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public is told that the County is adding a position, the assumption is that the taxpayers are paying for it. Commissioner Gordon asked about the Planner II position and Craig Benedict said that this is Karen Markowitz's position. She is part-time now and he would like her to be full-time. He said that, since the advent of the half-time position, there have been two new boards put under Planning's purview—the Orange Unified Transportation Advisory Board and the Rural Planning Organization —and these demand staff time. Category 4— New Positions to Improve Service Delivery: Laura Blackmon said that the final estimate for funding all of these positions (total, not just this category) is $2.1 million. None of the new positions were included in the budget driver estimates. Commissioner Gordon asked about the Assistant Fire Marshal and what happened to the fire and rescue study. Laura Blackmon said that they were waiting for the new director, Frank Montes de Oca, to come on board and they will approach the Sage report once more. The new positions were submitted by staff before he came on. Commissioner Gordon asked if there are existing needs to be covered by the Assistant Fire Marshal, or if there will be new needs from the study. Frank Montes de Oca said that there are new requirements in the fire code for inspections of nursing homes, assisted living facilities, schools, etc., and staff has not been able to maintain the level of inspections that is mandated. Chair Jacobs said that this position has been requested for years, and this position was often pitched to the County as something that would lower homeowners' insurance. Frank Montes de Oca said that when he arrived, the Fire Marshal was busy for three to five days assisting the Town of Hillsborough during its ISO rating. There are some maps that are not accurate, and the Fire Marshal helped the Town of Hillsborough's Fire Marshal walk through the process. This will help the rating. Commissioner Foushee said that they are talking about meeting the minimum requirements for fire safety and there have been a lot of new facilities that have been developed in the last year in the County, and she would like to focus on prevention this year instead of suppression. Commissioner Gordon said that fire protection is important and the Sage report was not reflective of the rural fire department needs. She said that something more is needed to meet the rural area needs. Frank Montes de Oca said that he has been working with the Land Records Department and making sure that this position will be focused on 911 and GIS mapping. Donna Coffey said that the staff has talked about looking at fire inspection fees next year. Chair Jacobs suggested, in the future, funding additional positions through the fire district taxes rather than the property tax. Chair Jacobs said that he counted six departments with multiple requests, and he would like the departments to give the Board these requests in priority order. Commissioner Gordon asked that, when the Manager works with departments, if she asks staff to look for efficiencies and if there are any incentives when efficiencies are found. Commissioner Foushee left at 9:00 pm. Laura Blackmon said that some departments are doing this as they go through the budget process, but there are a lot of needs out there with not enough staff. Commissioner Gordon said to just have this mindset when going through the budget process. Laura Blackmon said that this is what staff brought to the Board when she recommended deleting the summer camp and after-school programs because other entities were already providing these services.