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2 <br /> Public Charge: The Board of Commissioners pledges its respect to all present. The Board <br /> asks those attending this meeting to conduct themselves in a respectful, courteous manner <br /> toward each other, county staff and the commissioners. At any time should a member of the <br /> Board or the public fail to observe this charge, the Chair will take steps to restore order and <br /> decorum. Should it become impossible to restore order and continue the meeting, the Chair will <br /> recess the meeting until such time that a genuine commitment to this public charge is observed. <br /> The BOCC asks that all electronic devices such as cell phones, pagers, and computers should <br /> please be turned off or set to silent/vibrate. Please be kind to everyone. <br /> 2. Public Comments <br /> a. Matters not on the Printed Agenda <br /> None. <br /> b. Matters on the Printed Agenda <br /> (These matters will be considered when the Board addresses that item on the agenda <br /> below.) <br /> 3. Announcements, Petitions and Comments by Board Members <br /> Commissioner Fowler said she attended the Chamber of Commerce's legislative forum <br /> on December 911. She said David Price, Valerie Foushe, Verla Insko, and Graig Meyer all <br /> spoke. She said Congressman Price said the bipartisan infrastructure bill mentioned potential <br /> transit funds that could cover things such as the MLK BRT, broadband funds, and possibly <br /> public housing for repair and renovation funds. She said the county should be on the lookout <br /> for that opportunity. She said she attended the Triangle Area Regional Planning Organization <br /> (TARPO) meeting on December 9th, and they reminded attendees that the STIP 6.0 process <br /> was halted due to lack of funds. She said they provided scoring for considering how to improve <br /> projects for the STIP 7.0 process. She said updates for current projects are available for review <br /> on TARPO.org. She said parts of 1-40 will be renamed after Dean Smith and Roy Williams. <br /> She said earlier in the day she attended the North Carolina Association of County <br /> Commissioners (NCACC) Public Education Steering Committee and heard an update from <br /> Nathan Maune of the Department of Public Instruction (DPI). She said Maune discussed using <br /> lottery funds for school capital. She said the 2017 needs based public school capital fund was <br /> originally opened to only Tier 1 and 2 counties but is now available to Tier 3 counties. She said <br /> she would like the county to look at that fund for potential school capital projects. She said <br /> they also mentioned that the PS repair and renovation fund in the 2021 budget provides <br /> $500,000 per county for classroom facilities. She said she also attended the Health and <br /> Human Services Steering Committee earlier in the day. She said there is a website called <br /> NCOpioidSettlement.org which provides information on how the funds can be spent. She said <br /> she wondered if the funds could be spent towards a diversion facility. <br /> Commissioner McKee reminded the Board of his petition to go back to in-person <br /> meetings as soon as possible, despite the new COVID-19 variant. He said the Board of County <br /> Commissioners (BOCC) is considering going back to in-person meetings in January, and he <br /> would like to give it serious consideration. He said he believes the Board should be meeting <br /> publicly if at all possible. <br /> Commissioner Hamilton wished everyone happy holidays. <br /> Commissioner Bedford said on October 51h, Andy Henry from the Durham-Carrboro- <br /> Chapel Hill Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO) presented information on the <br /> 2050 Metropolitan Transit Plan. She said it is a fiscally constrained plan, but reasonable fiscal <br /> assumptions are allowed to be made. She said at the November MPO meeting, there was <br />