Orange County NC Website
4. Request that OWASA provide a report on the proposed approach and implementation plan <br /> for the water use efficiency conditions of service strategy. <br /> This Fifteenth day of April 2008. <br /> VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> C. Summer Day Camp Proposal <br /> The Board considered appropriating funds for sponsorships for certain summer day <br /> camp programs in lieu of continuing the County's summer day camp program. <br /> Laura Blackmon said that in March the Board of County Commissioners asked her to <br /> come back with a recommendation as to how to assist families with summer day camp costs. <br /> She said that the County Commissioners have before them a suggestion, but this has not come <br /> before the Recreation and Parks Advisory Council yet. The abstract is summarized below: <br /> At the March 6, 2008 BOCC Regular Meeting, the Board asked County Manager Laura <br /> Blackmon to review and provide information regarding the discontinuance of Orange County's <br /> summer day camp program. The County Manager responded to the Board's request with a <br /> memorandum dated March 18, 2008 which included information on the number of participants <br /> for the County's 2007 summer day camp, the County's 2007 activities related to scholarships or <br /> "camperships" for the County's summer day camp, and a recommendation that the County <br /> remain on its present course with the discontinuance of the County's summer day camp <br /> program. The Board subsequently asked the Manager to develop a scholarship/campership <br /> proposal that could be considered concurrently by both the BOCC and the Recreation and <br /> Parks Advisory Board (RPAC). (Note: RPAC is not scheduled to discuss this item until its April <br /> 24, 2008 meeting. Therefore, any information/feedback/recommendations from RPAC will not <br /> yet be available at this April 15, 2008 BOCC meeting.) <br /> Based on staff discussions, Department of Social Services (DSS) Director Nancy <br /> Coston will place on the April 21st DSS agenda a request for the Social Services Board to agree <br /> to use one-time funding to subsidize summer day camp participants whose families fall at or <br /> below the 200% federal poverty level. This is the same guideline used for DSS childcare <br /> subsidy. Since more federal and state funds were received by DSS this year, some of the <br /> County funds designated for childcare could be utilized this year to pay for camp. An amount <br /> up to $10,000 from DSS's Fiscal Year 2007-2008 budget could be utilized for this purpose. As <br /> in past years, other funds such as donations received through the "Send A Kid to Camp" would <br /> be used to send foster children to camp. <br /> Last summer, the "Sun Fun" camp program cost Parks and Recreation $40,692 in total <br /> direct expenditures; this amount does not include indirect costs such as administrative and <br /> oversight costs associated with running the program. Revenue generated from fees for the <br /> summer camp program totaled $37,053. The County's camp program provided approximately <br /> 80 camper slots per week over a seven-week period. Some campers were one-time <br /> participants while others attended multiple weeks. The weekly cost to the campers ($80) was <br /> reduced by up to half by Parks and Recreation for 223 of these campers, in addition to the 53 <br /> camperships granted by DSS. Although Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents were <br /> not precluded from benefiting from the summer programs, most of the participants came from <br /> the unincorporated areas of the County. <br /> The $10,000 from DSS would be principally used to partially offset higher costs <br /> associated with alternative camps and, as in the past, would be allocated on a sliding scale <br /> basis. To address the loss of the low-cost Parks and Recreation program, the monies <br /> proposed would be used for the Cooperative Extension 4-H summer day camp program and the <br />