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is the last night he will mention Mr. King's name. This has been going on far 20 years. He is <br />tired of it. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis asked Commissioner Carey to carry a message back to <br />NCACC. He said that he read that Tony Rand has proposed for counties to give one-cent sales <br />tax back to the State so they can capture some money to take Medicaid payments off the <br />counties' backs and then there will be an optional sales tax to pay the counties back. He hopes <br />that the NCACC does not buy this. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that there was a school collaboration meeting yesterday <br />and they had presentations from the Assistant Superintendent from Wake County, an official <br />from the Department of Public Instruction, and a representative from the John Locke <br />Foundation. There were same good ideas presented on school construction costs. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that her nephew has arrived safely back from duty in Iraq. <br />He was on his second tour of duty. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that a Chapel Hill Town Council member, Laura Easthom <br />told her about the Capital Trees Program (brochure), which has an awards program and an <br />educational program about saving trees. She would like to refer this item to the Commission for <br />the Environment for a recommendation. Chair Jacobs said that he brought this up three years <br />ago and nothing happened and he hopes that something happens this time. <br />Chair Jacobs congratulated Economic Development Director Dianne Reid and her staff <br />for the State of the Local Economy Breakfast last week. He said that he hopes that they can put <br />the cost of community services results an the County's website. This shows that residential <br />development does not pay for itself, but in fact, agriculture and commercial development uses <br />less tax dollars than they actually pay. <br />Chair Jacobs made reference to the school collaboration meeting and said that there <br />was a chart showing the huge spike in the cost of building schools and the State legislature is <br />giving them less support each year. <br />Chair Jacobs said that he and Commissioner Carey met with the Orange County Clean <br />Water Committee in Cedar Grove and the Health Department presented same preliminary <br />findings. They are investigating some passible public health concerns related to cancer in the <br />area due to water quality issues. The preliminary report indicated that there was not anything <br />extraordinary going on compared to baseline North Carolina data. They hope to have a final <br />report in a couple of months. There is a delay because the State lab is slow in responding <br />because they are under funded and under staffed. <br />Chair Jacobs said that last Saturday, Walkable Hillsborough had a transportation forum <br />and there were more than 80 people present. It was a very engaged and creative group. <br />Chair Jacobs said that they did meet with DOT today and they talked about the status of <br />the Elizabeth Brady Road Extension. There are same rumors about where this stands. There <br />are still two viable options that DOT is looking at. They also asked about the Homestead Road <br />project and they were told that same property owners do not want to sell rights-of-way for <br />easements. The State does not condemn land, and if the property owners are not willing, then <br />the project will not be dropped but will be referred back to the citizenlpublic official group that <br />has been meeting on this issue. <br />Chair Jacobs made two requests: one is to have the County Attorney to speak to the <br />Town of Hillsborough `s Attorney and to the Attorney from the Association of County <br />Commissioners regarding the lawsuit that was filed against the Tawn of Hillsborough over the <br />asphalt plant. The ruling by the State Board of Appeals seriously undermines the zoning <br />authority of local governments. He would like to see if they could get the NCACC to support the <br />Town. <br />Commissioner Carey said to have Geof Gledhill bring the Board an assessment. <br />Geof Gledhill said that the decision of the North Carolina Court of Appeals was 2-1. He <br />will report back to the Board. <br />