Minutes - 03-29-2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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L Bond Money for Chapel Hill Planning Purposes Chair Carey asked about Chapel Hill's request to use bond money for planning purposes. He would like to know from Chapel Hill the time frame of this project if the County allowed them to use bond money for planning purposes. He has concerns and wants to reconsider this policy. Commissioner Gordon does not understand why Chapel Hill does not have money for parks planning. Commissioner Brown said that Chapel Hill has to purchase land but they are coming to the County for planning and development of the park. Commissioner Gordon clarified that Chapel Hill is requesting $1 gQ,000. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the bond money in general. He said that there was two million dollars for the development of two parks in Chapel Hill. He said that there was not a set of criteria to apply the money. Commissioner Brown said that the County did not have any development money, only money to purchase land. Chair Carey said that he would like to see the project move along as quickly as possible. Commissioner Gordon asked whether the County wanted to spend money for design. Commissioner Jacobs wants to know if Chapel Hill will kick in their money for the final product. John Link said that at the time of the bond, the County committed one million dollars to the southern park and one million dollars to the northern park. Commissioner Gordon said that the concept the County had was that as County money goes into a park, that involves the County in the planning and the implementation. Commissioner Brown said that with the schools, the County gives money and then the school systems spend the money the way they want. Commissioner Halkiotis said that maybe the Board needs to continually weave in the issue of public purpose. Chair Carey will draft a letter to Chapel Hill about the use of bond money for planning purposes. He will work with the Manager on this letter. 2. Time-limited and Grant Funded Positions John Link said that the intent with this item was to try to remind the Board of the discussions from the last budget period. Commissioner Brown said that she was confused about how grant money was spent and the status of people who work under the grant. Personnel Director Elaine Holmes explained the grant-funded positions and said that the people who work in grant-funded positions are familiar with the type of employment they are serving. Commissioner Brown asked at what point the process of the time-limited positions is done. John Link said that during the course of budget deliberations the time-limited positions are determined. Commissioner Gordon asked how the employee was told when the grant had ended. Elaine Homes said that the employee is told up front that the position is grant funded and that continuation of the position is determined by the continuation of the grant fund. Commissioner Gordon asked several more questions and Elaine Holmes explained the difference between grant funded and time-limited positions. Commissioner Brown asked about the number of time-limited positions where people had left early and the positions were hard to fill. Elaine Homes said that of the 17time-limited positions in the County, six are vacant. She said that it was more difficult to recruit and there was more turnover intime-limited positions. Commissioner Brown made reference to the technical positions where companies are hired to do the job instead of setting up atime-limited position. John Link said that this was being done now in Information and Technology. He made reference to positions that had a lot of competition in the Triangle such as social workers, nurses, and health care professionals. John Link gave some examples of grants that were different. He said that same grants were much more permanent than other grants. Commissioner Gordon said that certain agencies give grants so a position would be started. Chair Carey said that in most cases the County decides to keep the time-limited and grant funded positions. Commissioner Jacobs said that there were only five time-limited positions that were not grant related, so this is not a really big issue. Commissioner Gordon questioned the point of the discussion of these positions. Commissioner Jacobs said that the staff wanted to eliminate time-limited positions and the Board did not think it was necessary. The Board agreed by consensus to keep time-limited positions.