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Commissioner Jacobs asked how many routes were partially subsidized by local governments and Patrick McDonough said that this would be the first time this has been done. He said that NCDOT sees these regional partnerships as the future of public transportation. Commissioner Jacobs asked the Manager that when this does come forward to public hearing that there is some surveying of the users regarding the doubling of the fee. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to approve the Manager's recommendation as follows: 1. The conceptual Hillsborough to Chapel Hill route. 2. The cost-sharing percentage between Triangle Transit Authority and Orange Public Transportation for the fixed route and marketing the new service (County staff has proposed 75°~ TTA and 25% OPT). 3. The preferred type of service, with a starting date of August 2005, would be a regular route as apposed to a demonstration route. 4. The drafting of a proposed Memorandum of Understanding between Triangle Transit Authority and Orange Public Transportation for route operation. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Gordon asked that when this is passed forward to the TTA Operations and Finance Committee that the Towns of Chapel Hill and Hillsborough also get copies of it. b. Staff Update on Possible Acquisition of the Triangle Sportsplex The Board received an update from staff on ongoing assessments related to a potential Orange County acquisition of the Triangle Sportsplex, with particular emphasis an considerations related to potential ownership structures; and considered increasing by $10,000 the Board's appropriation for professional services needed to carry out the assessments and provided direction to the Manager and staff. John Link said that last fall the Board asked staff to begin a process of pursuing due diligence, analyzing the possibility of the County acquiring the Triangle Sportsplex. Part of the interest in acquiring the Sportsplex would be to expand it to include the new Central Orange Senior Center. The Board later approved agreements with Blackman and Sloop, the CPA firm, to look at the present financial status of the Sportsplex, as well as looking at the future potential financial performance. There is also an agreement with Corley, Redfoot, and Zack to conduct a physical condition analysis of the facility. Rod Visser spoke about an additional element of the physical evaluation. He said that they would like to ask the Board's authorization to spend $10,000 more than was authorized for completion of the due diligence analyses. They would like the authorization to be raised to $40,000 to complete the analysis of the ice rink. He emphasized that, other than the authorization for more money, the staff is not asking the Board to make any other decisions on the information that will be presented in this item. All of the situations are hypothetical and the staff is not recommending that the County acquire the Sportsplex or not. Rad Visser said that they are in the middle of ongoing due diligence assessments with Blackman and Sloop looking at ratio and trend analyses an Sportsplex financials, and evaluating potential overhead efficiencies and potential savings that might be derived from the co-location of several different functions at this property. He then explained the ownership structure. The facility could be owned outright by the County orthrough anon-profit, existing or newly created. It may prove to be more efficient and effective far the County to awn the property outright. The financing options would be more flexible and less expensive with an outright ownership. There would be a General Manager position, which would be a contracted position. The responsibilities would include day-to-day management and operations of the overall facility, but not necessarily the programming of the