Minutes - 20021210 - Laserfiche WebLink

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public. He said that he is concerned about how low the levels of service are. He said that we are locking ourselves into the most aggressive levels of service for each one of the levels of schools. He thinks it is remarkable that people come to the budget public hearings and ask the County Commissioners to raise their taxes because they want more money spent on schools. He said that the Chamber is on the right track in asking that the levels of service be raised. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Carey to change the levels of service to 110% for elementary, 115°lo for middle, and 120% for high schools. Commissioner Gordon said that it is true that these levels of service are aggressive (105, 107, and 110}. The staff and the committee discussed this extensively and decided on these levels for the reasons stated by Commissioner Halkiotis. She thinks the Manager has made it clear that we will not bankrupt ourselves on this because the County debt policy will not allow it. UOTE: Aye, 1; Nays, 4 (Commissioners Brown, Carey, Gordon, and Halkiotis} The motion failed. Chair Brown made reference to the letter from the Chamber and said that it seems like there are a lot of contradictions in it, but she understands the intent of it. She said that maybe everyone needs to clearly understand that the Board of County Commissioners has committed $275 million in the last 12 or 13 years to education. There is no lack of commitment on the part of this Board. Jahn Link said that the focus in the CIP will be what should the cost of a new school be, what can the County afford, and how are we comparing the request for new schools here and their capacity to other school systems and other counties in the State and the country. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to approve the MOU for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School district, with the addendum as drafted by the County Attorney. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Geoff Gledhill pointed out that in the addendum to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro MOU there is language about bringing the statistical changes to the other governments for their review and comment. He said that this was not requested by Hillsborough or the Orange County School systems. He said that there should not be this difference in the two memoranda. Commissioner Jacobs said that the school system and Hillsborough are still trying to schedule a meeting, presumably in January. There will still be an opportunity for them to be on board at the same time. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Carey to approve the Manager's recommendation for the MOU for the Orange County School District with the change to the MOU as amended in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro MOU, section 1-d. The Manager's recommendation is as follows: to approve the proposed MOU and the addendum as outlined in the County Attorney's November 27, 2002 letter. It should be noted that there are two separate MOU agreements. One would be effective within the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School District, with parties to the agreement being the County, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, and the Towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill. The other agreement would be effective within the Orange County School District, with the parties being the County, the Orange County Schools, and the Town of Hillsborough. The Manager recommends Option II, which temporarily suspends the adequacy test for the middle school level. VOTE: UNANIMOUS b. Legal Advertisement for Special Public Hearing on January 21, 2003 The Board considered authorizing the submission for a legal advertisement for a special public hearing to be held January 21, 2003. Craig Benedict said that the approval of the above item sets forth a request for a legal advertisement to hold a special public hearing to discuss the implementing SAPFO. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Carey to approve the proposed January 21, 2003 Special Public Hearing legal advertisement. VOTE: UNANIMOUS c. Funding Request -Habitat for Humanity of Orange County, N.C., Inc.