Minutes 02-19-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Rich said this is the point, why would the insurance company not be engaged in the discussion. Michael Talbert said this was an issue for the State Legislature to fix. Frank Clifton said this is not the first item like this Orange County has had. He said one of the fire departments built a new station in another location to expand and cover some of the lost area and then some fire departments have entered into agreements to provide services outside the district. He said there were at one time, 1100 homes countywide that were 6 miles beyond the stations and were losing insurance coverage. He said the Board has worked several years to overcome these. Commissioner Dorosin said he endorsed Chair Jacobs' plan and he thinks that these people should be annexed. He said he also understands that the residents have been in the ETJ for 20 years and Chapel Hill had a long time to annex them but didn't . He said the Mayor's point about ETJ being a planning tool to allow growth has been commonly used by a lot of towns. He thinks the people should be encouraged to be a part of the town but there is ample recrimination to go around when looking at how this could have been done differently. He said this should go back to the town as a 5-year contract with a 2-year opt out. He disagreed with Mayor Kleinschmidt and said that every year when this comes up, there is opportunity to talk about the values of annexation. He said this reflects the interests of everyone involved. Commissioner McKee said there are multiple solutions to this problem; but this will not work out here like it has in other areas. He said he does not want to get into a situation where in two years this has to be done all over again. He noted the amount of time and effort invested already. If there is going to be another attempt to work with Chapel Hill, then there must be a 5 year contract with a one year opt out. Commissioner Pelissier said she too agreed with the need to go with a 5 year contract. She said it is important to make sure the people have the insurance at affordable rates, and then the town can talk about annexation. She said there needs to be a de-coupling of the annexation and the fire insurance issue. Commissioner Gordon asked how many contracts were canceled. Michael Talbert said just these three districts. Commissioner Price said she echoed Commissioner Pelissier and she believes these two issues need to be separated. She said people cannot be forced into annexation, and by waiting on the annexation issue, people are missing out on fire protection and ratings. Commissioner McKee said it is not in the Board's prerogative to get involved in annexation issues, and the focus needs to be on obtaining a solution specific to fire protection. He suggested the annexation be de-coupled from the fire protection issue. Chair Jacobs said that these issues can't be de-coupled if the Board is partners with the Town of Chapel Hill because it is a component of the decision on whether or not to participate. He agrees in principle, but partnerships require two parties and the Mayor has told the Board that the annexation is an important issue and there is a long standing relationship with the town of Chapel Hill that needs to be improved and not further undermined. He said he believes a partnership arrangement should be offered and this is why he made his earlier proposal. Commissioner McKee said cooperation is a two way street. Mayor Kleinschmidt said the Council understands that this neighborhood will not be in the city anytime soon; however there are 60,000 residents who live in Chapel Hill who have been paying for services to be provided to the neighborhood; and the fire district issue is one way to recapture some of that expense. He said the Council wants to work with the County and their belief is that annexation is the answer. He said that it is easy for Carrboro have a 10 cent tax because they are not actually going to send a truck, but Chapel Hill is providing the