Agenda - 08-19-2008 - 4a - Laserfiche WebLink

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13 1 2 4. Request that OWASA provide a report on the proposed approach and implementation plan 3 for the water use efficiency conditions of service strategy. 4 5 This Fifteenth day of April 2008. 6 7 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 8 9 C. Summer Day Camp Proposal 10 The Board considered appropriating funds for sponsorships for certain summer day 11 camp programs in lieu of continuing the County's summer day camp program. 12 Laura Blackmon said that in March the Board of County Commissioners asked her to 13 come back with a recommendation as to how to assist families with summer day camp costs. 14 She said that the County Commissioners have before them a suggestion, but this has not come 15 before the Recreation and Parks Advisory Council yet. The abstract is summarized below: 16 At the March 6, 2008 BOCC Regular Meeting, the Board asked County Manager Laura 17 Blackmon to review and provide information regarding the discontinuance of Orange County's 18 summer day camp program. The County Manager responded to the Board's request with a 19 memorandum dated March 18, 2008 which included information on the number of participants 20 for the County's 2007 summer day camp, the County's 2007 activities related to scholarships or 21 "camperships" for the County's summer day camp, and a recommendation that the County 22 remain on its present course with the discontinuance of the County's summer day camp 23 program. The Board subsequently asked the Manager to develop a scholarship /campership 24 proposal that could be considered concurrently by both the BOCC and the Recreation and 25 Parks Advisory Board (RPAC). (Note: RPAC is not scheduled to discuss this item until its April 26 24, 2008 meeting. Therefore, any information /feedback/recommendations from RPAC will not 27 yet be available at this April 15, 2008 BOCC meeting.) 28 Based on staff discussions, Department of Social Services (DSS) Director Nancy 29 Coston will place on the April 21s` DSS agenda a request for the Social Services Board to agree 30 to use one -time funding to subsidize summer day camp participants whose families fall at or 31 below the 200% federal poverty level. This is the same guideline used for DSS childcare 32 subsidy. Since more federal and state funds were received by DSS this year, some of the 33 County funds designated for childcare could be utilized this year to pay for camp. An amount 34 up to $10,000 from DSS's Fiscal Year 2007 -2008 budget could be utilized for this purpose. As 35 in past years, other funds such as donations received through the "Send A Kid to Camp" would 36 be used to send foster children to camp. 37 Last summer, the "Sun Fun" camp program cost Parks and Recreation $40,692 in total 38 direct expenditures; this amount does not include indirect costs such as administrative and 39 oversight costs associated with running the program. Revenue generated from fees for the 40 summer camp program totaled $37,053. The County's camp program provided approximately 41 80 camper slots per week over a seven -week period. Some campers were one -time 42 participants while others attended multiple weeks. The weekly cost to the campers ($80) was 43 reduced by up to half by Parks and Recreation for 223 of these campers, in addition to the 53 44 camperships granted by DSS. Although Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents were 45 not precluded from benefiting from the summer programs, most of the participants came from 46 the unincorporated areas of the County. 47 The $10,000 from DSS would be principally used to partially offset higher costs 48 associated with alternative camps and, as in the past, would be allocated on a sliding scale 49 basis. To address the loss of the low -cost Parks and Recreation program, the monies 50 proposed would be used for the Cooperative Extension 4 -H summer day camp program and the