Agenda - 04-23-2013 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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20 1 noted that in the meantime there are residents who may or may not be able to get insurance, 2 re-finance, or sell property; so a delay in the decision is an issue. 3 Michael Talbert said time is of the essence. He questioned the time frame if the issue is 4 sent back to the town of Chapel Hill and Mayor Kleinschmidt said the item can be on the Town 5 Council's agenda on 2/27. Michael Talbert said the item would then come back to the Board of 6 County Commissioners' agenda on March 7th, pushing the public hearing date to April 23. He 7 said time starts to run out if this date is missed or goes much further out. 8 Mayor Kleinschmidt said the town of Chapel Hill Manager is not authorized to enter into 9 a 5 year agreement with the county but only a two year agreement. He said if they want a 5 10 year contract and not a two year contract then it must go back to Chapel Hill. 11 Michael Talbert said Town of Carrboro has not been asked yet; so if the two year 12 contract is not agreed to, then one of the other boards will have to consider the issue, which will 13 push it back several weeks. 14 Commissioner Rich noted that people who cannot get insurance could be annexed and 15 get insurance; the residents just choose not to. She questioned why the districts have to be 16 connected every time something is changed. 17 Michael Talbert noted that Greater Chapel Hill will be its own separate district. 18 Commissioner Rich questioned why 6,000 letters would need to be sent out now and 19 again in two years. 20 Michael Talbert said property would be potentially be taken from the existing fire 21 protection district which can't easily be done without an election. He said the way around 22 instigating that change is to not levy the tax within the fire protection district and create a Fire 23 Service District encompassing all of the area. He said that this means everyone in both affected 24 districts must be notified. 25 Commissioner Rich clarified that if these letters are sent out and a two year agreement 26 is established, then these letters would not need to be sent out again. She noted that only the 27 contracts with the town and county would need to be revised. 28 Michael Talbert said that is mostly correct, if the county chose to leave the districts 29 exactly as set up and only changed service providers. 30 Commissioner Gordon said that she would like to provide some perspective on this 31 issue. She noted that there are three new fire service districts and there are a lot of households 32 in these districts. She said there is a dilemma with 112 homes that are outside of the 6 mile 33 range and a lot of work has been done to address this issue. She referenced attachment two 34 which shows the 112 homes and the attachments showing the old and new South Orange Fire 35 District. She said that the claim is that there is fire protection, but there is no service provider 36 and no contract after June 30th. She said there are many homes not in the Greater Chapel Hill 37 Fire District that are caught up in this issue. She noted that a deadline of February 1 St was 38 given to get this work done and still have time to get the new districts to the State Fire 39 Marshall's Office and negotiate the contracts, and now this is delayed. She said that these 40 districts not involved in the greater Chapel Hill District need to somehow be moved forward. 41 She asked for clarification of the steps and timeline necessary for the creation of the three fire 42 districts and the negotiation and signing of three new contracts for fire protection. She 43 questioned if these steps could be finished by a target date of May 21, 2013. 44 Michael Talbert said the steps necessary, as mentioned above are as follows: 1) 45 Schedule a public hearing, which takes 6 weeks from the time of a decision; 2) Contracts must 46 be approved after the public hearing, by North Chatham, Town of Chapel Hill and Carrboro; and 47 3) The State Fire Marshal must give final approval. He said that the February 1St deadline came 48 from the State Fire Marshal's office as a deadline to have the maps submitted to have a revised 49 insurance district for those 112 property owners by July 1St. He said there is still time to get the 50 service districts established and sign new contracts and establish a tax rate for July 1St. He said