Here's more from Monday's BOCC trash transfer station work session, followed by an earlier print version.

Alice Gordon said several times that she felt consultants Olver Inc. were focusing too heavily on the site itself and its layout, and not on how it will fit into its surroundings. Other commissioners seemed to agree.

Initially commissioners Foushee, Gordon and Nelson asked that access to utilities be given a higher priority, saying they were concerned in particular about how dirty "washdown" water will be handled. (If there's no sewer access the county would have to haul it off in tankers.) But Carey and Jacobs pointed out that making sewer access more important would make the station more likely to go near populated and developed areas. The commissioners eventually settled on a system where a site with utility access will receive a few extra points at the end of the process.

One member of the public asked about site size requirements that are currently set at 25 acres (except under certain circumstances), and whether that would eliminate the Eubanks Road site from consideration. Consultant Bob Sallach said he and colleagues hadn't looked at the Eubanks site yet vis-a-vis the criteria. "We really haven't looked at that," Sallach said. "This is being developed independently of [Eubanks]."

The board was scheduled to approve both the technical and community criteria for sites, but hadn't made a decision by the time I had to leave to make print deadline.

CHAPEL HILL -- Orange County Commissioners met Monday to work on finding a location for a solid waste transfer station.
The facility will be a building where garbage trucks drop trash to be gathered and shipped out of the county.
The commissioners talked for hours about technical criteria and community factors for sites that will determine where the station goes.
The board made a few changes to consultant recommendations, asking that bicycle routes be considered earlier in the traffic analysis, and that greater consideration be given to utility access and protected watersheds.
Members of the public asked the board and consultants Olver Inc. about emissions, environmental studies and the size of the site.
Early last year the commissioners decided to put the trash transfer station at the the site of the current county landfill, which is filling up and will close in a few years. But that decision angered local residents who say they have lived near the county’s solid waste for decades and want it to go elsewhere.
Late last year the commissioners decided to reopen the search process, and are scheduled to choose a site later this year.

On Tuesday afternoon, the News & Observer blogs will be moving to a new system and a new server. This change will make getting to our blogs quicker and easier. Most of the blogs will change their appearance, while blogs like Taking Stock and Under the Dome will remain the same.

This change requires nothing from the reader. There will be a link to the older posts, and you won't need to change your bookmarks. If you have trouble finding your favorite blog or you have a comment, please email feedback@newsobserver.com.

— Rachel Carter

Citizens upset about the Chapel Hill Town Council's vote to extend health benefits to retiring members have started a petition to get the council to change its vote. As of this morning, there were more than 150 signatures, according to Gregg Gerdau, one of the organizers.

Chapel Hill Town Council member Laurin Easthom, meanwhile, now says last week's vote was a mistake.

“That’s no excuse for passing it,” Easthom writes on her blog The Easthom Page. She goes on to say that the council is not set in its ways or selfish and that she is confident the council will reopen the issue.

“I hope we abolish this ordinance once and for all,” she writes.

See a new story updating the benefits issue here.

Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy just released this letter explaining actions the Town Council took Monday night. Three votes -- on the budget and its 11 percent tax rate hike, on a plan to implement publicly financed local elections, and on continuing health care coverage for members who step down after two full terms -- have upset some local taxpayers. (See the letters page in Sunday's Chapel Hill News.) Here is the mayor's letter.

Last Monday evening, the Chapel Hill Town Council took three actions that have sparked controversy. Some additional information and background may be warranted on: 1) approval of a budget that includes a property tax increase; 2) approval of publicly financed local municipal elections; and 3) approval of continuation health care coverage for council members.

With regard to the budget, citizens should know that the council has been a good steward of tax dollars. This is not just my opinion. The town has received a Triple-A bond rating – the highest available – from independent national agencies, something unique for a town our size in North Carolina.

Another indication of fiscal responsibility is that even though energy costs have risen dramatically, as they have for everyone in America, and demand for town services has grown, town taxes have not increased for the past two years. This year, however, the council confronted debt obligations for the new Aquatics Center (the debt funding for which was approved by voters three times) and the Southern Community Park (the debt funding for which was also approved by voters). In addition, the council is paying debt on the Town Operations Center, which houses Public Works and Chapel Hill Transit. These payments are similar to mortgage payments, and help spread the cost over future users. But they are beginning now. Still, the owner of a $200,000 home in Chapel Hill will pay less than $1,200 annually for all town services, including police protection, the fire department, signal and road maintenance, the public library, the parks, recreation programs, garbage collection, a fare-free transit system, planning and inspections, and public housing.

As to publicly financed local municipal elections, Chapel Hill embarked on a novel experiment in North Carolina. The experiment envisions two primary goals: first, to increase the number of people who have an opportunity to serve in public office, and second, to remove money as a consideration in local elections. Some people have questioned whether public financing is really designed just to protect incumbents. But that has not been the case in other jurisdictions. For example, in Arizona the incumbent reelection rate fell from 98 percent to 75 percent after public financing was instituted. Maine, Hawaii and Minnesota also saw incumbent reelection rates drop. In addition, a Connecticut study found that public financing increased the number of women and minorities running for office. So if this experiment is successful, it should result in a more robust local democracy.

The third item is continuation health care coverage for council members. This matter grew out of the changing nature of the health care industry. The particular issue is that council members who develop a serious health problem during service in office, such as cancer or heart disease, could be unable to obtain health care coverage after they leave office, because of their “pre-existing condition.” Continuation coverage is provided to other local elected people, including the Orange County commissioners.

I hope that this helps provide some background on the rationale for the council’s recent decisions.

Now that I've got your attention with the headline, let me tell you it comes from Ernie Dollar, the director of the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill. He used the phrase over lunch a few days ago when we sat down to talk about Glen Lennox. Here's an early look at a column running in Sunday's Chapel Hill News. In the meantime, please tell us what you think about plans to raze the neighborhood and replace it with a multi-story mix of new housing and shopping.

Ernie Dollar isn’t having a good day.

He’d made a tactical mistake with his board a few day earlier.

And now his pepperoni pizza has arrived without the pepperoni.

Dollar is the younger-than-you’d-expect director of the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill. He’s bringing sexy back to saving old homes. Not my words. His. He gets passionate about all things musty.

But he’s frustrated this afternoon.

You see, most of the time, Dollar wants to save a house. Lately it’s been the Kidder-Graham House owned by the former UNC president on Battle Lane. In 1968 a movie director filmed a sexploitation flick there called “Three in the Attic.” Dollar tried to watch recently and gave up. Not a classic.

Now, instead of a house, Dollar wants to save a neighborhood.

=> Read more!

Being that my contact information is at the bottom of stories about the murder of UNC-Chapel Hill student body president Eve Carson, I've been getting a lot of e-mails and phone calls about the N and O's now-abandoned attempt to unseal her autopsy report.

Many readers have jumped to the conclusion that we're seeking morbid details to splash across the front page and sell papers. So I thought I would share a bit of my thinking about the matter.

I can certainly appreciate the opinion that we should simply let the police investigation run its course and protect Carson's family from the publication of disturbing details. However, seeking every juicy detail and racing to publication is not the only alternative. There is a middle ground. What interests me is knowing more so that I can ask more intelligent questions and, in turn, educate the public as to how we might better protect ourselves and prevent such crimes in the future.

What kind of weapon was used? How did it come into the hands of the killers? Where, in terms of geography, was Carson shot? Why didn't anyone see her or her killers? Was she abducted? From where? Why didn't anyone see her? Was she executed in some sort of gang ritual? If so, then what can we do to combat criminal gangs in Chapel Hill?

Without knowing more facts, it's difficult to know whether any of these questions is relevant. Seeking the autopsy report and search warrants is not about entry and exit wounds or cause of death. It's about knowing enough to ask the right questions.

If you got two copies of The Chapel Hill News this morning, you weren't alone. So did the editor.

Starting today, the Chapel Hill News is being delivered inside the N&O to N&O subscribers. This is a good thing. It allows us to reach readers were we can't deliver the Wednesday-Sunday community paper. For example, we don't deliver the Chapel Hill News to apartments or to some locations where it would be inefficient to send the community newspaper carriers.

But the really cool thing for us is that, along with this change, we're adding about 2,000 papers to our Chapel Hill News press run to now reach a total of 25,000 households. So in addition to the 9,000 or 10,000 daily N&O subscribers who'll get the free paper, we'll now be delivering it on its own to another 15,000 or 16,000 households.

This gives the Chapel Hill News the biggest circulation by five times of any paper in the community, except for The Daily Tar Heel. That's a big responsibility, and we're responding to it by rethinking the community paper's role. We'll still break news at www.newsobserver.com and in the daily paper, but we're going to put even more local news in the free community paper.

Today's paper was a good example. In addition to the hometown features, sports and commentary, we brought you the latest news on the Glen Lennox story and previewed tomorrow's big OWASA public hearing, where you can comment on the proposed 24 percent increase in water and sewer rates.

But why two papers this morning?

Circulation director Sean O'Rourke says we didn't program the "stops" into the computer to keep the free copy of The Chapel Hill News from being delivered to those now getting it inside their N&O. The glitch should be worked out by next Wednesday.

Thanks for reading.

Mark Schultz

Editor

Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy has tried asking the Orange County Board of Commissioners to increase its funding to the Chapel Hill Public Library's operating costs.

"That didn't go over so well," he told the Chapel Hill Town Council Monday night. "I'm really surprised the commissioners will spend $3 million on a library in Hillsborough, yet they can't help fund a public library" that residents of Orange County use.

So Foy then suggested the council look for alternative sources of funding, and specifically suggested that the library start charging an annual library card fee to non-Chapel Hill residents.

The town also plans to expand the public library in size and in collection, which is adding pressure to the council in a budget year where the town just approved a property tax rate increase of about 11 percent.

The town's Web site has a page with a bunch of information on the expansion plans if you want to research more about the expansion.

We didn't have room in the print edition for everything on the County Commissioners' letter to the delegation about the airport authority bill. Here's the rest of it, and a link.

HILLSBOROUGH — Orange County commissioners want more discussion of a bill before a House committee that would give the University of North Carolina the power to create airport authorities.

House Bill 2725, which has been referred to the house appropriations committee, would allow the university Board of Governors to create entities that could build and operate airports. Under the bill, an airport authority would be able to acquire land by eminent domain.

At a work session Tuesday, Orange commissioners authorized their chairman to send a letter to the county’s House and Senate delegation asking that the bill be tabled for more discussion and input from the public.

The letter says granting university airport authorities such broad
powers would usurp local authority and undermine the county's land use
planning. "Orange County is further concerned that moving forward with
this bill constitutes a departure from the 'good faith' discussions
that we have had in the past with University representatives," it
reads.

The letter is addressed to the county's House and Senate delegation,
including House speaker Joe Hackney and Rep. Verla Insko, one of the
bill's primary sponsors.

UNC-Chapel Hill has announced plans to close Horace Williams Airport
in Chapel Hill in time to open the first building in its Carolina
North development.

Guest post by Sara Peach, summer intern.

Carrboro Alderman Jacquie Gist wants to tilt at windmills (her words) by taxing fertilizer sales.

She raised the issue at Tuesday night's Board of Aldermen meeting, and said she wants to start a public conversation about the idea.

Under draft regulations being considered by the state, the town may have to pay to clean up nutrient runoff entering Jordan Lake. Fertilizers are a major source of nutrient runoff.

"The people who are causing the problem should pay some money toward fixing the problem," Gist said.

The town has no authority to initiate a sales tax on fertilizer, but in August, the aldermen will consider approaching the state legislature with the idea.

Gist said she is aware that some people will think the fertilizer tax is just another weird idea coming from Carrboro. But, she said, "Fifteen years later it's the norm."

This just in from activist about town Sammy Slade

This Wednesday, after the Carrboro farmer’s market, the Carrboro Greenspace Collective will host this year’s first Farmer Appreciation Table. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. at 200 E. Poplar Ave. in Carrboro. Call Michal Osterweil, (919) 225-3433 or Sammy Slade, (919) 951-5200, for more information,

The event is a potluck where the community shows its gratitude to the farmers who make it possible for residents to eat delicious, healthy local food year round. It is particularly important that we give thanks to these farmers, because in a world dominated by industrialized agriculture (North Carolina loses more small and mid-size farms per year than any other state!) — we here in Carrboro have the fortune to have so many farmers who choose this arduous lifestyle because they know it is best!

=> Read more!

Chapel Hill Town Council member Matt Czajkowski and former mayoral candidate Kevin Wolff weren't alone this time in accusing the Town Council of being self-serving.

Not only did those accusations surface during the publicly financed election discussion, but they also came up during a discussion on extending the same town health care benefits full-time employees get to council members — who are part-time. Benefits continue after they leave office, if they have served at least two full terms. One full term is four years for a council member and two years for the mayor.

HEALTH CARE TO TOWN COUNCIL MEMBERS
Effective July 1 this year, the amended ordinance for health care eligibility for members of the Town Council states:

Members of the town council are eligible to participate in the group medical insurance program on the same basis as full-time employees. Upon leaving office, if the member of town council has served two full terms of office, he/she is eligible for continuation of health insurance benefits, with 75% of the premium to be paid by the Town and 25% to be paid by the individual. If he/she chooses to continue coverage after leaving office, he/she is also eligible to purchase continued dependent coverage, by paying 100% of the premium. Members of the Council must request coverage be continued within 30 days after leaving office.

=> Read more!

Last month, Orange Chat shared the story of a resident calling Carrboro police to report someone accidentally spray-painting on the grass at an apartment complex.

This week, police were unable to help when residents called about A) a teenaged daughter dating an undesireable young man and B) a doe giving birth in the woods.

In the dating dilemma, "[The caller] was advised that her daughter was 18 years old and we could not help her with her situation. Officers then cleared without further incident."

In the birthing emergency, the animal control officer advised the caller that "we don`t assist wildlife with the birthing process."

The stuff they never show on Law & Order.

Turns out that guy selling Glen Lennox T-shirts in our post the other day was none other than activist about town Wes Hare.

If you want your own, Hare (email: jhhare@earthlink.net) will be selling "Save Glen Lennox" T-shirts again this Saturday and next Wednesday June outside The Wild Bird Center at Eastgate.

The shirts cost $5 and Hare will be accepting contributions for the group fighting developers plans to redevelop the neighborhood.

For more information, click here.

Below are Mayor Kevin Foy's full comments to the board last night.

Tomorrow, you can read the News & Observer story here.

Chairman Jacobs and members of the Board of Commissioners; Madam Manager; Mr. Attorney.

And in that regard, I want to speak with you about providing library services in Orange County.

=> Read more!