Orange County NC Website
1 Bob Bateman said that he would think the County Commissioners would like to establish <br />2 a park for northern Orange County. <br />3 Elizabeth Carter said that what Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools struggle with is the <br />4 fact that there is no land readily available for new schools. She said that Chapel Hill-Carrboro <br />5 City Schools are projecting in the next five years that four new elementary schools might be <br />6 needed. <br />7 Rick Kennedy asked about the pot of money and if it was for land acquisition. <br />8 Chair Carey said that this pot of money was created for land acquisition and the interest <br />9 is the only part of the money that would be available for development. <br />10 Rick Kennedy asked for clarification on when the school board could approach the <br />11 County for funding. <br />12 Commissioner Gordon said that there could be an agreement so that the County could <br />13 help fund the purchase of land. <br />14 Nick Didow said that he has served on the school board for some time and that this fund <br />15 was discussed several years ago. He was excited about this fund because at that time it was <br />16 dedicated to buy school sites, then the fund was expanded to include recreation land, and then <br />17 two-thirds of the fund was diverted to provide for County facilities. He asked the County <br />18 Commissioners to share some of the logic behind changing the funding allocation. <br />19 Commissioner Brown made reference to the explanation from Commissioner Halkiotis at <br />20 the beginning of the meeting where he described the percentage of the monies that have been <br />21 spent on County facilities over the years. <br />22 Chair Carey said that the change in allocation was in recognition of the vast unmet <br />23 needs that have not been addressed in County facilities over the years because so much of the <br />24 spending capacity has been used for the schools. <br />25 Nick Didow asked if the reallocation would continue for some time. <br />26 Chair Carey said that it would continue as long as the current group of Commissioners <br />27 was together. <br />28 Commissioner Halkiotis said that it has only been in the last six years that the largest <br />29 parking lot in County government that meets the needs of the entire judicial facility in <br />30 Hillsborough received asphalt. He said that clients who go to the Department of Social Services <br />31 continue to park in a rocky and ruddy parking lot in Hillsborough. He said that many County <br />32 buildings have been neglected so that schools could be properly funded. <br />33 Commissioner Gordon said that the original thought was to purchase land that would <br />34 start out as a park and would later be used to build a school. Her opinion is that the focus is still <br />35 on getting lands that would eventually be used for schools and then augmented for parks. She <br />36 also reiterated that the County Commissioners have authorized the Manager and the staff to <br />37 look and see if there are now lands that could be purchased. <br />38 Nick Didow said that he is very thankful for what the County Commissioners have done <br />39 for the schools, but this is the first time the school boards have met with the Commissioners <br />40 since the reallocation. He felt that it was very appropriate to ask about the reasoning behind the <br />41 reallocation. <br />42 <br />43 e. Program/Staff/Facility Initiatives with Future Budgetary Impacts <br />44 This was included for information purposes. <br />45 Superintendent Randy Bridges said that the Orange County school system has <br />46 mentioned to the County Commissioners at the last two budget sessions having pre-K classes <br />47 in the K-5 schools. He said that another item that would be coming before the County <br />48 Commissioners is for some additional teaching positions so that some pre-K classes could be <br />49 established. He said that there is also some space issues in housing the pre-K classes. He <br />50 also mentioned a survey that was conducted a couple of years ago and said that the parents <br />51 talked about establishing a Spanish program in the K-5 schools. <br />52 Susan Halkiotis said that another item that is going to be discussed later in the agenda is