Minutes - 20051102 - Laserfiche WebLink

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3. Board Comments Commissioner Gordon said that TTA reported that the Smart Commute Challenge had over 12,000 participants. She said that TTA has a mock up of the vehicle that is being planned for phase I of the regional rail. It is only the front half of the car. Commissioner Gordon said that the Intergovernmental Parks Work Group met last week and they had a presentation on the Mountains to the Sea Trail. The issue is the route through Alamance and Orange Counties. There will be more information on the three different variations of routes. Commissioner Gordon said that they also talked about the Orange County/Chapel HilUCarrborolHillsboroughJMebane parks planning efforts. All jurisdictions have given the IP Work Group the go-ahead to develop a coordinated facility document for parks and greenways far planning purposes. They saw a first draft of this. This document will have information an all parks in this area and will help when other parks are being planned. Commissioner Gordon said that the Recreation and Parks Advisory Council talked about the Fairview Park and the recommended facilities. Commissioner Gordon referred to her resolution about the war in Iraq. There is another resolution about new federal priorities that was presented in Chapel Hill and Carrboro and this will be an the November 15t" meeting. This is a different resolution. Commissioner Gordon said that her husband went to the special district tax information meeting and she asked about how the distribution of the brochures was going. John Link said that they have made distributions of the brochures to libraries, fire departments, Gauntry stores, schools, solid waste convenience centers, and they are replenishing them this week. Commissioner Halkiotis thanked all of the people who have expressed concern about his wife. He received a call from his wife whose car was struck in Guilford County by a drunken driver who had had his license suspended. She is fine. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he is getting worried about the water levels. When he sees Wake County going to mandatory water restrictions, he is wondering what is going on with Orange County. Lake Orange is 8 feet 8 inches below full. He asked for Commissioner Jacobs to talk about this since he is the most active member of the Eno River Association. The Governor is asking Orange County and other counties to look at voluntary water restrictions and nothing has been done. He is very concerned. He has also read that Hillsborough is going to buy water from Qurham or Burlington. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he appreciated Chair Carey keeping them up to date on mental health reform. He said that he gets worried when he sees Representative Verla Insko upset about something and she is upset about this issue. He read from a letter from Representative Insko to Secretary Odum: "There has been neither a thoughtful review of other alternatives, nor a thorough exploration of unintended consequences." He commended Judy Truitt for standing up to the state officials. He said that this is totally stupid and he is really worried about what the Secretary is doing. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he had to leave the meeting early with Hillsborough last night, but he heard that afterwards town officials were not happy with the proposed land swap with the County to build their new Public Works facility. He suggested that Chair Carey and John Link talk about this issue and bring back this information to the rest of the Board. He thought the concerns were resolved some time ago. Commissioner Halkiotis referred to Mayor Phelps' letter on law-income senior housing. He said that he does not want be involved with the Town of Hillsborough on anything until this issue is resolved about the land swap. Commissioner Halkiotis referred to a letter to Chair Carey that came from Leonard Green, Assistant Attorney General to the State of North Carolina. He said that this makes him