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understandable and transparent. Begin not to relay this message to citizens, partner agencies and organizations that current levels of service may not be maintained. Make clear county priorities and what might change." During the last budget session the Board took great strides in the advancement of their goal of "equitable library services" for the residents of Orange County: By working diligently with County and library staff, the Board was able to: 1. Allocate funding for keeping all branches open at current hours, 2. Providing 6.5 additional staff that will allow for the new Main Library to be open 54 hours per week and increase courier service to all branches from one day to at least 3 days per week. 3. At June 16th meeting the Board unanimously voted to increase funding in the FY11 budget cycle that would raise library spending to the state average per capita of $22.44. Orange County library spending has increased from FY09 level of $15.60 to FY10 level of $19.80. Library Administration has worked with Human Resources on the development and advertisement of the new positions and will hope to have all new staff in place by the end of October. We are also still in communication with the Capital Project Management Team on the timeline for the completion and move into the new facility which is now slated for opening in December 2009. In September we will begin coordinating with other county departments and library branches on assistance for library users when the Main Library will be closed for at least 2 weeks in order to thoroughly complete the orderly movement of all library shelves, computers, and collection materials into the new library. Library Progress as related to 2007 Task Force Recommendations: 1) Heritage Center Work Group. At the June 23rd meeting the BOCC approved a Heritage Center Work Group, facilitated by Ms. Barbara Baker. Ms. Baker is the retired Assistant Dean of Durham Technical Community College and was instrumental in the DTCC Hillsborough campus project. Additionally, Ms. Baker has served on the Library Services Task Forces of 2004 and 2007. This group would provide guidance to the Board on the feasibility of a proposed Heritage Center and report back to the Board in October 2009. The Heritage Center Work Group has already met three times and will report on its work to the BOCC prior to the CIP discussion in late October. A working vision for the Center has been developed and the work of creating a business plan has begun. During the next several weeks the group will move forward with discussions of scope, organization, management, and finances. 2) Southwest Regional Branch. The BOCC adopted a capital project ordinance, "Libraries — Future Facilities", for FY 2009-10 establishing a reserve fund of $50,000 to allow the county to address countywide library capital needs identified in the 2007 Report.