Minutes 10-15-2019 Regular Meeting

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