Agenda - 12-05-2016 - 6-a - Minutes

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8 1 • Open conversations with Alamance Orange, OWASA or Hillsborough for Water Supply 2 depending on site locations 3 4 Chapel Hill Chief Matt Sullivan said there is a law enforcement issue to this topic, and a 5 site such as this would be of value to all the emergency responders of Orange County. He said 6 Durham Tech also has a place at the table in this discussion, since it does the majority of the 7 training. 8 Phillip Nasseri said Durham Tech would not have a training program if not for Chapel 9 Hill's older training facility. He said the relationship with Durham Tech has been bumpy over 10 the years on this topic. He said if Orange County would support this, he felt that Durham Tech 11 would come on board to support a new training facility. 12 Commissioner Dorosin referred to the suggested three-site model and asked if this is 13 the ideal, or is it the most practical option due to size of the county. 14 Jeff Cabe said this is the ideal since other one-site options would make it difficult to for 15 County departments to train together on a regular basis. He said training in one location would 16 leave districts without staff to provide emergency services, or cause a delay in completing the 17 training, as staff would have to travel in groups to be trained. He said ideally the sites would be 18 geographically located in the northeast, central-west and south of the County. 19 Commissioner Price asked if Durham Tech has a burn facility. 20 Jeff Cabe said no, it uses the Durham City Fire Department, where it also runs the 21 academies. He would prefer that Orange County run the proposed training facilities. 22 Sheriff Blackwood said he is supportive of a three-site training facility. He said Durham 23 Tech does not even have showers. He said if a facility is built in Orange County, it should be 24 run and managed by Orange County. 25 Commissioner Jacobs asked Sheriff Blackwood if he has settled on an indoor firing 26 range. 27 Sheriff Blackwood said property is being acquired by a federal seizure in the Cedar 28 Grove area near the Community Center. He said if the land can be acquired, it is 17 acres with 29 many options. He said outside of a firing range, a playground, community garden, classrooms 30 or shelter could be established. He said this land was previously used to sell drugs, and 31 repurposing it for positive use would send a powerful message. He said there would be some 32 cost, but the federal agencies involved are in favor of the idea, and all involved will need to think 33 about how to acquire the land. 34 Commissioner Pelissier asked if the overall capital costs for the training facilities are 35 known. 36 Jeff Cabe said a residential style burning building would cost about $100,000. He said 37 on the commercial side, it would be in the $200,000-$300,000 range, because land would have 38 to be purchased and gas piped in. 39 Commissioner Pelissier asked if the $800,000 capital costs on the PowerPoint slide 40 would cover most of the expenses. 41 Jeff Cabe said yes, especially if property could be donated. 42 Jeff Cabe said he knows EMS is looking to have more space for ambulances, and these 43 proposed training sites would be able to accommodate this. 44 Commissioner Rich asked if the expected income produced by these training sites is 45 known. 46 Jeff Cabe said he does not know at this point, but the infrastructure costs could be 47 determined, and then determine what fees could be charged to others to use the facility. 48 Commissioner Rich asked if the cost to send employees to out of county firing ranges 49 could be shared.