Orange County NC Website
5 <br /> 1 Chair Price said this idea came about while working on her Monday Memo and realizing <br /> 2 that there has not been an opportunity to recognize those who are retiring from Orange County, <br /> 3 due to Covid-19. <br /> 4 Brenda Bartholomew, Human Resources Director, indicated the recognized retirees <br /> 5 present on the call first, including Angela Rockett, Blair Pollock, and Trudy Lucas. She then <br /> 6 recognized the other listed retirees who were not present. <br /> 7 Commissioner Hamilton thanked the retirees for their years of service to Orange County. <br /> 8 Chair Price thanked retirees for their dedication and wished them the best in their <br /> 9 retirement. She said it will be hard to replace them. <br /> 10 <br /> 11 5. Public Hearings <br /> 12 None <br /> 13 <br /> 14 6. Regular Agenda <br /> 15 <br /> 16 a. Community Climate Action Grant (CCAG) — FY 2021-22 Project Selection for <br /> 17 General Applicants <br /> 18 The Board received the grant project funding recommendations from the Human <br /> 19 Relations Commission (HRC) and the Commission for the Environment for the FY 2021-22 <br /> 20 Orange County Community Climate Action Grant Program; considered approving funding for the <br /> 21 recommended Community Climate Action Grant projects for FY 2021-22 as outlined in the <br /> 22 attached report; and received and considered approving the request from the HRC to shift one <br /> 23 point in the scoring rubric from "Time to Complete" to "Social Justice/ Racial Equity" in future <br /> 24 rounds of grant funding. <br /> 25 <br /> 26 BACKGROUND: <br /> 27 As part of the FY 2019-20 budget, the Board of Orange County Commissioners (BOCC) created <br /> 28 the Orange County Climate Action Fund dedicated to accelerating climate change mitigation <br /> 29 actions in Orange County. This decision was motivated in part to help the County meet the <br /> 30 climate change mitigation goals set by the Board in recent years: <br /> 31 • Reduce greenhouse gas emissions community-wide by 26 percent by 2025 (from 2005 <br /> 32 levels). <br /> 33 • Transition to a 100% renewable energy based economy by 2050. <br /> 34 <br /> 35 For the 2021-22 funding cycle, $536,665 in funding was budgeted to support climate action <br /> 36 projects that will benefit Orange County residents both socially and financially. Following the <br /> 37 direction of the Board of Orange County Commissioners (BOCC), the process for soliciting and <br /> 38 selecting projects to receive funding was conducted through a formal Community Climate Action <br /> 39 Grant (CCAG) program. <br /> 40 <br /> 41 For this grant cycle, the BOCC reserved half of the total funding for this grant program <br /> 42 ($268,332.50) to be awarded to projects submitted by either of Orange County's two public <br /> 43 school districts. The remaining half($268,332.50) was to be made available to all other eligible <br /> 44 general applicants in this round. <br /> 45 <br /> 46 Only one project totaling $68,616 has been submitted from either School district, and no funding <br /> 47 allocated for the schools has yet been recommended for approval. Attachment 2 provides <br /> 48 additional information. In light of the Board's interest in supporting school climate action projects <br /> 49 and the special challenges facing schools as they operate during a pandemic, the current grant <br /> 50 deadline for school projects will be extended through the end of November. County staff have <br /> 51 already begun reaching back out to the schools to offer direct assistance in generating project <br />