Orange County NC Website
<br /> <br />Commissioner Price said she asked the schools if more hot spots are needed, 1 <br />and the schools said no. She said teachers need to be involved in the conversation 2 <br />about what is really needed. 3 <br />Commissioner Bedford said Verizon has a program to help students without 4 <br />access. 5 <br />Commissioner Bedford said there needs to be a work group, before spending 6 <br />money on the southern library. She said discussions about interoperability are very 7 <br />important. 8 <br /> 9 <br />A motion was made by Chair Rich, seconded by Commissioner Marcoplos to 10 <br />approve Amendment 014. 11 <br /> 12 <br />VOTE: Ayes, 2 (Chair Rich and Commissioner Marcoplos); Nays, 5 13 <br />(Commissioner McKee Commissioner Price Commissioner Greene Commissioner 14 <br />Bedford Commissioner Dorosin) 15 <br /> 16 <br />Commissioner McKee said the idea of an education fund is important, and he 17 <br />would support using the funds generated by the quarter cent climate mitigation tax for 18 <br />this purpose. 19 <br />Chair Rich thanked Commissioner McKee, but said she will not make such a 20 <br />motion. 21 <br />Commissioner Dorosin said he hopes staff is keeping track of all the issues on 22 <br />which the BOCC needs to follow up in the fall. 23 <br /> 24 <br />Amendments 017/018/019/020 25 <br /> 26 <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Bedford, seconded by Commissioner 27 <br />Price to approve Amendments 017/018/019/020. 28 <br /> 29 <br />Commissioner Dorosin asked if there is a reason that tracking software costs 30 <br />$35,000, and if this would be a pre-existing program, or one being made from scratch. 31 <br />Travis Myren said software can be very expensive, and this cost is relatively low, 32 <br />comparatively. He said the base software already exists, but it would need 33 <br />modifications. 34 <br />Commissioner Marcoplos asked if this funding will come from a particular area. 35 <br />Travis Myren said it would be counted against the debt service savings. 36 <br /> 37 <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS 38 <br /> 39 <br />Amendment 021 40 <br />Travis Myren said Commissioner Marcoplos proposed an amendment to fund a 41 <br />phase 2 feasibility study of operations and maintenance of a skilled construction trades 42 <br />center. 43 <br />Commissioner Marcoplos explained the center, and said it has been discussed 44 <br />for well over a year, with many stakeholders. He said the County awarded $25,000 45 <br />previously for an initial study, which was very informative. He said the next steps are to 46 <br />identify which grants are the most promising to fund some of the option identified in the 47 <br />initial study. He said time is of the essence, due to the availability of Covid-19 funding, 48 <br />and this could very advantageous to the progress of this project. He said these funds 49 <br />would pay for a study of the grant landscape, and getting some work done on a grant or 50 <br />two. He said the amount would not exceed $25,000, and this is a great opportunity with 51 <br />well-recognized needs. 52 <br />Commissioner Price asked if anyone else is putting funding into this, and who is 53 <br />involved. 54 <br />12