Chair of the Orange County Commissioners Renée Price spoke with 97.9 The Hill’s Brighton McConnell on Wednesday, June 1. This is a transcript of the interview, where Price discussed last weekend’s Memorial Day activities, overturning the Freedom Riders’ conviction, and the upcoming budget meeting. Listen to the full interview here.
Brighton McConnell: I know it was a busy long weekend, especially for folks who were out and about at the different Memorial Day festivities. And I know that that included you as well, heading to the Orange County Veterans Memorial right here in Chapel Hill for the annual ceremony that they do, correct?
Renée Price: Yes, absolutely. And we had a very nice turnout and of course the memorial itself is improving. We keep moving along with different phases and we now have in addition to the flagpole and the pavers, and I’ll just put a plug in here right now that anyone can purchase a paver and it does help us, but it also helps to recognize a loved one or friend who served in the armed services. The backdrop now has the words, freedom, valor, and honor, I think, I’m trying to remember now. It’s really coming along and Ted Triebel, whom many of you may know, has been very active in the community over the years. In fact, I met him maybe 20 years ago on the planning board. He told about his experience in Vietnam and losing a very close friend and colleague in that conflict. So it was a very moving program and also a good way for people to connect and understand who we are.
McConnell: Yeah. I know that the memorial is very close to your heart and that you’ve definitely been a champion for it for several years. It’s been pretty incredible to see how it has transformed truly from just a flagpole in the ground. The growth we’ve seen is really quite remarkable, and I know that it means a whole lot to our local veterans and military families.
Price: Yes, it does. And it shows the value of camaraderie and community spirit because I had thought about it when I had gone away to another county and we visited their memorial, “Oh, we don’t have one.” Then former commissioner Barry Jacobs told me that there was a group in Chapel Hill that had been trying for some time to get a memorial started, so we joined forces, and Barry and I suggested that the county could donate the land. And we still did it in Chapel Hill, not at the same places the group had previously been looking, but we’ve come together and come a long way. And I just love working with the folks on the planning committee. I can’t even tell you, it’s a wonderful feeling. And we now do these programs every Memorial Day and every Veterans Day.
McConnell: Well pivoting from that event, I saw that Orange County shared that its superior court is going to be holding a pretty special ceremony in the next few weeks discussing the convictions of the Freedom Riders when they came through Orange County. I know that you’re pretty involved in that, do you want to share a little bit more with our audience?
Price: Yeah. It’s going to be in a sense a kind of a prelude to Juneteenth, but we’ve adopted a proclamation honoring the 75 years. At the time it bothered me that that these four men had been convicted for sitting next to each other, black and white, on a bus and they were convicted wrongly. Particularly when you look at where we are today, I wanted to do something about it. I didn’t know what, and I didn’t know whether commissioners could do something and the answer was no, but I did talk to judge Allen Baddour and he’s been absolutely wonderful in helping put this together.
It’ll be a court session, and then we have certain speakers lined up that will give brief remarks so that people understand the history back then. We’re not trying to eradicate history but we want to correct what happened and then also talk a little bit in our remarks about where we are today and how we move forward. And so that one’s close to my heart as well, and it’s free and open to the public. It’ll be on Friday, June 17th at 2:00 p.m. And as I said, it’ll be in the old courthouse.
McConnell: You can get more details at OrangeCountyNC.gov. I have a feeling you and I will be talking a good bit more about that as we get a little closer to the event, very much looking forward to that. In the meantime, this is kind of a more quiet week because we did have Memorial Day off on Monday, but the county commissioners are set to meet for the final work session and budget public hearing tomorrow night, correct?
Price: Yes, we were. Well, the budget isn’t over, but yeah, tomorrow we’ll have a public hearing and people can see what amendments the commissioners have suggested and comment on them. If folks were unable to attend the previous public hearing, this is another opportunity for them to come forward and speak on the budget and issues of concern to them. We welcome everyone, we’re back in person. And when you come in, you sign the sheet and we will call you up as you have signed up. And if for some reason you’re unable to attend, you can always send us an email with your concerns. And if you want, just request that your comments be read and entered into the minutes. Keep it to three minutes because that’s what we allow for reading. And if someone wants to attend virtually, they can do that as well. Just let us know in advance.
McConnell: Got it. Well, it definitely sounds like it’s a pretty comprehensive way for community members to make sure that their voices are heard. There might be some people out there who hear budget discussions and feel like it’s very daunting or maybe feel like it’s too broad for them to chime in on. But if you don’t mind, Renée, could you share a couple of examples of what the county commissioners have heard from the community when it comes to this year’s budget so far, just to provide some examples for people who might be on the fence about sharing their thoughts?
Price: Well, the main issue so far has been the school budgets and certain aspects of it. We also hear a few comments about housing, affordable housing and economic development with the arts. So even if you’re a person who hates numbers, who hates math, look at the issues and see whether your issues are being covered. If you’re interested in affordable housing, does it look like we’re paying enough attention to it? Even justice and public safety. For example, we’ve got the sheriff that needs more employees now that we have a larger detention center. And so there are a lot of issues that people can address without necessarily being a CPA. You can still come and express your points of view, and we welcome that. That’s why we provide the two public hearings and try to make them as accessible as possible.
McConnell: Is there anything else happening around the Orange County community or the Orange County government that you want to make sure our listeners are aware of?
Price: Oh my goodness. Well as I said in the past, there are so many things that are happening now that we’ve come out of the pandemic restrictions and there are plenty of activities outside, although I would caution you concerning the heat. But I do know that we have plenty of walking trails. Our farmers have opened up their farms for pick your own or to come by. The other thing that I would mention too is that this is a time of year when parents start thinking about what their children are going to do during the summer, and the county government as well as some of our non-profit organizations have a number of activities and programs in which parents can enroll their children. I do believe that many of them have some kind of a sliding scale, so there should be no reason that your child cannot be enrolled in a program, so check Orange County Parks and Recreation. I also know that some of our towns also have programs. I don’t know what their fee schedule is yet. I do know that we try to do the best for people of all income levels. And we know that sometimes anything dealing with childcare or children can be very expensive these days. But we do our best to try to make sure that they can have fun and learn something at the same time.
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