The Board of Orange County Commissioners held a rare summer meeting with several consequential agenda items on Thursday — including making changes to its Longtime Homeowners Assistance Program and discussing how to fit the vacant seat of late County Commissioner Jamezetta Bedford.
With it being the first board meeting since Bedford, a District 1 commissioner, unexpectedly died on June 21, the county honored the longtime elected official by displaying her portrait at the dais alongside a copy of the board’s packet and flowers. Many of the commissioners paid their respects to their late colleague at the start of the meeting, sharing memories and their gratitude for her service.
That included Commissioner Sally Greene, who said seeing Bedford’s smiling photo sitting at the seat was sobering.
“Jamezetta and I started in local public office at the same time,” Greene said. “She was elected to school board, I was elected to the Chapel Hill Town Council in 2003. We didn’t really work together at much at all until we both were elected to this board in 2018. We travelled together to Asheville for the county commissioner boot camp the [UNC] School of Government puts on. And that’s when I really started to get to know Jamezetta and understand what a genuine, caring, smart, thoughtful person she was. And we became more than colleagues from that moment on, really…friends and colleagues.”
The display set up at the Board of Orange County Commissioners’ dais in honor of Jamezetta Bedford, who died on June 21. (Photo via the Orange County government.)
While the Orange County Democratic Party will determine who will fill Bedford’s seat for the upcoming four-year term — thanks to Bedford winning March’s Democratic primary and being unopposed in the general election — the Board of Commissioners is required by state law to fill the vacancy for the rest of the year. A brief discussion during the meeting resulted in the commissioners slightly breaking from tradition: instead of holding an open application period, they agreed to choose from the group who applied to the Democratic Party for the long-term role.
Chair Jean Hamilton said, based on what she’s heard from party leaders, the group will seek the same person to serve both in the short and long-term. This method, she concluded, would streamline the process and prevent two separate application cycles.
“Obviously, during the [July 20 Democratic Party candidate] forum…that’s going to be recorded or commissioners who can attend will be attending,” said Hamilton. “So, then, what I’m hearing is that on July 28 when we meet, we will simply we will be talking about those candidates and deciding based on that who will fill the vacancy — obviously, with the recommendation of the party.”
Most of the meeting was dedicated to hearing public comment and details about potential changes to the Longtime Homeowners Assistance program, as the county seeks to ensure it is helping the population the initiative is intended to. Operating under a grant model, the program has distributed funds to more than 800 lower-income residents across the county to help ease their tax burden.
The elected officials reexamined the initiative’s qualifiers at the request of Commissioner Earl McKee. Between the county’s rising property values and the local governments’ recent increase in property tax rates, he said he’s heard from many older residents who are being priced out of homes they’ve lived in for decades. He shared one story on Thursday about running into a woman at the tax office this past winter who is experiencing that financial squeeze.
“Her reply to me was, ‘We’re okay this year, but next year we may have to sell the car,” McKee recalled while fighting tears. “That has stayed with me a long time. That is the reason that I started this [petition], trying to figure out some way to help these people that are in jeopardy of losing their homes to a tax foreclosure.”
Orange County Commissioner Earl McKee, speaking at a board meeting in June. (Photo by Elena Pace.)
The board approved a plan to raise the qualifications for residents earning less than 50% Area Media Income (AMI) from owning a home for five years to ten years. The savings from that change will help fund McKee’s proposed second tier of financial aid: residents older than 70, who have lived in their homes for 20+ years, and are earning 30% or below AMI will receive extra support. The board also decided to maintain the $1,000 cap on assistance per resident until the county can recalculate the funding for the program.
“Combined with the proposed threshold increase from 5 to 10 years,” Housing Director Blake Rosser told the board, “the nearly $42,000 in extra assistance to work towards the commissioner’s petition would be more than offset by the $62,000 savings by increasing the threshold for this next year.”
The county commissioners also took time at Thursday’s meeting to recognize outgoing Health Director Quintana Stewart, who announced plans to move away from the area after working nearly ten years in the role. The board passed a proclamation honoring Stewart’s service and leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, while giving her a chance to publicly share her thanks.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you to each of you,” said Stewart. “To [County] Manager Myren, who believed in me back in 2017 and gave me a chance to come over from being an assistant deputy director to taking on the full health director role.
“I learned a lot here in Orange County, I worked a lot here in Orange County,” she added with a laugh. “But I wouldn’t give anything for the experience.”
The Board of Commissioners will next meet on Tuesday, July 28. Watch the full meeting from July 9 on the Orange County government’s website.
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Orange County Commissioners Update Parameters for Homeowners Assistance, Set Process for Bedford’s Vacancy Chapelboro.com.
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