Minutes - 20041025 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Gordon said that the Manager put on the table the idea of taking $12.8 million that was originally approved in the bond referendum for elementary school #10 in CHCCS. She has great reservations about this approach, especially because there was no mention of putting the elementary school back into the schedule for alternative financing after it was removed. The voters voted far this school. Chair Jacobs said that this money has already been moved. Commissioner Gordon said that CHCCS now had funding for elementary school #10 in the alternative financing schedule. She thinks the County should look at other equally extreme measures in other places in the budget. Chair Jacobs said that the SAPFO commits the County to provide the money to build the school when it is needed. Commissioner Carey said that the Manager mentioned this school as an example of the way to be creative. There may be other opportunities. Chair Jacobs said that this is the kind of alarmism that unnecessarily upsets people. Commissioner Gordon said that she is alarmed, and that is why she stated it. Chair Jacobs said that if it had been the Orange County Schools, he does not think Commissioner Gordon would have been bothered as much. Commissioner Gordan objected and said that she has been a strong advocate of both school systems. She said that she has voted for increased funding far both school systems. She asked for an apology from Chair Jacobs. Cammissioner Halkiotis said that all of these buildings belong to the people of Orange County. This has been the driving force for him all of these years, but it is not shared by both school systems and the people that work in the buildings. This does not necessarily apply to the school board members. It is especially true of coaches because they do not want people in their gyms or on their fields. He thinks the gyms and fields belong to the people, which brings up the issue of co-location. Cammissioner Halkiotis said that he liked what the Manager said about borrowing the money temporarily from one place to take care of an immediate need somewhere else, and then putting the money back. Commissioner Carey made reference to page 7 and the future needs, and said that it might be time to start thinking about a bond committee sometime early next year. Discussion ensued on the timing of a future bond. John Link made reference to Commissioner Brown's comment about financial constraints of the County and said that six or seven years ago the County adopted the debt policy. Since that time, many more counties and municipalities have adopted a similar policy. The Local Government Commission now has, as a guideline, that the local government must have a ceiling of 15°l0 of their budget far debt. He thinks the Board should be proud of blazing this trail. He said that this should be pointed out to the citizens as part of the education process. Chair Jacobs said that he would confer with the Manager about how to proceed. 4. Orange County Percent for Art Program Martha Shannon made reference to the handout. She said that the proposal is that the Board adopts a percent for art program for Orange County. This program is modeled after the ordinance in effect in Chapel Hill. If Orange County wants to adopt this then it will be the second county in North Carolina to adopt this. Mecklenburg County also has the ordinance. She explained how the program works in Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill has 1 °~ for arts, which is a common amount. She said that this is the mast permanent way to ensure that art is included for the public forever. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he is supportive of this in principle. He said that he finds it hard to believe that Chapel Hill is going to spend $420,000 on art initiatives at a public works garage (he was looking at the sheet}. Martha Shannon said that Chapel Hill is able to pool their