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I APPROVED 10119199 <br />2 <br />3 MINUTES <br />4 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />5 REGULAR MEETING <br />6 April 6, 1999 <br />7 <br />8 <br />9 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, April 6, 1999 at 7:30 p.m. at <br />10 the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom, Hillsborough, N.C. <br />11 <br />12 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Alice M. Gordon and Commissioners Margaret W. <br />13 Brown, Moses Carey, Jr., and Barry Jacobs <br />14 COUNTY COMMISSIONER ABSENT: Stephen H. Halkiotis <br />15 COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill <br />16 <br />17 <br />18 <br />19 <br />20 <br />21 <br />22 <br />23 <br />24 <br />25 <br />26 <br />27 <br />28 <br />29 <br />30 <br />31 <br />32 <br />33 <br />34 <br />35 <br />36 <br />37 <br />38 <br />39 <br />40 <br />41 <br />42 <br />43 <br />44 <br />45 <br />46 <br />47 <br />48 <br />49 <br />50 <br />51 <br />52 <br />53 <br />54 <br />55 <br />56 <br />57 <br />58 <br />59 <br />COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Rod <br />Visser and Albert Kittrell and Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe (All other staff members will be identified <br />appropriately below) <br />NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE <br />PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. ALL <br />RECORDINGS OF THE MEETING WILL BE KEPT FOR 5 YEARS. <br />1. ADDITIONS OR CHANGES TO THE AGENDA <br />Chair Gordon added to the agenda, by consensus, to item 9a, an appointment to the Orange County Board of <br />Adjustment. <br />2. CITIZEN & AUDIENCE COMMENTS <br />a. Matters on the Printed Agenda <br />Chair Gordon asked that citizens who want to speak to items on the printed agenda to sign the <br />clipboard at the back of the room. <br />b. Matters not on the Printed Agenda <br />Maria Palmer spoke in support of the English as a Second Language program. She is the Pastor of <br />Iglesia nida de Christo, mother of three, and was member of the Limited English Proficiency task force that made <br />recommendations to the Chapel Hill/Carrboro City Schools to address the needs of limited English proficiency children. <br />She told about a situation in which, because of inadequate resources, kids in high school cannot attend school because <br />they don't understand the language. She spoke on behalf of both Orange County and Chapel Hill/Carrboro City school <br />systems. <br />Myles Presler thanked the Board of County Commissioners for supporting EmPowerment, Inc. and their <br />efforts in renovating properties. He left some brochures on their next venture, "Midway Business Center." He spoke on <br />behalf of ABODE, a new Affordable Housing Coalition working together to solve the crisis of affordable housing. He <br />stressed that there is a demand for affordable housing. Mr. Presler noted that at the present time, the County <br />Commissioners do not have the authority to use general funds for affordable housing. They rely on the federal <br />government 100% for those funds. He stated that since the early 1980's, those funds have been cut by over 77%. This <br />year they have approximately one million dollars coming through Orange County that can be spent on affordable <br />housing in home and community development funds. The current request for funding exceeds that by about two and a <br />half times. He asked the County Commissioners to consider supporting the creation of a housing trust fund with funding <br />from one cent of the property tax rate. Mecklenburg County is asking for local legislation to allow them to use local tax <br />revenues for affordable housing. He referred to Senate bill 708, which amends the current statutes to allow counties to, <br />"engage in, and appropriate, and expend funds for residential housing construction." Members of the legislative <br />delegation have expressed interest in doing a committee substitute to allow Orange County to be included with <br />Mecklenburg and Wake Counties. The draft now only includes counties with populations of over 500,000. He asked <br />that the County Commissioners consider asking for local legislation which would give them the authority to use property <br />tax moneys for affordable housing efforts. He left some copies of written comments and Senate Bill 708.