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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: <br />April 30, 2007 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. 1 <br />SUBJECT: County/OCSJCHCCS Matters <br />DEPARTMENT: Manager/Budget/CHCCS/OCS PUBLIC HEARING: {Y!N) No <br />ATTACHMENT{S}: <br />As listed in "Background" <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Laura Blackmon, 919-245-2300 <br />Donna Coffey, 919-245-2151 <br />Neil Pedersen, 919-967-8211 <br />Shirley Carraway, 919-732-8126 <br />PURPOSE: To discuss various issues with policy and/or financial implications that are of <br />current interest to the Orange County Commissioners, Orange County Board of Education, <br />and Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education. <br />BACKGROUND: The Chairs of the respective governing boards recently coordinated to <br />establish the topics to be addressed on the agenda for this semi-annual joint work session of <br />the Board of Commissioners and the two Boards of Education. Staff have compiled <br />introductory and background information regarding each of the topics (highlighted in bold text <br />below} that were chosen by the Chairs. <br />a. School Construction Standards Policy <br />This portion of the meeting will provide an opportunity for members of all three governing <br />boards to review, discuss, and ask questions about the School Construction Standards <br />proposed by the Collaboration Work Group, prior to their formal consideration for adoption by <br />the Orange County Board of Commissioners. <br />In May 1996, the Board of Commissioners adopted school construction standards for <br />elementary and middle schools in Orange County. High School construction standards were <br />approved in April 1999. Two separate School Facilities Task Forces that convened in 2000 <br />and in 2002 identified a number of issues related to both sets of standards that required <br />clarification and or updating (e.g. baseline estimates of per square foot cast, an appropriate <br />inflation factor, percentage of project budget that should be set aside far contingency, etc}. <br />During the first half of 2006, the Collaboration Work Group met four times to focus on revisions <br />that should be made to existing Orange County school construction standards. Those <br />meetings involved primarily information gathering regarding school construction practices and <br />guidelines, sustainability considerations, and opportunities for community use of school <br />facilities, particularly with regard to County and municipal recreation programming. Since <br />September 2006, the Work Group has met three additional times to review and refine <br />successive drafts of updated School Construction Standards. All three governing boards <br />received and reviewed an early draft of the revised standards at the September 2006 joint <br />work session. Of particular note in the Work Group's proposal is the recognition of the need to <br />