Minutes - 20051003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Robin McDuffie continued with page 5 and the statement of operations. There is an operating loss of $530,000 prior to the County's subsidy of $400,000. In the year ending May 31, 2005, there was a net loss of $118,000. Commissioner Gordon asked if there was anything unusual about the disclosures and Robin McDuffie said no. Commissioner Gordon asked about the long-term debt and the outstanding bonds. Geof Gledhill said that no principal payments have been paid on the bonds. He said that this deal was bundled with a lot of other deals. Commissioner Gordon asked more clarifying questions that were answered by Robin McDuffie. She asked Robin McDuffie to confirm that we got an audit of all the financial data that the County needed to exercise due diligence and thus to make an informed decision about purchasing the Sportsplex, and Ms. McDuffie confirmed that fact that the County had received that kind of audit. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about the second page of the agenda abstract as follows: "There is an offer of public dedication of a portion of the property where the pond is located (slightly more than 6 acres) to the Town of Hillsborough that expires in 2009, which to this point has not been accepted by the Town." He asked the County Attorney to speak to this. Geof Gledhill said that the documents offer the Town the 6 acres of property for public use for a 15-year period. If Hillsborough wanted to own this area, it could by accepting the public dedication. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he asked this because he represents the Board of County Commissioners on the Central Orange Senior Center group, and the seniors are concerned about having a safe place to walk. They would like some kind of all-weather walking trail around the pond. He asked if this public dedication would preclude a walking trail around the pond. Geof Gledhill said that the offer of public dedication would not, unless Hillsborough accepted the offer and declined to permit the walking trail. The offer does not preclude a trail, but there is a conservation easement. He will have to review the conservation easement with regard to constructing a trail. Commissioner Gordon commended the Board for standing firm on getting the audit. Commissioner Halkiotis thanked Commissioner Gordon for being persistent about getting the audit. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to confirm the Board's intention to proceed with the acquisition of the SportsPlex property under the contract, as amended, that was executed on July 14, 2005. VOTE: UNANIMOUS c. Northern Park Master Plan The Board considered adoption of a master plan for the Northern Park (at the Northern Human Services Center) and authorizing staff to create and submit a site plan application for the park based on the master plan and proposed Phase I facilities. Environment and Resource Conservation Director Dave Stancil said that this is a follow-up from the Board's discussion at the August 29th work session. On May 3~d, the master plan that was created was presented and accepted and in August there was some additional detail with the Board's direction. The revised master plan includes parking lot configurations and details about the skate park, which will probably be deferred to some future phase. There also is a possibility for a walking track around the fields with lights. The next stage is the application of the site plan. Once the master plan is approved, they can prepare the site plan application. The recommendation is to consider and approve the master plan for the site and authorize staff to begin to prepare the site plan application.