee asked if she was advocating for a separate ag center from USDA and Extension. Ashley Heger said she said a separate census. She said that the USDA does one every seven years and that she wants to do one locally. She said they have talked about doing one multiple times but they always come back to the same issue —who do we talk to, what data are we collecting. She said that if that does not change and if they only get input from those already connected then the data will be there but how good will it be. She said that is why they decided to start small and a way directly connected to those on the ground. She said that hopefully this pilot project could lead to a local census. Commissioner Bedford said she loves the idea of a census. She said that she would like more information, or numbers, because she is not clear on what marginalized communities she is talking about. She said more numerics help her. She said that she thinks the Board needs better ways to share information because they are all liaisons to committees, but they do not really share any of that information with the full Board. She asked the Board to think about it because there has to be a better way. Chair Price said they all can give reports at the beginning of meetings, but she understands that is not likely enough. She said even though the Board is looking at what is happening now, the project can also help support new farmers if they know there is a place for them. She said this could encourage new and younger farmers to start. Ashley Heger said it would be a launching pad. Chair Price said that she has talked to some of the new Black farmers, and they are excited to get into Weaver Street but that is not insurance and they would be happy to get more. Ashley Heger said that Fresh Fire works with restaurants, stores, and institutions with buyers spanning from US Foods to Weaver Street. Commissioner Greene said that Breeze Farm moved from the model of accepting brand new farmers, so that left a gap there. She said this highlights the importance of working with a more informal network. Ashley Heger said it will always be "both and." She said she fully hears the criticisms and understands because they really are flying the plane and building it at the same time with this work. She said moving toward equity is challenging. Chair Price said not to think about them as criticisms but rather comments. 31 5. Additional Discussion on Regulation of Large Gatherings The Board discussed the regulation of large gatherings in Orange County. BACKGROUND: The Board of Commissioners requested information on possible options for the County to potentially regulate protests or large gatherings in Orange County. The Board initially received information on this subject at its March 10, 2022 work session. At that work session, the Board discussed many aspects of this type of regulation including prohibiting large gatherings on certain public-school properties. The attachments include a legal overview of the regulation of protests and gatherings that was provided at the work session, some relevant state statutes, and a draft County ordinance. The draft ordinance generally: • Covers parades and picketing. • Establishes requirements for the content of permit applications and notice and assigns responsibility for oversight of the ordinance to the Clerk to the Board in consultation with the Sheriff. • Provides for an appeal to the County Manager if a permit application is denied. • Establishes standards of conduct for participants and organizers of Parades and Picketing. • Establishes the locations at and upon which Parades and Picketing may occur. Not all county property is what's known as a public forum and so limits access to only certain county properties. • Prohibits Parades and Picketing within five hundred feet of school property and playgrounds; and • Declares violations to be subject to a $500 fine and equitable relief. John Roberts said they had previously talked about this in March. He said that sample ordinals were presented at that time and that he has drafted an ordinance based on Wake County's but is different because it has portions dealing with schools that this Board wants included. He said that this ordinance also includes parades and picketing. He said that those usually happen in city jurisdiction, but this will be county jurisdiction. He said that this also includes application information for a parade and that the Clerk's office has graciously volunteered to be the application director and to hand out permits. He said there is not an application or permit process for picketing, but it would require notice. He said the Clerk would then consult with the Sheriff. He said that if there is a permit denied there is an appeal process. He said that it establishes standards of conduct for those participating in picketing. He said that it will have designated locations for picketing if the Board so chooses to keep those included. He said that it would be up to the Board to determine what is considered public forum. He said that it prohibits parades or picketing within five hundred feet of a school playground even on private property. He said he specifically did not put in misdemeanor provisions because the General Assembly made it very difficult to get a conviction of a local ordinance misdemeanor. Chair Price said the Efland Christmas Parade is in the county. Commissioner McKee said there are a few and asked if those would require a permit. 32 John Roberts said if it is on a state-maintained highway, the permit would not be applicable here. Commissioner Greene she understands where it is not applicable and asked what streets are left. John Roberts said the county does not control roads in the county's jurisdiction. He said he did not see any that would apply, currently. He said if the county is temporarily in control of the road, he really is not sure. He said that the ordinance does not allow the impediment of traffic as it is written and does not apply to vehicular roadways. Commissioner McKee asked if including parade language is a solution looking for a problem. John Roberts said it is and he is not going to recommend the Board adopt parade language. Commissioner McKee asked what authority or justification there is for five hundred feet. John Roberts said that is for the Board's discussion and five hundred feet is just a number at this point. He said that he understood there was concern that people were too close to school property, students, and staff, so the number is up for Board consideration. Commissioner McKee asked if the protestors were actually on school property during the incident in question. John Roberts said he does not know what incident gave rise to this. Commissioner McKee said it was a Board of Education meeting. Chair Price said there was a football game at Orange High and there were board members and parents who were concerned. She said it was hard to determine where they were. Commissioner McKee asked of if they were on public or private property. Chair Price said she understood that they were in the road. Commissioner McKee said that football stadium is maybe 1,000 feet from the roadway. He said that there are people on the street in Hillsborough and he does not see the difference. He said he wants to make sure they get this right. He said that it is the same with parades. He said he wants to make sure he knows why they are picking 500 feet. He said that with restricting the public right of way or private property he is concerned about how this affects free speech. Chair Price said if someone wants to have a parade who currently issues a permit. John Roberts said currently there is no permit issued, but the Clerk would do it going forward. Chair Price asked if Churton Street is a state road. John Roberts said Churton Street is a state road but is within the Town's jurisdiction. Chair Price asked about Orange High School Road. John Roberts said it is a state road. Chair Price said the Town of Hillsborough authorizes parades on Churton Street even though it is a state road. Commissioner Richards asked if there is a way to say, "...during school activities." John Roberts said it could be limited to school hours, school activities, or anywhere a property is holding a school athletic event. Commissioner Hamilton said she made this petition as an attempt to protect children. She said that children can be harmed with speech and if they feel unsafe in school then they will not learn. She asked if the activity chairperson is relevant to picketing and parades. John Roberts said yes. Commissioner Hamilton asked if county owned property includes schools. John Roberts said some schools are owned by the county and would apply to them. 33 Commissioner Bedford said for Carrboro High School, the county has part ownership so they could get the sales tax. Commissioner Fowler asked about 15 feet between picketers and asked if that is what other counties have used. John Roberts said he thinks that part came from Wake County, and it is all for Board discussion and decision. Commissioner Fowler said it seems like a large amount of space. Chair Price asked if the section on private property for gathering, does that mean that the county can control what is happening on private property. John Roberts said there is case law to support that if private property is regularly used for public purposes. Commissioner Bedford said she would like some input from the Sheriff on what is realistic for the deputies to enforce. She said there are some Confederate Flag waivers and asked if the Sheriff was consulted. John Roberts said he ran it by the Sheriff who said it looked good and he would enforce it, he just did not want to be the permit issuer. Commissioner Greene said she would like to remove the parade references. She said it would be helpful if the Sheriff can attend the next Board discussion of this item. Commissioner McKee asked if anyone else had an issue with the $500 fine. He asked if the fine would that apply to multiple people within the same event. John Roberts said yes. Commissioner McKee asked how that was not suppression of free speech. John Roberts said their free speech is not suppressed if they are abiding by the terms of the ordinance. Commissioner McKee said he has a hard time imagining a picket being allowed at the Orange High School with this ordinance. He asked if he stands at Orange High School Road holding a sign that someone does not agree with, and they call the Sheriff since he would be within five hundred feet of the school. John Roberts said that right now that person could be removed if they were obstructing traffic. Commissioner McKee said that he is not talking about being in the roadway. John Roberts it would be in violation if he is within five hundred feet of the school the way it is drafted but the Board can choose any distance, they deem appropriate. Commissioner McKee said that would impede his free speech. John Roberts said free speech is not unlimited. Commissioner McKee said he understands but that he does not want to tighten this down to where someone would feel that they cannot express their opinion. He said that short of someone making physical moves he does not feel threatened by someone standing with a sign or yelling their opinion out. He said everyone sees the situation differently, but he wants people to be able to express their opinion because that is the bedrock of this country. Commissioner Hamilton said there are benefits to having an ordinance to regulate close to the schools. She said if there are two groups with opposing views, demonstrating at the same place and at the same time, this ordinance would give law enforcement the heads up that they would be there and would also allow for planning to make sure that the opposing groups were far enough apart from one another. She said that will help create a systematic response and decrease chance that there would be some unhelpful interactions and be sure that both sides can get their point of view across. She said that she wants free speech but not in a way that harms children. She said this helps them know when things are happening, provides rules for the demonstrators, and helps other people know what to do if there is a need to call law enforcement. 34 Commissioner Richards said she remembers the messages the Board received from students and parents and teachers, and they said they felt unsafe, devalued, and threatened by the comments and the signs. She said they have a responsibility to provide a safe learning environment for the students and that is what she wants to make sure they protect that. She said that is the balance that is needed and asked how they create rules around that. She said that she still goes back to those comments and wonders if there is a way to make this when students are around. Chair Price said having a safe learning environment is core to a sound basic education. She said the concern for her and where this originated was around the schools and how to address this so that kids could come to school without being intimidated. She said she is a proponent of free speech, but in a more appropriate location than in a place where children are impacted. She said she likes the five hundred feet from a school but maybe the distance could be 1,000 feet. Commissioner Richards said to go that far, the ordinance needs to cover all protests. She said they have gotten complaints about one side being treated one way. She said the section about schools should just be more specific. Commissioner Greene said she is thinking of how to separate a parade from picketing. She said if there is a parade, there is an organizer, but that is not always true for picketing. She asked if this would require a permit for picketing. John Roberts said no permits are required for picketing, but notice is required. Commissioner Greene asked who would give the notice. John Roberts said the event organizer, but that he will confirm that. Commissioner Greene said pickets are by nature often spontaneous and sometimes do not have an organizer or the chance to provide notice. She said she trying to figure out how this would work so that law enforcement has advance notice of the events, and everyone can know the rules. Commissioner Hamilton said she is wondering about the process and asked how the process works leading up to adoption. She said it seems more input is needed from the Sheriff and the schools. John Roberts said this does not require a public hearing. He said that the Board will discuss it at work sessions, then discuss it at a business meeting, where the public can comment, and then the ordinance can be adopted that night or a different night. He said that if adopted, this would be a county ordinance and only applicable to areas in the county's jurisdiction. Commissioner McKee said he is fine with five hundred feet within schools and playgrounds. He said he does have issues with the $500 fine and the language around private property. Chair Price asked about school property that is owned by the county but outside of the jurisdiction. John Roberts said county ordinances apply to county-owned property. Chair Price asked about Central Elementary School. John Roberts said that if the county has an ownership interest in Central Elementary this would apply. He said that River Park is in Hillsborough town limits, and this would not apply there. Chair Price said she thinks they have ownership interest in Carrboro High School. Commissioner Bedford said she thinks they have a 20-year ownership interest and that the school is not that old yet. She asked if there was consensus about removing the parade portion. Chair Price said yes, and they have consensus with $500 feet. She asked that the draft be sent to Sheriff Blackwood for review. 35 Commissioner Greene said she would like to have another work session with the Sheriff present. Chair Price said she agrees. Commissioner Hamilton suggested inviting school staff and the school board to speak as well. 6. Agricultural Preservation Board —Appointment Discussion The board discussed appointments to the Agricultural Preservation Board. BACKGROUND: The Agricultural Preservation Board is charged to promote the economic and cultural importance of agriculture in the County, and to encourage voluntary preservation and protection of farmland for future production. The Board of County Commissioners appoints all 15 members, including eight (8) At-Large members, and one (1) member from each of the seven (7) Agricultural Districts in the County. The following individuals are recommended for Board consideration: NAME POSITION TYPE OF EXPIRATION DESCRIPTION APPOINTMENT DATE TERM Jeff Sykes At-Large Second Full Term 06/30/2025 Beth Myers At-Large Second Full Term 06/30/2025 Michael Cane Creek/Buckhorn Second Full Term 06/30/2025 McPherson Voluntary Agricultural District If the individuals listed above are appointed, the following vacancy remains: POSITION EXPIRATION VACANCY INFORMATION DESIGNATION DATE Cedar Grove 06/30/2023 Vacant since 11/20/2020 Voluntary Agricultural District Tara May introduced the item. The Board agreed by consensus on the recommended applicants. Commissioner Bedford asked about the vacancy on the Cedar Grove position. Tara May said this board has very specific seats and the Cedar Grove position requires a person that is the owner of a qualifying farm enrolled in voluntary agricultural district and the farm has to be located within the boundary of the Cedar Grove voluntary agricultural district. She said since it is so specific the board has had a hard time finding someone who qualifies to apply but recruitment is ongoing. Chair Price said it became vacant during the pandemic and now that people are getting out and talking to one another there might be more opportunity. 36 7. Animal Services Advisory Board —Appointments Discussion The board discussed an appointment to the Animal Services Advisory Board. BACKGROUND: The charge of the Animal Services Advisory Board is to advise the Board of County Commissioners on matters of concern regarding animal issues and animals services in Orange County and to work with the Animal Services Director (or designee) on various policy concerns and issues regarding County animal services. The Board of County Commissioners appoints all thirteen (13) members with representation from various related fields and municipalities. The following individual is recommended for Board consideration: NAME POSITION TYPE OF EXPIRATION DESCRIPTION APPOINTMENT DATE TERM Mark J. Town of Hillsborough First Full Term 06/30/2024 Solomon If the individual listed above is appointed, the following vacancies remain: POSITION EXPIRATION VACANCY INFORMATION DESIGNATION DATE Town of Carrboro 06/30/2024 Vacant since 06/30/2021 Town of Chapel 06/30/2024 Vacant since 06/30/2021 Hill Animal 06/30/2023 Vacant since 04/20/2022 Welfare/Animal Advocacy Owner/Manager 06/30/2023 Vacant since 01/05/2022 Retail Pet Services Tara May introduced the item. She described the vacancies. She said there are no applicants for the Town of Carrboro seat or the Owner/Manager Retail Pet Services. She said that Denise Dolin would be eligible for Town of Chapel Hill seat. She said that depending on the Board's opinion there could be people eligible for the Animal Welfare/Animal Advocacy seat. She said that Lee Hethcox, Denise Dooland, and Jennifer Stout may be eligible for that seat. Commissioner Greene asked about Celie Richardson for the Town of Chapel Hill seat. Tara May apologized for not including her and said that was unintentional when she was reading the applicant names. Chair Price asked about Mark Solomon for the Town of Hillsborough seat. The Board agreed by consensus to appoint Mark Solomon to the seat. Commissioner Greene nominated Celie Richardson for the Town of Chapel Hill seat. The Board agreed by consensus to appoint Celie Richardson to the seat. Commissioner Fowler asked about Denise Dooland and Lee Hethcox. Commissioner Bedford said Denise Dooland is a social worker and loves animals and had previously volunteered with animal services. Tara May said that Celie Richardson lives in the ETJ rather than the Town limits and that makes them ineligible for the Town of Chapel Hill seat. 37 Chair Price said Denise Dooland for Town of Chapel Hill seat. The Board agreed by consensus to appoint Denise Dooland to the seat. Chair Price asked if Celie Richardson is eligible for the Animal Welfare seat. Tara May said for the Animal Welfare and advocacy seat it requires a person who has experience in rescue work, service, advocacy, and support, volunteerism in animal shelter. Commissioner Fowler reviewed Denise Dooland's qualifications. Commissioner Bedford asked about Cynthia Stubbs and said she is a retired vet and a farmer. Chair Price said they could wait if necessary. Commissioner Fowler suggested Lee Hethcox for the animal advocacy seat. The Board agreed by consensus to appoint Lee Hethcox to the seat. 8. Arts Commission —Appointments Discussion The board discussed an appointment to the Arts Commission. BACKGROUND: The Arts Commission recommends strategies to promote the artistic and cultural growth of Orange County, advises the Board of Commissioners on matters involving the arts, and acts as the granting panel for funding programs available to individual artists and non- profit groups sponsoring arts projects in Orange County. The Board of County Commissioners appoints all fifteen (15) At-Large members. The following individual is recommended for Board consideration: NAME POSITION TYPE OF EXPIRATION DESCRIPTION APPOINTMENT DATE TERM Victoria E. UNC Student One Year Term 06/30/2023 Danielik Representative If the individual listed above is appointed, no vacancies remain. Tara May introduced the item. The Board agreed by consensus on the recommended applicant. 9. Economic Development Advisory Board —Appointments Discussion The board discussed an appointment to the Economic Development Advisory Board. BACKGROUND: The Economic Development Advisory Board works cohesively with the County's Economic Development staff and other economic development partners to position Orange County as a competitive location for business opportunities. The Board of County Commissioners appoints all ten (10) members, with representation from various fields. 38 The following individual is presented for Board consideration: NAME POSITION TYPE OF EXPIRATION DESCRIPTION APPOINTMENT DATE TERM Hasan A. Core Business First Full Term 06/30/2025 Abdullah Community If the individual listed above is appointed, no vacancies remain. Tara May introduced the item. The Board agreed by consensus to reappoint Hasan Abdullah. 10. Orange County Board of Adjustment—Appointments Discussion The board discussed appointments to the Orange County Board of Adjustment. BACKGROUND: The Board of Adjustment hears and decides on variance applications, appeals submitted related to official decisions/determinations made by the Planning Director, reviews and takes action on Class B Special Use Permit applications, as well as matters required to pass by the Unified Development Ordinance. The Board of County Commissioners appoints all seven (7) members. The Board of Adjustment does not make recommendations. The following individuals are presented for Board consideration: NAME POSITION TYPE OF EXPIRATION DESCRIPTION APPOINTMENT DATE TERM Leon Meyers At-Large First Full Term 06/30/2025 (re-appointment) Nathan Alternate First Full Term 06/30/2025 Robinson (re-appointment) If the individuals listed above are appointed, no vacancies remain. Tara May introduced the item and reviewed the recommended individuals. The Board agreed by consensus to reappoint Leon Meyers. Tara May said that earlier in the day she learned that the Board of Adjustment is having difficulty getting the full five-member board present. She said that they have requested to move Nathan Robinson and Beth Bronson from the alternate positions to regular member seats on the Board of Adjustment. She said they also ask that the applicants be appointed to the alternate seats. Board agreed by consensus on the proposal. The Board considered appointing two alternates to the Board of Adjustment. They agreed by consensus on Adam Beeman and Roderick Jones. 39 11. Orange County Parks and Recreation Council —Appointments Discussion The board discussed an appointment to the Orange County Parks and Recreation Council. BACKGROUND: The Orange County Parks and Recreation Council consults with and advises the Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation, and the Board of County Commissioners on matters affecting parks planning, development and operation; recreation facilities, policies and programs; and public trails and open space. The Board of County Commissioners appoints all twelve members with representatives from each of the county's townships plus its municipalities. The following individual is recommended for Board consideration: NAME POSITION DESCRIPTION TYPE OF EXPIRATION APPOINTMENT DATE TERM Roderick Hillsborough Town Limits Partial Term 09/30/2022 Jones If the individual listed above is appointed, the following vacancy remains: POSITION EXPIRATION VACANCY INFORMATION DESIGNATION DATE Chapel Hill 03/31/2023 Vacant since 10/13/2021. Township Tara May introduced the item. The Board agreed by consensus on the recommended applicant. 12. Orange County Planning Board —Appointment Discussion The board discussed an appointment to the Orange County Planning Board. BACKGROUND: The Planning Board studies Orange County and surrounding areas to determine objectives in the development of the County. It prepares and recommends plans to achieve that development, including the suggesting of policies, ordinances, and procedures. It reviews development applications and makes recommendations to the Board of Commissioners. The Board of County Commissioners appoints all twelve (12) members. The Planning Board does not make recommendations. The following position is available for Board consideration: NAME POSITION TYPE OF EXPIRATION DESCRIPTION APPOINTMENT DATE TERM BOCC Bingham Township Partial Term 03/31/2024 Appointee 40 If the position listed above is filled, no vacancies remain. Tara May introduced the item. She said two applicants, Stephen Kaufman and Nathan Robinson, would qualify for the vacancy. Chair Price recommended Stephen Kaufman. The Board agreed by consensus on Stephen Kaufman. 13. Adjourn A motion was made by Commissioner McKee and seconded by Commissioner Fowler to adjourn the meeting at 10:27 p.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Renee Price, Chair Recorded by Tara May, Deputy Clerk to the Board Submitted for approval by Laura Jensen, Clerk to the Board.