Orange County NC Website
<br />Chair Jacobs congratulated Commissioner Gordon and former Mayor Mike Nelson for <br />being nominated. He also congratulated the other candidates for their public spirit and efforts <br />and he thanked all of the people that supported him and voted for him. He hopes to see many <br />thousands of sunflowers growing this year because he handed them out at the polls. He <br />thanked his wife, his campaign manager, and his sign poster. <br />Chair Jacobs also congratulated the four people elected to the Orange County School <br />Board -Susan Hallman, Debbie Piscitelli, Anne Medenblik, and Ted Triebel. <br />Chair Jacobs reviewed the many events that have taken place. There was the 50tH <br />anniversary of Cameron Park Elementary School in Hillsborough. He found out that a <br />proclamation was never passed from the County Commissioners honoring the school for 50 <br />years. He has asked staff to put something together before the end of school. <br />Chair Jacobs said that four of the County Commissioners attended a dedication of the <br />crosswalk on Homestead Road for the seniors. It was a result of the efforts of a group of <br />seniors working with the Health Department and Triangle J. DOT put in the crosswalk that goes <br />to Homestead Park. He said that NCDOT Division Engineer Mike Mills said that he would look <br />into whether there was some money to address the gap in the sidewalks on the County's <br />property. <br />Chair Jacobs also attended a meeting with Chapel Hill representatives about the <br />aquatic center, for which Orange County has provided $4.2 million dollars. Chapel Hill and <br />Carrboro have both said that it is their highest recreational priority. Chapel Hill will now put in <br />an additional $700,000 because of construction cost increases. This makes Chapel Hill's <br />contribution $2 million. Carrboro will be asked to contribute $75,000. <br />Chair Jacobs said that he and Commissioner Halkiotis met with a representative from <br />The People's Channel to talk about the broadcasts trying to make them more viewer friendly <br />and more accessible so that the agenda items can be seen. <br />Chair Jacobs said that he and Commissioner Halkiotis also met with staff and the <br />manager of the Sportsplex to talk about the interaction between the senior center and the <br />Sportsplex in terms of using the equipment, facilities, etc. This was a very productive meeting. <br />The manager is very interested in working with the senior center. They talked about food <br />offerings and the Sportsplex is going to start serving healthier foods and try to purchase locally. <br />Chair Jacobs said that last year Orange Enterprises served 350 people approximately, <br />and already through April it has served 265 disabled people and has created additional new <br />jobs, which is part of why it is considered an economic development opportunity. It is now doing <br />courier service for Orange County and talking to the Public Works department about doing <br />some cleaning. <br />Chair Jacobs thanked the Recreation and Parks department for the event at Efland <br />Cheeks Park and for putting on the Cool Jazz Festival again. He suggested getting some of the <br />Chapel Hill school bands as well as the Orange County school bands in order to have more of a <br />countywide event. <br />Chair Jacobs made reference to the opening of the park at Efland and said that it was <br />like the quintessential American park with people of all ages and races, kids playing on the <br />playground, and kids playing baseball under the lights. <br />Chair Jacobs said that he and Commissioner Carey participated in an event with <br />Leadership Triangle and they used the Little River Park. They work to teach people leadership <br />skills and about working collaboratively across jurisdictional borders. He said that there have <br />been 32,000 visitors to what some people thought was going to be a remote location. When he <br />was there, the parking lot was full on a Wednesday afternoon at 2:00. <br />Chair Jacobs said that he has asked to look at the follow-up actions. He said that there <br />are a number of items that need to be completed going back to January and February. He <br />asked the Manager to look at the list to find out why the items have not been done. <br />