Minutes 01-28-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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university students. She stressed that the County Commissioners need to come and visit the new shelter on a working day. Bob Marotto said that he can look at more targeted partnerships in the near future with the school systems. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board of County Commissioners could contact the school boards and engage them. He suggested having some school classes to visit the new facility to see if they want to be involved. Regarding compliance, Commissioner Jacobs asked if amnesty has ever been tried and Bob Marotto said not during his time in Orange County. This was considered with the ASAB in years past, but there was concern about increasing compliance and equity. Commissioner Jacobs said that the federal government offered amnesty to people who had illegally stored money overseas and paid hundreds of billions of dollars. The State of North Carolina offered amnesty for tax evaders for hundreds of millions of dollars. He said that if Orange County were to start telling people that they are violating the tethering ordinance, then there will probably be people without licenses. He said that it strikes him that if it is legal, then Orange County should try. He thinks that this could be a cost that is incidental to a greater good. Frank Clifton suggested reaching newcomers with postcards and partnering with utilities, etc. 2. Staff Review of Universal Pre-Kindergarten Proposal Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey said that Social Services Director Nancy Coston would be joining her. This is a proposal from the Child Care Coalition. The information includes the Child Care Coalition's proposal, staff review of this proposal, and the 2006 Child Care Task Force Report. Nancy Coston said that one of the overriding discussions now is that, with the economic climate, it would be very hard to take on another task force that cannot be funded. Another issue is that she has a waiting list for child care. She wants to keep supporting this because the waiting list includes people that cannot afford child care. It is hard for her clients to keep their jobs if they do not have child care. Frank Clifton said that there are 3-4 issues that are floating around at the State level. One of the issues is that the County cannot get out of the administration of child care subsidies and it is an obligation. He said that he has concerns about how the Smart Start program is handled and especially the administrative support costs. If the costs are collaterally equal, then he is fine with that. There is a limited amount of funding and he does not have a problem with the task force, but when it is finished, the issue is how to fund the recommendations and how much the County can afford at the county level. Regarding the scope of this proposal, there would be a huge long-term financial commitment by the County. He praises this concept, but he does not know how the County can afford it. Commissioner Nelson said that it would be great to discuss the Manager's concerns in a task force. He said that the economic outlook is not great, but it should not preclude the concept of at least investigating this issue. He said that Sue Russell is a national treasure for the issues of Smart Start. He said that the time to do this is not now, but he would like to have the conversation. He also asked about the duality of service issue. Frank Clifton said that the real issue is from the service delivery point. He said that it would not bother him to do this if the County was not already in the business, or if it could contain the administrative costs. The County cannot disband its administrative responsibilities. Nancy Coston said that the County has received $4.9 million child care subsidies this year. She thinks that Orange County DSS is very efficient in getting that money into the hands