Minutes - 20071211 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Gordon underscored what Commissioner Carey said and said that this was discussed at the Transportation Advisory Committee of the DCHC-MPO. Commissioner Gordon highlighted that the Board is having a public hearing in February for the CIP. She would like to see this well publicized. Chair Jacobs requested that at the January 15th meeting that there be a summary of all of the follow-up items from this last year and which ones are still pending. Chair Jacobs congratulated Art Mines who has requested a train stop in Hillsborough. Four governments have endorsed this idea and it is being considered actively. He said that one person can actually make a difference when there is a good idea. Orange County has also endorsed this idea. Chair Jacobs suggested, now that we are going to be spending a year considering a transfer station siting, that Commissioner Nelson, as the liaison to SWAB, bring up with that group whether there have been sufficient changes in technology and in practice, for the board to consider, alternatives to burying solid waste. This is his 9th year on this board and the board have never discussed this issue and there may not be anything that has changed enough for them to do anything different. He would like to solicit from SWAB some type of recommendation whether or not they think this is a fruitful area for the BOCC to pursue parallel to siting the transfer station. There may be that there are better alternatives available that they have not looked at Commissioner Gordon said what do you want them to do if they find anything and Chair Jacobs to have the SWAB to give them a recommendation whether there are other alternatives available to them to burying solid waste, in an environmental safe manner. He said that is why he wanted to ask people that are experts in this field. Chair Jacobs congratulated the Manager for fulfilling a year in this job. Chair Jacobs said that the County Commissioners are meeting with Mebane elected officials on Thursday and a draft agenda has been submitted. Commissioner Gordon asked how this should be handled with regard to noticing the meeting. Clerk to the Board Donna Baker said that the County Attorney said that these meetings were not subject to the public meetings law. Commissioner Gordon said that all meetings of this kind are public and should be noticed. 9. County Manager's Report Laura Blackmon said that the staff has continued to discuss with UNC the possibility of working with them for some of the spin-offs and some of the secondary growth. Most of these are in line with the matrix of economic development opportunities that the EDC has been looking at. Also, she would like to have a discussion about retention and expansion of businesses in Orange County. Some companies have moved outside of Orange County. One of the discussions at the work session about economic development is that 42% of the workforce leaves the County to work elsewhere. She said that it was important to continue to move forward with things such as the Breeze Farm, value-added processing center, and farmer's market. These are all considered economic development initiatives. The County will be advertising for the Economic Development Director position and she will focus on someone who has some experience working with businesses that are currently in Orange County and will steer away from the economic development personalities that are trying to seek and lure other companies to the county. She thinks that Orange County is more interested in trying to enhance what it already has than attracting businesses from somewhere else.