Minutes - 02-29-2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chair Carey responded to Mr. Rudo and said that the Commissioners do not like making these tough decisions. He is taking this action because he thinks it is the right thing to do. He said that Chapel Hill would da what they want to do regardless of what Orange County does. Commissioner Jacobs said that he does not feel this is any stealth agenda to attack the rural parts of the County. He said that the Commissioners have been very diligent to make sure that they proceed with this as carefully as passible. He said that this was the Commissioners' first opportunity since the public hearing to respond in any way. He said that this is an opportunity to send a message to the Chapel Hill Town Council and to the residents of the Rogers Road neighborhood and all of the residents of Orange County that the County Commissioners did hear the concerns. He is confident that the more fully the County is involved in the oversight of solid waste operations, the more carefully and rigorously the public health risk will be addressed. He is not saying that the public health was not addressed before, but he is confident that it will be in the future and to a greater extent. Commissioner Halkiotis responded to Mr. Rudo and said that it is a very frustrating and difficult job to make these decisions. He would not want this operation in his back yard or in anyone else's back yard. He said that solid waste is one of the hardest issues to deal with. He feels the County would be doing well in getting water lines out to the Rogers Road neighborhood in 18 months. Ken Rudo said that the Commissioners have the power to prevent this from being a worse problem. He said that if it is a funding problem in getting the water lines run, the state has certain types of programs under conditions where wells are at risk. Chair Carey asked the staff to talk to Mr. Rudo tonight about the contacts for getting funding to help with running the lines on Rogers Road faster. VOTE: AYES, 4; NO, 1 (Commissioner Gordon) Commissioner Gordon said that she is voting against the motion because she thinks it is a precipitous action that is ill advised and it is not fair to blindside the County residents with a stealth agenda item like this. She supports her proposal. Chair Carey will work with the staff to draft the appropriate communication to the Towns. Commissioner Brown thanked Mr. Rudo for his comments. She asked if he would get with the County's Health Director and look at all the reports done on the wells in the Rogers Road area. She mentioned some filters that were offered to the residents in the Rogers Road neighborhood and said that the filters were rejected. She thinks that the efforts, commitment, and the responsibility over the last several years that has been shown by the County Commissioners to understand and deal with the water issue there is very clear. Ken Rudo said that those filters would not have helped the bacterial contamination. John Link reiterated that what would be relayed to Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, and Carrboro would be that the two pay-period increment would mean that instead of March 20t", the date would be April 17`" Chair Carey said that this agenda item for the next meeting would be very clear. b. Solid Waste Employee Transfer -Implementation Actions The Board considered position, classification and pay, and personnel policy actions necessary to implement the transfer of solid waste employees from the Town of Chapel Hill to Orange County effective March 20t" Personnel Director Elaine Holmes said that there are three actions necessary to implement the transfer of solid waste management: 1} Establish County positions into which the Town of Chapel Hill solid waste employees would transfer. There are 28 positions. 2} Amend the County's Classification and Pay Plan to incorporate the solid waste positions. The recommended classes result from the job classification study conducted of the solid waste positions.