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and Legislative Committee and she remains on the Personnel Committee. Bill Strom has become the <br />liaison from TTA to the Transportation Advisory Committee of the Durham/Chapel Hill/Carrboro region. <br />They also adopted the Manager Incentive Goals, and part of it is to work on Phase II of regional transit. <br />They also adopted the regional bus standards. She will give the County Commissioners a copy of these. <br />Commissioner Gordon reported that the TTA is also moving to 68 T. W. Alexander Drive. <br />Commissioner Gordon mentioned the public hearings for the impacts on school merger on October <br />16t" at Chapel Hill High School at 7:30 p.m. and October 23'd at Cedar Ridge High School at 7:30 p.m. She <br />asked the Manager and the Board if the rules of the public hearing could be made public. <br />John Link deferred to the Chair and the Board. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that the Agricultural Heritage Festival last weekend exceeded the <br />expectations. It was so successful that there may be some discussion about making it to a permanent <br />annual event. Approximately 4,000 people were in attendance, and this was just two days after the <br />hurricane. The shuttle system was very successful. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that he attended the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce <br />awards ceremony for public safety officers. He was very proud of the people who serve in public safety. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that he received a letter with pictures from a woman about the Jockey lot <br />at Buckhorn Road. This is a subject of traffic safety. He asked the Health Director to verify if there are <br />unlicensed eateries along the side of the road and if it is contributing to the traffic problem. <br />Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the Vineyard Square development across from the <br />Southern Human Services Center that is having some sediment and erosion problems. He would like to <br />stay on top of this. He knows that Chapel Hill Planning is aware of this. Commissioner Jacobs introduced <br />Royce Hardin and Fletcher Barber regarding the Trees of Distinction. He asked them to briefly explain this <br />program. <br />Commission Jacobs introduced Royce Hardin who is an agricultural extension agent with <br />Cooperative Extension. He said that Commissioner Jacobs asked him to speak about their tree recognition <br />program. These programs go by different names but are set up to recognize trees of historic, <br />environmental, or significant value associated with size, age or aesthetic value. There are three champion <br />trees in Orange County. The location of the trees is outlined in the packet. One of the trees is a national <br />champion tree. He said that it was incumbent upon the County to recognize these trees and educate the <br />public about the trees. Cooperative Extension would be willing to help with the effort. There is a matching <br />grant program administered by the Division of Forest Resources. The deadline has passed for this fiscal <br />year. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis asked Commissioner Jacobs about the issue of Environment and <br />Resource Conservation being notified of significant timber operations. He asked if there was ever any <br />support by the State legislature on this. Commissioner Jacobs said no, but there is a new County Forester <br />and the contract will be coming up again pretty soon. <br />Chair Brawn asked Royce Hardin to bring this back to the County Commissioners with whatever <br />they need to do. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that he tries to answer most emails and in order to make public <br />hearings more effective as an avenue for people to ask questions and voice concerns about issues, that we <br />schedule one more public hearing in the first week of December. This will give the public the opportunity to <br />comment on the information given on the work session of November 20tH <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Carey to have a public <br />hearing on Thursday, Dec. 4t" at the F. Gordan Battle Courtroom in Hillsborough, North Carolina at 7:30 to <br />discuss the possible school merger issues. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />Commissioner Carey said that he also received the letter about the Jockey lot. He apologized for <br />missing the Agricultural Heritage Fair. <br />4. COUNTY MANAGER'S REPORT <br />John Link said that the Board of County Commissioners would like to recognize two individuals that <br />received awards from the Chamber of Commerce -Marcia Adams and Carey Jones. Marcia Adams <br />received the Emergency Management Employee of the Year Award. She is an assistant supervisor and <br />