Orange County NC Website
9 <br /> <br />Commissioner Rich said the aqua resolution, at the Commissioners’ places, came out of 1 <br />agenda review and is about Net Neutrality. She said this will be on the agenda for the June 19th 2 <br />meeting, and asked if any comments could be forwarded to her. 3 <br />Commissioner Rich said last Friday was National Gun Violence Awareness day, and the 4 <br />light blue petition at the Commissioners’ places refers to this. She said Chapel Hill, Carrboro, 5 <br />and Orange County are part of this petition, which the Chair will sign. She petitioned for the 6 <br />Town of Hillsborough to be asked to join next year. 7 <br />Commissioner Burroughs had no comments. 8 <br />Commissioner McKee said given the action of the Legislature on the light rail funding, 9 <br />he asked if the Chair would request a response from Go Triangle by June 19th on how this 10 <br />legislative action affects the plan; the purchase of the maintenance facility property; and 11 <br />whether there is a plan B going forward. He said would also like to request a monthly financial 12 <br />report from Go Triangle 13 <br />Commissioner McKee said, about a year ago, there was petition about district elections 14 <br />and making them more equitable. He said he is issuing this petition that by one of the fall 15 <br />agendas, that staff bring forward the process by which the County could move to district-16 <br />nominate, district-elect. 17 <br />Chair Dorosin referred to, and read, the statement below: 18 <br /> 19 <br />Statement from Orange County Board of Commissioners concerning the North Carolina 20 <br />state budget language that could eliminate state and federal funding for the Durham-21 <br />Orange Light Rail project. 22 <br />The Durham-Orange Light Rail Project was endorsed by county voters in 2011 and 2012. 23 <br />In April of 2017, the County Commissioners of Durham and Orange County, along with Go 24 <br />Triangle, agreed to a cost-share agreement that allowed the project to move forward to the 25 <br />design and engineering phase. Along the way, it twice received high scores from the NCDOT 26 <br />as well as the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Currently about half of the design and 27 <br />engineering work has been done and the project is on schedule to qualify for and receive a 28 <br />50% share of project costs from the federal government. 29 <br /> 30 <br />We are disappointed that, after clearing multiple hurdles in an understandable, data-31 <br />driven, non-political process, the North Carolina State Legislature has included language in its 32 <br />current budget that would prevent the project from meeting federal guidelines, effectively 33 <br />terminating the project. The language provides that state funding would not be released until all 34 <br />other funding sources, including federal, have been secured. The FTA requires that all other 35 <br />funding sources be secured before it releases funds. 36 <br /> 37 <br />If the intent of the legislation is to ensure that no state funds are spent before the federal 38 <br />funds are granted, which is a reasonable requirement on behalf of the taxpayers of our state, a 39 <br />revision to the wording of the budget in a technical corrections bill can clarify that matter and 40 <br />allow the project to proceed. 41 <br /> 42 <br />The cost-share agreement provides that if either the state or federal funding is not 43 <br />forthcoming, the parties to the agreement must meet and confer to modify the agreement. 44 <br /> 45 <br />The Orange County Commissioners pledged at the beginning of this process that we 46 <br />would not spend more than the $149.5 million that we committed in the cost-share agreement. 47 <br />As we consider the prospect of having to rework the cost-share agreement, we want to 48 <br />reassure the residents of Orange County that we remain committed to this spending limitation. 49 <br /> 50