Orange County NC Website
be able to respond to Durham. The agreement is not as elaborate as the one with the Town of <br />Hillsborough where there can be a joint meeting. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that he has found the short time frame that they have with <br />Hillsborough, which is longer than this, too short and it barely allows the Board the opportunity <br />to hear a staff analysis. He asked the Chair to contact Durham's Chair of the County <br />Commissioners and the Mayor to see if this is Durham staff's interpretation of the elected <br />officials' position, or if it is actually the elected officials' position. <br />Commissioner Gordon asked some clarifying questions about the EDD, which were <br />answered by Craig Benedict. <br />This item was tabled. <br />7. Special Presentations <br />a. Social Services Board Request to Establish a Day Care Trust Fund With the <br />$100,000 Reserved in the Social Safety Net <br />The Board considered a request from the Social Services Board to release day care <br />funds totaling $100,000 appropriated in the Safety Net Fund to the Department of Social <br />Services {DSS) in order that DSS can provide subsidy to additional families on the Department's <br />day care waiting list under policies developed by the Social Services Board. <br />Rosetta Wash, Chair of the Social Services Board, acknowledged the work of those from <br />the Daycare Task Farce: <br />Dee Gamble, Chair <br />Michele Rivist from Partnership for Young Children <br />Teresa Derrick from Childcare Services Association <br />Margaret Brawn, former County Commissioner <br />Nancy Coston from the Department of Social Services <br />Sharron Hinton from the County Manager's Office <br />Rosetta Wash said that the County receives nearly $5 million in state and federal funds <br />for childcare subsidies annually, but it is still not enough. They continue to have a waiting list of <br />low-income families who are eligible for childcare assistance. This is a significant barrier for <br />some families to find employment. Earlier this year, the Board set aside $100,000 as a safety <br />net to assist families on the Social Services Daycare waiting list. The DS5 Board requests that <br />those funds be released to a Daycare Trust Fund that would be administered by the DSS Board. <br />The primary purpose would be to shorten the length of time a family has to wait far daycare <br />SUbSldleS. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that the Board had a discussion at budget time last year <br />that they were to be presented with additional information from various groups that had <br />requested additional funds last year, specifically from the Partnership. He said that the specific <br />areas they were requesting help with were the parents who were employed by Chapel Hill- <br />Carrboro City Schools, Orange County Schools, Orange County government, and daycare <br />providers. He asked how this was analyzed. <br />Dee Gamble said that they are in the process of analyzing this and they will be <br />considered in the process of looking at the needs. The proposal has not been finalized. <br />John Link said that his understanding is that those initiatives and requests will be <br />addressed in this process. The request is that $100,000 be released so that the DSS Board <br />can come back with the final priorities. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that his reaction is that before he would be comfortable <br />committing the funds, he would like more specificity. He made reference to the abstract and <br />said that it does not list children of public employees or daycare workers. He read from the <br />abstract as follows: "Trust funds may be used to solicit matching funds from other <br />