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Robb English is Chair of the Recreation and Parks Advisory Council. He said that he <br /> was here to address Orange County's decision not to offer a summer day camp program this <br /> summer. He said that the County Commissioners have talked about having more transparency <br /> in decisions that are made, and the decision not to have summer day camp was not <br /> transparent. He said that this will have a direct impact on the kids of Orange County that attend <br /> that camp and also working parents of those kids. He said that this camp provides an <br /> affordable place for kids to learn many things and meet new people. The only comparable <br /> camp in this area is the Triangle SportsPlex, which charges $180 per week compared to $80 <br /> per week that Orange County has charged in the past. He said that this summer camp provided <br /> for over 125 families last summer. The Recreation and Parks Department provided scholarship <br /> assistance to over half of those families. He said that this camp program has been in existence <br /> since 1975 and has offered a meaningful and affordable program since that time. He asked the <br /> County Commissioners to authorize funding that would allow the Orange County Recreation <br /> and Parks Department to offer a summer day camp program this year, and to approve any <br /> requests for funding in fiscal year 2009 for that same program. Secondly, he asked that the <br /> County Commissioners look into how and why the decision was made not to have camp. <br /> Commissioner Carey asked about the lack of transparency and why the RPAC thinks <br /> that there was a lack of transparency. Robb English said that the RPAC stands united on this <br /> issue of asking the County to fund this summer day camp program. He said that it was told to <br /> the RPAC that there would not be a summer day camp and there were not any plausible <br /> explanations. He thinks that there should be public input about this issue before a decision is <br /> made. <br /> Chair Jacobs said that he spoke with Robb English and invited him to come and bring <br /> his concerns to the Board of County Commissioners. He also told him that the County <br /> Commissioners would refer this to the Manager, and she will come back to the Board with a <br /> recommendation. <br /> Robb English said that most programs start advertising about now, so the sooner the <br /> better. <br /> Commissioner Gordon said that the RPAC has been concerned about this for some <br /> time. <br /> Susan Dayton is with the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League. She came to talk <br /> about the land application of sewage sludge. Each year, millions of gallons of sewage sludge <br /> are sprayed on thousands of acres in North Carolina. The City of Burlington sprayed sewage <br /> sludge from its two wastewater treatment plants in five counties —Orange, Alamance, Chatham, <br /> Caswell, and Randolph. In 2006, the City of Burlington sprayed close to 11 million gallons of <br /> sewage sludge on farmlands in Alamance County. Approximately 3,250,000 gallons were <br /> sprayed in Orange County. Sewage sludge is also referred to as biosolids. This was a term <br /> selected from over 250 names in a contest called "Change That Name". The idea was to make <br /> sewage sludge more acceptable to the public for use as a fertilizer on farmland. While sludge <br /> contains nutrients for crop growth — nitrogen and phosphorous — it contains so much more. <br /> Sewage treatment plants remove only a fraction of the thousands of chemicals and compounds <br /> destined for use as fertilizer. Some of the chemicals and compounds include endocrine <br /> disrupting compounds, fire retardants, PCBs, pathogens, dioxins, etc. Hundreds of people in <br /> the United States have experienced unexplained illnesses that they attribute to sewage sludge <br /> applications. Research has proven that many of these toxic compounds found in sewage <br /> sludge are detrimental. The Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, the Haw River <br /> Assembly, Carolina Concerned Citizens, and the Chatham Board of Commissioners, as well as <br /> other concerned citizens from rural areas in each of the five counties being sprayed will be <br /> voicing concerns at this hearing. She read some recommendations from her handout, which <br /> she distributed. One recommendation is the requirement by the Department of Water Quality <br /> (DWQ) to require the City of Burlington to abide by the new 2T rules for sewage application. A <br />