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Chair Jacobs said that people may continue to discuss this issue, especially with the legislature continuing to toy with the County in various ways, including whether or not it wants to fund two sets of administrators in any one county. He personally feels that he has heard from many citizens, and while there are equity issues that the County Commissioners are committed to addressing, at this time he does not see merger as part of the school equity discussion. He said that equity could be addressed without merging the two school systems. Commissioner Carey said that they heard a lot of things from the parents and non- parentsand he thinks that it is incumbent upon them to represent all residents of Orange County. He understands Chair Jacobs' position on the matter, but if it were taken off the table, then they would not need to go through the exercise of trying to learn what others think about it. He thinks that they should at least have the discussion based on what is learned from the school boards and others. He thinks that the Board should take the leadership role in this issue. If the Board wants to take it off, then he will not bring it up again unless the public wants him too. A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to drop the school merger issue from the discussion of school equity. Commissioner Gordan said that she has been on record for a long time saying that they need to address the difference in the school systems' funding. She said that in December of 2003, she offered a proposal for the situation at that time, which would have given more money in operating expenses to the OCS. She still believes that the important thing is to address the difference in the funding and this can be done without merging the systems. Commissioner Carey made a substitute motion that would be consistent with this Board's culture and wanting to hear what the public has to say. He moved to ask the public to speak and vote on a referendum that indicates whether they want to merge the school systems. There was no second. The motion died. Chair Jacobs said that the Board needs to move forward and try and address the fundamental issue of equity. Commissioner Carey said that Chair Jacobs' implication is that he is the only one that is listening to the public, but he said that he is listening too. The motion he just made was that they ask the public to vote on it because it is the ultimate opportunity to let the public speak. VOTE: Ayes, 4; No, 1 -Commissioner Carey Chair Jacobs asked the Board of Commissioners to return their responses to the questions by early next week. Commissioner Halkiotis asked that the term "homework" not be used in the future. c. Proposed Orange County Section of the NC Mountains-to-Sea Trail The Board considered the possibility of a section of the NC Mountains-to-Sea Trail being planned through Orange County and providing guidance to staff. Rich Shaw said that this trail is planned for a nearly 1,000-mile route from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. As planned, the trail would pass through 37 counties, including Guilford, Alamance, Orange, Durham, Granville, and Wake Counties. The trail is currently a combination of old foot trails, trails constructed in the 1930's by the Civilian Conservation Corps, and by more recent groups such as the Carolina Mountain Club. Where there are no existing trails, the Mountains-to-Sea Trail corridor follows road shoulders. As of 2002, there were 530 miles of actual foot trails and 445 miles of back road shoulders. For the Orange County segment of the trail, the current placeholder is along the road shoulders of rural roads across northern Orange County- 18 miles across Cedar Grave and Little River Townships. He showed the placeholder on a map. John Link left at 9:30 p.m.