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12 <br /> recruitment and retention program that they can apply for. It is a five-year grant. The first year <br /> is 90%funding, and it decreases each year. <br /> John Link said that one of the biggest challenges would be the cost of going to paid <br /> staff. The County's salary is just not competitive with the municipalities'salaries. <br /> Jack Ball said that the rescue squads also need to be competitive regarding salary. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs said that when the County rotates out its computers, they should <br /> be offered to the rescue squads instead of being sold. He would like to talk about fire ratings <br /> and how the fire departments can improve them and explain it to homeowners and to the media. <br /> He said that there are touchy issues around firefighter pensions and he would like to look at <br /> proposed changes in policies or legislative changes that might be useful to EMS,rescue <br /> squads,or fire departments. <br /> Chair Carey asked about the$1.344 million for the bill and where this figure came from. <br /> Jack Ball said that this was a program that was put together with members of the Fire Chief's <br /> Association. Several chiefs got together and looked at some costs and came up with this figure. <br /> This includes costs for a building,a mobile classroom,fixed burn buildings,etc. He thinks this <br /> figure is short of what would be needed for the whole program. He noticed that there were no <br /> facilities for showers or restrooms. This would generate an additional cost. <br /> Chair Carey asked several clarifying questions that were answered by Jack Ball. <br /> Chair Carey suggested updating the chart on page 13 and the inventory of equipment. <br /> Commissioner Gordon asked the staff to look at the various'districts and what the <br /> insurance ratings are. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs asked if the County Commissioners received a formal request <br /> from Orange Rescue Squad for tax revenue and Rod Visser said no. Commissioner Jacobs <br /> said that he would view the rescue squad being similar to the fire departments in terms of public <br /> service. He suggested asking each group what it envisions for itself and develop a level playing <br /> field. <br /> John Link said that this assessment would be valuable to the rescue squads also. <br /> 2. Jordan Lake Watershed Nutrient Management Strategy and Rules <br /> Environment and Resource Conservation Director Dave Stencil said that the purpose of <br /> this item is to see if the Board is interested in providing comments to the Division of Water <br /> Quality on the proposed Jordan Lake Nutrient Management Strategy and Total Maximum Daily <br /> Load. He said that it was not a surprise that they have to deal with nutrients in Jordan Lake, <br /> because there were predictions 20 years ago that there would be these issues. The deadline <br /> for the Division of Water Quality is May 31 st for comments. He pointed out some areas of the <br /> watershed on a map. The current proposal is that the DWQ would get recommendations to the <br /> Environmental Management Commission in July and they might adopt it in September. It would <br /> take two years to finalize the rules and put them in place in 2007. <br /> He made reference to page five of the report and the nutrient reduction requirements. <br /> Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to reducing nitrogen and said that a huge golf <br /> community was just approved in Chatham County. Golf courses;are some of the biggest users <br /> of nitrogen. Dave Stencil said that a lot of the nitrogen comes from municipal wastewater <br /> treatment plants and there are three,in this particular basin. <br /> Craig Benedict explained ten total management strategies,as follows: <br /> Jordan Lake, Non-Point Source Nutrient Management Strategy <br />