Minutes-10-10-2023-Joint Meeting with Fire Departments and Work Session

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12 Chief Bowden said that the departments work together on larger emergencies. Chief Nasseri said that due to the increase in square footage of buildings in Orange County and weather-related emergencies, the departments are having to collaborate more on responding to situations. The Board took a brief break while the fire chiefs departed the meeting before beginning the work session. 5. Discussion on the County's Participation in Mayors, Managers, Chair(MMC) Meetings The Board discussed the County's participation in multijurisdictional Mayors, Managers, Chair (MMC) meetings. BACKGROUND: In most years, the County and the Towns of Carrboro, Chapel Hill, and Hillsborough hold a joint meeting called the Assembly of Governments meeting. In 2016, one of the agenda topics was an update on the Greene Tract. As part of an effort to advance progress on the development of the Greene Tract, the group discussed the creation of a Task Force to provide recommendations on the development of the property for affordable housing, a school site, and other potential uses. A history of the Greene Tract and related agreements and past planning activity is available here. Discussion during the 2016 Assembly of Governments meeting included the possible creation of a public task force to recommend potential uses for the Greene Tract. Another suggestion involved the creation of a task force made up of the Mayors from Carrboro and Chapel Hill, the Chair of the Board of Commissioners, and the Managers from each participating jurisdiction. A final suggestion was that the managers for each jurisdiction create a proposal for governing board review. Ultimately, discussion on the topic ended with the suggestion that a starting point would be a meeting of the Mayors, Managers, and Chair (Attachment A). There was no action taken at the Assembly of Governments meeting to create a task force, and none of the participating jurisdictions took formal action at a later date to create a task force. In fact, the Mayors and Chair may have met informally prior to 2016 to discuss policy matters of mutual interest or to set agendas for joint meetings. The only agenda item that the Board of Commissioners adopted that referenced the Mayors, Managers, and Chair assemblage was the 2021 Greene Tract Interlocal Agreement. This Agreement assigned the Mayors, Managers, and Chair to "...be the representatives of the Parties for the purpose of negotiating the ultimate uses of the Property and working directly with staff to bring such negotiated results to the governing board for final approval and determination." The scope of topics discussed during MMC meetings has broadened over time to include topics like human services related agreements among the jurisdictions and responsibilities for housing related services. The meeting notes from the preceding twelve months of MMC meetings are provided as Attachment B. General concerns have been raised about the general role of the MMC and transparency to the elected governing boards and the public. This discussion is intended to address concerns Board members have about the MMC group and to provide direction on whether the County continues to participate, and if so, on what basis or under what types of limitations.