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Orange County Commission for the Environment <br />Meeting Summary <br />November 11, 2019; 7:30 pm <br />Southern Human Services Center, 2501 Homestead Road, Chapel Hill <br />Present: Bradley Saul (Chair), Carrie Fletcher, Bill Ward, Jim Eichel, Laura Doherty, <br />Lynne Gronback, Kim Piracci, Jody Eimers <br />Absent: Alan Parry, Matt Crook, Jeremy Marzuola <br />Staff: David Stancil, Christian Hirni, Brennan Bouma, Wesley Poole <br />I. Call to Order – Saul called the meeting to order at 7:35. <br />II. Additions or Changes to Agenda – No additions or changes to the agenda were <br />requested. <br />III. Approval of Draft Minutes from August 12 <br />th & September 9th, 2019 – Both previous <br />meeting minutes were presented for approval. Motion of approval made by Ward, <br />seconded by Piracci; all in favor, none opposed, motion passed. <br />IV. OWASA Forest Management <br />a. Hirni introduced Ruth Rouse, Planning and Development Manager for Orange Water <br />and Sewer Authority, whom presented on OWASA’s new Forest Management policy, <br />procedures and “Guiding Principles”. <br />b. Interest was portrayed by Eimers for future discussions involving forest health and <br />forest management. <br />V. Natural Heritage Areas Inventory- Update <br />a. Hirni and Stancil discussed recent effort to organize an update and complete re- <br />inventory of the Orange County Natural Heritage Areas, which was quickly <br />discovered to be of regional interest. Future partnerships with Durham, Chatham, <br />and Wake Counties as well as contained municipalities and private, non-profits as <br />maybe a funding and research possibility. <br />b. Saul discussed support of the CfE toward the BOCC toward NHA funding and <br />potential research assistance. <br />c. Bouma reminded CfE that on the afternoon after the Environmental Summit, the <br />Botanical Gardens have been booked for a discussion of the NHA update by <br />interested parties. <br />VI. Project Scoring for ¼ cent Climate Mitigation Tax <br />a. Bouma presented a rubric scoring sheet for scoring individual projects for <br />possible funding for the new tax. Projected tax income in 19/20 fiscal year is <br />$470,000 and five projects were slated into the rubric for the CfE to score on an <br />individual level prior to the meeting and proceed to consensus in session. <br />$WWDFKPHQW <br />'5$)7