Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
1 <br />1 <br />Attachment 2 <br />2 <br />3 <br />DRAFTMINUTES <br />4 <br />ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />5 <br />WORK SESSION <br />6 <br />February 10, 2015 <br />7 <br />7:00 p.m. <br />8 <br />9 <br />The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a work session on Tuesday, <br />10 <br />February 10, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, N.C. <br />11 <br />12 <br />COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT <br />: Chair McKee and Commissioners Mia Burroughs, <br />13 <br />Mark Dorosin, Barry Jacobs, Bernadette Pelissier, Renee Price and Penny Rich <br />14 <br />COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT <br />: <br />15 <br />COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT <br />: John Roberts <br />16 <br />COUNTY STAFF PRESENT <br />: County Manager Bonnie Hammersley, Assistant County Manager <br />17 <br />Cheryl Young and Deputy Clerk to the Board David Hunt (All other staff members will be <br />18 <br />identified appropriately below) <br />19 <br />20 <br />Chair McKee called the meeting to order at 7:03p.m.He asked for a moment of silence <br />21 <br />in honor of Dean Smith. <br />22 <br />23 <br />1.Discussion Regarding Potential Requirement that Contractors Doing Business <br />24 <br />with Orange County Pay Employees a Living Wage <br />25 <br />John Roberts reviewed the following background information and issues for <br />26 <br />consideration: <br />27 <br />28 <br />BACKGROUND: <br />At the December 9, 2014 meeting the Board adopted a motion to direct the <br />29 <br />attorney to “come back with an explicit policy for when and under what circumstances the board <br />30 <br />of commissioners can, might, and cannot require vendors or contractors to pay a living wage.” <br />31 <br />In 2013 the North Carolina General Assembly limited the authority of counties and cities by <br />32 <br />amending §153A-449, which authorizes contracting with private contractors, to include a new <br />33 <br />sentence, “A county may notrequire a private contractor under this section to abide by any <br />34 <br />restriction that the county could not impose on all employers in the county, such as paying <br />35 <br />minimum wage or providing paid sick leave to its employees, as a condition of bidding on a <br />36 <br />contract.” This language limits the County’s authority to contractually require a living wage to <br />37 <br />those contracts for which the County does not solicit bids. A contractual living wage <br />38 <br />requirement could therefore only apply to construction contracts below $30,000, purchases of <br />39 <br />supplies andapparatus below $30,000, and service contracts in any amount so long as the <br />40 <br />County did not choose to solicit bids. <br />41 <br />Proposed policy: It is the policy of Orange County that vendors who enter contracts with Orange <br />42 <br />County must pay their employees a living wage. This policy shall not apply to contracts in the <br />43 <br />formal and informal bidding ranges or to any other contract on which the county solicits bids. <br />44 <br />This policy may be adopted as a standalone policy, as part of the budget ordinance, oras part <br />45 <br />of the general ordinances. <br />46 <br />47 <br />Issues for Consideration <br />48 <br />1.What is the living wage? Is it what it costs to live in the county or the state? With or <br />49 <br />without benefits? <br /> <br />