Orange County NC Website
Commissioner Jacobs said that they met with Bob Segal and found that the <br />County and both school systems are all using different computers. It would be nice to try <br />and collaborate on this and achieve some kind of economies of scale. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked about the laptops and why there had to be such a large <br />hard drive. Todd Jones said that this is the standard size. Commissioner Jacobs said that <br />he just bought a Dell last year and the standard was a 20 and not a 40. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that he talked with Mark Peters yesterday, who works for <br />IBM. He would like to suggest having Mr. Peters talk with the Information Technology <br />Committee about his ideas on providing more information to the public on a website and <br />trying to better coordinate the software. He does not know about Mr. Peters' assertions, but <br />it would be good for him to talk with the IT Committee. For example, the audio from the <br />County Commissioners' meetings could be on the County website. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that she would like to try out the technology before <br />committing to something. She made reference to the unlimited cell phone minutes for <br />County Commissioners to talk to each other, and said that she wonders if this could violate <br />the open meetings law. She said that if the Board decides to go entirely electronic, then the <br />County Commissioners would each have to bring their computers to the meetings and the <br />public would need access to their communications at the meeting. She would like to think it <br />through. If the Commissioners use this type of technology, there would have to be a <br />decision on haw to involve the public. <br />Chair Carey said that if they approve this package, it does not require any of the <br />Commissioners to use this equipment. He is not sure about violating the open meetings <br />laws because the County Commissioners would not be talking all at the same time. <br />Commissioner Foushee said that they are going to need the technology whether <br />they all use it or not. She was under the impression, because they were going to update the <br />technology anyway, that this was an opportunity to determine what works best. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that something needs to be done because the last <br />agenda was 740 pages. There has to be a better way to do this. He would also like to <br />discuss the receiving of agenda materials on a timely basis in order to have time to review <br />materials before meetings. <br />Commissioner Jacobs suggesting having Todd Jones come back to the Board <br />before the break. He agrees that there needs to be more discussion about delivery of <br />materials. <br />Commissioner Gordon agreed about having a policy so things are delivered in a <br />timely manner. She said that, in fairness to staff, they have a lot of meetings and <br />sometimes there is little time between meetings. <br />Todd Janes will bring some information back before the summer break. <br />3. School Budaets and CIP <br />• County Manager Comments <br />John Link made reference to the lavender sheet, which was a history of the fund <br />balances of each school system -Attachments 1A and 1 B. Attachments 2 and 3 provide <br />information on what $95 per pupil does and does not do. <br />Commissioner Gordon made reference to the CHCCS and said that at the public <br />hearing many citizens spoke about the possibility of decreased teacher assistants. The <br />bottom of the last page of Attachment 2 has a note that says, "Manager cannot identify <br />decrease of teacher assistants in CHCCS budget related materials." She asked for <br />augmentation on this comment. John Link said that he does not believe the idea of cutting <br />teacher assistants is actually in the content of the budget. He received a memorandum from <br />Superintendent Pedersen, where he makes reference to the fact that, if the school system <br />did not receive full funding and/or if the State were to cut the appropriation by 4°~, they <br />would have to look at items such as teacher assistants and School Resource Officers. This <br />