Orange County NC Website
• 2 <br />be sent as soon as possible because DOT is ready to go and the money is there. Also, he said that <br />Tanya Drive is a street that DOT says that everyone must sign for aright-of-way. He has contacted the <br />Attorney General's .office in Raleigh and this part of the road is not on their deed and they are not being <br />taxed on it. He said that some of the neighbors are reluctant to sign a letter for DOT giving up <br />something that they do not even own. He asked who owns the streets. <br />Chair Brown said that she would give this to the County Manager to work with Mr. Robinson. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis asked who was going to write a letter and Mr. Robinson said that he <br />was told that the Planning Department had the authority to write the letter. Commissioner Halkiotis said <br />that he hopes this is resolved quickly and he thanked DOT District Engineer Mike Mills and all of the <br />DOT people for working on this issue. He also thanked Mr. Robinson for his patience. <br />Commissioner Carey said that it sounds like two issues -administrative and legislative. Mr. <br />Robinson said that he spoke to the State and that this area in question is not done right in Orange <br />County. He thinks the problem is within the County. <br />Commissioner Jacobs commended Mr. Robinson for his perseverance. He said that the <br />County Commissioners promoted some legislation with the legislators that would address this issue. <br />John Link asked if Mr. Robinson could join Paul Thames, Greg Wilder, Craig Benedict, and <br />Roscoe Reeves outside now to make sure that everyone is on the same page. <br />Leonor Panigua spoke in Spanish with a translator. She thanked the County Commissioners <br />for a good program to teach her to take care of her child -Families in Focus. She thanked Ms. Casper, <br />who came to visit her at her home. <br />Ms. Casper spoke about the program. She said that this is a program of the Orange County <br />Health Department and she is a family home visitor. Her job is to work with families with their first child <br />and give them support (parent education, information on birth and development, community resources, <br />etc.). This program is open to families that have children from 0-3 years of age. <br />Elliot Cramer read from his handout verbatim. He said that on April 1S`, APS President Pat <br />Beyle spoke to the Board of County Commissioners about a lawsuit and said that their answer to the <br />allegations would come out in the lawsuit. He said that they have filed their answer and their answer is <br />no answer at all. He said that it was an attempt to intimidate him with charges of slander. He said that <br />the evidence was nine statements to the Board of County Commissioners, a poster asking people to <br />come to a meeting of this Board, four letters to editors, two letters to public officials, a newspaper article, <br />and a letter to Laura Walters. He said that he was informed that Laura Walters was entering the suit <br />with claims of slander. He said that everything he has said about APS and Laura Walters is true and <br />well documented. He said that APS is still not cooperating with the Piedmont Wildlife Center, although <br />they have asked the wildlife center to accept wildlife from them without payment. He quoted a statement <br />from Pat Beyle as follows: "The APS Board and staff have dedicated the past five months to revamping <br />our wildlife center and facilities and to reorganizing the wildlife rehabilitation program." He said that this <br />is false. He said that since the Board has a pending request for financial support from the PWC, it might <br />be useful for the Board to visit the APS sanctuary with Pat Sanford as a guide to see what, if any, <br />changes have been made. He thinks that some of the money used for extravagances could be better <br />spent on wildlife. <br />b. Matters on the Printed Agenda (These matters were considered as the Board addressed <br />the items on the agenda below.) <br />3. BOARD COMMENTS <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that Walkable Hillsborough was going to have an event on June 7cn <br />He encouraged everyone to attend. <br />Commissioner Jacobs brought to the Board's attention that a few days after the Board received the <br />State of the Environment report from the Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC); Kate Dixon resigned as <br />Director of the TLC to do other things. He said that TLC has been an excellent partner with Orange <br />County with land acquisitions. He suggested having the Chair write a letter to Kate Dixon on the Board's <br />behalf, or to invite her back and acknowledge her contributions to Orange County. <br />