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recruitment and retention program that they can apply for. It is a five-year grant. The first year <br />is 90°k funding, and it decreases each year. <br />Jahn Link said that one of the biggest challenges would be the cost of going to paid <br />staff. The County's salary is just not competitive with the municipalities' salaries. <br />Jack Ball said that the rescue squads also need to be competitive regarding salary. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that when the County rotates out its computers, they should <br />be offered to the rescue squads instead of being sold. He would like to talk about fire ratings <br />and how the fire departments can improve them and explain it to homeowners and to the media. <br />He said that there are touchy issues around firefighter pensions and he would like to look at <br />proposed changes in policies or legislative changes that might be useful to EMS, rescue <br />squads, or fire departments. <br />Chair Carey asked about the $1.344 million for the bill and where this figure came from. <br />Jack Ball said that this was a program that was put together with members of the Fire Chief's <br />Association. Several chiefs got together and looked at some casts and came up with this figure. <br />This includes costs for a building, a mobile classroom, fixed burn buildings, etc. He thinks this <br />figure is short of what would be needed for the whole program. He noticed that there were no <br />facilities for showers or restraoms. This would generate an additional cost. <br />Chair Carey asked several clarifying questions that were answered by Jack Ball. <br />Chair Carey suggested updating the chart on page 13 and the inventory of equipment. <br />Commissioner Gordon asked the staff to look at the various districts and what the <br />insurance ratings are. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked if the County Commissioners received a formal request <br />from grange Rescue Squad for tax revenue and Rod Visser said no. Commissioner Jacobs <br />said that he would view the rescue squad being similar to the fire departments in terms of public <br />service. He suggested asking each group what it envisions far itself and develop a level playing <br />field. <br />Jahn Link said that this assessment would be valuable to the rescue squads also. <br />2. Jordan Lake Watershed Nutrient Management Strategy and Rules <br />Environment and Resource Conservation Director Dave Stancil said that the purpose of <br />this item is to see if the Board is interested in providing comments to the Division of Water <br />Quality on the proposed Jordan Lake Nutrient Management Strategy and Total Maximum Daily <br />Load. He said that it was not a surprise that they have to deal with nutrients in Jordan Lake, <br />because there were predictions 20 years ago that there would be these issues. The deadline <br />for the Division of Water Quality is May 31St far comments. He pointed out some areas of the <br />watershed on a map. The current proposal is that the DWQ would get recommendations to the <br />Environmental Management Commission in July and they might adapt it in September. It would <br />take two years to finalize the rules and put them in place in 2007. <br />He made reference to page five of the report and the nutrient reduction requirements. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to reducing nitrogen and said that a huge golf <br />community was just approved in Chatham County. Golf courses are some of the biggest users <br />of nitrogen. Dave Stancil said that a lot of the nitrogen comes from municipal wastewater <br />treatment plants and there are three in this particular basin. <br />Craig Benedict explained ten total management strategies, as follows: <br />Jordan Lake, Non-Point Source Nutrient Management Strategy <br />