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A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Carey to appoint Geoff <br />Gledhill as the County Attorney. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />1. ADDITIONS OR CHANGES TO THE AGENDA <br />The Board considered changing the starting time of the Tuesday, December 9`" meeting to 5:30 <br />(dinner) with the meeting to start at 6:00 (to 7:30) to address items such as proclamations, resolutions, <br />special presentations, consent agenda and then going into the regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. <br />Chair Jacobs referred to the white sheet, which is a memo from the Clerk and County manager <br />suggesting to start the meeting early because the agenda will be heavy on December 9`". This will be a <br />special meeting until 7:30 with adjournment at 7:30 and then reconvening at 7:30. It will be noticed as c <br />special meeting. <br />This will be televised and Geaf Gledhill said that the Chair has the authority to call this special <br />meeting and the Board does not need to vote on this. <br />The Board agreed to this change. <br />The Board considered changing the location of the December 4`" public hearing from the F. Gordon <br />Battle Courtroom in Hillsborough, North Carolina to the District Courtroom -due to the location of the <br />screen for the PowerPoint presentation (more visible to audience). The District Courtroom will hold 320 <br />versus 240 in the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom. <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Carey to move the <br />location of the December 4`" Public hearing to the District Courtroom. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />Chair Jacobs said that item 8-d has been removed to be brought back at a later time. <br />PUBLIC CHARGE <br />The Chair dispensed with the reading of the public charge. <br />2. PUBLIC COMMENTS <br />a. Matters not on the Printed Agenda <br />Doris Morris was representing North Carolinians Opposing Outlying Landing Field. The U. S. <br />Navy wants to put this field in Washington County. On September 10, 2003, the U. S. Navy released a <br />decision to put a touch and go landing strip in Washington County. It is not a military base, just a touch and <br />go landing strip. This will be a practice field for the new F-18 super hornet jets. According to the Navy and <br />Marine documents, this field is not necessary. All current fields meet all the requirements. There is already <br />a landing field for the jets in Virginia that is only five years old. Developers have been encroaching along <br />this field and they want to get rid of the noise for real estate purposes. She said that the tax rates would be <br />raised from the loss of revenue from 50 square miles of farmland, mostly prime, and 74 homes that will be <br />taken. She said that real estate deals are being terminated due to a requirement disclosure in three <br />counties about the OLF, with the noise of the 50-100 flights a day. She said that this would impact our state <br />forever. She said that there are other sites that would not disrupt as much as this one. She asked for the <br />County Commissioners' support of Governor Easley, who has stepped up to support them. <br />Chris Canfield, Executive Director of the North Carolina State Office of the National Audubon <br />Society, said that he is here to support what Doris Morris talked about. He said that they have been <br />working for a year and a half to defeat this plan by the Navy. It is bad for the birds and the wildlife in that a <br />refuge is just a few miles away from this site. About 100,000 swans and geese from arctic Canada and <br />Alaska come there every year. He said that it was bad for the community in that 74 family homes are set to <br />be destroyed. He said that it is also bad for the Navy. He is a former Air Force officer, and said that it is not <br />good to mix the planes with the birds. Jet fuel is also bad for North Carolina and the noise pollution will <br />