Minutes 03-06-2025-Business Meeting

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2 average pre-trial population is down significantly over the 10 years of the initiative, and they are seeing a significantly higher number of referrals for behavioral health services. She said during the NACo legislative conference, common problems for counties across the country were discussed, including potential Medicaid cuts and work requirements, potential cuts to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs (SNAP), potential cuts to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and child protective services, potential cuts and/or reform to FEMA, removal of federal tax exemptions on interest received on municipal bonds. She said the removal of federal tax exemptions would have a significant impact on the county's purchase ability for bonds and all county bonds across the country. She said NACo and NCACC are bringing these issues forward to legislators at the national level. She said Vice-Chair Hamilton can add some additional perspective during her comments. Commissioner Fowler said she attended the Family Success Alliance Care Coalition meeting and discussed mini grants, access to care, social determinants of health, and behavioral health. She said there will be three CHIP meetings in March at Solid Waste in Chapel Hill. Said she attended the Board of Health meeting last week and received a presentation from Town of Chapel Hill staff presentation about projects to improve safety and slowing traffic and received a presentation of the Board of Health's draft budget for next year. Chair Bedford said the Drakeford Library Complex grand opening was postponed due to snow and will now be held on March 215t 11:00 am. She said in addition to the library, Carrboro has office space and public services there and the Skills Development Center is also located there. Chair Bedford brought attention to the proclamations on the consent agenda tonight including Creek Week and World Water Day. Vice-Chair Hamilton said she attended the Central Pines Regional Council Executive Board meeting along with Commissioner Greene. She said that Central Pines has been working for a couple of years to lay the groundwork for a regional visioning process called Connected Region 2050. She said they are looking at a funding plan including funding from member local governments with populations over 20,000. She said the Board may be interested in receiving a presentation before committing any funds. She shared that Commissioner Carter was videotaped sharing information on the Stepping Up Initiative and encouraged everyone to watch it when that video is shared. She thanked Commissioner Carter for her comments about the NACo conference and said she would like to share something she learned. She explained that there are two budget processes happening at the federal level; one is a continuing resolution expiring March 14th that maintains funding for the federal government until the end of this fiscal year, September 30th. She said because this was not a normal budget passage, it required continuing resolutions to keep the government operating. She said the federal government may shutdown on March 14th if Congress doesn't pass a continuing resolution. Additionally, she said there is another process called budget reconciliation, a special legislative process that can quickly advance high-priority fiscal legislation. She said in the Senate, those bills are not subject to filibuster, so a simple majority can pass it. She said it is her understanding that cuts to some of the issues Commissioner Carter highlighted are in the budget reconciliation because there is a desire to extend tax cuts that would expire December of 2025 and spending cuts are needed in order to offset the $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years. She explained this provides context for why potential cuts to Medicaid, etc. are on the table. Commissioner Greene said the search for a new GoTriangle CEO is narrowing down. In the spirit of what was just shared, she said one of the candidates was a late entry to the pool because she was just laid off from the Federal Transit Administration in February.