Agenda - 04-15-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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10 1 wanted. He noted that the CIP, which comes out in March, will include, in year 2, the potential 2 to fund the sewer if everything is approved and the EPA concludes their investigation. 3 Chair Jacobs said the joint agreement to operate the community center was recently 4 approved, and he thanked Michael Talbert for helping to make this happen. 5 Michael Talbert said the community center is currently out to bid, and staff hopes to 6 bring the bid award back in April. 7 Commissioner Rich asked for an explanation of the ETJ process. 8 Michael Talbert said Rogers Road splits the unincorporated part of Orange County and 9 the part that is in Carrboro in half. He said the Orange County unincorporated section could 10 potentially be in a future Town of Chapel Hill ETJ. He said an initial public hearing has been 11 held and continued. He said his feeling is that the town is waiting to get buy-in that everyone 12 wants to move forward with this. He said the Chapel Hill town attorney has advised that the 13 only way the town can participate is if this is part of the ETJ. He said town is pursuing this and 14 will have to come back to the County for permission. 15 Commissioner Rich thanked Commissioner Dorosin for bringing this information 16 forward. She asked for clarification that it is too soon to do this now, but it will be done for next 17 year's budget. 18 Michael Talbert said yes. He said the sealed project budget estimate, which is pending 19 approval tonight, will take up to 6 months to complete. 20 Commissioner McKee asked the County attorney if there is any way to finesse the 21 timing issue and apply for a hold on some of these funds. 22 John Roberts said for some grants this is possible, but he does not know if that is the 23 case for this particular grant. He can look into this. 24 Michael Talbert said this is a small amount of money for a statewide grant. He said you 25 really need shovel ready projects to complete this application. 26 Commissioner Dorosin referred to the sheet and asked if it is not possible to do a May 27 1 st submission. 28 Michael Talbert said it is possible to do this, but there is a very slim chance of getting it. 29 He said there are no plans in the CIP and no sealed engineering report. 30 Commissioner Dorosin said he would argue for trying to apply. He said all of this 31 funding is for water and sewer infrastructure. He said the County is going to need to do this 32 anyway, and he thinks it is worthwhile since there is a contract with OWASA, and an 33 engineering contract is expected. He said the website has an income eligibility map and the 34 Orange County section shows Rogers Road as 71 percent to 80 percent low and moderate 35 income, which meets the threshold. He thinks it is critical to apply, and then next year the 36 County would have a shovel ready project. He said this would demonstrate to the community 37 that the County is taking their sewer commitment seriously. He said there may be other grant 38 projects that come up, and this will make the County more prepared and competitive. He thinks 39 this may be another representation to the EPA that Orange County is committed to moving this 40 project forward. He believes the engineering cost should be approved, and staff should be 41 encouraged to move forward with this. 42 Commissioner McKee agreed with Commissioner Dorosin about pushing for this May 1St 43 deadline. He would also like to see if it is possible to place a hold on some of these funds. He 44 would like to move forward as expeditiously as possible. 45 Commissioner Gordon questioned how much work it would be for staff to move forward 46 on this. 47 Michael Talbert said he has not seen the documentation process, but he assumed that it 48 would be fairly detailed and would require a public hearing to move forward.