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2 IV. Election of Chair and Vice- Chair Chair Loraine Kohorn opened the floor up for nominations . She added that if asked she would be willing to continue to serve as the Chair of the Commission . Richard Pratt made the motion to nominate , his motion was seconded by Roy Fortmann and Chair Kohorn was unanimously elected to continue to serve as CFE Chair , Roy Fortmann indicated his desire to continue to serve as Vice - Chair given the support of the Commission . Chair Kohorn nominated Roy Fortmann for the position of Vice Chair . Her motion was seconded by Richard Pratt and Roy Fortmann was unanimously eled imous ect to continue to serve as CFE Vice- Chair . V. Report on the November 4 Public Hearing on the Environment and Resource Conservation Department. Loraine Kohorn opened up her report by commending Jane Sharp -MacRae for her comments at the public hearing on the need for air quality to be an area of concern in the new department . Kohorn followed by providing a brief synopsis of the key points expressed at the hearing . Her comments included . • There were voices of support, disapproval and qualified approval at the hearing . • Opponents had felt that the proposal for the department had not been communicated well enough to the rural segments of the public . • Persons currently working in the area of land conservation were concerned that the tools were already in place and thus the rationale for allocating county money to create a new department was unwarranted . • The concern was expressed that proper communication . was needed with landowners so that they would be supportive of the efforts of the new department: : Annette Jurgelski added that opponents were also concerned about the addition of another level of bureaucracy if the new department was created . Commissioner Gordon stated that there was considerable misunderstanding at the public hearing . The point of the hearing according to her was to receive comments on the implementation of the department and not to debate the merits of the department ' s existence . She added that contacting and improving communication with land conservation groups , landowners , county departments , etc , will be one of the first items addressed by staff upon implementation of the new department . Lee Rafalow asked where the Orange County Board of Commissioners currently stood in regard to the new department . To this , Commissioner Gordon indicated that the department was established in June , but is awaiting implementation. She added that the time table for implementation is dependent on when implementation of the department is placed on the BOCC agenda. In response to earlier concerns about miscommunication, David Stancil added that theses issues are being addressed by the staff. Lee Rafalow mentioned that the Chapel Hill Herald wrote an editorial piece coming out against the department primarily on the basis that the new department will increase county overhead . To