Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
1 <br />‘ORANGE COUNTY <br />ADVISORY BOARD ON AGING <br /> <br />Minutes <br />March 15, 2007 <br /> <br />PRESENT: Jack Chestnut, Peggy Cohn, Alice Gordon, Diane Henderson, Jerry Kruter, <br />Mary Ann Peter, Arthrell Sanders, Fred Schroeder, Florence Soltys, Jan Wassel, <br /> <br />GUESTS: Chris Moran and Laurie Tucker (IFC) <br /> <br />STAFF: Bob Jones, Kathie Kearns, Jerry Passmore <br /> <br />The meeting was called to order at the Northside Senior Center by Chair Jack Chestnut. <br />Florence Soltys informed the Board that the NC Study Commission has chosen mental <br />health as its focus for the next year. Jan Wassel invited all to attend the ‘Aging is Good <br />Business’ conference on April 11 at UNC-Greensboro. Chairman Chestnut announced <br />that the Aging Board meeting agenda was being changed to include a discussion of the <br />future location of the IFC Men’s Homeless Shelter. <br /> <br />The Chair introduced IFC Executive Director Chris Moran. Mr. Moran gave a summary <br />of the options that had been explored to date for relocation of the IFC men’s shelter <br />operations from the Town of Chapel Hill facility on West Rosemary. The outcome was <br />that the Southern Orange Human Services campus on Homestead Road was the only <br />viable parcel of publicly-owned property available for this project. Mr. Moran listed the <br />membership of the local government coalition working toward relocation as follows: <br />Carrboro Alderman Chilton, Chapel Hill Town Councilmen Foy, Strom, Ward, Greene, <br />and Orange County Commissioners Gordon and Foushee. <br /> <br /> Mr. Chestnut noted that County Manager Laura Blackmon had recently completed a <br />survey of future Orange County space needs for the Homestead Road property. Included <br />is the Seymour Center expansion for additional programming space and inclusion of a <br />adult day health care center. Mr. Moran expressed support for the need for expanded <br />services for seniors. He expressed regret that the recent Herald-Sun newspaper article <br />didn’t focus on that issue rather than the opinion that the men’s shelter would be bad <br />neighbors for the Seymour Center. Florence Soltys added that seniors were promised <br />additional space for the senior center when funds for a smaller facility were included in <br />the bond. Fred Schroeder asked about the location within the Homestead Road property <br />that was being considered for the IFC facility. Mr. Moran stated that the program needs <br />15,000-20,000 sq ft to place a long-term residential facility similar to the Project <br />Homestart campus. Jerry Passmore stated that there had been discussion concerning the <br />relocation of the Justice building from downtown Chapel Hill and the impact that move <br />might have on the IFC project. <br /> <br />The Board asked Mr. Moran how he would proceed if the Board of County <br />Commissioners rejected the IFC request for inclusion in the Southern Human Services