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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: October 15, 2024 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 8-f <br /> SUBJECT: Naming of 203 Greensboro Project as the Drakeford Library Complex <br /> DEPARTMENT: Asset Management Services <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> Alan Dorman, Asset Management <br /> Services Director, 919-245-2627 <br /> PURPOSE: To receive a recommendation from the County Manager for the naming of the 203 <br /> Greensboro Project as the "Drakeford Library Complex", in preparation for the Board's potential <br /> adoption of a resolution at the November 7, 2024 Business meeting officially approving the <br /> recommended name. <br /> BACKGROUND: In 2017, Orange County and the Town of Carrboro entered into a development <br /> agreement to jointly design and construct a facility that would house administrative offices for the <br /> Town of Carrboro and the Orange County Southern Branch Library. The 51,884 square foot <br /> facility is currently under construction and is expected to open this winter. The facility will be <br /> occupied by several Orange County Departments and affiliated agencies, including the Library, <br /> the Skills Development Center, Durham Technical Community College, and the Town of <br /> Carrboro's Recreation and Parks Department. At the initiation of the project, the building was <br /> temporarily named the 203 Greensboro Project based on the street name of the building site. <br /> At the November 23, 2023 Board of Commissioners' Business meeting, Vice-Chair Sally Greene <br /> and Commissioner Anna Richards volunteered to serve on a joint committee with Town of <br /> Carrboro representatives to recommend an official name. The committee membership also <br /> includes Town of Carrboro Council Members Catherine Fray and Eliazar Posada, and Alex Brown <br /> and Nerys Levy from the Friends of the Library. <br /> The committee decided to seek public input on possible facility names by conducting on online <br /> survey between May 29 and June 14, 2024, receiving almost 200 responses. Considering the <br /> responses to the online survey as well as other information gathered, the committee approved <br /> recommending the name "Drakeford Library Complex". The name honors Dr. Robert Wayne <br /> Drakeford, PHd, who served as the first black Mayor of the Town of Carrboro from 1977 through <br /> 1983. <br /> The Orange County Property Naming policy requires that the County Manager recommend a <br /> name to the Board at a regularly scheduled Business meeting. The Board must then state its <br />