HomeMy Public PortalAbout02-26-2007 Workshop Meeting
February 26, 2007 Monthly Workshop
Approved: April 9, 2007
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MINUTES
Board of Commissioners Monthly Workshop
Monday, February 26, 2007 -7:30 p.m.
Town Barn
PRESENT: Mayor Tom Stevens, Commissioners Frances Dancy, Evelyn Lloyd, Brian
Lowen, Mike Gering, and L. Eric Hallman.
BOARD OF EDUCATION: Chair Dennis Whitling, Vice Chair Ted Triebel, Members Susan
Hallman, Debbie Piscitelli, Al Hartkopf, Shirley Carraway, and Anne Medenblik.
STAFF: Town Manager Eric Peterson, Assistant Town Manager/Public Works Director
Demetric Potts, Town Clerk/Personnel Officer Donna Armbrister, Finance Director Margaret
Hauth, Police Chief Clarence Birkhead, and Town Attorney Bob Hornik.
1. Open the Workshop
7:34:34 PM Mayor Stevens called the meeting to order, and welcomed the guests from the
Orange County School Board and staff.
2. Agenda Changes & Agenda Approval
7:35:09 PM Mayor Stevens noted there was one announcement to be added.
7:35:31 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Dancy, seconded by Commissioner Lowen, the
Board moved to approve the agenda as amended by a vote of 5-0. The motion was declared
passed.
Announcement
7:35:39 PM Ms. Hauth asked the Board to consider calling a public hearing on the
Boone/Collins property, assuming the Master Plan was submitted on time. She said the date was
March 22nd and the location was the Gordon Battle Courtroom at 7:00 p.m., and asked the
Board to approve that date.
7:36:06 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Dancy, seconded by Commissioner Hallman,
the Board moved to call a public hearing on the Boone/Collins property on March 22nd at 7:00
p.m. in the Gordon Battle Courtroom by a vote of 5-0. The motion was declared passed.
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3. Discussion with the Orange County School Board
7:36:34 PM Mayor Stevens noted this was an opportunity for conversation with the Orange
County School Board, the first in several years. He said he and School Board Chair Dennis
Whitling had briefly discussed topics to be covered this evening, and asked him to begin the
discussion.
7:37:27 PM Mr. Whitling said in regards to the Town's Strategic Growth Plan, the School
Board was always concerned about potential school sites. He said based on the projected growth
for Hillsborough over the next ten years, schools may be more needed that they had first thought.
Mr. Whitling said they wanted to discuss a process in which the Schools could work with the
Town to site schools as a preplanning tool. He said a Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district had a
process whereby they actually identified sites and been given the right of first refusal on those
sites as development progressed.
Mr. Whitling said sidewalks were always a big issue for the Schools and the Town, and
encouraged the Town to continue with its sidewalk plans.
7:39:50 PM Mr. Triebel said the thing they looked at and were limited by when looking for
school sites was water and sewer. He said that restricted the locals they could consider for
schools. Mr. Triebel said the other side of that would be to identify sites and draw water and
sewer to them.
7:41: 19 PM Commissioner Hallman asked if anyone would be attending the
Intergovernmental Parks Work Group meeting on Wednesday. Mr. Triebel said he would be
attending. Commissioner Hallman said one of the items to be discussed was the use of school
facilities and how that might happen.
7:42:03 PM Commissioner Gering said he had worked on the Schools Adequate Public
Facilities Ordinance (SAPFO), and it was a tool to help plan for and adjust to growth. He asked
if there was any insight the School Board could offer regarding how well that ordinance was
working as far as helping to plan for growth. Mr. Triebel responded it had not impacted the
County as much as it had the Chapel Hill-Carrboro system, in terms of it actually being
implemented and used in that way.
7:43: 13 PM Mr. Hartkopf said with Mebane not being a signatory to that ordinance, it had an
effect on the western part of the County. He said they had sited Bradley Hill there for many
reasons, with the ordinance being one of them. Mr. Hartkopf said they had anticipated an
overflow in the western part of the County, and in fact that school had filled. He said the
message was that while SAPFO had not given them any issues in Hillsborough proper, the
absence of SAPFO in the Mebane area had given them some issues.
7:44:58 PM Commissioner Gering said he recalled at the time SAPFO was adopted that the
County had agreed to engage Mebane in discussions in an attempt to get them to sign on. He
said perhaps that was something that should be pursued.
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7:45:09 PM Mr. Whitling said what had been discussed at the last meeting with the Chapel
Hill-Carrboro School Board representatives and the County Commissioners was how to engage
the various municipalities in becoming more a part of that process as well as the school siting
process. He said they were still trying to determine how Mebane fit into that picture from the
School Board's standpoint and the County's standpoint.
Mr. Whitling said regarding SAPFO, the Draconian measure was that it could potentially stop
development at some pint, but if Mebane were not a part of that deal then development in that
area could not be controlled. He said they were aware of the growth in that area and would try to
stay on top of it.
7:46:32 PM Mr. Hartkopf said he had understood that Mebane was not interested in becoming
a part of the SAPFO. Mr. Whitling agreed, noting the best they could hope for was a good
information flow. He said if there was a large volume of students coming from Mebane, they
would likely be moved towards Hillsborough and its schools which could potentially mean
building a new school here rather than in Mebane. Mr. Whitling said that would depend on the
growth in Hillsborough over the next few years as well.
7:47:52 PM Mr. Hartkopf said children on the east side of the Efland/Cedar Grove crossroads
on US 70 were now bussed back into Hillsborough. He said that was only 500 yards from
Efland Cheek School, so we were already seeing the effect of growth on that area.
7:48:22 PM Ms. Medenblik said there was also a magnet school that pulled many students into
Hillsborough.
7:48:41 PM Mr. Whitling said the process for school sitings would be something their staffs
would have to work together on in order to develop some recommendations for consideration.
7:49:41 PM Mayor Stevens asked if the School Board needed an update on Hillsborough's
Strategic Growth Plan. He said the concept of the Plan and one of the next steps was land use
planning
7:50:04 PM Commissioner Hallman said in thinking about the recommendations of the Plan, if
there were future needs south of Town then this Board should probably begin looking at those
issues now. He said there was not a lot of extension of the Town or the ETJ to the west or to the
north, which sounds like where most the pressure would come from.
7:51:00 PM Mr. Whitling said as he understood the Plan, the housing growth would be in the
south and southeast, but not to the west. Mr. Triebel said he had understood there was some
planned development to the west.
7:51:30 PM Commissioner Lloyd noted she believed he was referring to the proposed
Bellevue development, but stated those condominiums were not being marketed to families with
children.
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7:52:02 PM Mayor Stevens said one issue associated with the Plan was that it had ended up
focusing on the internal and infill development that was expected. Commissioner Gering said
that was Phase 2. He said Phase 1 was dealing only with the overlapping areas of the County
and the Town's jurisdiction.
7:52:36 PM Mr. Whitling said he understood what the Town was doing was trading some
areas that perhaps would have been supplied with water and sewer and now would not be, since
that service would be moved to areas more likely to experience growth. Mayor Stevens agreed.
7:52:53 PM Commissioner Hallman said they had predicted they would experience a 25%
growth population just with the Waterstone development over the next 5 years. He said if the
Town Board approved Daniel Boone Village with its residential component, there would be
another significant increase in rooftops, in addition to the already projected 25% with
Waterstone. Commissioner Gering remarked there would be about 1,000 homes in Waterstone.
7:53:47 PM Mayor Stevens said tomorrow evening the developers of the Boone/Collins
property would be introducing the public to its Master Plan prior to submission to the Town. He
said one thing that was significant about the Strategic Growth Plan short of finding another water
source, was that they could talk about what would be the limits to the commercial and rooftop
growth. Mayor Stevens from a planning standpoint there was some ceiling in the foreseeable
future based on water capacity. He said that would determine how quickly the Town moved to
Phase 2 of the Plan, but there were some planning assumptions that could be shared.
7: 55: 11 PM Mr. Hartkopf asked about the number of rooftops proposed for the Boone/Collins
property. Town Manager Eric Peterson said presently the plan called for 1,295 units. Ms. Hauth
for Waterstone, only about 650 of those 1,000 units was expected to generate children, noting
that half of the rooftops were apartments.
7:56:14 PM Mr. Hartkopf said they wanted to promote walkability, and asked if Waterstone
would be required to put in sidewalks on both sides of the streets. He said he was concerned
about walkability south of the Eno River, noting there was an elementary school and a middle
school in that area. Mr. Hartkopf said he had visited New Hope School recently and noted they
were at capacity. He said he had wanted to get a sense of the build out of Waterstone and what
that would mean to nearby schools. Mr. Hartkopf asked if there were any estimated on the build
out of Waterstone. Commissioner Lowen said they would have to get that information from the
developer.
7:58:37 PM Mr. Hartkopf asked if the developer was ready to begin now, and how long the
process would take. Ms. Hauth said the Special Use Permits were in place for the single-family
developments and the townhomes, which were good for two years and were now about a year
old. She said that mean the developer had another year to get started. She said there was no
Special Use Permit approval in place for the apartments, which could happen as quickly as two
to three months to almost a year. Ms. Hauth said the developer had begun to install the road
network for the single-family units, and the first houses may start going in by the end of this
calendar year. She said the single-family units were numbered at 135, and townhomes at 128.
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Ms. Hauth noted that should any extension be required for that development, the developer
would have to request and extension and show good cause.
8:00:39 PM Commissioner Lowen asked if that would be approved at the staff level. Ms.
Hauth said no, the developer would have to appear before the Town Board. She said work
should begin on time, so that scenario was unlikely.
8: 0 1: 19 PM Mr. Hartkopf asked when they should expect to see children coming from
Waterstone into the school system. Commissioner Gering said part of the permitting process
was that the developer had to apply for and receive the Certificate that showed compliance with
SAPFO, so that should assist the County and the School Board with capital planning.
8:02:40 PM Commissioner Lowen said when they had developers coming to them with
projects, they should perhaps be thinking about asking those developers to donate or make
available at a reasonable cost parcels for school sites. He asked how much land that would need
to be. Dr. George McFarley responded that and elementary school needed 13 acres, 26 acres for
a middle school, and 41 acres for a high school. He said that of course would depend on the size
of the expected student capacity of 1,000 to 1,500 for the high school.
8:04:06 PM Mr. Whitling said they expected to need an elementary school first.
Commissioner Lowen said then they would be interested in banking some land south of Town,
since that was where the growth was projected. Mr. Whitling said yes, since logically children
from Waterstone and Daniel Boone would need a school in that general area.
8:04:34 PM Mr. Triebel said the numbers Dr. McFarley had quoted were what a traditional
elementary, middle, and high school would hold. Non-traditionally, he said, there were other
ways to go about that particularly when there were constraints such as land. Mr. Triebel said
there was some flexibility in the amount of land required.
8:05:22 PM Mr. Hartkopf said for example, if the required green space around a school would
be waived they may be able to place a school on a smaller plot.
8:05:33 PM Mr. Triebel said banking land made since to the School Board because the price
of land was rising and would continue to do so. So, he said, the idea of being able to bank land
for future school sites made good fiscal sense.
8: 06: 18 PM Commissioner Hallman asked if any of the growth rates in the three schools were
flat. Mr. Triebel said no, but there was some small room for growth in the middle schools.
8:06:36 PM Mr. Whitling said projections continued to grow each year, but the fastest
growing group was elementary. He said they were not believing the projected numbers, because
they indicated no new elementary schools for ten years, and he believed that would happen much
sooner.
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8:07:27 PM Commissioner Lowen said the western quadrant of the County was soon going to
be slammed, because new homes were being built every day in that area. He asked how much
land might be available at Gravely Hills, noting a soccer complex was proposed there.
8:08:56 PM Dr. Carraway said there was only a small parcel of land available, not enough for
a school. Mr. Triebel said he believed it was 5-7 acres. Dr. Carraway said it was important to
remember that SAPFO was based on historical data, and that no prognostications used to come
up with the numbers were coming from anything in the future. She said it was all based on
historically data and nothing that related to the growth in Mebane or other places was included in
the calculations.
8:09:44 PM Ms. Medenblik said another issue was that SAPFO did not take into consideration
was when things happened such as Abundant Life school closing down, which affected their
numbers.
8: 10:22 PM Mr. Whitling said the reason the School Board was talking with the Town Board
was to try to get ahead of the curve, and not wait until the growth takes place.
8:10:37 PM Ms. Hallman said that was important if they wanted to do what was best for the
children. She said they could not wait until they reached capacity to act.
8: 11 :05 PM Mr. Whitling said one problem was that they did not have a facility large enough
to house all of their staff, so staff was assigned to schools which took up space that could be used
for students. He said if a school had a capacity of 700, the reality was that with the staff assigned
there the capacity may be only 650.
8: 11 :28 PM Commissioner Lowen asked if there was a plan to rectify that. He said classroom
space should be not taken up by staff. Mr. Whitling said they were aware of the problem, and
had shifted some people around to alleviate some of that. He said it was a shell game, and they
would soon run out of shells.
8: 12:08 PM Mayor Stevens asked was there a way to better incorporate that issue into the next
phase of the Strategic growth Plan when they looked at land use. He said it seemed that this was
one thing that needed to be built in. Mr. Whitling said he did not have a firm answer for that, or
on the land banking issue. He said the other issue was finding the funds to bank the land.
8: 13:20 PM Commissioner Lowen said he believed the Town Board needed to keep these
issues in the forefront of their thinking, particularly when developers come to the Town Board
and propose developments. He said they needed to keep in mind the size of parcels the School
Board would need to place a school.
8: 14: 08 PM Commissioner Gering agreed, noting it had to become a part of their financial
picture. He said the Town needed to dedicate its water where people could live, attend school,
and walk.
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8:14:36 PM Mayor Stevens said those areas would likely be between 1-40 and 1-85, which
would be more likely so that water would not have to be extended further out.
8: 14: 54 PM Commissioner Gering said there were tools the Town could use, such as the right
of first refusal mentioned early. He said these were ideas the staff could work out and possibly
the Town Board could implement them in the form of ordinances. Mr. Whitling said Chapel Hill
had done just that.
8: 15:28 PM Ms. Hauth said the Town had that authority in the subdivision ordinance. She
said if there were an adopted document that sited a school in the vicinity or within the boundaries
of a proposed development, the ordinance provided a method for communication with the school
to explore its interest. Ms. Hauth said it had never been used because they had no adopted plan
that identified the potential location of schools.
8: 16:21 PM Mr. Hornik said that mechanism was built into State statutes and the Town's
ordinance, in that if there was an identified site that was proposed for development the School
Board had two years within which to acquire the property or else the developer could develop
that property as proposed. He said that same mechanism was used by Chapel Hill, and they
already had an adopted document identifying potential school sites.
8: 16: 57 PM Mayor Stevens said since the mechanism was already in place, the next step
would be for the School Board to identify potential sites. He said the problem would then
become how to purchase those sites.
8: 17:24 PM Mr. Hartkopf said regarding the use of educational space for staff, they had
undertaken a space study to get a clear idea of what they needed and that would help to clarify
what space could be freed up. He said the County would be moving into new space in the next
couple of years, and they expected there would be a fair amount of office space becoming
available at that time that was currently occupied by County agencies.
Mr. Hartkopf said in his opinion it would come down to whether they wanted all their staff
concentrated in one area, or whether it should be dispersed. He said they would have to decide if
they wanted to occupy former County space and at what cost, or should they perhaps build a
central office later on.
8:20:09 PM Commissioner Gering said he believed the County was unlikely to sell any land
they currently owned, but the School Board could possibly occupy some of that vacated space.
He said anything that could be done to occupy some of that County space that was not on the tax
rolls was good.
8:20:30 PM Mayor Stevens said he had tried to make suggestions for use of property on
Churton Street, which he believed should be returned for commercial use. So, he said, they were
clearly advocates for reuse of property. Mayor Stevens said it also may be possible to share
some space.
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8:21: 11 PM Commissioner Lloyd said the County Planning Department would be moving out
of the Carr Building, and that was a sizable space that would perhaps be available.
8:21:4 7 PM Commissioner Lowen said there would be a lot of shuffling around by the County
when they occupied the new space, so they would likely have to wait until that took place before
they knew what would be available. He commented that the Town Board would soon need a
larger space for town meetings, so perhaps they should be looking at space as well.
8:22: 18 PM Mayor Stevens summarized that site planning was the big issue, and part of that
was moving forward beginning to identify possible sites for schools. He said the School Board's
and the Town's attorneys as well as the staffs should begin talks to that end.
8:22:54 PM Commissioner Hallman said he believed the Town should share its Sidewalk Plan
with the School Board. He said obviously schools were of primary concern.
Commissioner Hallman said regarding the status of the pedestrian bridge over 1-40 to widen
Orange Grove Road, they had thought they had the okay from DOT to go ahead with that, but
now it was in a feasibility study. Mr. Whitling asked if that was in the Town's jurisdiction.
Commissioner Hallman said no, it was on the list of items to be funded on the MPO, but it was
slowed down when it came to funding.
8:23:59 PM Mr. Whitling said a concern of the School Board's was the extreme traffic going
over that bridge. Commissioner Hallman said he and Commissioner Alice Gordon had both
brought that up as a high priority to DOT, and they hoped that after the feasibility study it would
move along more quickly.
8:24:37 PM Ms. Hallman said that many students at Orange High School and Sanford were
concerned about the traffic, because many of them tried to walk but they could not do so safely.
Commissioner Hallman said he believed the problem was the DOT standards for county roads
were swales and no sidewalks.
8:25: 10 PM Mr. Triebel said in terms of overpasses and sidewalks, if there was something the
Town Board and the School Board could do legislatively, then perhaps they should work on a
joint resolution or joint letters to push the issues.
8:25:56 PM Mayor Stevens said he saw many nodding heads from Board members, so he
believed they would be supportive of that.
8:26: 16 PM Mr. Whitling thanked the Town Board for inviting the School Board to attend
tonight's meeting. He said it had been most helpful to get input from the Town Board. Mayor
Stevens thanked the School Board for attending, and commented they had benefited from the
School Board's input as well.
8:27:08 PM Ms. Medenblik encouraged everyone to volunteer to work with the School
system, noting there was nothing more gratifying that working with children. She said there
were many volunteer opportunities.
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8:27:38 PM Mayor Stevens announced the Town Board would take a short break.
4. Committee Updates and Reports
8:30:43 PM Commissioner Gering said he had attended the Transportation Advisory
Committee (TAC) meeting, and announced that Holly Reid was one of the nominations approved
as an alternative to the special T AC, contingent on whether the Raleigh MPOA agreed that
alternates were appropriate for the process.
Commissioner Gering said there was a lot of discussion on how the MPOA could collaborate
with the local delegations and other MPOAs to address the problems caused by the State in
cutting back on transportation funding. He said the State would double in population in about
ten years, and the spending on infrastructure was going the opposite way. Commissioner Gering
said they were attempting to better organize to get that message out.
8:32:07 PM Commissioner Dancy said she had attended the Orange County-Chapel Hill
Visitor's Bureau meeting, noting they had again met with the Jennings group. She said they
would soon be meeting with the Hillsborough visitors group.
8:32:27 PM Commissioner Lowen said he and Commissioner Gering had attended the
Highway 70/Cornelus Street Committee Task Force meeting, and complimented Planner
Stephanie Trueblood on her excellent work in putting together a draft document for discussion
and consideration. He said one of the recommendations was possibly looking at a subcommittee
to explore the possibility of forming an economic development corporation.
8:33:34 PM Commissioner Hallman suggested that they recognize the EDC and what they had
done, noting they had worked hard and got little recognition. Commissioner Lowen agreed, as
did Mayor Stevens.
8:34:34 PM Commissioner Gering said the recommendations that were coming out of the
Cornelius Street Task Force included a list of items specifically tasked to the EDC, so they very
much had a strong role to play.
8: 3 5: 11 PM Commissioner Hallman said there was an Intergovernmental Parks Work Group
meeting on Wednesday, and they were expecting to get the County-wide Parks Master Plan and
have a discussion on how to leverage the use of recreation facilities at the public schools.
8:35:34 PM Commissioner Lowen said he had wanted to approach the School Board about
that, noting that there appeared to be limited time at the recreation center for children to have for
basketball and other sports. He said many people had asked why the gyms were not available at
night or on weekends, and did not understand the Town had no say in that. Commissioner
Lowen said it seemed that it was something that could be accomplished.
8:36:48 PM Commissioner Hallman said he had obtained the rental rates for facilities, and
they appeared to be fairly inexpensive.
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5. Update from the Town Manager on the Code Red Reverse 911 System Implementation
8: 3 9: 15 PM Mr. Peterson said the staff had received training on the system, and those
authorized had received their launch codes. He said data was being entered, and water and sewer
billing information would soon be loaded to boost the amount of phone numbers available. Mr.
Peterson said the next step would be to run a test. He said that would begin to educate everyone
in Town about the new system, and help advertise the new system. Mr. Peterson said they would
advertise the date and time, and let people know that if they did not get a phone call then they
could access the web site and update their information or call the Town. For instance, he said
people could add their cell phone numbers to the system if they choose. Mr. Peterson said they
would increase their database of accurate phone numbers.
Mr. Peterson said at the March 26 workshop, they would like to provide dinner for the Town
Board from 6:00 to 6:45 PM, and at approximately 6:45 have Assistant Manager Demetric Potts
and Fire Marshal Jerry Wagner provide a demonstration on exactly how the system worked, and
then actually launch the test of the system during the Board meeting. He said that would be
advertised in a citizen newsletter that would soon do out, and as they got closer to the date they
would issue a press release with more detailed information. Mr. Peterson commented that the
system could make up to 50,000 calls in an hour.
8:43:23 PM Commissioner Lowen asked if they would actually encourage residents to sign up
for the system, asking if the press release would be to announce the test and encourage residents
to either sign up via the web site or call the Town. Mr. Peterson responded yes, that their goal
was to get as many valid phone numbers into the system as possible. He said it was an
individual's choice to add their phone numbers or cell numbers to the system.
8:44:49 PM Commissioner Lloyd asked if the test could take place at 7:00 PM or later to
allow her to participate. She asked who to call to add her numbers to the system. Mr. Peterson
said he had authorized the hiring of a temporary employee to come in the week of the test to
answer the phones and take the information to include them in the system. He said it was
possible that person may need to work up to a month.
Mr. Peterson said they were not yet ready to have people call the Town to add their numbers, but
a system would soon be in place to accommodate that.
8:47:03 PM Mayor Stevens said the short answer was that a live test would be conducted on
March 26, and then a process would be developed to expedite people adding their numbers to the
system. Mr. Peterson said that would be ongoing as well, in that soon people could add their
information via a link on the Town's web site.
8:4 7:49 PM Commissioner Hallman asked if the company had estimated what percent
coverage the Town should get after implementing the system. Mr. Peterson said the Town had
about 2800 residential units, with about 5,000 out of Town. He said the first draft of the system
came up with 2601 systems, and when other information had been loaded the number was up to
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6,000+. Mr. Peterson said one of the reasons for the test was to test the data and see how many
of those numbers were no longer valid
8:48:53 PM Commissioner Dancy asked if this system would be used not only for water or
sewer alerts but for any emergency situation. She said she could imagine some emergencies that
people would not want to be informed of. Mr. Peterson said the system could be used for a
hazardous materials spill or perhaps even an Amber Alert, and that would be something they
would want to alert the community about, but others may be municipal related only. He said the
system would allow them to alert just the Town limits or the water limits, just certain areas like
the West Hillsborough community, and if there was a hazardous materials incident they could
alert just the affected areas. Mr. Peterson said when Mr. Potts and Mr. Wagner administered the
test, many of these types of details would be explained to the Board.
8:50:31 PM Commissioner Dancy said the more information given to the public about the uses
of the system, the more apt they would be to want to be included. Mr. Peterson said they would
certainly advertise what those uses might be.
8: 51: 00 PM Commissioner Gering asked if the web interface was designed to protect personal
information. Mr. Peterson said the only access the public would have would be to the link that
would allow them to access the form to include their numbers on the system. He added that the
system would likely undergo some adjustments once it was tested, but believed it would be a
tremendous asset to the Town. Mr. Peterson said a critical component would be the press release
sent out a week or so before the test.
8:52: 17 PM Commissioner Lowen said Duke Energy bills had a section of the invoice where a
customer could update their information. He said perhaps in the future our water and sewer
billing could do the same to assist in updating the Reverse 911 system. Commissioner Lowen
suggested that when people came in to pay their bills perhaps the staff could ask if the
customer's information was correct. Mr. Peterson said that was a good suggestion.
On another subject, Mr. Peterson said he had received a call on Friday from the United Way to
announce that the Town had received a couple of awards from the last campaign. He said they
had received the Community Care Funds Award, and Police Chief Clarence Birkhead had
received the Campaign Leader of the Year Award. Mr. Peterson said the Town was the only
organization in the Triangle to receive two awards, and it was only the second time in the history
of the United Way that an organization had received two awards. He said there would be an
awards ceremony on April to recognize award winners. Mr. Peterson congratulated Chief
Birkhead on the Town's successful campaign.
Mr. Peterson said on Friday Town Clerk Donna Armbrister would be mailing out the new Travel
Policy. He said all the departments had collaborated on the new policy.
Mr. Peterson stated that Judge Joe Buckner had met with him to discuss the challenges with the
Courtroom space and how to address that. He said they had been searching for possible venues
to temporarily locate different parts of the court process. Mr. Peterson said Joe Buckner had
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indicated it would be very helpful if the court could use the Town Barn on a semi-regular basis
for the next 18 to 24 months for hearings such as civil litigation.
Mr. Peterson stated that Judge Buckner had indicated that they would be flexible so that if the
courts usage of the facility became too much of a burden, they would make other arrangements.
He said other considerations had to be considered, such as cleaning the facility. Mr. Peterson
said they had a cleaning crew come in weekly, but the County had indicated they would be
wiling to pay for extra cleaning during that time. He said it was his intention to do what was
necessary to accommodate the court system during that time.
8:57:26 PM Mayor Stevens said he did not believe any of the Boar members objected to the
courts using the Town Barn, and thanked Mr. Peterson for working with Judge Buckner.
6. Update from Chief Birkhead on Police Department Operations
8:57:46 PM Police Chief Clarence Birkhead said the Town Board had submitted a list of
questions about the Police Department and its operations to the Town Manager, and the response
to those questions had been included in tonight's agenda materials. He said they were now at
full staff with the recent recruitment of an additional officer. Chief Birkhead said the
Department would be up for reaccredidation through CALEA in April of this year, and he had
placed several members of the Department on special assignment to help prepare for a successful
review.
Chief Birkhead said they currently had 29 full-time employees, and a breakdown of where those
individuals were assigned was at the bottom of the first page of the agenda materials. Regarding
vehicles and vehicle mileage, he remarked that many of their vehicles carried high mileage but
were still in good operating condition, and he attributed that to the hard work of the motor pool
supervisor and his staff.
Chief Birkhead said they purchased vehicles each year and had two new vehicles on order now.
He said he hoped to take deliver in the next three to four weeks.
9: 0 1: 15 PM Commissioner Hallman asked if those included the decoy vehicles. Chief
Birkhead responded yes.
9:01:22 PM Commissioner Lloyd asked how many decoy vehicles the Department had now.
Chief Birkhead replied two. He said one was used primarily as an administrative vehicle but
could be used as a decoy vehicle when needed. Commissioner Lloyd asked if vehicles were
rotated, in that one shift would use two or three cars and another shift would use others. Chief
Birkhead said their fleet was not that strong, noting that most of the time the cars were used 24/7.
9:03 :05 PM Commissioner Lloyd said she wanted to be careful about the grant money used.
Chief Birkhead stated they had not yet received the vehicles purchased with the grant funds, but
they were on order.
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9: 04: 19 PM Commissioner Dancy asked who else would be trained to use the motorcycle.
She said she was concerned about the utilization of the motorcycle and how it would be used.
Commissioner Dancy said one person could not operate it 24/7, and she believed it could be used
in the Fairview area on the weekends. Chief Birkhead said they planned to train two officers to
use the motorcycle at minimum, and possibly up to four in the future. She said they would give
them 24/7 coverage.
9:05:48 PM Commissioner Dancy said videos were used in many of the cars, and asked would
that be possible with the motorcycle. Chief Birkhead said they could, but that was a budget
issue. Commissioner Dancy said the cameras were for the protection of the officers as well as
for people being arrested or pulled by an officer. She said the motorcycle should be utilized as
best it could.
Commissioner Dancy asked how the motorcycle might be used during special events or on the
weekends. Chief Birkhead said it was not just for sporadic use, but would be used at all times.
He said primarily it would be used to respond to traffic accidents or traffic congestion. Chief
Birkhead said it would certainly be used for special events, school projects, community outreach,
and others.
9:09:29 PM Commissioner Hallman asked about the advantages of assigning one officer to
each car, and asked if that was something the Chief aimed for as a goal. Chief Birkhead stated
this was not a particular goal. He said if they had more officers who lived in the Town limits, he
would encourage it the Manager to consider that. Chief Birkhead said only 4 or 5 officers lived
within the Town limits or the ETJ.
9:10:18 PM Mr. Peterson said it would be nice to have a vehicle assigned to each officer, but
that was a matter of what the Town could afford. He said every year it came down to building a
sidewalk or buying two Police vehicles. Mr. Peterson said if the Board wanted to create an
incentive for officers to live in Town by offering to assign them a take-home vehicle that may
have additional benefits. He said they could be discussed during budget deliberations.
9: 11 :08 PM Commissioner Lloyd said she had received complaints that the substation was
locked when visited. She said she had been told that teenagers came out of the woods at dusk at
Torain Street and Rainey Avenue selling drugs, and had heard that Lunsford's was worse.
Commissioner Lloyd said they had worked hard to get the Fairview substation, and it was
suppose to help lower the crime rate. She said she wanted to see the substation used, noting that
the presence of officers was reassuring. Commissioner Lloyd said if criminals knew that the
substation was not being staffed, they would take advantage of that. She said just the presence of
Police vehicles would help.
9: 17:40 PM Chief Birkhead said the situation regarding the teenagers described by
Commissioner Lloyd had already been brought to his attention. He said they had begun
concentrating there efforts in one area, and it was now shifting to the area described. Chief
Birkhead said the investigators in Narcotics were on top of that, and they had already had some
directed patrols. He said they would combat the problem in a number of ways.
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February 26, 2007 Monthly Workshop
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Page 14 of16
9:18:29 PM Commissioner Lloyd said she believed if there were someone in the substation
then reaction time would be quicker if an officer were needed. Chief Birkhead said the
substation was staffed during the day, five days a week. He said a high school student and a NC
Central student were interning with the Department, and they were located there was well.
9:20:25 PM
through 25.
process.
Chief Birkhead said regarding the CALEA process, it was scheduled for April 21
He said reaccredidation was performed every three years, and was a rigorous
9:21:43 PM Commissioner Lowen commented that he believed the Town board continued to
support as it had in the past the CALEA process, but it concerned him that every three years they
had to go through a shuffling of staff. He said that begged the question was there something they
could be better so that would not have to happen. Commissioner Lowen said he understood that
there had been past staffing issues, but suggested that someone be appointed as the Accreditation
Manager, so that over time that person could keep things in order.
Chief Birkhead said as they moved forward, he cold assure the Town Board that they would not
be in the same position three years from now. He said they were now making exceptions to
assignments to get through the current process, but that would be solved in the future.
9:23:27 PM Commissioner Lloyd suggested that Chief Birkhead occasionally wear his
uniform when attending Town meetings. She said it would help the public identify him as the
Police Chief.
9:25:09 PM Mayor Stevens thanked Chief Birkhead for his response to the Town Board's
questions and his willingness to share areas of perceived deficiencies.
7. Discuss How Best to Respond to Citizen E-mails Sent to the Board of Commissioners
9:25:44 PM Commissioner Hallman said he had requested that this be placed on the agenda,
and since that time those emails had trickled to nonexistent. He said they had been generated by
the State of the Town address. Commissioner Hallman said he wondered if when such emails
were responded to, that the Town Board was copied on it so they would know a response had
been sent. He said he had responded to a couple of them but had not copied anyone on the
response.
9:26:52 PM Commissioner Lowen asked the Mayor how he responded to such emails or
phone calls, noting he certainly would receive more than the Town Board and was probably put
on the spot more often. Mayor Stevens said when he was called directly the returned the call.
He said when a letter was received address to the Town Board he would take responsibility to
respond to it and copy the Board, or would ask one of the Board members to respond. Mayor
Stevens said for example, if a letter was regarding tourism, he would forward that the Board
member who was involved in that for a response.
9:29:21 PM Commissioner Dancy said regarding the notice from Ms. Armbrister that a citizen
had requested the Town Board's email addresses, she asked had any of the Board members
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February 26, 2007 Monthly Workshop
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Page 15 of16
responded. Commissioner Gering said he had. Mr. Hornik said he had responded to Ms.
Armbrister. He said that if the Town Board members had personal email addresses that were
used for Town business, then such an email was public record.
9:31: 13 PM Mayor Stevens asked what requirements did hey need to be aware of. He said he
assumed that even trivial emailsweepartofthepublicrecord.Mr. Hornik said some
municipalities had elected officials set up email addresses that were only for Town business, and
said he would investigate that. He said that would address the public records issue.
9:32:22 PM Commissioner Hallman said he would like to have a town email address, but a
different tact would be to save everything and not put anything in an email that you would not
want everyone to read. Mr. Hornik said that was important to remember, in that when dealing
with town business it was the public's business.
9:32:52 PM Commissioner Dancy mentioned confidential emailssentbytheAttorney.Mr.
Hornik said he tried to be very careful when he sent the Town Board emails and made sure that
the communication was clearly marked as confidential or Attorney/Client privileged information.
9:33: 11 PM Mayor Stevens asked if such an email could then be deleted because the Attorney
would have a copy of it. Commissioner Gering said the question was did the Board members
have an obligation to archive such an email ontheirowncomputer.Mr. Hornik said he would
research the legal obligation to archive such emails. Commissioner Gering said if they were
obligated, he absolutely would not be using his private email accounts.
9:33 :39 PM Commissioner Lowen agreed, saving that rightfully so the Town should do that.
He said several of the Board used their work email addresses because that was where they were
during the day. He said they needed to discuss this issue in more detail, noting that if the Town
had an email server and the Town Board had an email address it would be easier to manage as
far as archiving because it would be on the server.
9:35:46 PM Ms. Armbrister commented that she would be forwarding the Board members
some materials on this issue very soon. She mentioned that emails received from the Town
Attorney, just because they were dealing with Town business did not make it Town business.
For instance, Ms. Armbrister said, emails regarding Closed Session discussions were not public
emails.
9:36:04 PM Ms. Hauth remarked that staff were looking at what steps needed to be taken to
expand the capability to get the Town Board email addressed. She said hey would be
considering that as they expanded and made improvements to the system.
9:36:58 PM Commissioner Lloyd said she was getting letters in opposition to a project, and
asked if those should be shared with the Town Board. Mr. Hornik said they should be part of the
public record for that project.
9:37:20 PM Commissioner Gering said that had happened to him recently, and he had brought
toe letter to the Board meeting, disclosed that he had received it, and turned it over so it could be
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Page 16 of 16
entered into the public record. Mr. Hornik said such letters should be submitted as part of the
quasi-judicial process.
9:37:42 PM Commissioner Lowen asked how you would make a phone call part of the public
record. Mr. Hornik suggested disclosing the call or calls at the Board meeting, and a brief
description of its contents, such as the caller was for or against an issue.
9:38:24 PM Commissioner Lloyd said she had been invited by a developer to view a project,
which she did not accept. She said she had informed the developer that if she accepted the
invitation, she would have to disclose that to the Board, and he had said she did not have to do
so. Mr. Hornik disagreed, noting that since that visit would likely become part of her decision-
making process she would have to disclose it to the Board and to the public.
8. View Chapel Hill Orange County Visitor's Bureau "Welcome to Orange County" DVD
(6:00 minutes)
9:41:12 PM The Board viewed the 6-minute DVD entitled 'Welcome to Orange County" prior
to entering into the Closed Session.
9. Closed Session to Discuss 1) Asphalt Plant Litigation, 2) Personnel Matters
Upon a motion by Commissioner Hallman, seconded by Commissioner Gering, the Board moved
to enter into Closed Session by a vote of 5-0. The motioned was declared passed.
10. Other
Upon returning to Open Session, there was no other business discussed.
11. Adjourn
10:50:00 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Lowen, seconded by Commissioner Hallman,
the Board moved to adjourn the meting by a vote of 5-0. The motion was declared passed.
Respectfully submitted,
Donna F. Armbrister, MMC
Town Clerk
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