Minutes 01-20-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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� Ed Kerwin said that OWASA was not looking to change the boundaries or serve customers outside of the current area. He said that they want to do the most responsible thing to do for the current and future customers within those defined areas. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the timing of submitting this to the State. Craig Benedict said that it is a lengthy process. Ed Kerwin said that it is subject to change, but the last information from Jordan Lake Partnership was somewhere in the May/June timeframe of submitting an application. Commissioner Jacobs asked if the Towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro had seen this and Ed Kerwin said that the letter also went to the three mayors — Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough. Craig Benedict said that part of tonight's action would be to transmit a letter with revised language to include Orange County and Hillsborough. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the first page and the full red line about the one million gallon per day allocation. He said that this is something that bothers him. He said that Hillsborough did have an allocation and they decided that they did not want to pay for it and gave it up. Orange County has been paying every year. He said that if this resolution is going to say how much OWASA has paid, this resolution needs to say how much Orange County has paid. He said that it seems that if the State has had the County paying all these years and then there is a new plan with no payment, then he would like to get the money back. He would like to ask for this money back in a separate resolution because it has had no bearing on an allocation of water from Jordan Lake. He suggested that OWASA do the same thing. Ed Kerwin said that during the last round of allocation, OWASA voluntarily asked to reduce the allocation from 10 to 5 million gallons per day and the State did reimburse. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the point that Commissioner Gordon is making and said that there is a context to this. This agreement was carefully crafted to balance concerns of four governments and OWASA. He said that this is a very truncated version. He urged staff to give more context, so that the Board is grounded with the right kind of information. Commissioner Gordon said that she thinks that there is time to get it right. Chair Pelissier asked when OWASA needed to have this done and when this is scheduled to be considered by the Towns of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough. Frank Clifton said that Hillsborough will review it on January 24th. Craig Benedict said that Chapel Hill and Carrboro both have it scheduled within the next two weeks. Commissioner Jacobs said that he does not think that Orange County needs permission from Chapel Hill and Carrboro to apply for an allocation from Jordan Lake. Ed Kerwin said that it is not necessary to act tonight, but it is important to wrap this up by the spring and absolutely before summer break. Commissioner Yuhasz said that the County Attorney has said that the language as presented here would void all of the boundary restrictions included in the rest of the agreement, and he would like him to review the language to make sure that this is not done. He does not want the flexibility of the language to void the rest of the agreement. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Hemminger to refer this back to Manager/Attorney/relevant staff and the towns to provide a review of the proposed language changes in the context of the entire agreement, give the pros and cons for the proposed changes, and confer with the staff of the towns so as to craft language that takes into account the input from the staff of the county and towns. The information will also include how much money the County has spent to date on this. Craig Benedict asked if there was intent to include Orange County and the Town of Hillsborough in this agreement and the Board said yes.