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Chair Carey pointed out page 20, under Linkages to Other Agreements, and added, "except as <br />otherwise provided by law." <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to approve the <br />Water and Sewer Boundary Agreement with all the changes on the yellow sheets and other changes as <br />agreed to by the Board and noted above. The material is available in the permanent agenda file in the <br />Clerk's Office. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />3. LITTLE RIVER NATURAL AREA PARK <br />John Link said that the staff is asking that the Board authorize the execution of an option agreement <br />to purchase 135 acres for a joint 390-acre Orange-Durham County regional park and natural area. <br />Rich Shaw gave a brief summary of this proposal from the agenda abstract. Orange County is <br />considering the purchase of land in Little River Township in partnership with Durham County, the Triangle <br />Land Conservancy, and the Eno River Association. The site is owned by the Triangle Community <br />Foundation, with 135 acres in Orange County and 255 acres in Durham County. The proposed option gives <br />Orange and Durham Counties the right to purchase the property on or before May 31, 2000, by which time <br />the county must commit to a binding purchase agreement or lose its $9,000 share of the $30,000 option <br />price. The Orange County portion of the land would cost $367,150 including estimated closing costs. He <br />said that state grant funds from the Clean Water Management Trust Fund and/or the Parks and Recreation <br />Trust Fund would contribute to this effort. If the maximum funds were received by the state grant sources, <br />the County's share would be $104,580. He made reference to the letter of intent that spells out the terms of <br />the proposed option agreement. Durham County approved the letter of intent on March 13t"and the Board of <br />the Triangle Land Conservancy and the Eno River Association also agreed to the terms. He said that the <br />Board is being asked to approve the letter of intent, decide how it should be handled once a formal option <br />agreement is prepared, and commit the $9,000 for the County's share. <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis to adopt the <br />letter of intent to execute the option agreement, authorize the Manager to exercise the option and report to <br />the Board of County Commissioners, and authorize payment of the option amount of $9,000. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />Commissioner Jacobs noted that as of this week there were 411 acres in the County that are water <br />or park related. Potentially, by this action, by the action on the Greene Tract, and by the action on the Duke <br />Forest property, the water and park related properties in Orange County would be increased by 63°l0. <br />Commissioner Gordon clarified that the letter of intent would be reworked. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that this is an example of Orange County helping to preserve the water <br />supply for adjacent counties. <br />4. SCHOOL FUNDING OPTIONS TASK FORCE DRAFT <br />Rod Visser made reference to the information that was distributed and described the attachments to <br />the task force report. <br />John Link summarized this report. He said that this report is being shared with the Board tonight to <br />see if it is suitable in terms of format and content so that it could be sent to the school boards. This item is <br />also part of the agenda for next Monday's meeting. He pointed out three items: <br />- under Major Points of Discussion, number three, it is clear that the County Commissioners' <br />definition of mandate is different than the school board's definition. <br />- On page three, the productive final discussion focused on benchmarks for school funding that <br />would take into account the historical efforts that the County has been making over the last 10 <br />years. <br />There is an agreement to disagree on how the school budget is presented. The school boards <br />want the operating expense portion separated from the capital portion. <br />Commissioner Gordon suggested having a final report from the committee. She has no comments <br />because she has not read this report, since it was just distributed. <br />Chair Carey said that he found the task force meetings very informative. He thinks that the way <br />school officials view their responsibilities is very significant. The County Commissioners have to balance the <br />needs of all the groups in Orange County and the school officials did not perceive the budget this way. They <br />tried to reach as much consensus as they could in the task force meetings. That is how the list of <br />benchmarks was developed. He feels this recommendation should be shared with the two school boards <br />and that the school board should take this into consideration when they do their budgets. There are needs <br />