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APPROVED 1217199 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION AUGUST 31, 1999 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday, August 31, 1999 at 7:30 p.m. in the meeting room of the Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Alice M. Gordon and Commissioners Margaret W. Brown, Moses Carey, Jr., Stephen H. Halkiotis, and Barry Jacobs COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Rod Visser and Albert Kittrell, and Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. ALL RECORDINGS OF THE MEETING WILL BE KEPT FOR 5 YEARS. Chair Gordon called the meeting to order and welcomed OWASA and Board members. By consensus the Board added as item 2 the Solid Waste Interlocal Agreement 1. Topics for September 2 Meeting on Local Jurisdictions' Coordination to Access Jordan Lake water supply Peter Gordon, Vice-chair of the OWASA Board, introduced Ed Kerwin as the Executive Director and Bill Strom and Bernadette Pelissier as Orange County's two representatives on the OWASA Board. He made reference to the meeting held a year ago with local officials from Orange County, the Towns of Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough with the OWASA Board of Directors. At that meeting, issues relating to regional cooperation on water were addressed. He said OWASA would like to again explore these issues in a non-contentious way. He made reference to the meeting scheduled for Thursday, September 8t", and said that there have been some informative discussions between Chatham County's staff and the OWASA staff. However, a lot of the technical aspects need to be discussed further as well as any political aspects of OWASA helping Chatham County with their water supply. He said OWASA has been involved in a major master plan study that addresses the projections of Orange County's long term needs for water and various scenarios for how that water might be supplied. He said they are present to answer any questions the Board may have in preparation for the September Stn meeting. Commissioner Brown made reference to OWASA's master plan. She said that as she looks at all the issues over the past few years, there is the perception that a lot of staff work is being done on the issues of providing water to Chatham County. She asked how all of the staff communication is working, especially with the consultant who also may be working with other counties. She asked how the County could become aware of what the staff has done on water issues with other jurisdictions. Bill Strom said that the consultant that OWASA is using is very active with the other jurisdictions which received allocations from Jordan Lake. As OWASA sits, they are having staff meetings, pursuing options, developing an integrated plan, and looking at the future to see what the water issues will be. He would like to hear from the Board of County Commissioners about the policy issues. He said that the master plan indicates to him that they will have enough water for another 20-25 years, which makes him not want to expand. However, he would like to know what the County Commissioners want. OWASA will pursue this until they hear from the policy boards on what should be done. He said that if they get a clear message from the governing