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<br />Chair Carey said that this program has potential because of the possibility of getting <br />some "sweat" equity involved with Habitat for Humanity. <br />There was r1a further public comment. <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to <br />close the public hearing. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />Tara Fikes said that the application form is available on the Orange County website and <br />the Town of Chapel Hill website. Applications are due February 28tH <br />b. Orange County's Proposed 2007 Legislative Agenda <br />The Board held a public hearing and further reviewed and considered potential items for <br />inclusion in Orange County's legislative agenda package for the 2007 North Carolina General <br />Assembly Session. <br />Chair Carey said that this was discussed publicly at the last meeting, and the Board <br />wanted to bring this forward again. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that there was a good meeting with the Legislative <br />Delegation, and there was enthusiasm for the value-added processing center to get the entire <br />center funded. <br />Commissioner Nelson said that ten legislative priorities were identified. The top four are <br />Medicaid relief, school construction assistance, revenue options for local governments, and <br />mental health issues. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that he has a few items that have come up from citizens. <br />The first one is a citizen request that the County Commissioners encourage the legislators to <br />support Jessica's Law, which relates to strengthening laws related to sexual offenders against <br />children. He has included some articles about this. He said that it seems something to forward <br />to the legislators. Another request had to do with the Master Aging Plan and the homestead <br />exemption. It has been in the legislative agenda before, but it seems worth mentioning that it is <br />inadequate in a county like Orange that the property values are going up so fast. The Board <br />has asked staff to work on trying to find an alternative mechanism to help primarily low-income <br />seniors stay in their homes. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that he would also like to suggest changing the use value <br />requirements so that there is a county option to include people based either on income or <br />acreage. The way it is Haw, with agriculture, it has to be based an both. It is a statewide law, <br />but maybe it could be enacted voluntarily within counties. <br />Geof Gledhill said that the uniformity requirement in the North Carolina Constitution <br />makes local option impossible with tax. He said that the substantive idea is not a bad one to <br />ask the legislators to look at. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that the NCACC will oppose it because it will adversely affect <br />revenues in the counties who rely heavily on agriculture. He said that he would like to at least <br />suggest the other two he mentioned above. <br />Commissioner Faushee said that she would like to consider the request from Social <br />Services. It may only require a letter from the Chair, but she would like to respond to the <br />request and forward it to the legislative delegation. <br />Commissioner Nelson said that he would support a letter from the Chair regarding the <br />request from Social Services. Regarding the homestead exemption, he supports <br />communicating with the delegation about this. Regarding Jessica's Law, he thinks that the <br />legislature passed this or something similar last year. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that yesterday Chatham County contributed $2,500 to the <br />feasibility study for the value-added center, and Durham is putting it on the consent agenda for <br />its next meeting. He would suggest that it is almost a moot point to be asking the legislature far <br />