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Commissioner Jacobs said that Orange County met with representatives from Alamance <br />County about a year ago and they have a similar interest in public transportation. Also, he and <br />Commissioner Foushee served on the Carolina North Leadership Commission. The University <br />is acutely aware that more and more of its employees live outside of Orange County. He thinks <br />that the next phase of the discussions might be bringing the University to the table, because <br />they want to look at transportation options to bring their employees in ways that will not make <br />Chapel Hill unhappy with Carolina North. In order for Carolina North to be approved, there will <br />have to be a heavy reliance on public transportation. <br />Carl Thompson said that he agrees with Mayor Voller that there are a number of people <br />from the western part of Chatham County that work at UNC. He said that he has not been as <br />involved in this planning process about public transportation. He said that the one key is cost. <br />He asked if Chatham County was involved enough in this planning process to be able to plan <br />financially. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that the information she is getting from staff for Chatham <br />County should have these figures. <br />AI Terry said that the way they look at the financial end is that NCDOT requires them to <br />prepare on a yearly basis an Operational Stat report that breaks it down to the point of what it <br />costs per hour to move a bus. This is the figure used to tell the County what it costs to add a <br />route. <br />Charlie Horne said that there have to be riders to make it worthwhile. AI Terry said that <br />OPT was running a similar route five times a day, Monday-Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. <br />This did not work very well since most people that work at UNC do not arrive at 8:30 or leave at <br />4:30. He said that they have looked at the traditional hours of work and now they run from 6:00 <br />a.m. to 6:00 p.m. This increased the ridership from 31 to 78 almost immediately. He said that <br />he makes it very personal and he sometimes sits an the bus and talks to the passengers to see <br />what they want. It is not an urban transit. <br />6. Haw River Access Point Development for Paddlers-(Chicken Bridge Access Point) <br />Charlie Horne said that Chatham County is working on several different access areas or <br />the Haw River. He does not know the status of this access point. <br />George Lucier said that it is an access point. <br />Charlie Horne said that Chatham County is also part of the Haw Trail System <br />development. <br />George Lucier said that now there is a state park that runs up the Haw River from <br />Jordan Lake to Bynum. <br />Dave Stancil said that Orange County is also part of the Haw River development. The <br />plan is to take it upstream to Greensboro, and also to have an access area in Orange County in <br />the Old Greensboro Road crossing area. <br />7. Other <br />Chair Carey asked about next steps and whether to schedule another meeting. <br />Tom Vanderbeck said that another possibility of collaboration would be cooperation on <br />water intake and pursuing an allocation. <br />George Lucier said that Orange County has land in Chatham County on Jordan Lake. <br />Chair Carey said that this is owned by OWASA. He said that Orange County plans to engage <br />OWASA in future discussions with Chatham County. <br />Carl Thompson asked about the joint planning group (Chatham- Orange Work Group). <br />Commissioner Gordon said that it has not met for same quite some time. Carl Thompson would <br />like to bring this group back together. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that the first meeting would be to get people up to date and <br />that it could meet as often as people wanted. She said that she would like to form the group <br />