Agenda 12-02-19 Item 8-a - Minutes

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4 1 Orange County can learn a lot about this from them. He said Durham is investing in training, 2 certifications, technical assistance, and funding with their program, and are considering it an 3 economic development program for minority-owned businesses. 4 Chair Rich said this topic was discussed at Agenda Review, and the plan is to discuss 5 this with Durham. 6 Commissioner Greene said she also enjoyed the tour of the Chapel Hill High School 7 construction, and the garden tour, and thanked the Orange County Food Council for putting 8 this on. She said there is a part-time coordinator assigned to this project to make certain 9 things work together. She said three commissioners attended the school public meeting 10 about the districting plan, and there was lots of discussion about communication and needs. 11 Commissioner Greene said she attended a meeting sponsored by the Visitors' Center, 12 where someone spoke about what the Visitors Bureau could do to expand its tourism efforts. 13 She said sporting events vastly outweigh everything else. She said today was "Big Ideas" 14 day at the Chapel Hill Chamber of Commerce. 15 Chair Rich said she would like to see a response to her request about the census 16 efforts. She said the Daily Tar Heel reported on this, and it would be good for the Board to 17 be able to discuss and provide input. 18 Chair Rich referred to the issue of needing transportation for voting, and said there is 19 a possibility of putting a satellite office in Chapel Hill for the Board of Elections (BOE), as IDs 20 will be needed for the 2020 election. She said the BOE in Hillsborough will provide a free ID, 21 but it can be hard for people to get to Hillsborough. She said the next election is March 3, 22 2020. She said the Board of Elections website was quirky for this election, and it was difficult 23 to find information, and the state website went down. She said March is going to be 24 confusing, and this process must be simplified. 25 Chair Rich said she went to the Wealth Gap Conference, and the income 26 achievement gap was a prominent topic, especially related to schools. She said the Board 27 must be mindful of its policies, and getting the desired outcomes. She said there is a great 28 disparity of funding per student across the state. 29 Chair Rich said she received a call regarding the creation of a high school for trades, 30 and asked if there was an update on this idea. She said 8% of East Chapel Hill High 31 students will not go to college, and she wants to see this idea fully researched. 32 Chair Rich said she gets a number of calls about school funding, and she and Mark 33 Marcoplos had a meeting with Paul Laughton, Finance and Administrative Services, to get a 34 budget booster shot. She passed out a page from the budget regarding the Phillips Middle 35 School water infiltration problem, as an example. She said this item was in the Board's 36 budget ($175,000), but the problem was not fixed. She said overall, the schools' Capital 37 Investment Plan (CIP) is $34 million, and she petitioned for the Board to get a quarterly report 38 from the schools on when and how maintenance is being done and completed. 39 Commissioner Marcoplos said it is good idea to know this type of information, as the 40 County budgeted the money, but it was not utilized for the budgeted need. He said the Board 41 could share this information with the public. He said this money is negotiated between the 42 schools and the County, to meet as many needs as possible. 43 Commissioner Dorosin clarified that the schools asked for, and were given the money, 44 and asked if the schools have just not yet done the work 45 Chair Rich said it is unsure, and that is why she is petitioning for the quarterly 46 maintenance report. She said receipts come in from the schools, and the County transfers 47 money to the schools, but it is unclear if the maintenance is actually being done. She said it 48 is not for the County to decide on how the money is spent; it provides money to the schools, 49 and the schools decide how to use the money.