[0:05] Good evening everyone.

[0:11] Good evening everyone.

[0:18] My name is Jean Hamilton. I am the chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners. I welcome everyone here today. Um, for this August 25th, 2026 business meeting.

[0:36] I call this meeting to order and I am so happy. Glad that this first thing that we're going to do is have the oath of office for appointed board member Ronnie Rossi.

[1:04] And District Court Judge Joel Hall Brown would minister the oath.

[1:17] I would like to invite my family members to join me. All of them?

[1:23] Yeah.

[1:26] Half the audience walks up to the front of the room.

[1:31] Will you.

[1:31] Hold that? Yeah. Okay. You stand that you want.

[1:38] Okay.

[1:40] Okay.

[1:41] Is there one for me? Oh.

[1:44] I'll do it like this. Okay.

[1:47] All right.

[1:49] I'm now going to do the oath of office. Repeat after me, please. I'm Ronnie Dawson.

[1:59] I'm Ronnie D'Arcy.

[2:02] Do solemnly and sincerely.

[2:04] Do solemnly and sincerely.

[2:08] Affirm.

[2:09] Affirm.

[2:13] Affirm that I will support the Constitution.

[2:17] That I will support the Constitution.

[2:19] And laws of the United States.

[2:21] And laws of the United States.

[2:24] That I will be faithful.

[2:25] That I will be faithful.

[2:26] And bear true allegiance.

[2:28] And bear true allegiance.

[2:30] To the state of North Carolina.

[2:32] To the state of North Carolina.

[2:33] And to the constitutional powers.

[2:35] And to the constitutional powers.

[2:39] And authorities.

[2:40] And authorities.

[2:41] Which are or may be, which.

[2:43] Are or may be.

[2:44] Established.

[2:46] Established.

[2:47] For the government.

[2:48] For the government.

[2:49] Thereof.

[2:50] Thereof.

[2:52] That I will endeavor.

[2:54] That I will endeavor.

[2:55] To support.

[2:56] To support.

[2:57] Maintain and defend.

[2:59] Maintain and defend.

[3:00] The Constitution.

[3:02] The Constitution.

[3:03] And laws of said state.

[3:04] And laws of said state.

[3:07] Not inconsistent. Not inconsistent with the Constitution.

[3:11] With the Constitution.

[3:13] Of the United States.

[3:14] Of the United States.

[3:15] To the best of my knowledge and ability.

[3:18] To the best of my knowledge and ability.

[3:20] And that I will.

[3:21] And that I will.

[3:23] Faithfully discharge the duties.

[3:25] Faithfully discharge the duties.

[3:27] Of my office.

[3:28] Of my office as Commissioner.

[3:30] As Commissioner on the Orange County Board.

[3:33] On the Orange County Board.

[3:35] Of Commissioners.

[3:36] Of Commissioners.

[3:37] This is my solemn affirmation.

[3:39] This my solemn affirmation.

[3:41] Congratulations.

[3:42] Thank you.

[4:00] Oh, I'm not even going to give you guys.

[4:14] So you don't give out.

[4:19] Thank you, Judge Brown. Thank you.

[4:25] Thank you. Good work baby.

[4:28] Yeah.

[4:32] Come on up and join the work.

[4:44] Thanks.

[5:06] We're going to pop out.

[5:11] Here.

[5:33] And let you get settled. And we're going to go right into the work. Because as we have a lot on our agenda today and, um, I always try to run a meeting that's efficient and effective.

[5:49] Thank you so much.

[5:50] And we there will be an opportunity for comments by board members. So you'll be able to we all will comment later on.

[5:58] Okay. Thank you.

[6:00] Um, but for now I'm going to keep going and ask, are there any additions or changes to the agenda? Seeing none. We're going to move on to public comment for items that are not on the printed agenda. I'm going to read the public charge. The Board of Commissioners well, pledges its respect to all present. The board asked those attending this meeting to conduct themselves in a respectful, courteous manner toward each other, county staff and the commissioners at any time. Should a member of the board or the public fail to observe this charge? The chair will take steps to restore order, and decorum should have become impossible to restore order and continue the meeting. The chair will recess the meeting until such time that a genuine commitment to this public charge is observed. We also ask that all atomic devices such as cell phones, pagers and computers be turned off or set to silent vibrate. And please be kind to everyone. So, um, for public comments, you get three minutes. Uh, vice Chair Fowler runs the timer. Uh, when you start speaking, the light will turn green. When there's 30s left. It will be yellow. And when it's red. Um, to wrap up your sentence. And so there are two people signed up for items not in the printed agenda. And the first one is Bill Madden.

[7:51] Thank you. Thank you chair. Hamilton. So wonderful to see y'all y'all. It's been so nice to. It's been a long time since I've seen you. Uh, several months. And I have so much to tell you. Uh, last time I saw Jim, Zita was at the Polly Marie Awards, and she looked so happy, uh, being called out in front of the large group. And it was like she had this joy on her face that you would see of a child, of being appreciated and loved. And that's how I'd like to remember her. Uh, Ronnie D'Arcy. Congratulations. Uh, Jean Hamilton, you are really good at greeting people to this podium, and I've tried to praise you before about that. And I'm doing so more publicly because I want to.

[8:43] I want to relate to you that sometimes people look at me and they have no idea about who I am or such, and they judge me based upon how perhaps someone who looked like a lot like me treated them very negatively, unjustly and unkindly. And I understand the bias I don't enjoy. I don't enjoy being told I look like a cop by people who don't like cops. And that's that's part of life. Um, I don't want to tolerate. I don't want to tolerate the abuse.

[9:24] When I was in high school, I went to a thing called American Legion Boys State. Just after I finished my junior year in high school, 1000 boys from across the state of Michigan went to Michigan State University. Uh, my classmates and my public high school. The girls, they went to Girl State at another, uh, large campus at the same time basically a thousand boys and a thousand girls standing in residence, college residential hall for a whole week together. Okay, but you want to make sure you don't have the boys and the girls together. Because anyhow, when I came to you some months ago to talk to you about the North Carolina Office of EMS that had sponsored a summer program for girls. Okay. I asked, how does this not violate the non-discrimination policy? Very obviously, I didn't see anything for boys. The response I got from email was sooner than I expected, and it said that it doesn't violate the policy. It didn't say how, and I got I didn't get a good feeling from that. I didn't feel I was being treated fairly. Um, I really didn't. And you would be surprised. Some of the bias that occurs.

[10:37] Based on sex. Uh, let's see, in the past, I have told the town of Carrboro. They were in property in Chapel Hill, and I found I told you about Opportunity South Carolina LLC. And I want to tell you on Monday night how to abscond property from Orange County, because I have found it.

[10:55] Thank you. Next up, we have Carrie Hamill.

[11:02] Good evening. My name is Carrie Hamill, and I'm here for a few matters early in the season. First is what changes and more details to the public about any consideration of changing the student funding formula for the two public schools. Second, if there could be a review of if more funding is needed for both of the school districts in order to be able to timely respond to public record request. At this point, the finances in the school district, What exactly is happening with county funds and with much greater granular detail, asking that how those funds are reaching students and teachers. And my last point, which I brought up last year, is what tangible steps is the county taking to increase the teacher supplement, specifically in Orange County schools? But in all, for all the student facing teachers to make sure that we maintain this excellent workforce. Thank you very much.

[12:12] Thank you.

[12:16] All right. This is, um, there's only two people on for things, not on the agenda. Is there anyone else who wants to speak on an item that's not on the printed agenda? Right. And please state your name.

[12:32] Good evening, commissioners. My name is Dolores Bailey. I'm the executive Director of Empowerment Incorporated and on behalf of the Staff and Board of Empowerment Incorporated, we would like to welcome our newest commissioner and say we are here to help. However, I do own 73 rental units throughout all of Orange County, and I'll be back before you to talk about that. But I do want to congratulate you and say, welcome to the board.

[12:59] Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. Seeing no one else, we're going to go on with our agenda. Thank you.

[13:15] So next we have announcements, petitions and comments by board members. And Commissioner Dorsey, do you want to start off?

[13:30] Yes. Thank you very much.

[13:32] Um.

[13:34] I want to start, as I normally do, with gratitude. Very mindful of the folks who paved the way for me to be here. I also want to recognize former Commissioner James Etta Bedford for her leadership and service, and her examples that continue to guide the community. I'm extremely grateful for her life and legacy. She left with us. She set a standard that reminds us to lead with courage and compassion. As I was reading through the packet to prepare for this meeting, which I was again reminded of the enormity of the responsibility that this board carries. And so I want to thank you to the county staff for all of your expertise in making this work possible, and I look forward to partnering with you as we move forward. To the sitting board members, thank you for your welcome and your willingness to help me learn. And most importantly, I am grateful to join a board that has a moral center that reflects a commitment to focusing on what's best for our communities. And to my friends, my birth family, my queens, you know who you are, my extended family, and yes, all of my sisters. You see them out here in the pink and green. Thank you. You all know this is work we do together. Thank you for continuing to encourage me, support me and bless me. I will need all of that and more. And let's be honest, you will be getting late night texts, early morning calls, and y'all listen to this messages, so I appreciate you in advance. You have been warned. I am excited about the work we do together. And thank you again.

[15:19] Thank you, Commissioner Rickey.

[15:22] I can't say how pleased I am to have the honor to officially speak to Commissioner Ronnie Dorsey.

[15:31] Thank you.

[15:36] Um. Vice chair. Fowler.

[15:39] Um, first and foremost, yes. I would like to welcome our new commissioner, Ronnie Dorsey. And then secondly, I hope that everyone had a good summer and are ready to pick up the pace. We have a lot to do. Um, since our last meeting, I attended the Eno Arts mill, um, reopening night, and I was glad to see a lot of other commissioners there, but glad to see it thriving and enjoy some music and fellowship. Um, in terms of meetings, the tax work group met last on 817, where we received an interim update from GA on their evaluation of the Tax Department policies, procedures, structures and resources. And they plan to share their final draft at the end of the month. And then the tax department also outlines some changes that they have already started to implement, such as new software called Eagle View that will provide more data on specific properties. And they've also transitioned one staff person title from appraiser to reevaluation manager that will put more sustained effort into the reviews and to provide better accounting of the county's expenses related to reviews. And they also plan to use MLS to provide more sales comps. So there are many others that we will hear about at a future meeting, both from GA and hopefully also from our department. I also am now serving on the DSS Advisory Board in place of James Etta, and they also met on the 17th. They reported that the number of Snap recipients has decreased to 4300, down from 5000 last year due to the new federal requirements. Medicaid enrollment is also down, and these there are new work requirements for Medicaid. And there's the increased frequency of certification for Snap with decreased federal funding for that administration. And so to give context. Orange County received 31 million in Snap benefits last year. So this is like a 10 to 11% reduction, which not only impacts families but also the economy here in Orange County. Um, and, you know, the rest of the states feeling similar impacts. So there may be grocery stores going out of business in rural areas. Um, also to reiterate from last the last meeting, H.R. one, which involved, um, the snap error rates, which um, causes fines for states, but in our state, they are passing that fine along to the counties. So that might have a significant impact for us. I did write a letter to our congressperson and senators to ask for support in a one year delay in that implementation. Um, we also heard from the child fatality Task Force. Learning about the leading cause of infant death is related to unsafe sleep. Um, such as co-sleeping. And infant deaths are down. But the African American infant deaths are three times that of white infants. So definitely still need work in that area. In older age groups, suicide deaths are down but remain the highest cause of death in ages 10 to 14 and 15 to 19, and have led them to recommend increased mental health providers in schools, which you are all familiar with that need, among other, um, recommendations. On a happier note, they did mention that the Drake word is being well used in terms of the workforce training and the Durham tech classes, so I think that's good news. Um, that that that building is finding good use. Um, I also served on 18 the Burlington Graham MPO. And one contentious issue was that the sub allocation of federal dollars to the five different transportation agencies that served the MPO members voted to create a subcommittee to reevaluate the formula and consider using ridership. The problem with that is Orange County has not been collecting data on ridership for on demand, so it's unclear what the impact for us will be, but what is known is that it will delay receiving those federal funds until this gets decided. And then finally, Triangle West TPO met today. The agenda can be found on WW.

[19:40] And among other items, we learned about three pots of funding for safety projects. And they apparently also presented this to the technical committee. So I'm hoping that our staff are aware and looking out for those opportunities. And then finally, we did have our quarterly transportation meeting, um, between the county municipalities and NCDOT today at lunch. And we heard an update on the Orange County Bike and PED plan, trails plan and transit free fare, which, by the way, is a big hit. It is nearing full capacity at midday. Um, so that's useful information. Also learned that Chappell reported the FHA application for the North South BRT is fully submitted, and it's now going to be branded as rapid. And then they are also coordinating with uncW and other members, because there is likely to be a good bit of congestion when that gets started in a couple of years. Um, and they are working on communication around that. Um, and then NCDOT gave a variety of reports. One big concern to them, a safety and one of the low yield, um, or high yield for low dollars, is that they're converting a lot of two way stops to four way stops across the whole state. So, um, and they also mentioned a project start on NC 86, bridge over the railroad that will include a sidewalk extending up to Hampton Village, and also a bridge over new Hope Creek, which I thought people might be interested in.

[21:04] All right. Thank you. Vice chair. Fowler. Uh, Commissioner Green.

[21:11] Thank you and welcome, Commissioner Dorsey. I'm looking forward to working with you. Um, and I also was at the, you know, our small grand reopening, and it was just a wonderful, wonderful to be at a joyful occasion and particularly joyful after the long, hard year they had of recovery. So it's good that so many of us were there to celebrate the mill and the importance of the arts to our community. Last week I attended the um Visitors Bureau meeting, and our special guest was Brad Ives, who had been at UNC years ago as the sustainability manager. He's now back as senior advisor to the Chancellor for strategy and Planning, and he had some news to bring one about the World University Games, which are going to be happening in the triangle area in 2029. But there's already necessarily a lot of planning going on. This will bring 5000 people to be to be housed on the uncW campus alone. This will be the largest athletic event that happens globally in 2029. People will be in town for 19 days, and there will just be all kinds of craziness going on. I knew something about it from Go Triangle because they too are getting ready to provide transportation for it. Um. Mr. Hobbs also shared some things about the Chancellor's priorities, including some some news about Carolina North. I was happy to know that they are planning at the moment in the master plan, some 2200 beds for students, plus workforce housing and staff housing, and that some roughly 700 acres will remain untouched. So the community will still be able to evolve to enjoy, hopefully the Pumpkin Trail and all other amenities in the forest out there. Um, that's about it for me. Thank you.

[23:00] All right. Thank you, Commissioner green. Commissioner Porter. Yes. Good evening, everyone. And I, too, want to welcome Commissioner Ronnie Dorsey. I look forward to working with you. And I place a bag of materials for your review from the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners recent conference. There's a very helpful information in there that includes a new county data map book that you would want to take a look at. Okay. Um, I also want to give a quick update from the conference and from the NC ACC board meeting. Orange County was recognized at the first night reception, um, with a County partnership award recognizing the investment, our investment in cooperative extension. So I want to say congratulations to that team. The theme of the conference this year was innovation, and there were over 35 different sessions that we could choose from over those three days. One of the things that I participated in was an affordable housing tour. The county converted two parking lots. One was a two acre acre parcel. They converted that into 110 mixed income affordable housing rep is what they're calling it. And along with childcare, space, commercial and retail. The other was a four acre lot that they converted into. Again, affordable housing and market rate housing. Um, that will include commercial and retail space for a grocery store. They're hoping to get both structures while they sit in the city of Durham. They were completely built with county funds at the board of directors and meetings. We were provided with a status update on the past legislative goals. Of the 47 goals that Ncac set back in 2024, because we meet every two years. Um, to set those goals, 16 were fully achieved and 19 or partially achieved, including the goal for pay raises for teachers to help with recruitment and retention, and $46.9 million for farmland preservation. This is a reminder for my colleagues. I know that several of us serve on different steering committees. It's a new year now with the NCAA, so we do have to rejoin those steering committees and we can recommend someone also, um, if we so choose, Commissioner Dorsey. Um, the steering committees will meet though September 14th through the 25th to decide which goals move forward to the board and to the legislative Goals conference in November. Finally, I have a petition that I would like for my colleagues to consider. Um, as we know, the 21st Century Road to Housing Act became federal law this summer, and it is considered the largest federal housing law in decades. And I would like for us to consider asking staff to review the act and identify which provisions and and incentives directly impact Orange County and report back to us at a work session. All right. Thank you.

[26:21] Thank you. Commissioner Scott. Now, Commissioner Carter.

[26:24] Thank you, Madam Chair. And so I must add my enthusiastic welcome to Commissioner Darcy to the board. I look forward to serving with you. Um, and I'll spend a moment, because, as you can tell, many of us have been very busy this summer. Um, and so I hope my list won't be too long for you. Um. This week, this past week, I was sworn into the Durham Tech Community College Board of Trustees. And this is to fill James. That is vacant seat. Um, and I was pleased to hear about their focus on workforce development. And we'll be attending a trustee training this week. Uh, I also attended a four day economic development training earlier this summer at the uncW School of Government, and one of the chief takeaways was the importance of intentionally linking our economic development strategies and planning with land use planning. Um, they talked about how important it is to grow our communities through looking at economic opportunity, housing, transportation, agriculture and quality of life, and continuing on the agriculture theme as part of the National Farmer's Market Week and the Triangle Double Bucks. Uh, it's a nutrition incentive program, a number of us toward, um, the Chapel Hill, the Hillsboro, and I believe the Carrboro farmers markets. I know Commissioner Scott joined me on a couple of those as well. And this program is supported in part by Orange County. Um, it helps families experiencing food insecurity to access more fresh, local food while supporting our small farmers and strengthening our local economy. And I also was able to attend the North Carolina Association of Commissioners conference in Durham last week and was very pleased, as Commissioner Scott mentioned, with Orange County's recognition of the Cooperative Extension's Partnership Award. And they specifically called out the way Orange County is innovating in this space. And you may recall the rapid response last year during the federal shutdown, uh, using some social justice reserve funds, thanks to our staff and the partnership with the Cooperative extension, um, we're able to provide food access for over 9000 residents in that moment. There's a plaque that was received by Jonathan Smith of the Cooperative Extension, and it will be on display at the Whitted Building. The conference sessions also talked about areas of risk for counties, budget risk, the importance of reserves and, of course, the mental health crisis that so many of our members of our community are struggling with and its impact on our county services. And finally, as a part of the conference, I was able to attend a presentation by Durham's business incubator, Nock Street Studios. Um, and what key question I took away for discussion as we go forward were what are your county's top three economic development priorities? So this is a question certainly for all of us, and I'm looking forward to, um, conversations around that question as we look ahead. So thank you, Madam Chair.

[30:10] Thank you, Commissioner Carter. Um, I will first welcome us all back after our summer break. Um, and as you've heard, and I as I've heard, we've all been very busy, um, despite the summer. And I want to add my deep, heartfelt welcome to Commissioner Darcy. I served with Commissioner Darcy on the school board. Um, I served with her on the capital needs work group, which in which I cannot underline enough the work she did in order to understand the capital needs of our schools. Um, to put a report together, which I don't think it's often known that that report was written by, Commissioner Darcy, myself and Commissioner Ed School board member Bonnie Hauser, and that we really. Um, that really was foundational in getting recommendations that led to having a consultant who would have an objective view of the needs and then to the bond. So I have personal experience with the hard work. Um, as you can all hear, like the dedication of this board and how much work we have in front of us. So I am ecstatic in my lowkey way of having, uh, Commissioner.

[31:48] Darcy join us with her, um, with her skills, with her experience and her background. Um, we are very fortunate. And, uh, you will have to work hard.

[32:03] I'm getting that sense.

[32:04] I'm getting that sense. I am not going to go into the various meetings and things that I've done, but I want to, um, let the board know, uh, that we have a lot in September. And I think our clerk, Laura Jensen, for giving us an email, which I'm going to say, I print it out and I keep it like posted because I want to keep track. So next week we have a meeting. Uh, September 1st. It's going to be at Whitted. We're going to have a closed session. We're going to have a group photo. We're going to have a business meeting. And in that business meeting, there is going to be, um, uh, proposed changes to our unified development ordinance. So, you know, like, folks will need to pay attention, which that will come out on Thursday. On December, uh, September 10th, we have a work session back here at Southern on September 14th. We have a land use plan retreat, and that's at Southern Human Services. On September 15th at 6 p.m., we have a joint planning meeting with the Town of Chapel Hill at Southern Human Services, and then have a business meeting and, um, and then September 16th, we have a closed session proposed. So. Okay, keep track where we're going to be. Um, also, um.

[33:40] You know, uh, the timber first, uh, we will have, um, uh, opportunity to honor James Etter Bedford. Um, and it was honored to be at our memorial service on Saturday. Um, and the board has invited her family to come for presentations on that.

[34:07] So I'll stop there. Um, but this is again, the beginning of a busy time of year. We have lots of, um, you know, know that we're in challenging times and, uh, both I mean, commissioners have alluded to that. And I will, you know, certainly hear more from me. Uh, the state changes, the federal changes are going to really challenge our local government, county government and municipalities. And I hope that everyone here and everyone in the community stays aware of the really unprecedented challenges, um, that this community is under because of funding changes at the state and federal level.

[34:57] So, but we will go on with our agenda. We have a first thing up for under proclamations, resolutions and special presentations. We have the tax collectors annual settlement for fiscal year 2526. And we have our interim tax administrator, John Burgess. Thank you so much for your work. We have our deputy tax assessor, Chad Phillips, and our collections manager, Valerie Currie, to take us through this. Thank you.

[35:30] Thank you. And good evening, chair, vice Chair and commissioners, it's our pleasure to present to you the tax assessors or tax collectors annual settlement. The settlement document, as you know, is a very large document and in a way that we hope increases our public engagement and informational awareness and transparency about our office. We've come up with a PowerPoint presentation to summarize that settlement and some of the activities in our office that our good staff does throughout the year to help make a successful year like we've had possible. Um, so, uh, we will we'll get going with that. Uh, Valerie and Chad are going to do the presentation for us at the end. Uh, what we are ultimately asking for is for you to receive the tax collectors annual settlement and to issue the orders to collect for fiscal years 26 and 27. Thank you.

[36:28] Thank you. Good evening. Chair, madam Chair and commissioners. We appreciate your time and the opportunity to present the settlement in this visual format. We hope it helps. Um, as you're aware, the settlement is required by law, and it's basically the final and formal report for the year. It's what you've received every month at your regular meetings but culminated in this beautiful report for you. Okay. We're going to talk in the next three sides about stack staff workloads over the next year, over the last year. Excuse me. And I think we're going to talk through some of this with Chad.

[37:03] All right. So yeah this is the workloads. But it's also just a chance for us to show the amount of engagement we have with the public. So for example, with the board of EMR, um, you know, those are based on the amount of appeals that we had, but it's it's the actual work that the staff did for those appeals. Uh, the customer calls, of course. Revalue. That's that's a lot more than what we'd normally expect. But, um, emails, we've got the two different groups there, we've got the management emails, and then we've got the Rievaulx team specifically. So those are only emails that came to those particular groups that doesn't count, like individuals that came to to me, to Valerie, to whoever. And then we do also have a live chat service where we can actually just talk to people through the web itself, instead of email instead of phone calls.

[38:01] Here we're discussing some of our strategic efforts last year. Um, we do have e billing options, and we have 8700 taxpayers enrolled in that. And we do have an ach e check payment, an electronic check payment that is free to taxpayers. Thanks to the support of the commissioners and the manager, we have increased that by 48%. That gives taxpayers a really secure way to pay those online without a fee. Um, and it reduces the emissions and kind of complies with strategic planning and the way that we want to reduce greenhouse gases. Both of those options do, and we're going to move on to chat again for some more staff information. Thank you. Oh, sorry. That's me. Take it back. Apologies. So this is just showing our collections division workload. Um, just payments really received here and the method they've been received, and you guys have had a chance to look through that. If you have any questions, certainly let us know. But we're just showing you the workload here. Divided among just the payments that we've received over the year, we thought it was interesting that we had 9272 payments over the counter. So we do get some great interaction with the public, and we use it well to educate them and and help them understand what programs there are, what payment methods there are, and what the tax rules are. And we're back to chat.

[39:17] All right. So the that's the motor vehicle system that's uh, notices this went out based on vehicle taxes. Uh, you can see about 115,000 last year. Um, and again reevaluate. So the appeals were more than normal, but got the, uh, 3300 informal, the thousand board of EMR, uh, the new construction. That's just any time a permit is issued, the appraiser goes out and reviews the property. So about 2000 of those were reviewed. Uh, the value notices, that's the rebound notices. So that's whenever we just we had the values and we mailed them out. So.

[39:54] Land records kind of the similar just a workload here. You can see that nearly 15,000 documents they processed uh almost 4000 of those are ownership transfers, uh, 231 plots. They also did about almost 800 estates. And the current parcel count of the properties that they maintain is 59,318.

[40:24] They do a lot. It seems very simple in that slide, but they do a lot. We wanted to talk a little bit about calculating the tax collection percentage. We just wanted to mention here that when tax collectors are doing that, they are including all the charges, any bankruptcies or foreclosures that may be in your jurisdiction should be included. And we certainly do that as well according to the law. And we wanted to talk to you here about our collection status. As you can see, the levy itself is about $203 million and you can see the bill count. We have such a great opportunity to work with taxpayers who are able to pay timely, and we really thank them for paying timely. By January 5th, about 93% of the revenue is collected by that date. So then of course, on January 6th of that date, the delinquent date, we had $14 million that was unpaid. And as of June 30th, we had collected all but about 1.4 million or so of that money. So 13 million would be collected by June 30th. And again, that's really important to create that equity.

[41:32] As you can see here, real estate, the collection rate for that is a lot higher than it is for personal property. It's just a little more difficult to collect. We're just showing you our combined rates based on the levy type itself.

[41:44] We've got some history here of our collection rates just to show you, um, just how they're consistent usually, and obviously in the 99 percentiles.

[41:56] This is our municipality collection rate. So what we collect for these towns, we collect for their rates for the fiscal year.

[42:06] And this is our history of our amounts collected. Um, this is for prior year collection. So this is the ten prior years of collections that we collected during these particular fiscal years, respectively.

[42:21] These are the prior year collections for our municipalities. So those delinquent taxes that we're collecting for them during this year. Question at the. Yes, absolutely.

[42:31] On the um the to two slides.

[42:35] Back.

[42:35] That one what what explains 114%

[42:40] collected.

[42:42] So the budgeted amount and the collected amount. So that's what we're looking at.

[42:49] And I see.

[42:50] So we're looking at we do exceed the budgeted amount. Right. Not the charged amount but the budget amount typically.

[42:58] Okay.

[43:01] Yes. And is budgeted just like what you expect to get based on in prior years.

[43:05] It is was calculated during. You know, the law tells us how to calculate that we give our information to the budget office, and they use that to make that trajectory for the next year. They used last year's collection rate basically prior year. And we'll move through that one real quick. And here we're just letting you know that at the end of the year, we are just so happy that both levies the prior year levy and the current year levy. We only have about $4.4 million left over, and that is a wow for our staff. It's a while for the taxpayers who pay timely and who care about what their dollars do for the community they live in. Um, and it just shows the work that we've done all year to help people learn how to pay or pay timely, or help them through a hard time.

[43:52] As we said before, 93% of the revenue is paid timely, but there is a law that requires us to make diligent effort to collect those collectibles, those ones that have not been paid. So we spend that time from January to June attempting to collect everything we can for the fiscal year. And we used enforcement, collection and other measures to do that. That's true across the state. This just gives you the numbers on how those funds come in.

[44:21] And here we're just showing you how typically we are doing well and collecting over budget just the fiscal year history there.

[44:36] We've got some goals coming up. And Chad's going to talk about those.

[44:39] All right. So the the first thing here is the GIS server upgrade. So that's the thing that the, the land records GIS folks have just been working on and almost entirely done with it. Just a few more little problems that they got with some of the municipality stuff. But this would apply to all users of the GIS for the county. So, uh, secondary part of this is the GIS right now. The GIS addressing and land records is all within tax. We're in the process of moving the GIS out of tax and moving it into it. That's a fairly normal setup for most counties. The LR camel conversion. Uh, been working on getting that set up for assessment for a while. But what this does is it integrates land records and assessment and billing and collections all under one umbrella. And we should have that hopefully within the next month or so. Eagle View, we've kind of mentioned it, but it's an aerial system that all of the departments of the county, as well as the towns will have access to. So it's not just tax, it would also be planning housing inspections, whoever. One thing that we've we've kind of worked with, Travis John is for the 2029 reveal, we're going to start doing presentations to the board more regularly. And the first one that we're looking to do is in February of 2027,

[46:09] community outreach. We did roughly 20 events in 2025, but we're looking to do more events and do them more often and earlier.

[46:22] We were able to be at the arts event as well, and that was wonderful and that was a great showing. So I think having a band really helped to have the public out. So that was great. We had about 25 people come by, so that's not usually true with tax. So

[46:38] Next on our list is the Ila. The interlocal agreements for jurisdictions in our area being renegotiated. We're currently working with the budget office and the manager's office on that. Um, we hope to achieve a 99.50% current collection rate by 2930. We do think that's achievable. Um, we do want to continue using the same enforcement remedies and foreclosure programs and maintain our cross training with employees in our office. You may not you're aware public may not be aware, but we do collect for the EMS, uh, ambulance services. So we bill and collect for that. And so we wanted to tout a couple of things this year. Our EMS billing manager, Tammy Rae, who was unable to be here tonight, did receive the Certified Ambulance Compliance officer designation this year. We're very proud of her for that. That really helps to solidify her knowledge. Um, and we we're showing you here just the past collections there. And we want to appreciate, uh, appreciate, Commissioner Scott, for finding an error on this slide. We've gotten that corrected for us. So. And here we've got the receivables. Over the past year I think we had some questions about that. But I think we've answered those. Um, if you have any questions let me know.

[47:49] And these are all included in the settlement as well. That's a wrap. That's all we have for this evening. We'd like to know if you have any questions for us.

[47:58] Commissioners. Any questions? Okay.

[48:00] Commissioner Carter. Thank you. Thank you for this update. Um, appreciate the thoroughness and all the information. I did have a question on the slide. If I could ask. Um, just to make sure I understood. So we're seeing in FY 2526 about 1.4 million uncollected. And that is as a percentage of the total levy. And if I'm right, it's like 99.3% has been collected.

[48:30] That's correct. Okay. I think it was three 2 or 3 four not considering, uh, motor vehicles with the state. So it's 99.34 if we consider vehicles collected through the state.

[48:40] And that's why it's a wow. Okay.

[48:43] Well, because 99.34 I think is amazing. Just having just that little bit left. Yeah.

[48:47] That was going to be my next point. Question is how do we compare in current year collections to other counties across the state roughly.

[48:56] Um, we're pretty good. We're probably usually top ten, top 15 at the at the least. There are some counties in the 99.7. Um, and we again are striving to get a little better at that. Um, but we are consistently in my career, my 29 career, we we've always been in the top five or so, but I think we're probably the top ten now.

[49:15] So we're grateful for you out there.

[49:18] And check that out for you and let you know.

[49:20] We're certainly grateful for your work there, and also for all of our taxpayers who pay timely. Um, and then I noticed, of course, the prior years, um, and this is, I think, in a question offline. Um, John responded, this is representing 2 to 10 years of unpaid taxes. That is correct. Again, that is why it's a wow. Because that's over an eight year period. Um, so I just wanted to process that a little bit out loud and make sure I understood. Thank you.

[49:53] Thank you, Commissioner Carter. Other questions.

[49:58] Seeing none. Thank you so much for this presentation. I, um, found really helpful and refreshing to have. This is something that we had not seen in the past, and it's certainly helpful for us as commissioners to understand, um, about collections for the tax office. And I'm happy that you've cued up the things that are coming, because we will have more questions and I will just, uh, Encourage the next time you present, um, to make sure to define all the terms really well and just consider that we are neophytes at this. And I know it's hard for folks who do it all the time. Um, to go ahead to make sure you, um, explain exactly what these products are.

[50:52] Absolutely. Thank you for the opportunity. We're excited to use this format, and we thank John for pressing us to do this. So thank you.

[50:58] All right. Thank you. John. We have, um, we have a motion. Who wants to move Commissioner McKee.

[51:09] Madam chair, I move to approve and authorize the chair to sign the resolution, accepting it as reported, for entry into the minutes. To approve and authorize the chair to sign and issue the order to collect to the tax collector for fiscal year 2026, 2027, and to prove and direct the tax collector to release debts charged, including 2020 EMS ambulance bills in 2016. Advisory and personal property tax and fee bills.

[51:39] Second I second that motion two seconds.

[51:44] Commissioner Ronnie D'Arcy, I will give you that second. You have to be quick on this board. All in favor? Aye aye aye. Any opposed? None that passes seven zero.

[51:59] Uh, we have we have no public hearings. And so we will move to our regular agenda. We'll have an updated process for the sale of Orange County owned real property. And we have Connor Wilkins, Asset Management Services assistant director, to present what that new process will be if we approve it.

[52:32] Good evening. I'm Connor Wilkins, the assistant director of asset management services. I'm here before you this evening to present to you a new and updated process for how the county sells Orange County owned property. Um, and just to give a little context as to how we arrived here earlier this year, two properties were brought before the board. Um, one actually is on the consent agenda because it has completed the upset bid process. But two properties were brought before the board. Um, and in approving that for the start of the upset bid process, there was a discussion of a couple things surrounding that process and how those properties were advertised, as well as the valuation of those properties. And so, with the approval of those two properties at the beginning of the year to begin the upset bid process. The board asked staff to work to develop a new and updated process, and make some revisions and some additions to make the process a little more user friendly, and so that advertisements can be a little more widespread so that, you know, the wider Orange County community can more be more abreast of county owned property sales. So I want to remind everybody of the current process as it stands right now. Um, how this works is as presented on this slide. The county would receive an offer from a interested resident of Orange County. Um, typically they would ask us in some instance, in most instances, actually, whether or not or what they should offer for that piece of property. And because asset management staff is not really qualified to determine what a piece of property is worth or what it's valued at. We would typically direct them to the tax value of that property. And we would also inform them of the prices of other properties that have sold in the past that are similar to that one. This interested party would then submit an offer, an official offer, via the process designated by the Finance Office, and then that offer would go before the board for approval to begin the upset bid process. If that upset bid process is approved by the board, that upset bid process will begin. And then, as required by state statute, the legal advertisement is posted in a newspaper, which we use the Durham Herald Sun for that. After the completion of the upset bid process, the final highest bid is brought back before the board for approval and acceptance, and if the board accepts that final high bid staff will then initiate the sale of the property to the winning bidder. Now there are a couple of challenges to this process. Obviously, the big one here is there's very limited advertisement. And typically what this causes is the initial offer, which is the very first one that is brought before the board is the only one that we get. And that upset bid process runs for ten days, it closes and then that's the end of that. And also other uses for the properties are not really identified. And this is something that we seem or wanted to address in this new process in working with other departments.

[55:51] So as I get into the new process that we're putting forth tonight for your approval, I wanted to talk a little bit about some of the additions and more specifically on another slide about the new ways that we will advertise these properties if we get offers that come before you. So I want to emphasize, though, that the core of this, of this new process remains the same. The initial offer still has to come before the board for acceptance and the start of the upset bid process and at the conclusion of the upset bid process, it still has to become or come before the board again for approval. But in addition to that, staff is recommending that at the start of the process before this offer, the initial offer arrives to the board that asset management services will verify with other relevant departments, whether that be deeper planning and inspections, housing or transportation, that there are no other current plans for the property that is being offered. Properties can be used for a number of different things, whether that be park or green space, affordable housing, a bus stop. But prior to prior to this, in our current process, we were not doing that. And so this gives us an opportunity to maybe identify or designate other properties that the county owns for other uses. Also with this, asset Management services staff will confirm with the individual that place the initial offer that They will then be responsible for a couple of administrative costs that this new process is going to incur. Um, the first one which was in the previous process was the cost of the legal advertisements, which ranged anywhere from 200 to $3500. That is a wide range, but one of the properties that is still being in the upset bid process has gotten up to that point, because it is still going on from earlier in the year. Another couple other of the administrative costs that the initial offer will be responsible for is the listing of the property on a local MLS. Asset management staff has been working in the background with picket sprouts to put these properties. If they are approved on a local MLS for $500 a pop, and a professional appraisal will be done for $1,200 on the property, and the person who brought the initial offer will also be responsible for that cost at the end of the upset bid process. Now, the meat of the changes to this process comes with the advertisement portion of this, which occurs during the upset bid process. After the board accepts the ore and approves the initial offer. And listed here are all of the different things that staff will engage in to make sure that these properties are advertised to a wide range of community members across Orange County. The first one is the statutorily required. One is posting the legal notice in the Durham Herald Sun. We also will engage again, like I mentioned in the previous slide with pickets. Browse to post that on the local MLS. Um asset management staff will also engage with the Community Relations department to post the property sales on the Orange County social media accounts, and to list the advertisement in the newsletter that is managed by Community Relations that they send out. Uh, Asset Management staff will also post a sign of physical sign at the property, noting that the property is for sale and how to place an offer. That sign has made his appearance already in a previous property sale, and it has a QR code that directs that someone can scan, go up to and scan it, and it directs them to the website, which tells them how to submit an offer on this property and asset management staff will also update their own web page, with the advertisement linking the official bid that is posted by the finance department, and giving further directions as to how to submit a bid to the Finance Office. And this really isn't an advertisement, but we will get the property formally appraised, as I know that this was something that the board was interested in the last time this came up, and that property or that property appraisal done formally will then be submitted back to the board with the winning bid, so that the board has all the necessary information about what the market value of the property is, as well as the final offer that came out of the upset bid process. And something to note here is that at any point, the board can reject any bid or offer, and that is at any point throughout the upset bid process, whether it has been approved or not, to start the upset bid process or even at its conclusion. The board reserves that right at any time. And some of the solutions that this new process provides along with these advertisements, the increased advertisements reaches a wider audience and again, that allows more residents to bid on these properties, which increases more revenue for the county. That is evident of the of the property that is on the consent agenda tonight. The initial offer for that property was 10,000. It has gotten all the way up to over 60. And that is not even including some of the advertisements that I've presented to you here. That was running some test runs about some of the things we could do with in those advertisements in sort of a trial basis with these, with that property and the one that's still going. The county will also receive, of course, an accurate and updated valuation of the property. And of course, as I mentioned earlier, that would be presented back to the board along with the final offer at the conclusion of the upset bid process. Um, and of course, as I mentioned a couple slides ago, the property could be designated for other uses that maybe staff didn't know about, whether that be affordable housing, park space, bus shelter, um, any number of things. So that is the conclusion of the presentation, but I will reserve some time for questions. If so.

[1:01:53] All right. Thank you very much for this presentation and for this pretty comprehensive redo of our process. I saw a.

[1:02:03] Couple of hands. I'm going to start with Commissioner Scott because I know you're. I think for the commissioner who really pushed us to look at this process. Okay. Thank you, Connor, also, for this comprehensive, um, presentation. Um, I'm wondering, though, looking at this, it looks like we're describing what happens after we receive an offer and just thinking about, um, one of the folks that was at the Ncac conference last week. Public surplus. They were there, um, hoping that counties would consider their service. So I was just wondering, is there a separate or existing process by how asset management identifies county property as surplus and then put that out there for sale? Or and if not, can we consider that as a part of.

[1:03:04] So I think process I think uh, my director Alan Dorman, would be perfect person to answer that.

[1:03:11] So yes, that's perfect. So right now, Asset Management Services is working with planning to review all the 170 parcels owned by the county. Um, and we're not quite through that process, but we're going to get back to the board with what we consider parcels that are surplus to the county's, um, needs and make some decisions about how we should, uh, what what should we do with them. So you can look forward to that discussion hopefully in the fall.

[1:03:42] Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Is there a question? Vice chair Fowler.

[1:03:49] Thank you. You had mentioned that at the beginning, after somebody makes a bid, that you would talk with all the various departments to see if they had planned uses for it. Is there a time frame on that? And then it sounds like with this thing that you're doing on the question on surplus that people might already be. You might already be asking that question. And could we keep up, you know, sort of an Excel spreadsheet of potential uses for each of these pieces.

[1:04:16] So there isn't. I mean, I guess when an offer comes in, there isn't necessarily a time frame as to, you know, how fast staff needs to get that done in order to identify a special use for it. Um, but I know Alan has a, you know, in working with planning, he's got that comprehensive list that he's been working through with the other different departments. Um, and, you know, at some point that will reach its completion. Um, so I don't know if that.

[1:04:46] Yeah. I think that actually makes more sense. I mean, it's good that you're asking one last time, but it seems like if we don't know a time frame for that, and, you know, it complicates, like when do you decide to go ahead and start offering it?

[1:05:01] Well, let me answer it this way. I mean, before this point, if we had a property that came up, we typically would. Informally as planning and deeper and, you know, the expectation to get back to the resident, to be fair to the resident, was to get back and answer fairly quickly. And usually the other departments were very helpful and and analyzing it, looking at it and deciding whether it had any potential value. But at this point, yeah, a week. But at this point we're going to have basically a finalized list, and the board will have made some decisions about what to do with these surplus properties. One of those decisions may be that we will wait for someone to come around and and offer it. And, you know, we'll see. So.

[1:05:42] Thank you, Commissioner Carter.

[1:05:44] Well, so so Connor, welcome and thank you for this update. And I do appreciate the example that you pointed to in our consent agenda. I saw that we had gathered an additional $50,000 from for our taxpayers benefit. So thank you for that, um, advertising process. Um, because it's clearly yielding benefit. I had a similar question to Commissioner Ascott about surplus. And, um, the question I have is, as a part of that process that you're looking at now, and this process is economic development engaged in this as well as the other departments. All good departments should be a part of this. Where does economic development fit into the process?

[1:06:31] Yeah. So they'll they'll be they'll be engaged just like any other department. Um, we want to make sure and do the comprehensive overview and really, you know, dot our eyes across all our teams to make sure that any property that gets an offer on it or any surplus property for that matter, um, you know, has some sort of use for it. And if it doesn't and it becomes a surplus property, then, you know, we can entertain offers on it.

[1:06:54] But thank you for that. And so for the surplus process where you're inventory, looking at the inventory. Will economic development be a part of that review together with planning? Yes. Excellent. Thank you.

[1:07:10] Okay, commissioners.

[1:07:14] What we have before us is looking at a different process, basically for when someone comes to the county to to make an offer on a county owned piece of property. I think the commissioner Carter, Commissioner Perdue, asked questions about the surplus. It's a good one. I think it's a separate issue, and I think keeping them separate just helps us not be clear on our process. So I see what this process is. Someone comes to us instead of just saying, okay, uh, you know, we just take that. We're actually kind of letting the whole community know that there's an offer on this and have a new process that's more robust than we've had, uh, than we currently have. Are we in support of this new process? Commissioner Carter.

[1:08:12] Thank you, Madam Chair. I am in support of this new process with the one addition of economic development to the list of departments that are consulted. It's being explicit about it and otherwise. Yes.

[1:08:23] Okay. Everyone agree with this process in adding economic development as one of the departments that is, uh, considered and has a chance to weigh in on this property. Yeah, that makes sense. Yes. I just have one one follow up question. I know that, um, if you could just remind me again, I didn't put it in my notes that we would hear back from you all about how we handle surplus properties. Is that in early next year? Did you or did you set it in the fall in the in the fall? Okay, good. Thank you. I'm sorry. So if there's no other questions or comments on this issue, um.

[1:09:08] There's no one. Give us language, but we can come up with that.

[1:09:11] Do you want me? I move approval of the new process as outlined with the addition of economic development as a department, also to be notified.

[1:09:21] So we have a motion by Vice Chair Fowler, second by Commissioner Green. Any last discussion or comments? Seeing none. All in favor? Aye, aye. Any opposed? None. It passes seven zero. Thank you very much.

[1:09:41] Yeah. Again, thank you very much to asset management, um, for this presentation and this opportunity to improve our process and hopefully bring more money to the county. We have no reports, um, for the consent agenda. Laura, did you find?

[1:10:02] I did. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. Prior to the meeting. Chair Hamilton, uh, found an error on the June at work session minutes. And so I can tell you which page it was on. June 4th minutes, page 37. Line 16 and 17. It should read. A motion was made by Commissioner Bedford, seconded by Commissioner Fowler, to increase taxes by 0.4 $0.07 to fund education.

[1:10:33] Okay. So with those corrected minutes, um, do you have any removal of any item from the consent agenda? I see none. Um, we need a motion to approve the consent agenda.

[1:10:46] So moved.

[1:10:47] Second.

[1:10:48] All right. So that's, uh, moved by Commissioner McKee. Second by vice chair Fowler. All in favor?

[1:10:55] Aye.

[1:10:56] Any oppose? None. Consent agenda is passed. Seven zero. With that correction to the minutes.

[1:11:07] All right. We have. County manager's report is next.

[1:11:11] So just just point you to two emails I sent today. One was about an upcoming budget amendment regarding a Durham Tech HVAC replacement. Just for the board's information. And then also a there's also an email in your inbox about the status of the tax administrator recruitment. So if you have any questions please let me know.

[1:11:35] Thank you very much. Travis County attorney's report.

[1:11:40] Nothing tonight. Thank you.

[1:11:41] All right. Thank you. John Roberts, we have no appointments. Um, no, we have information items, including the tax collectors report. Uh, three. texts, three tax collector reports, and one tax assessor's reports. We have no closed session. So a motion to adjourn.

[1:12:01] So moved.

[1:12:02] Second was that. Who was that? Was that. Commissioner Carter? Yes. Moved that in the second Commissioner Dorsey. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? None. We are adjourned. Seven zero. Um, thank you very much for very efficient meeting. Next week will not be so. So stay tuned.

BOCC Business Meeting - August 25, 2026

Transcript