Minutes 06-04-2024 - Business Meeting

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54 1 Kari Hamel asked the Board to consider that no one from the Orange County community 2 spoke on the bond at the meeting. She said that on May 29t", she asked that all Board meetings 3 be recorded in both districts to deal with facilities bonds and construction. She said that she was 4 the only person that was there. She said that she is afraid that most of the community knows 5 nothing about the plan. She said that steel and doorknobs are not the way to go about this. She 6 asked that all Board meetings be recorded. She said the school community does not have the 7 opportunity to know the framework. 8 Heather Thompson said the Woolpert report shows enrollment and capacity numbers at 9 all the facilities. She confirmed that the McDougle Elementary and Middle Schools square footage 10 are combined in the report. She said that the capacity figures are not accurate. She said that 11 combined, it shows they have a capacity of 770 students and that is not accurate. She said that 12 there is 699 for both schools showing and in reality, there are over 700 just at the middle school. 13 She said that over 1200 students will be impacted on the McDougle campus alone. She said that 14 the quantity of students is not small. She said they are alarmed by the plan and said she hopes 15 the commissioners put in the right safeguards. 16 Peter Halpen said it is not clear to him in all of the discussions of where the impetus is to 17 close schools. He asked if that was a contingency for approval. He asked if it was what the 18 districts are doing on their own. He said that it does not seem to be that Orange County is the one 19 pushing the closures. He asked where the impetus is coming from. 20 George Griffith, CHCCS Board of Education Chair, said that staff brought the plan on May 21 14 at a subcommittee meeting. He said that at their meeting on May 16, it was late, and the school 22 board agreed that staff should bring the plan to the Board of County Commissioners on May 21 st 23 with the understanding that the School Board would discuss further in June and also make any 24 changes that the Board of Commissioners needed. He said that the school board is listening, and 25 he wanted to clarify why Woolpert was done. He said that they are just at the beginning of this 26 process. He said that he cannot speak for the whole board, but he anticipates that there will be 27 alternatives based on the community input heard so far. 28 Karin Crozier said that they have heard several times that the process is just evolving. 29 She said it does not feel good that they have invested $900,000 in the Woolpert plan getting many 30 specific details, but they have not spent time gathering information on, input from the community, 31 staff, or children's mental health. She said it feels suspicious that they had all of the money to 32 count ceiling tiles, but not enough for community input and equity inclusion. She said they needed 33 a more well-rounded picture. 34 35 A motion was made by Commissioner Fowler, seconded by Commissioner Richards, to 36 approve the framework for school capital funding as detailed in the abstract. 37 38 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 39 40 b. Approval of a Contract with The Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro to Provide 41 Community Advocate Services in Partnership with Chapel Hill and Carrboro 42 The Board approved a contract with The Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro to provide 43 Community Advocate services that will support existing enterprises and new business starts in 44 Orange County that are owned by Black, Latine, and refugee individuals as well as individuals 45 with disabilities. 46 47 BACKGROUND: At its March 12, 2024 work session, the Board of Commissioners discussed a 48 proposal from The Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro to jointly fund a Chamber 49 employee to support the growth of new and existing Black, Latinx, and refugee owned businesses. 50 Under the proposal, Orange County would contribute $30,000 per year to support the position. 51 The other funding partners would be the Town of Chapel Hill, Town of Carrboro, and the Chamber.