Orange County NC Website
Chair Jacobs asked about the contract to print and distribute the Senior Times. Donna <br />Coffey said $35,000, which includes some mailings and inserts in the paper. If someone does <br />not get the paper, then the publication is mailed to them. Aging Director Jerry Passmore said <br />that he did a cost analysis of this and it was recommended to continue to use the Durham <br />Herald for this. <br />Chair Jacobs asked how else the price could be reduced and Jerry Passmore said that it <br />could go to a quarterly publication instead of bi-monthly. <br />Chair Jacobs said that OCS was discussing having a printing program and asked that <br />Aging talk to the schools about this to help. save money. <br />Chair Jacobs said that members of the Central Orange Senior Center came to the <br />budget public hearing to talk about reassigning people instead of funding new positions. Laura <br />Blackmon said that those positions were not recommended for funding, so the department was <br />looking at reallocating personnel and shifting staff around to cover evenings and Saturdays at <br />the senior center. Jerry Passmore said that he is looking to use volunteers in the evenings. <br />Chair Jacobs made reference to page 3-13, and VITA Tax Supervisor for $9,500. He <br />asked about this. Jerry Passmore said that they have the second largest tax assistance <br />program in the state with 73 volunteers. It has reached a point where staff are being pulled to <br />work with the volunteers, and a seasonal person to supervise these volunteers is needed. It is a <br />tremendous service. <br />Donna Coffey made reference to the RSVP program and said that it is covered by grant <br />money. <br />Animal Services: <br />Chair Jacobs made reference to page 3-17 about accruing $25,000 by the end of the <br />fiscal year to address spaying and neutering. <br />Animal Services Director Bob Marotto said that they will not expend it in the current fiscal <br />year, but are working with one of the committees of the ASAB to develop a set of programs for <br />the coming year. He will be coming to the Board of Commissioners with contracts with non- <br />profits that coordinate spay and neuter programs for low-income people. There will also be <br />other targeted activities through the staff. It is expected that $25,500 will be accrued this fiscal <br />year and more in the coming fiscal years. <br />Chair Jacobs made reference to the last bullet about petitioning the courts to recover the <br />costs incurred for sheltering of animals that had been seized and asked about the status of this. <br />Bob Marotto said that there was an amendment in the legislature two years ago, which says that <br />it would be possible for jurisdictions like Orange County to go to court to require that the owner <br />of an animal that had been seized for animal cruelty or neglect to post a bond to cover the costs <br />of keeping the animals for the duration of the criminal process so that the costs were not <br />incurred by the jurisdiction. This is now part of the statute. Orange County has been able to <br />collect $15,000 in one large case that went through district and superior court. The money is <br />fed back into the costs associated with caring for these animals for extended periods of time. <br />Chair Jacobs asked if some of the monies could be realigned and pui into building the <br />new facility, since there will be a spay and neuter clinic as well as more space to care for these <br />animals involved in the court cases. Laura Blackmon said that she would check on the <br />feasibility of this. <br />Bob Marotto said that currently Animal Services is paying for the pre-adoption <br />sterilization of animals that are adopted from the facility through contracts with community <br />clinics. He expects that these monies will be realigned to support the spay/neuter surgical suite <br />in the new facility. <br />Chair Jacobs made reference to page 3-21, and identifying follow-up procedures for <br />license renewal, but the ratio of registrations to applications on page 3-19 is virtually <br />unchanged. Bob Marotto said that these procedures have not been implemented yet. Staff has <br />