Orange County NC Website
11 <br /> 1 older projects to fruition. He mentioned the proposed jail expansion, and said that the County's <br /> 2 Jails have been historically overcrowded and it is very fortunate that the State Administration <br /> 3 approved a long term lease on a piece of property adjacent to the State Prison. He said the <br /> 4 issue is now to negotiate terms of the lease, which will obligate the County to move forward with <br /> 5 the Jail project in a timely manner or potentially give up the spot. He asked the Board to keep <br /> 6 this in mind, as it will come before them in the coming months. <br /> 7 Commissioner McKee said, although there are no new schools in Orange County per <br /> 8 SAPFO, there are many older schools in the County that need to be replaced. He asked if this <br /> 9 had been considered. <br /> 10 OCS Superintendent Patrick Rhodes said the replacement discussion has not taken <br /> 11 place. <br /> 12 Commissioner McKee referred to the issue of the EMS stations, and said these were not <br /> 13 a recommendation out of the Emergency Services work group. He said there is currently a <br /> 14 contract in place with Orange Rural for the use of the Phelps Road station to park an <br /> 15 ambulance. He said he recommends removal of that first year EMS station since the Phelps <br /> 16 Road station takes the place of it. <br /> 17 Paul Laughton said this is noted on the EMS section in the CIP notebook. <br /> 18 Commissioner Price asked about the allocation for money for schools based on SAPFO <br /> 19 and asked about the status of students getting laptops. <br /> 20 Chair Jacobs said that schools handle that. <br /> 21 Patrick Rhodes said all students in grades 6-12 received laptops this past year and <br /> 22 grades 3-5 will receive them next year. <br /> 23 Todd LoFriese, Assistant Superintendant for Chapel Hill/Carrboro City Schools <br /> 24 (CHCCS) said there is still work being done to achieve a higher ratio for laptop accessibility. He <br /> 25 said the target is a 2:1 ratio but this has not been reached. <br /> 26 Commissioner Gordon referred to the Culbreth science labs and noted that CHCCS <br /> 27 have put some money in designing them, but there is no funding in the CIP. She asked for <br /> 28 information on how this can be funded so that it can be brought forward in the next discussion. <br /> 29 She expressed her support for this project. <br /> 30 Commissioner Pelissier asked if there is any progress on assessing the needs for older <br /> 31 schools. <br /> 32 Patrick said they have asked the Department of Public Instruction to conduct a facilities <br /> 33 site review. He said site analysis on the older schools has been done and this was one of the <br /> 34 ways the lower capacity at Orange High School was identified. He said major <br /> 35 recommendations were identified at all older school sites, which includes all of the elementary <br /> 36 schools. <br /> 37 Todd Lofriese said CHCCS hired an architectural firm to analyze 10 schools that range <br /> 38 from 40-60 years old and this analysis is in draft form at this point. He said the overview <br /> 39 showed widespread needs in the facilities and this will be looked at over the next few months to <br /> 40 develop recommendations to be considered by the Board. <br /> 41 Chair Jacobs said there will be a school collaboration meeting on April 3 d, and <br /> 42 recommended that CHCCS share any documents on this issue to be considered at that <br /> 43 meeting. <br /> 44 Paul Laughton said that the Article 46 sales tax provides $400,000 for CHCCS next year <br /> 45 to go toward property repairs. <br /> 46 Chair Jacobs asked if this includes Culbreth. <br /> 47 Todd Lofriese said this includes repairs to Culbreth but not the Science Rooms. <br /> 48 Chair Jacobs said he wanted to flag the fact that in the CIP there is discussion about the <br /> 49 aging agricultural building and where agencies in that building may move. He said Blackwood <br /> 50 Farm Park Center was mentioned as an alternative, but there has been discussion about <br />