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Chair Brown said that the University has been trying to use their assets in helping communities and this task farce would be objective. She thinks the task farce is a good way to develop the information base that everyone has asked for without involving a lot of potentially conflicting ideas and feelings. Commissioner Carey said that the Board should not make any decisions until after all of the public hearings. This is why he suggested February. He thinks that his proposal would help them focus on something positive for the future of this County. A decision is going to have to be made on these issues at some time; whether it will be them or some other Commissioners. He said that the Countywide tax proposals would go a long way to address issues and would make merger a moot point, but he was trying to address some issues in funding that are broader than just equity in funding for the schools. He thinks that as long as there are two school systems, there will always be competition for the capital dollar that is going to mean inefficient use of school facilities. This is his personal opinion. He said that the Board of County Commissioners will have to take some action on the recommendations of the task force. The task force will not make the tough decisions. Commissioner Jacobs said that he would propose that the staff put together a recommendation for the December 9th meeting, which would be after the public hearing. He thinks that the public has felt a certain anxiety aver a decision being made before they have had an opportunity to speak or get sufficient information. It would be a courtesy to the public to let them make comments before the Board takes any kind of action. The Board could also invite the two school boards to come to the meeting to hear the Board's conversation and to field questions before making a decision. He said that there is almost nothing mentioned in his proposal that has not already been discussed. It is not a question of springing something new on people. He thinks that it is important to take some actions that will have some immediate affect. Commissioner Gordon said that she thinks that it is important to digest the information, let the public comment, and then try to make a decision. She does not want to lose sight of the need to do something in the short term. She believes that we need to do something in the next budget cycle for the OCS. She emphasized that merger would mean five times the tax rate that she recommended for the first year of the Countywide supplemental tax. She wants to do something by July 1, 2004 because even though people were either for or against merger, they all want to do something far the children of the OCS. It is a large tax increase for the Orange County School district that she is proposing, but the step has to be taken to reach the needed funding. She is pushing for the County Commissioners to take a strong step by putting a supplemental tax to a vote. This would not hurt the CHCCS. She wants to do something concrete by July 1, 2004. Commissioner Halkiotis said that all of the County Commissioners want to do something concrete. He said that he does not want to engage in any more discussions or debates about meaningless subjects. He made reference to the issue of collaboration when it was brought up by Commissioner Jacobs a couple of years ago and a former school board member said that it was merger. Now that merger has been suggested, we can use the word collaboration without having a sinister plan. He thinks that we need to get beyond this and decide to do something. He said that he has heard that people do not want merger and he heard a smaller group of people that wants merger. He said that they need to look at how the school systems are spending the money they are given right now. He said that he is supportive of a Countywide supplemental tax, but he is not supportive of giving money out until the two school systems are analyzed for efficiencies. He would like to see a reward system for people that find ways to