Orange County NC Website
Commissioner Nelson said that he agreed with Chair Corey's suggestion that this <br />program discussion should be a work session. He said that he would be comfortable in <br />proceeding with the first position (Water Resources Coordinator}. He does understand the <br />needs and the issue of water, and in an ideal situation these kinds of positions should be <br />funded. He is mare than happy to talk about it in a work session. However, the County is not in <br />an ideal situation from a budget standpoint. He is not inclined to create a new program until the <br />budget is under control. He asked how much Andy Sachs charged to facilitate this meeting with <br />the two departments and Dave Stancil said approximately $1,500. Commissioner Nelson said <br />that, in general, it is normal to have different perspectives in different departments and it is not <br />really a dispute that should be mediated. He said that he would not be inclined to support this in <br />the future when this is a leadership decision. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that to some extent he agreed with all before him. He said <br />that there was a meeting of the Highway 57 Task Farce and someone asked about the <br />stipulation about water and sewer not being provided to this area. He spoke about Orange <br />County's commitment to protecting water supply watersheds and how it predates anyone on the <br />Board of County Commissioners. He said that there has been a historic commitment in the <br />County to protecting water resources. He also thinks that he wants to see the schools look at <br />their programming as the County goes through its budget process, and before they add new <br />programs, he wants to see them look at cutting same existing programming before asking for <br />more money. He would expect the same from the County. Even though the money was set <br />aside, the program should be discussed and it should be measured against other new positions <br />departments are asking for. <br />Chair Carey suggested bringing Soil and Water Conservation to the table when this is <br />discussed in the future. Commissioner Gordon said that Soil and Water has been involved in <br />the discussion. She said that this is not a new effort, but was started in 1992. <br />b. SAPFOTAC iSchools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance Technical <br />Advisory Committee) Class Size Amendment Information <br />The Board received responses to questions raised at the March 27, 2007 BOCC <br />meeting regarding amendments to class size ratios and school capacity. <br />Craig Benedict said that on March 27t" the Board asked about the impacts of capacity <br />changes in both school systems based on the legislation coming forward from the State. Both <br />school systems were asked to provide information an the number of classrooms that would be <br />affected with the capacity change from 1:23 to 1:21. CHCCS have 199 classrooms and OCS <br />have 164 classrooms that would be affected. The amount of capacity lost would be 262 student <br />seats in the CHCCS and 228 student seats in the OCS. This change would happen after <br />Elementary School #10 opens, but the capacity of the new school would have to be adjusted <br />down from 585 seats. He said that this is an unfunded mandate from the State. <br />The total SAPFOTAC report will come forward in about a month. <br />$. Board Comments <br />Commissioner Gordon - no comments. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that TJCOG is initiating an infrastructure initiative, and it has <br />enlisted N. C. State, Duke, NCCU, and UNC to contribute money far a minimum of three years. <br />The focus will be infrastructure issues. This may be more fruitful than usual as a regional effort <br />to get people to the table regarding things such as transportation. This will transcend <br />jurisdictional lines and will include multiple counties, Triangle J, UNC, TTA, Research Triangle <br />Regional Partnership, and the MPOs are all going to participate. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that there was a column in the Chapel Hill Herald by <br />someone who rides the TTA buses, and he would assume that TTA is going to respond. This <br />