Orange County NC Website
APPROVED 3/19/96 <br />ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />SCHEDULED MEETING <br />JANUARY 29, 1996 <br />The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in joint session with members of the Orange <br />County School Board and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board on Monday, January 29, 1996 at <br />7:30 p.m. in the meeting room at the Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. <br />COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Vice-Chair Stephen Halkiotis and Commissioners <br />William L. Crowther, Alice M. Gordon and Don Willhoit <br />COUNTY COMMISSIONER ABSENT: Moses Carey, Jr. <br />COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill <br />ORANGE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Superintendent William <br />Harrison and members Robert Bateman, Keith Cook, Susan Dovenbarger, David Kolbinsky, Delores <br />Simpson and William Wolford <br />CHAPEL HILL-CARRBORO SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Superintendent Neil G. <br />Pedersen and members Mary Bushnell, Nicholas M. Didow, Harvey Goldstein, Bea Hughes-Werner, Mark <br />Royster, Elizabeth Carter and Kenneth Touw <br />COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Manager Rod <br />Visser, Planning Director Marvin Collins, Budget Director Sally Kost and Clerk to the Board Beverly A. <br />Blythe <br />1. BRIEF REPORT ON THE STATUS OF THE SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS WORK <br />GROUP <br />Sally Kost presented an update from the School Facility Construction Standards Work Group. <br />She said that they held a public hearing on the standards last week. They are focusing at this time on <br />elementary and middle school space. Each school system developed a plan using the state standards. <br />The draft standards include a four level approach to facility size. The "Basic School" is modeled after the <br />guidelines as established by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The first tier included <br />additional staff work space and conference room space. The second tier included additional space for <br />after school programs and the third tier included everything else. They are continuing their discussion on <br />energy efficiencies and technology enhancements. The next meeting is scheduled for February 28. <br />They plan to start finalizing their recommendations which will then go to the three governing boards with <br />the Board of County Commissioners making the final decision. <br />In answer to a question from Commissioner Gordon about the response at the public hearing, <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that many citizens spoke in support of additional space. <br />Mark Royster noted that the capital needs assessment recently done for the State used <br />state standards rather than standards as recommended by this committee. <br />Nick Didow mentioned that what they heard at public hearing was that increased <br />technology would require more space and more support facilities rather than less space and facilities. <br />2. JOINT COMMUNITY SCHOOL PARK/RECREATION USE OF SCHOOL SITES <br />John Link made reference to the draft report entitled "Recreation and Parks Issues in Orange <br />County, North Carolina". He briefly explained the benefits of combining new schools with new parks. <br />Section III of the report describes the school/government coordination that exists today. Following that is <br />a list of what the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro could do to work together in siting joint facilities and <br />programs. That same page outlines how the County and school boards can work together in developing <br />agreements for coordinating and constructing shared facilities. The final report will be presented at the <br />Assembly of Governments meeting scheduled for February 29. <br />Harvey Goldstein noted that it is important to plan the facility conducive to the activities taking <br />place in the school.