The Orange County Board of Commissioners presented arts grants to local art programs and heard an update from the Orange County ABC Commission Tuesday.
The board acknowledged and presented arts grants to various Orange County arts programs, as well as individual artists.
The Arts Commission awarded a total of $28,540 in county funds to 13 arts programs, which ranged from elementary schools to individual artists, Martha Shannon, staff support for Orange County Arts Commission said.
“All of our grants are awarded for arts programming in Orange County and these grants help support artist workshops and in-school residencies; they help support arts programs for children in neighborhoods and in community centers, they help support public art,” Shannon said.
Additionally, Orange County ABC announced during its yearly update to the board that it is now a living wage employer, but it is not yet certified by the Orange County Living Wage project.
“We raised the pay for our entry level, part-time folks to $12.76, we raised the pay for our full-time folks to $14.00 and we gave everyone in the organization a pay raise,” said Lisa Stuckey, Orange County ABC board chair.
Stuckey said the payroll would be raised by about $118,000 per year total.
Commissioner Penny Rich urged the ABC to become living wage certified.
“I think it’s really important when people walk through those doors that they see you are certified and that you are paying your employees fairly,” Rich said. “It just makes everybody feel good about it.”
Tony DuBois, the general manager of the Orange County ABC Board, also said an ABC store recently opened in the Chapel Hill North shopping center.
“The highlight of that store is it has one of the largest local North Carolina sections in the state,” he said.
DuBois said the local spirits were well received by customers.
“Tony touched on our mission of the ABC board and that is to return the profits that we make back into the community of Orange County,” said Ron McCoy, Orange County ABC finance director.
McCoy said Orange County ABC sales in 2015 amounted to $17.9 million from the sale of 1.3 million bottles.
An average of $0.72 of each bottle sold was distributed locally in Orange County in 2015 and added to a total of $737,315.
The funds were distributed between alcohol law enforcement, alcohol education and rehabilitation, as well as the Orange County General Fund.
Stuckey also mentioned a collaboration with UNC, the town of Chapel Hill and the Orange County Health Department to address high risk drinking. She said each organization would give $30,000.
The funds would go toward a paid position dedicated to reducing high-risk drinking in the community.
The board also heard updates regarding the Cedar Grove Community Center project, as well as Phase two of the Orange County Efland Sewer to Mebane extension project.
Notable:
A text amendment was passed by the board, which stated the county cannot prohibit sexually-oriented businesses, but can regulate the location. Orange County Planning Supervisor Michael Harvey recommended a prohibition of the consumption of alcohol at an adult cabaret, though the county cannot ban sale of alcohol. The board passed a motion to strike this prohibition from the text amendment.
Quotable:
“We had some bad weather recently, which always reminds me that people gravitate toward the most important things: bread, milk, eggs and bourbon,” DuBois said. “We’re just as busy as a grocery store, so you’ve gotta get there early.”
@janelittle26
city@dailytarheel.com
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