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

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9 1 The Board considered scheduling a public hearing for April 23, 2013 to consider the 2 establishment of the three new Fire Service Districts; the South Orange Fire Service District, 3 the North Chatham Fire Service District and the Greater Chapel Hill Fire Service District. 4 Michael Talbert said the action the staff is requesting is a date for this public hearing for 5 three new fire service districts: the South Orange Fire Service District, the Greater Chapel Hill 6 Fire Service District and then a new third district for which there is a change. The new proposal 7 is to change from the North Chatham Fire Service District to the new Southern Triangle Fire 8 Service District. That change is shown in the new Attachment 4. The North Chatham Fire 9 Insurance District has two fire districts. The new proposal is to include just the portion of this 10 district that is east of 15-501, which would be the remainder of the Southern Triangle fire 11 district. The processing time for the Tax Department for this change would be reduced greatly. 12 The Town Council unanimously approved the service agreement for the new Greater Chapel 13 Hill Fire Service District and the Town's current fire district will be expanded to a five-year 14 contract at a rate of 15 cents. He said the next steps would be to schedule a public hearing 15 proposed for April 17th at Carrboro High School instead of April 23d. Once the public hearing is 16 held, this will move forward. 17 Commissioner Rich asked if the new map affects the costs to residents. 18 Michael Talbert said the existing tax rate in Chatham County will be going up from 5 19 cents to 8.8 cents. This will be clearly explained at the public hearing. 20 Commissioner Gordon asked why the proposal is being made to change from the North 21 Chatham Fire Service District to the Southern Triangle Fire Service District. 22 Michael Talbert said that the original intent was to make the fire service districts 23 correspond to the fire insurance districts. Both the Damascus fire protection district and the 24 Southern Triangle fire protection district are in the North Chatham fire insurance district. 25 However, since the Damascus district is not being changed, it is not necessary to send out 26 notices to that area. 27 Commissioner Gordon made reference to page 4 and the actions that need to be taken 28 before the new fire service districts can be created and she read these. She asked about the 29 target date for Board of County Commissioners' approval. She is concerned that the contracts 30 be in place before they expire on June 30. 31 Michael Talbert said the earliest possible date would be April 17th or April 23 d after the 32 public hearing. The quicker they act the quicker they can send to the state. The state expects 33 a six-month process. 34 Discussion ensued about the ending date for the fire contracts. 35 Frank Clifton said that the fire contracts are separate from the insurance districts and 36 insurance rates. 37 Commissioner Gordon suggested changing this to say "submit for approval to the state." 38 She said it should be presented to the County Commissioners no later than June 18, 2013. 39 She said it would be a mistake to hold a public hearing on the same night as this is approved. 40 She said it would be better to have the public hearing April 17th and then the approval on April 41 23,d 42 Commissioner McKee said it is unfortunate they are trying to deal with so many different 43 concepts in one package. He said the approval of the fire contracts for fire protection is not tied 44 into the fire service districts or state agency approval. It is a county responsibility to get these 45 contracts in place. He said the separation of the Southern Triangle in two different sections is 46 good. He said he has no problem with holding a public hearing and voting on the item at the 47 same meeting such as April 17th. He said he will support this solution because it has been over 48 a year in the making. 49 Chair Jacobs said the County Commissioners all appreciated the work by the 50 Emergency Services Work Group and staff.