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He said that the schools would be saying the same thing, because they will want a guarantee that the County will cover any State cuts. Commissioner Jacobs asked that the vulnerabilities be fleshed out, including the money that is needed to make this transition and where the money is coming from. Chair Carey asked if any of the representatives from the mental health organizations wanted to make comments, since they were there. PUBLIC COMMENT: A staff person from Club Nova asked if OPC said that the amount that the County has been allocating would be enough for the next year to sustain all of the programs. Gwen Harvey said that her understanding is that the appropriation that was requested of the County for 05-06 was deemed by the management team at OPC to be sufficient to carry forward every program. This is similar to what the County has been allocating in the past. It was painted out that the contribution of all three counties was limited exclusively far internal programs and not for external programs. The staff person from Club Nava said that she would look at this more carefully. She said that, regarding Club Nova, there has been one agency bidding on most of the RFPs. She said that they are grateful for the subsidy from Orange County. If there are no additional funds, however, they will be in a situation where they are transitioning with no additional funds. She knows of a clubhouse in Gastonia, Piedmont Pioneer House, that has gone private, non-profit and they are never sure if they will make it from payroll to payroll. She does not want to see Club Nova in this situation. She said that just sustaining the programs is one piece, but there is another piece to transition the programs into the private sector. Commissioner Jacobs said that he was at Club Nova's employee appreciation event, and the Program Director for the International Center for Clubhouse Development said that Club Nova was one of the most successful clubhouses in the world. Miriam Lieberman is a therapist with KidScope and they are very grateful for the support from the Board of County Commissioners. She said that they have asked the OPC-LME Board for retirement benefits for a long time and she finally got today the PEO plan so that they could see the damage it will do to the staff situation. She said that there are key personnel that will be cut out of their retirement plan. There are many long-term employees that would not be included in the retirement plan. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he thinks the State is on the verge of having created one of the biggest messes in recorded history. 4. County Attorney Transition Plans and Contract Approval Geof Gledhill said that he has nothing planned to say, but he would answer any questions. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he does not think the County can transition to its own attorney this budget year. Commissioner Jacobs suggested acting on the attorney's contract and to have a sub- committee to look at this issue and work with the Manager and the Attorney. Chair Carey agreed with approving the contract, but he pointed out that there was no intent to implement anything until 2006-07. Commissioner Gordon asked haw this would increase the budget and how it was in the Central Services budget. Pam Jones said that it was in the Central Services budget under Contract Services. She said that the $100,000 is an annual increase and is not over three years. Over the last several years, the County has budgeted around $140,000 a year, and this has not been sufficient to meet the actual bills.