Minutes 05-20-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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is putting the County at risk. She said that their clinics are full to the max. She said that it would take one more emergency to put the Health Department at risk. Taryn King is a substitute teacher in the OCS and has gone in many different schools and classes. She challenged the Board of County Commissioners to go and sit in a K-3�d grade classroom. She said that if the County cuts the elementary school budget this year, this will impact the children. She said that teacher assistants are a big part of the schools. She said that the only way the classrooms can be inclusive of those with special needs is if there are special education teachers, reading specialists, and assistant teachers. When there is an emergency with a special needs child, there must be an assistant in that classroom so that the other children are not left by themselves. She asked that the County Commissioners consider the Orange County elementary schools in finalizing the budget. Christopher Cooke is an at-large member of the Board of Health. He has worked at the School of Public Health at UNC-CH for the last 25 years. He said that the Board of Health knows that there are some difficult decisions to make. He asked what kind of county we want to live in; how likely is it that we can sustain the current quality of life in Orange County, much less improve it, if the people who live here are not healthy; and what do we believe, is health a right or is it a privilege. He asked the Board to maintain the core of public health services that are so vital to the quality of life in Orange County. He said that the most recent cuts are affecting the services that the Health Department is required by law to provide and will affect the health of the County's residents if they are cut further. He said that everyone benefits from public health. He asked that there be no further cuts, that the vacancies be filled created by retirements (cost- neutral), that there be permission to recruit and fill vacancies during the fiscal year that are created by current staff inember resignations, and that there be restoration of critical capital needs that have been delayed for the past three fiscal year cycles. He said that sick people cannot work and businesses are not going to stay or locate to a community that is not essentially healthy. Joanne Fiore, Chair of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce submitted a letter: "I am before you tonight on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce to request that you fully fund the Orange County Economic Development Commissioner's request of $525,000 this year. Our Board endorses the request for funding and supports the recommendations put forward by the EDC. The mission of the Chamber is to serve and support our members' business interest and help create a sustainable community where they can thrive. We think investing in our community is one of the most significant things we can do to ensure the sustainability and viability of our community well into the future. Fortunately, we live in a County that has a history of forward thinking. Everything from a well funded school system to social service provision to the creation of park land and open space provision has been a priority for our community and helped us to be a great place to live. We have fallen well short, however, of investing in our economic future and are felling the impact of that choice now in this budget. Outside of staff salaries, very little has been done to fund economic development and the Economic Development Department in Orange County. As a result, we have not been able to participate in the billions of dollars flowing into the Research Triangle Region each year in the form of relocating businesses, business expansions, and entrepreneurial start-ups. It is paramount that resources now be invested in County economic development efforts to ensure a more vibrant economic future. Funding these recommendations is key to improving the County's ability to fund the social and environmental initiatives we value. The sooner this investment is made, the sooner it will be that commercial tax revenues rise, that our fiscal health improves, and that the major challenges facing our budget are resolved.