Orange County NC Website
for debt service or renovating other facilities. His gut instinct is that the second option is <br />the best option, which would give the school systems more flexibility. <br />Chair Carey said that he would like to look at the decision based on the entire <br />policy and get input from school systems on how they feel the money should be <br />allocated. He said that the County needs the most flexibility because it is responsible for <br />financing everything, school and County projects. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that he does not want to make this sa that the only <br />choices are to raise taxes or raise the percentage of capital directed to County projects. <br />Chair Carey asked to have this back before the Board makes budget decisions. <br />2. Space Study Continued Discussion <br />Laura Blackmon said that the Board asked her to look at the Space Needs Study <br />and give some feedback. She said that she does have some concerns, and some of <br />those were outlined in the Executive Summary from the Space Needs Committee. She <br />likes the idea of co-locating departments that have a similar customer base and some <br />adjacent functions. She likes the idea of the Homestead campus that puts departments <br />near one another. She also agrees with getting rid of leased space and having mare <br />County-owned space. She made reference to the memo in the abstract with her <br />comments. She has three major concerns: 1) The Whitted Building and the restricted <br />amount of space and the different types of services there. She wants to focus on having <br />the Health and DSS Boards discuss service needs in the future. 2) Expansion <br />capabilities at the Homestead campus. She made reference to the map at the back of <br />the report of a concept plan of building sites, which the Board never adopted. She is <br />recommending that the little white house be deconstructed ar that it be moved and used <br />somewhere else. This would open up another site for development at the Homestead <br />campus. She asked Purchasing and Central Services Director Pam Janes to address <br />the old post office site on Franklin Street. <br />Pam Janes said that she did a quick review based on some very old plans <br />provided by the Town. She said that the area that the County leases now in Chapel Hill <br />-Carr Mill Mall and the Moody Building - includes 9,000 square feet. She said that the <br />space downstairs in the past office is not sufficient far immediate needs and there would <br />need to be an addition for long-term needs. She pointed out that in all of the space <br />studies that have been done since 2000, it has been noted that two areas that need <br />additional and separate study are the jail expansion and the Chapel Hill court facilities. <br />All of this is predicated an the fact that the old past office will remain a past office. <br />Laura Blackman said that her concern is the use of this facility, the needed <br />renovations, and haw long it would be available for use. She said that the Homestead <br />campus was initially designed to hold as many County functions as possible and it <br />makes more sense to her to locate departments in this area. She thinks that when <br />Carolina North comes online, there will be a shift in the nexus of the Town and it will not <br />be considered as much on the edge of town as it is currently. She would recommend <br />that the Homestead campus be made available far court functions, human services, and <br />the senior center. <br />Laura Blackman said that the last concern is: 3} The usage of the County <br />campus in Hillsborough. She has worked with Pam Jones on departments that she <br />thinks need to be located in adjacent office space and the availability of the Link Center, <br />the Gateway Building, and the office building. She made reference to the three charts in <br />the packet, and went aver the charts. She would like departments with like functions <br />and like customers near one another. <br />There were comments from advisory boards attached to the abstract. <br />Specifically, there was a request from Social Services to utilize the Orange Enterprises <br />