Agenda - 10-18-2016 - 6-a - Minutes

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12 1 The Board agreed by consensus to add this to the resolution, and Chair McKee 2 asked Commissioner Dorosin if he would offer specific wording. 3 Commissioner Dorosin said to include that Orange County does not support 4 current NCACC priority PE-4, and does not support the repeal of the statutory authority 5 pursuant to N.C.G.S 115C-431(c). He said to add in the rest of the language that 6 allows local school board's to file suit against the County Board of Commissioners over 7 county appropriations for education. 8 Commissioner Price said the NCACC has been working on this issue for 2 years, 9 and asked if the Board is asking them to stop doing so. 10 Commissioner Dorosin said yes, as members of the NCACC, the BOCC does 11 not support the position that the NCACC is taking, and request that they change it. 12 Greg Wilder clarified that the Board's desire is to state that Orange County 13 opposes legislation to repeal the statutory authority for school boards to sue county 14 boards. 15 Commissioner Jacobs said Orange County has been seeking legislative authority 16 to make sexual orientation a protected class for twenty years. 17 Commissioner Price said she would prefer to be more proactive, rather than 18 asking for individual counties to be able to make their own policies. She would like the 19 State to make them protected classes. She said she would prefer item #4 to say that 20 the State of North Carolina will include sexual orientation and gender identity as 21 protected classes in North Carolina, as opposed to counties picking and choosing 22 whether they want to do so. 23 24 Commissioner Dorosin suggested the following wording: Seek statewide 25 legislative action to repeal House Bill 2 and include sexual orientation and gender 26 identity as protected classes in North Carolina, or provide all North Carolina local 27 governments with the authority to include sexual orientation and gender identity as 28 protected classes in order to protect these classes from discrimination and 29 discriminatory practices. 30 Commissioner Price said she would prefer not to have the local option included, 31 but understands this is a compromise. 32 Commissioner Dorosin suggested including both, in the hopes of attaining some 33 forward movement. 34 The Board agreed by consensus. 35 Commissioner Dorosin referred to attachment 3: Bona Fide Farm Use— 36 Support legislation clarifying the farm use and agriculture exemption of 153A-340 that 37 restricts local zoning authority applies only to property on which the production of crops 38 or livestock is the primary use. Clarify that marketing and agritourism activities must be 39 secondary uses of the property and do not qualify for the exemption in the absence of 40 the production of crops or livestock. Local governments are seeing an increasing 41 number of properties that, although they meet one or more criteria for exemption, such 42 as having a federal farm identification number, are not used for the production of crops 43 or livestock. 44 Commissioner Dorosin said Bon fide farm use did not make it into the 22 points 45 in the resolution, and suggested adding this item given the important role of agriculture 46 in Orange County.