Orange County NC Website
Commissioner Brown said that the OPC steering committee chair has asked the boards <br />of Orange, Person, and Chatham Counties to appoint representatives to the steering committee. <br />Commissioner Brown made reference to the letter on their desks about selective service <br />from Colonel Frederick Aikens. She read from the letter, "We are attempting to insure that all of <br />our local boards are filled and want to be ready should the need present itself." She then read, <br />"Because you work closely with the Board of Commissioners, you and the Board are acquainted <br />with patriotic, civic-minded citizens in the communities located within Orange County." She said <br />that she did not make a distinction. <br />Chair Jacobs congratulated Cammissioner Carey and Valerie Foushee on winning the <br />elections as well as Senator Ellie Kinnaird. <br />Chair Jacobs said that he attended meetings where he represented the Board. One <br />meeting was with the chairs of all of the advisory boards and commissions. They spoke about <br />the relationship between the Board of County Commissioners and the boards and commissions <br />and same of the issues regarding nominations and participation. He said that it was an upbeat <br />meeting. Everyone was interested in having another meeting with a social hour beforehand. <br />Chair Jacobs said that he also attended a joint meeting with Hillsborough (Orange <br />County/Hillsborough Urban Transition Task Farce). They continued to talk about the area <br />around the edge of Hillsborough's jurisdiction. They talked about the possibility of jointly <br />planning the perimeter of Hillsborough's jurisdiction. Hillsborough has talked about doing a <br />community-visioning plan. He suggested that the Board might be interested in helping to plan <br />this. They meet again later this month. <br />Chair Jacobs said that there was another school collaboration meeting this past week. <br />None of the representatives from CHCCS could be there. There was a good discussion about <br />capital spending. This is on the agenda for the 16t" and can be discussed further. <br />Chair Jacobs also attended the Educational Excellence Work Group meeting. There <br />were seven representatives of UNC's School of Education, the two superintendents, and the <br />Manager and Assistant Manager. One of the most interesting facts was how similarly students <br />performed at the elementary level across both school systems. There is a drop in performance <br />at the middle school level. The School of Education is going to look at the factors involved in <br />this. They are waiting for some data that will be available later this month, so he asked that they <br />aim far December 10t" to get this information to the Board. <br />Chair Jacobs reminded the Board that they received a request for a Commissioners' <br />representative on the Public Arts Selection Committee for the Southern Human Services <br />Center. He asked for anyone that was interested to contact the Clerk. <br />4. County Manager's Report <br />John Link made reference to the noise of the Whitted Center chiller and said that no one <br />is satisfied yet with the progress that has been made. He is anxious to move an in pursuing the <br />sound blanket. He is not sure about a vegetative screen, because he does not think it will <br />reduce the noise. He urged the citizens to give the County their ideas about which option they <br />think will work best. <br />Jahn Link asked Rod Visser to give an update on the outcome of the elections. He <br />thanked the staff that helped with the Board of Elections. <br />Rod Visser said that he is proud of the effort of Orange County's Elections' staff and <br />volunteers. The process went well. He gave some statistics. Orange County has 95,000+ <br />registered voters as of this election. Of that number, about 87,000 are active registered voters. <br />A total of about 67.2% of the total registered voters participated in this election. This is a <br />significant turnout. He said that a tremendous number of people participated in the early <br />balloting processes -over 30,000. He said that every vote was handled with extreme care. <br />Cammissioner Brown asked for an update on the motor vehicle process of registering to <br />vote. <br />