Agenda - 02-21-2017 - 6-a - Minutes

Browse Search

26 1 2 Commissioner Burroughs asked what the status is of local sanctuary jurisdictions. 3 4 Commissioner Rich said that Carrboro calls itself a sanctuary city, but the Board of Aldermen 5 has not passed anything. 6 7 Commissioner Jacobs said that the federal government has not defined the term. The county 8 passed a resolution years ago. 9 10 Commissioner Marcoplos said he would like to understand better what authority the federal 11 government has to take away local funds in the context of immigration issues. 12 13 Commissioner Rich said some local faith congregations are considering themselves to be 14 sanctuaries. Even if the county does do not identify itself as a sanctuary County, there are many 15 places within the county that consider themselves sanctuaries. It is not clear how that fits into 16 the federal, legal language. 17 18 Commissioner Jacobs said the local governments in this county take each other for granted. 19 They say we have the same values and stand together, but they don't put all of our umbrellas 20 together so we all stay dry. One of the examples we as a Board can set for the larger 21 community is to stand together with our fellow local governments. He said they almost never 22 see an official from another jurisdiction at the Pauli Murray Awards, for example, and very few at 23 the Human Relations Commission gathering unless it is held at the Century Center. Do they 24 have events like that that we should be going to? The schools should be included in this as well. 25 They should be included when we celebrate "Orange County First," because they are doing a lot 26 of things that are unique, innovative, exceptional, and pride worthy. 27 28 Commissioner Jacobs said how many elected officials or residents even know about the Joint 29 Planning Agreement anymore. It is a central pillar of our land use planning and in our 30 relationships with the other governments with regard to annexation and providing public 31 services. But they assume everything is good; that the Managers and Planning Directors will 32 take care of it. Then something pops up, and they wonder if it covered. It used to be that the 33 governments would keep each other informed about what they were doing through an email. If 34 you didn't see the email you wouldn't know what the other governments were doing. Now we at 35 least put things in writing. It is that kind of casualness; if we want to stand together you actually 36 have to put some effort into it. 37 38 Commissioner Price said there is a divide between the Haves and the Have-Nots. The middle 39 income has dissipated since the recession, creating a huge divide. Our policies seem to forget 40 sometimes that they have people with lesser means. 41 42 Commissioner Price said they need to remember that people in this county have different 43 values. Some are values that they share and some that are different. They need to respect 44 other people's values. 45 46 Commissioner Marcoplos cited the lack of home rule as being a large barrier to achieving many 47 of the goals being discussed by the Board. They would be in so much better shape if they had 48 the powers like California's municipalities. Sometimes he said he wondered if they could band 49 together with other progressive counties in a lawsuit. They are getting down to crunch time for 50 civilization, if you look at some data. It's a real impediment that they cannot do a lot of stuff that 51 they need to do. 26