Orange County NC Website
4 <br /> 1 Chair Jacobs pointed out that state law prohibits discrimination. <br /> 2 Frank Clifton said that there will be general contractors who may not be local but will hire <br /> 3 local subcontractors for some of the work. <br /> 4 Commissioner Price asked about minority contractor firms. <br /> 5 Chair Jacobs said this is covered in the state laws. He said that efforts have been made in <br /> 6 the past to give priority to local or minority contractors and this is constrained by state law. <br /> 7 <br /> 8 2. County Commissioners: Boards and Commissions —Annual Work Plans/Reports <br /> 9 <br /> 10 • Parks and Recreation Council (PARC) - Neal Bench, Chair and Dave Stancil, <br /> 11 Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation (DEAPR) Director <br /> 12 Neal Bench expressed appreciation for the invitation to speak, and he thanked the <br /> 13 Board of County Commissioners for serving the county. He said there is a lot of diversity on the <br /> 14 PARC board, and the members are thankful for their appointments. He said DEAPR has had <br /> 15 the pleasure to work with all of the current Parks and Recreation staff members, and there have <br /> 16 been several joint meetings and information sessions as part of putting together a PARC <br /> 17 Master Plan. He thanked the outgoing PARC Chairs. <br /> 18 He said some of the goals of the council are: to assist with the creation of the updated <br /> 19 master plan for parks and recreation; to assist with surveys; to attend information sessions; and <br /> 20 to lend their thoughts to various issues. <br /> 21 He said, with regard to the outside agency funding applications, the current council <br /> 22 would like for the county to look at the scoring system, relative to any outside agency that has <br /> 23 not done prior business with the council. He said that it appears that first time agencies are at a <br /> 24 slight disadvantage in the scoring process compared to agencies that have done prior business <br /> 25 with the county. He feels this may cause the county to lose out on opportunities to use some <br /> 26 very good agencies. <br /> 27 Commissioner Price asked if the council is moving forward favorably with the Mountains <br /> 28 to Sea Trail. <br /> 29 Mr. Bench said there have been favorable opinions expressed about this and he hopes <br /> 30 that the County will come to a conclusion as to the minimal affectation to private property. <br /> 31 Commissioner Pelissier asked about the item regarding communication with schools <br /> 32 about recreational use of school facilities. <br /> 33 Mr. Bench said the council is favorable to recreational opportunities for joint use of <br /> 34 facilities. He said that there was a letter of understanding generated with the school system, <br /> 35 that facilities should be available for use to the maximum. He said this is with an understanding <br /> 36 that the schools, especially high schools, use the facilities extensively; and there will be times <br /> 37 when the fields are available but can be damaged by too much use. He said the question of <br /> 38 whether school principals and administrators are on board is still being worked on, and there is <br /> 39 some forward progress. <br /> 40 Commissioner Gordon said that in the Intergovernmental Parks Work Group, this policy <br /> 41 discussion with the school boards has been revitalized, and there has been substantial forward <br /> 42 progress. <br /> 43 Commissioner Rich agreed that there has been comprehensive forward movement. <br /> 44 Commissioner Gordon said she and David Stancil met with representatives of the two <br /> 45 school boards, and they were willing to work on this issue. <br /> 46 Mr. Bench clarified that there was some cooperation happening all along, although there <br /> 47 was some back and forth. He said there was some use of the facilities and the goal is to <br /> 48 maximize the use. <br />