Minutes - 20050122 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Rod Visser gave some history of the collaboration work group. He said that it is amazing what has been accomplished over the last year with collaboration initiatives. Same examples include middle college, shared college fairs, discussions about changing the structure of middle school athletic programs, discussions about after school programs, discussions about block scheduling and learning from each other, etc. Chair Carey pointed out that Commissioner Jacobs was a big part of the process in the past year. Commissioner Jacobs said that it has not been easy, but it has been productive. He thanked John Link and Rod Visser and said that John Link has been goad at articulating the County's position. He said that they have been talking about moving ahead with other issues and have even considered having a facilitator. He said that they have talked about feeling equal and not putting on a County Commissioners' show. He has no problem giving the group some of the substantive issues. Chair Carey said that they did discuss the utility of continuing to have a facilitator and concluded that it was good. Commissioner Gordon said that she would like to see the group make a formal report to the Board of County Commissioners with a list of the accomplishments and next steps. She would like for the Board of County Commissioners to bring some clarity to the process and adapt a formal charge, and then prioritize what to send to this group and what to discuss as County Commissioners. This could be done in time for the joint work session with the school boards in April. Chair Carey said that the group did discuss the sharing of information with all three boards. This would be done before the joint meeting with the school boards. Commissioner Halkiotis said that another possible area for collaboration is a construction manager. A few years ago there was a study about construction management, and there was no resolution. He met with Purchasing and Central Services Director Pam Janes about what a construction management position could do far Orange County government and the proposals coming online within the next few years. He coupled this with what they learned at the Durham Tech meeting last week, that Dr. Phail Wynn has already hired his own construction management person for Durham Tech projects. He said that this is another opportunity for the two school systems and the County to hire one person to be the eyes and ears for the citizens of the County on construction projects. The costs would be split. There would also be potential savings in construction oversight work of architects. This person could also look at indoor air quality issues and other facility based issues. Commissioner Jacobs suggested adding this position to the County's budget, whether or not the school systems want to work with the County. John Link suggested that the funding of this position be a part of the project budgets themselves. He pointed out page 2 of attachment 2C2, the follow up to the minutes of the last meeting an January 20th. He said that the Board needs to begin working on same things such as #4, a new paradigm for School Resource Officers and #5, after school programming. Also, the Board should discuss school construction standards. He has encouraged the two school boards to make SRO's a budget item in June. He does not understand haw it has morphed into a contract relationship. It is a law enforcement function to take care of our citizens while they are at school. Also, the County now provides funding for after school programming only through one venue, which is the Communities in Schools contract. This collaboration group looked at certain functions that may need to be outside of the per pupil funding. Chair Carey said that these discussions might require other jurisdictions to get involved. He said that the group talked about having the SRO issue being discussed at the next joint meeting with the school boards. Chair Carey said that he has heard that the County Commissioners want the group to be recharged to address some of the substantive issues.