Agenda 11-07-19 Item 8-a - Minutes

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2 1 County employee's retirement plan with regard to oil, gas and coal investments, as well as 2 other County investments, and request the State Treasurer to remove these funds 3 immediately. She said oil, gas and coal companies are resisting this divestment, but doing so 4 is a powerful tool. She said 14% of funds in these investments that have been divested 5 already are in pension plans and other retirement plans. She said she receives a pension 6 from the State. She encouraged the Board to pursue this, and inspire others to do the same. 7 Chair Rich said this would be taken up as a petition. 8 Riley Ruske said he presented a letter to the Board of County Commissioners and a 9 petition on September 3, regarding reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. He said he recently 10 received a letter from the Board Chair with a response, but some items have not been 11 discussed. He said this letter is an inadequate response, as it does not address all of the 12 points in the petition, and he considers this letter as a non-response to the petition. He said 13 he is resubmitting this petition, and expects the Board to publicly discuss and vote on it. He 14 said the public has a right to know how each member feels about reciting the pledge, and the 15 social justice and inclusiveness impacts of doing so. 16 17 b. Matters on the Printed Agenda 18 (These matters will be considered when the Board addresses that item on the agenda 19 below.) 20 21 3. Announcements, Petitions and Comments by Board Members 22 Commissioner McKee said he had no comments. 23 Commissioner Greene said she had no comments. 24 Commissioner Marcoplos said he had no comments. 25 Commissioner Price said she attended the Triangle J Council of Governments' 26 Summit where keynote speaker Michael Goodman, gave a wonderful presentation about 27 "Assistance Approach". She said she sat in on a workshop relating to a regional approach to 28 housing, where one of the panelists was from the County's Department on Aging. She said 29 this staff member is creating a database on housing needs. She said she also attended a 30 workshop on financing local resilience strategies. She said no additional workshops are 31 planned at this time, due to a lack of funding. 32 Commissioner Price said she has attended the collaboration meetings with the 33 municipalities. She said in the Chapel Hill meeting, the group discussed looking at the 34 environmental study. She said all involved want to place emphasis on this, including some 35 neighbors to the Greene Tract, with whom she spoke. 36 Commissioner Price said the Board received a letter from the Northern Orange MILK, 37 Jr. commemorative committee, regarding the 25th year of their hosting events. She asked if 38 the Board could respond to this letter. 39 Commissioner Bedford said she had no comments. 40 Commissioner Dorosin said he received an email on September 22 about sidewalks 41 around Hillsborough and Orange County schools, and the need for walkable ways to get to 42 school. He said there was also a March email from the Manager that said the issue would be 43 addressed with staff, but nothing seems to be getting done. He said he would like to see a 44 more aggressive plan. He said the Board is not in the business of sidewalks, but it is in the 45 business of public safety and environmental justice, and he would like to see this issue back 46 at the top of the Board's agenda to see what it can do to incentivize walking paths. 47 Chair Rich said the Chair and Vice Chair just had conversation about this with 48 Hillsborough, and there is money in the budget to do a study. She said this is a priority issue. 49 Bonnie Hammersley said money was budgeted for a study in order to determine if a 50 bike-ped path or walking paths would be better. She said this study and research will be 51 done in advance of the budget, and staff will meet with the partners to see how to move 52 forward, once the study is completed.