Agenda - 09-02-2021; 4-a - Discussion and Appointment for the Vacant Position on the Orange County Board of Commissioners

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18 the North Carolina General Assembly, outdated zoning policy, lack of political will, and reluctance to change. In order of priority, I see the needs as: 1. Housing- It is not affordable, it is not equitable, it is not available 2. Climate-See question 11. 3. Broadband-inequitable access to the internet has profound implications for our residents and community. I believe that broadband access will not be equitable until it is regulated as a utility,provided to anyone who wants it at a reasonable cost. This became an urgent need during the pandemic. I have worked on this my entire 8 years on the BOCC and sat on a number of advisory groups and boards including the Triangle Council of Governments, NC Technology Board, and NACO Technology and Telecommunications Committee. I have lobbied both the state and federal governments. 4. Education-One of the jobs of a BOCC is to deliver a sound basic education to every student through the budgetary process. This can not be fully achieved if the NCGA continues to decrease funding thereby requiring counties to fill in the gaps while also refusing to allow counties to provide broadband to its students and residents. -See question 6 for more detail. 5. Diversifying our tax base-Economic Development-See question 11. S. If you could change one thing about the current county budget, what would that be? 1 would consider funding for diverse, unique learning settings, as every child will not attend a four year college. In 2019, the BOCC commissioned a study with the Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro to examine the worker shortage in the skilled construction trades and the cost of a trades-craft training center. The gap analysis showed that there are minimal training opportunities for students in skilled construction trade occupations in Orange County. Orange County Schools have a Career and Technical Education(CTE)pathway that is robust and includes agriculture, horticulture, business, IT, health sciences, culinary arts, and industrial courses of study. CHCCS Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools by comparison has significantly fewer options that are not offered at all schools. Hope Renovations is a non-profit focusing on training women in construction and some employers in the construction/trades business allow for on the job training through apprenticeships. Other than these three options students must seek education outside of the county through either Alamance Community College or Durham Tech Community College(the Durham Campus). The recommendation for Orange County is to partner with Durham Tech and expand the WayMakers program to the Orange County campus working in conjunction with K-12 districts. WayMakers covers major skilled trades:construction, HVAC,plumbing, electrical, highway construction,power line maintenance, and entrepreneurship. These are well paying jobs, some paying much more than college educated professionals, and in 2019 the median pay for some of these skills ranged from 36K at the low end to nearly 90K annually. 6. What is your assessment of the county's funding practices with regard to the two school systems? How do you propose the BOCC meet over$300 million in K-12 public schools capital needs? Under North Carolina state law the state is responsible for funding instructional expenses while counties are responsible for funding capital expenses. Cuts to the state budget during the Great Recession have not been restored and local districts have been forced to take on a larger share of instructional expenses, including personnel, making it very difficult to balance all funding needs.As a higher wealth district, we are able to tap into our tax base to cope with inadequate state level funding, however, we still cannot mitigate the impacts of decreased state investments because we are simply plugging holes rather than building upon state support.