Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
John Link asked about the future refund authority and if anyone besides the County <br />could retrieve the refund far the user. One of the concerns is that the County cannot maintain <br />the base rates. Michael Patrick said that the County would be the only mechanism that would <br />trigger the refund. <br />Geof Gledhill asked if Time Warner timely appealed the County Commissioners' <br />decision last year and Michael Patrick said yes. <br />Bob Sepe said that if the order were approved tonight, then the appeal would be <br />withdrawn. <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis <br />to approve the Manager's recommendation to accept the consultant's report and adopt the 2003 <br />rate order for cable services in unincorporated Orange County. Both Commissioners Carey and <br />Halkiotis stated that the only reason they support this is for the protection of the subscribers. <br />Chair Brown said that it is unbelievable that this County Commissioners' meeting will <br />not be televised in Carrbaro because of some cable problem. <br />VOTE: Ayes, 3; No, 2 (Commissioner Jacobs and Chair Brown). <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that he supports the opportunity for our ratepayers to get <br />their money back, but he supports the Board's decision of last year. <br />c. School Collaboration Study <br />The Board considered approving a memorandum of understanding that lays out the <br />parameters of a study to be carried out by the Institute of Government of opportunities for <br />collaboration between the Orange County Schools and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. <br />John Link said that last fall there were representatives of this Baard and the two <br />school boards that talked about the framework to work together toward better collaboration. Dr. <br />Phillip Boyle with the Institute of Government has had experience working with counties and <br />school boards on similar efforts. There is a proposal of $20,000 that would be borne by the <br />County whereby Dr. Boyle will lead the entities through the process of collaboration. <br />Rad Visser said that the Board did discuss this in February but did not reach a <br />conclusion. The five steps include: <br />- identify participants and schedule initial work session <br />- identify interest barriers, values, and goals <br />- develop recommendations and evaluation criteria <br />- engage the full governing boards and administrative officials <br />- implement and evaluate recommendations <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that he does not feel comfortable voting for this tonight. <br />This should be on the agenda of the meeting with the two school boards on April 14th. He asked <br />if there would be a commitment to this. When this was brought up two years ago, there was a <br />lot of reading into it. He would like to have everyone committed to the process before deciding <br />because $20,000 is a lot of money to spend on this type of study. He said that unless everyone <br />buys into it, it is meaningless. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that the last time we discussed this, Commissioner Carey <br />was concerned about the money. He would be supportive of bringing this to the joint meeting <br />with the schools. He thinks it is important to da this, regardless of what happens in the merger <br />discussion. The notion of improving communication is important. <br />Commissioner Carey said that he expressed his concern about this the last time it <br />was discussed and he has the utmost respect for the Institute of Government, but he is <br />concerned about the money to be spent on this when there are so many other needs. <br />Collaboration works but the parties have to have the will to work together. When you have the <br />will to work together, you do not need to pay someone to facilitate it. The County <br />Commissioners have tried to get the two school systems to work together and they have not <br />