Minutes - 20020202 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

of the bonds far six months Commissioner Brown asked if there has actually been a proposal for new high school space and John Link said that there was a discussion last spring with the Capital Needs Advisory Task Farce and an amount of money has been in the charts for high school expansion or new high school space. Chair Jacobs suggested asking staff to incorporate deferring the issuing of bonds for six months into the proposal and show how this will look. The staff will bring it back in about a month. The other elected boards can comment on it as well. 4. COMMISSION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT The Commission for the Environment report was received as information. 5. WATER SUMMIT John Link reported that there have been meetings with Hillsborough and Orange-Alamance and that there would be a meeting soon with Mebane. Water issues have grown in importance because of drought conditions. Since Orange County is not in the water business, it can serve a positive purpose by pulling in all the other water providers and other stakeholders in talking about the long term. The idea is to pull together the other jurisdictions to talk about how to improve the area of water services. Chair Jacobs said that a first step is to bring all the people together to address the needs of Orange County and the companies, citizens, and schools that are in the areas. Commissioner Gordan would like the Board to further discuss the water allocations and the ramifications of holding such a summit and what may come from such a summit Commissioner Halkiotis said that this summit might be an initial meeting just for everyone to come together and talk to each other. The entities would come and present information on their systems, etc. This would be an icebreaker. The County would serve as the host in bringing together all of the entities in anon-threatening way. Commissioner Brown thanked those involved in suggesting this summit. She said that one of the main things is the recognition of the sustainability of the water systems. However, when she read the proposal, the topics seem to be more specific than general. She asked for mare clarity on this project. Commissioner Carey feels the summit is important. We need to talk about water and wastewater. He feels it is time to get the stakeholders in the same room and talk about sustainability. It is important that the County Commissioners go into the meeting with the object of getting to know each other and get people talking. We want to continue to be a partner and a broker and try to encourage sustainability. If we are committed to staying the course, maybe something positive might result ten years down the road. Chair Jacobs made reference to the proposal and said that we just put down the specifics because these are the present issues. The main thing is to get people to the table. He said that the County would like to have more control. This is an opportunity to be a broker, but also to assert some control in order to address the County's needs for the future. Orange-Alamance has along-range plan that they will be presenting to the County Commissioners. We need to talk with all the providers and how what they have planned fits in with the County's Land Use Plan. Commissioner Gordon agreed that discussion of some general issues concerning water could be helpful. She would like to see the charge of the meeting and the purpose of the meeting, etc. Chair Jacobs said that this item was being presented to the County Commissioners for comments before moving ahead with the plans for this summit. He just wanted to see if the Board embraced the concept of the water summit.