Orange County NC Website
The Board conducted a public hearing and considered approving submission of the <br />Annual Public Housing Agency Plan for the Orange County Housing Authority and authorizing <br />the Chair to sign the Certification of Compliance/Board Resolution. <br />Housing and Community Development Director Tara Fikes said that the PHA plan <br />describes the mission of the agency and the agency's long-range goals and objectives. Orange <br />County completed its last five-year plan last year and this year they need to only submit the <br />annual plan to HUD by the end of May. This plan does not include any substantial changes <br />from last year. He said that they still continue to operate the Section 8 program for 623 families, <br />but they are on average able to serve fewer families over the last few months and the average <br />is about 615 families. The annual budget for the program is a little over $4 million and they <br />have 245 property owners providing property for lease to law-income residents. Mast of these <br />properties are located in the Carrboro/Chapel Hill area and most of the participants are leasing <br />two bedroom units. They are still receiving applicants and since the fall of 2004 they have <br />1,278 families on the waiting list. <br />There was no public comment. <br />Chair Jacobs asked if there was any mechanism within the program for a County that <br />has a backlog of people in need of section $ vouchers to get them from counties that are not <br />using all of theirs. Tara Fikes said that there is no standard mechanism for applying for unused <br />vouchers. <br />Chair Jacobs said that this is something to talk about with Congressman David Price and <br />Tara Fikes said definitely. <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Carey to <br />close the public hearing. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis to <br />approve submission of the Annual Public Housing Agency Plan for the Orange County Housing <br />Authority and authorize the Chair to sign the Certification of CompliancelBoard Resolution. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />b. Orange County's 2006 Legislative Agenda <br />The Board held a public hearing on draft resolutions/other potential items for inclusion in <br />Orange County's legislative agenda package for the 2006 North Carolina General Assembly <br />Session and considered approval of the draft resolutions and any other materials far <br />presentation to Orange County's legislative delegation and the leadership of the North Carolina <br />General Assembly. <br />Chair Jacobs and Commissioner Halkiotis have worked on this for a number of years <br />and this year they did something different as a reflection of their ongoing frustration with the <br />County's ability to have any responsive actions from the State legislature. This is a different <br />structure. <br />John Link said that the staff has made the effort to draft resolutions and there is a draft <br />statement of principles to express the Board of County Commissioners' sentiment on what is <br />important in the legislative process. <br />Geof Gledhill said that there are a lot of resolutions for the Board's consideration and he <br />summarized them: <br />1. Resolution Opposing NC Senate Bill 951- Public-Private Solid Waste Collection -this bill <br />would create displacement income, which would be paid to any private sector solid <br />waste collection vendor in the event that a jurisdiction decided that it would operate a <br />solid waste program. This resolution would oppose that payment of money. <br />