Agenda - 12-01-2008 - 4a - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 1 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 2 3 2. Hillsborough Area Rail Station Task Force 4 Commissioner Gordon asked what appointment the Orange County Board of County 5 Commissioners is making and it was answered At-Large Orange County, Orange County 6 Development Commission, Orange County Transportation Services Board, and Orange Unified 7 Transportation Board. She said that, given that a lot of the transportation planning is in 8 process, she does not see any reason to skip over the regular appointments. She suggested 9 going ahead and establishing the task force and charge and get people to apply. She would 10 like to see some of the resumes. She does not understand the rush. 11 Chair Jacobs said that the regular process would be to advertise for the position. 12 Craig Benedict said that the Board authorized staff to work with the Town of 13 Hillsborough about five or six months ago to work with the community group and investigate rail 14 station possibilities. There is a rush because the people in the community want to have the first 15 meeting in early November because they want to get a report ready for the joint meeting 16 between Orange County and Hillsborough in February. 17 Commissioner Gordon said that the Long-Range Transportation Plan cannot get any 18 money until next June. She said that she has nothing against the train station, but she does not 19 want to set a precedent with a citizen group giving the Board the appointments without 20 resumes, etc. 21 Commissioner Nelson said that this was a citizens group that wanted to accomplish a 22 goal and drafted a task force. He said that the Board should acknowledge that this is not the 23 right way to set up a task force. 24 Commissioner Carey said that he has no problem with this. 25 Chair Jacobs agreed with Commissioner Gordon about the process and said that he 26 does not want to slow the group down either. He thinks that maybe there should be two at- 27 large positions so that it can be advertised. 28 Commissioner Gordon said that this task force is a good one, but it is the process that 29 bothers her and no money can be appropriated until next summer. 30 Chair Jacobs added "walkability" to the third bullet of the task force charge. "These 31 include, but are not limited to....." He suggested that the Board might want to communicate 32 that in the future that the Board wants to appoint its own representatives. 33 Commissioner Gordon suggested on the, "Be it further resolved" portion the following 34 language: "the Task Force is directed to report on the recommended site selection..." 35 A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to 36 approve the Resolution Appointing a Rail Station Development Task Force and Calling for 37 Preparation of a Site Selection and Implementation Plan, with the amendments, as well as the 38 appointments as suggested. 39 40 RESOLUTION APPOINTING A RAIL STATION DEVELOPMENT TASK FORCE 41 AND CALLING FOR PREPARATION OF 42 A SITE SELECTION AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN 43 44 WHEREAS, Orange County and the Town of Hillsborough have worked cooperatively on 45 planning initiatives surrounding the Town of Hillsborough; and 46 47 WHEREAS, Amtrak and NCDOT have indicated passenger train service is financially feasible in 48 the Hillsborough area; and 49 50 WHEREAS, the advent of a train stop in Hillsborough is a regional transportation initiative;