Minutes - 06-15-2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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John Link said that the Disability Awareness Council would like far the Board to consider additional appropriations for disability awareness. The request focuses on additional funds to assist with same additional staff support. Research Triangle Regional Partnership: This was flagged, and the Board will come back to it on June 20th. Commissioner Jacobs recommends that the funding be cut in half and not funded fully. Commissioner Gordon pointed out that there were two different agencies -The Greater Triangle Research Council and the Research Triangle Regional Partnership. The number of elected officials on the Greater Triangle Research Council was reduced from 10 to 8, and the Triangle J Council of Governments appoints them all. She is representing Orange County an this Council. Chair Carey said that the Research Triangle Regional Partnership was a different group involving 13 counties, and receiving some money from the state. John Link clarified that the Triangle J Council of Governments receives monies from the General Assembly through the various counties. The County repays the money back to the COG. He said that this was the marketing cooperative of the Triangle where the various counties appropriate money based on the population. Commissioner Brown thought that the Research Triangle Regional Partnership was in the Economic Development Commission budget. It was answered that this was reflected on the EDC budget page. Commissioner Jacobs said that there were three central counties -Durham, Orange, and Wake. Orange County pays 15 cents per head. Durham and Wake Counties have ten members an the Board of Directors, and Orange County has three. The other ten counties are paying 5 cents per head, and they all have three members on the Board of Directors. There have only been 15 contacts for the last fiscal year for the $16,100 paid out. Of those, none provided any solid leads. He would like to cut the contribution in half because it is not particularly serving Orange County well. Chair Carey said that he would rather focus on getting the most out of the investment and challenging the EDC to do the same thing before deciding to cut the contribution. Commissioner Jacobs said that one of the problems was that the EDC was not represented on the board. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the extravagant spending within the agency and that it was not applicable to Orange County. He does not mind being a participant, but he does not want to pay far 10 seats. Commissioner Brawn suggested that the Board of County Commissioners appoint the representatives. John Link suggested appropriating half of the funding and writing a letter outlining the County Commissioners' concerns to the organization. Commissioner Gordon would like to know why there are only three representatives from Orange County on the Board of Directors. Commissioner Jacobs would like to flag this at $8,000. Chair Carey would like to approve $16,000, but sequester $8,000 until the concerns are addressed. The Board agreed to approve $8,000 for the Research Triangle Regional Partnership, sequester $8,000, and flag it for further discussion. EI Centro Latino: Commissioner Brawn asked why the recommendation far the EI Centro Latino was far only half of the requested amount. John Link said that he did not normally recommend the full amount for new agencies. It was suggested to add $5,000 for La Fiesta Del Pueblo. Commissioner Gordon said that she was not in favor of increasing any amounts for outside agencies.