The Orange County Commissioners are apparently considering a proposal from the County Manager to reduce the number of citizen advisory boards and commissions. This may not be a bad idea since the county has over 70 such advisory groups.

Until last week I was a member of the Human Services Advisory Commission (HSAC) which I think is likely to be disappear - transferring its responsibilities to various existing boards, such as, the OPC mental health board, the DSS board, etc. I think eliminating HSAC will not have a detrimental effect because the advice of this group was not taken very seriously, anyway.

However, I do wonder if the elimination of some of the other boards and commissions might cause problems. 

Not sure if people saw this, but Google is planning on rolling out "ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States."  It sounds like they're doing this as a sort of proof-of-concept, in an effort to convince the FCC that a workable nationwide ultra high-speed internet access scheme is practical and affordable.  According to the Big G, they can "deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections," and they "plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people."  Here's some more information.

by Chris Blue, Assistant Chief of Police

Starting this weekend, the Chapel Hill Police Department plans to undertake a unique approach to hear about our community's expectations of us.  Beginning on February 6th, we will hold a series of community conversations to hear how we are doing as an organization.  Each session will last no more than two hours and will be managed by an outside facilitator.  The input will be used to develop a strategic plan aimed at improving the community-oriented policing program in Chapel Hill.

We're hoping that residents, merchants, students, and other community stakeholders will attend one of the sessions to help us think about the following questions:

From the ToCH web site:

The Chapel Hill Police Department is reaching out to residents to receive input on perceptions of its services and its overall presence in the community in a series titled Community Conversations about the Chapel Hill Police Department.

Working with the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government and the Town of Chapel Hill Justice in Action Committee, the department has scheduled four sessions scheduled on weekday evenings and Saturday mornings.

- http://www.townofchapelhill.org/index.aspx?recordid=1455&page=22

I wonder if RSVPs are required?

I have reviewed a lot of letters sent to the Chapel Hill Town Council about whether or not the Town should move forward on expansion of our Library.  Letters fall on either side of the issue, but in letters against expansion, I see a theme.  Writers often want it known that they are a fan of books, but they don't want to pay more taxes toward making more available to Library users.

From the Town web site:

A public information session about tree protection and updating the
Tree Protection Ordinance will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan.
19, at Chapel Hill Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The
ordinance revision is linked to a Town-wide commitment to
sustainability with the potential to reduce carbon emissions and
decrease the urban “heat-island” effect.

The proposed update to the ordinance would establish a new vision
statement that calls for a balanced approach to protecting Chapel
Hill’s trees without overregulation of residential properties and
property owners. Draft language proposes a permitting process for tree
removal on private property, including some residential lots.

From the Town web site:

A public information meeting will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, on new riparian buffer regulations for Chapel Hill. A riparian buffer is a vegetated area near a stream that helps protect waterways from the impact of adjacent land uses and pollution. The meeting will be held in the Council Chamber of Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Town of Chapel Hill stormwater management and planning staff members will describe the process for adopting changes to the Town's Land Use Management Ordinance to comply with new state and federal rules that aim to reduce pollution flowing into streams and Jordan Lake. The lake is a major drinking water supply to Wake and Chatham Counties, and a popular recreation area and wildlife habitat.