Orange County NC Website
APPROVED 9/16/2014 <br /> MINUTES <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> WORK SESSION <br /> May 13, 2014 <br /> 7:00 p.m. <br /> The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Work Session on Tuesday, May <br /> 13, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, N.C. <br /> COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Jacobs and Commissioners Mark Dorosin, <br /> Alice M. Gordon, Earl McKee, Bernadette Pelissier, and Renee Price <br /> COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Penny Rich <br /> COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: John Roberts <br /> COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: Interim County Manager Michael Talbert, Assistant County <br /> Managers Cheryl Young and Clarence Grier and Clerk to the Board Donna Baker (All other <br /> staff inembers will be identified appropriately below) <br /> Chair Jacobs called the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m. <br /> 1. Southern Branch Library Sitinq Criteria Update <br /> Michael Talbert said this is a follow up to the contract with Freelon. He noted that Jeff <br /> Thompson was present, as well as the work group members, Lucinda Munger and Michael <br /> Harvey, and representatives from Freelon. <br /> Lucinda Munger said the purpose of tonight is to update to the Board of County <br /> Commissioners on the public input process, as facilitated by the Freelon group. She said staff <br /> has been doing due diligence on the proposed site, and this information is included in <br /> attachment B. <br /> She introduced Derek Jones, Katherine Taylor, and Chris Garis, architects from <br /> Freelon. <br /> Lucinda Munger said in November 2013 the Board authorized staff to do due diligence <br /> on the site at 120 Brewer Lane site, and to begin the primary public input phase. She said the <br /> Board also authorized the selection of Freelon Associates to facilitate the process in January <br /> of this year. <br /> Jeff Thompson outlined the three legs of the due diligence process. He said the public <br /> engagement process is ongoing; the physical analysis of the site has been completed, and <br /> there have been no changes since the last report to the Board; and the third leg is the <br /> development structure, which will be discussed in closed session. <br /> He reviewed a slide map of the site, and introduced Derek Jones. <br /> Derek Jones gave information on the Freelon group and said the group has a staff of <br /> 45, including 30 licensed architects. He said libraries are a particular focus for the company. <br /> He said community libraries are very unique and are tailored to the community's needs. He <br /> said there are a variety of inethods to gather community input. He introduced Katherine <br /> Taylor. <br /> Katherine Taylor said the goal was to gather input and come up with a conceptual <br /> program based on this input, as well as demographic information and statistics. She said there <br /> were several public engagement workshops, online surveys, and public comment cards. She <br /> said the questions centered on how the community wanted their library to look, as well as the <br />