Minutes 05-19-2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

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4 ■ Orange County Library ■ Chapel Hill Public Library ✓ Carrboro/McDougle Branch Library ■ Orange County Website - http://orangecountync.gov FY2016-17 recommended budget ORANGE COUNTY MISSION STATEMENT Orange County exists to provide governmental services requested by our Residents or mandated by the State of North Carolina. To provide these quality services efficiently, we must; • Serve the Residents of Orange County— Our Residents Come First; • Depend on the energy, skills, and dedication of all our employees and volunteers; • Treat all our Residents and Employees with fairness, respect, and understanding. Orange County Residents Come First Commissioner Jacobs said he is happy to see so many people in attendance this evening. He noted one thing that is confusing about this process is that the Board of County Commissioners appropriates a certain amount of money per pupil, and it is up to the School Board to decide how those monies are distributed. He said the efforts of Orange County far surpass any other county in the State. He noted the relationships between the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) and the School Boards are not adversarial. Chair McKee reviewed the amount of per pupil funding over the last 20 years, noting consistent and substantial increase over those decades. He reviewed the variety of per pupil spending levels in various counties across the State. He reiterated the County's commitment to education. 3. Public Comment Irene Dwinnel said she is the Executive Director of the Orange County Rape Crisis Center. She provided a summary of the Center's highlights over the last year, including community education and professional development. She said the Center will be expanding its educational efforts to the northern portion of the County in the coming year. She said the Crisis Center is have seeking an additional $5000 from Orange County this year as an outside agency, and she said she hoped the Center will receive it. Denise Moody said she is here on behalf of Orange Enterprises (OE), and knows there are competing priorities for outside agency funding. She said OE appreciates the Board's consideration of their budget request and reviewed some of the program's highlights. She introduced Sandy who works at OE, who shared some of her jobs there. Brad Hemminger said he is representing the table tennis community in Orange County. He said this group is here tonight to ask for the Board's support of additional staff at the Seymour Center, in order to extend evening hours on two additional nights. He reviewed the positive benefits of table tennis. Lynn Lehman said she is a community member and the current Executive Director of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Public School Foundation. She said she is here, along with many others, to ask the Board of County Commissioners to fully fund the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) Board's budget request. She recognized the difficulty in finding funding, but noted that there is no better fit for local funds than the local teachers and schools. Joyce Kuhn said she is the Director for Behavioral Insights and has been an outside agency director for 28 years. She stressed the importance of services needed for those involved in domestic violence. She said she hoped that the Board will fund Behavioral Insight's outside agency budget request.