Orange County announces closings for Thanksgiving holidays

Orange County government offices will be closed Thursday and Friday of next week to observe Thanksgiving. Please note the following schedule changes:

Recycling/Solid Waste

Curbside recycling for Thursday, Nov. 26, will be collected on Saturday, Nov. 28. Curbside recycling on Friday, Nov. 27, will be collected as usual. All manned waste and recycling centers and the C & D landfill will be closed on Thanksgiving Day.

Transportation Services

The fixed routes (Hillsborough Circulator, Orange-Chapel Hill Midday Shuttle and Orange-Alamance Midday Shuttle) will not run on Thursday or Friday. OCPT will operate limited service serving the in-county dialysis route only (Carolina Dialysis), on Friday, Nov. 27. Full service will resume Monday, Nov. 30. In order to provide two working day notice for scheduling, trip requests for Monday, Nov. 30 must be received by 5 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 25.

While the holidays are a time when families and others gather together, you should be careful, particularly if gatherings include individuals at higher risk for severe illness (e.g., people over the age of 65 or who have underlying health conditions), and if there is an increasing or high number of cases in the community. If you have been recently diagnosed with COVID-19, have symptoms of COVID-19, or have been around a person with COVID-19, then do not host or participate in any in-person gatherings until you complete your isolation or quarantine period.

Rashard Conrad will be one of the guest presenters. He is the Assistant Director, Early Intervention Services Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina.

Orange County Aging to host celebration of World AIDS Awareness

The Orange County Department on Aging and the Project EngAGE LGBTQ+ Senior Resource Team invite the public to attend a virtual presentation, International World AIDS Day Awareness on Dec. 1.

The session will feature two guest speakers: Rashard Conrad, Assistant Director, Early Intervention Services Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, and Angel Vick, HIV Awareness Activist (photograph)

2020 marks 32 years since the first World AIDS Day awareness public event. Since then HIV Awareness activists, organizations, and clinical researchers have been hosting annual events and focused on bringing forth information regarding HIV facts, myths, and local statistics about the status of HIV. Join our panelists as they discuss present-day happenings with HIV research, community engagement, and personal journeys on living with HIV. Participants will have an opportunity to ask questions and engage with guest panelists.

The event will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 1, from 4 – 5:30 pm via a virtual platform.
Please register here.

If technology assistance is needed, please contact Shenae McPherson at 919-245-4243 by Monday, November 30.

Anansi and the Moss Covered rock graphic

Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock" Puppet Show

Puppet Show Inc. presents a re-telling of Eric Kimmel’s “Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock”, a folktale from Africa. A craft will be available on our Virtual Branch, https://www.orangecountync.gov/2377/Virtual-Branch. Register here.

Health Department offers free COVID tests daily on weekdays

The Orange County Health Department (OCHD) has begun offering daily weekday COVID-19 testing in Hillsborough and in Chapel Hill.

Hillsborough: The testing is offered 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday in the parking lot in front of the Whitted Human Services Center, 300 W. Tryon St., Hillsborough. Pre-registration is encouraged and may be done online. Be sure to select Orange County when registering.

Chapel Hill: COVID-19 testing is available every weekday Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm at R7 Parking Lot at 725 MLK Blvd., Chapel Hill, NC 27514. Pre-registration is encouraged and may be done online: https://lhi.care/covidtesting.

The testing center will be closed Thanksgiving Day.

Regular testing events offered in the county are:

Daily - 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Whitted Human Services Center in Hillsborough and the R-7 parking lot in Chapel Hill.
Every Wednesday - Alternating each Wednesday between two sites in Chapel Hill: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the R-7 Parking Lot, 725 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. or 3 to 7 p.m. at the Nash Parking Lot on Wilson Street. See the county’s COVID-19 Testing page for each week’s location.
Third Saturday of each month - 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Lattisville Grove Missionary Baptist Church, 1701 Jimmy Ed Road in Hurdle Mills.
Fourth Saturday of each month - noon to 4 p.m. at St. Thomas More Catholic Church, 940 Carmichael St. in Chapel Hill.
First Sunday of each month- 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at McDougal Middle School, 900 Old Fayetteville Rd. in Chapel Hill.

Testing is drive through or walk up. Anyone can receive a test regardless of whether they are showing symptoms or are a close contact of someone positive for the virus. The nasal swab tests are billed to insurance or provided free to those without insurance.

For up-to-date testing information, see the county’s COVID-19 Testing page.

Arts Educator Grants Recipients Announced

The Orange County Arts Commission has selected five arts educators to be recipients of its 2020/21 Arts Educator Professional Development Grant Program. This grant program was created in 2018 to provide financial assistance to arts educators in their professional and/or artistic development.

This year’s recipients include:

Rome Buttner – Theatre Arts, McDougle Middle School: Virtual workshop with The Frantic Assembly
Paul Estrada – Visual Arts/Mixed Media, Chapel Hill High School: Supply purchase
Meagan Kimbrough – Visual Art/Sculpture, Eno River Academy: National Arts Educator Association membership
Chelsea Kutner – Music, McDougle Elementary School: NYU Kodály Summer Institute
Matt Laird – Orchestra, Phillips Middle School: Supply purchase

Arts Educator Grants are awarded each fall. The 2021/22 grant cycle will open in August, 2021.

Bail Reform Efforts in Orange County and Pandemic Responses in the Criminal Justice System

On October 1, Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour issued an Administrative Order adopting significant bail reform tools to be piloted in Orange County. These bail reforms resulted from recommendations of a Pretrial Reform Work Group that began meeting in 2019 to determine what additional steps the county could take to further pretrial justice. This group of senior court and law enforcement stakeholders and community members engaged Professor Jessica Smith from the UNC School of Government to facilitate the effort.

“While Orange County has long been a leader in evidence-based pretrial practices that include a county-funded Pretrial Services program and two pre-arrest diversion programs, our stakeholders, with support from the community, knew we needed to do more to ensure fairness, consistency and equity in our pretrial practices,” said Caitlin Fenhagen, Criminal Justice Resource Director for Orange County.

The Pretrial Work Group’s focus was eliminating the negative consequences that arise from the unnecessary pretrial detention of individuals who do not present any significant risk to the community but who are unable to afford money bonds set in their cases. State law requires imposing a written promise to appear unless specific conditions exist. This mandate has long been incorporated into Judicial District 15B’s Pretrial Policies, but local data has shown that conditions for release were not being consistently set in accordance with this statutory requirement.

“Although North Carolina law requires a preference for conditions other than money bail, stakeholders were concerned by data showing that Orange County was imposing money bonds in the majority of cases,” said Professor Smith. “That and other factors prompted local stakeholders to engage in a collaborative process to better understand and improve their local system.”

The Administrative Order issued by Judge Baddour incorporates both reforms recommended by the Working Group: (1) a structured decision-making tool for use by magistrates at the initial appearance immediately after an arrest; and (2) new policy considerations for addressing first-time failures to appear in court for individuals charged with misdemeanor offenses.

Click here for more information.

Tax Department reminds property owners about tax payments

With so many changes in our daily routines brought about by the pandemic, the Orange County Tax Office wants to remind residents of the available options for paying taxes, and let them know about a new option.

The Tax Office has added an E-Check option as one of the online payment solutions offered. The convenience fee for using the E-check option is a flat fee of $2.00. This and other online payment options can be found on the Tax Office’s website at https://web.co.orange.nc.us/publicwebaccess/. Point and Pay LLC, who has been the provider of their online payment options for several years, is providing the new E-check option.

“Paying property taxes is not something people think about every day, especially now,” said Orange County Tax Administrator Nancy Freeman. “Our office is available to help property owners find a solution to pay taxes by January 5th to avoid interest. We also want to let people know that making their payment early this year will thin out the crowd and help staff and property owners remain safe and healthy.”

By state law, taxes became due on Sept. 1, and become delinquent after Jan. 5, Freeman said. This means a property owner has until the 5th to pay their tax bill without incurring interest.

Other ways to pay taxes include: by mail to Orange County Tax Collector, PO Box 8181, Hillsborough NC 27278; at the drop box located outside the office door at 228 South Churton Street, Hillsborough; by debit/credit card by phone (1-844-435-3981) or online (https://web.co.orange.nc.us/publicwebaccess/). For debit/credit card transactions, a convenience fee is charged by the credit card vendor.

The tax office can also help set up a payment plan to make regular payments through December. Please call (919) 245-2100 or email the office at tax@orangecountync.gov for more information about payment plans, how to list taxes, discuss values, see if you may be eligible to apply for a property tax relief program or discuss delinquent taxes.

In light of the current health crisis taxpayers who usually pay taxes in person during December and early January are urged to pay early and use the new E-check option, mail, debit/credit card, or drop box to avoid sizeable wait times and to avoid close gatherings of people.

Orange County COVID-19 Updated Data Nov. 20, 2020

The Orange County Health Department has provided the following information about COVID-19 cases in Orange County as of 9:00 a.m. today:

TOTAL CASES: 3,593
TOTAL DEATHS: 61

Data Considerations:
1. Any demographic groups with very small numbers have been suppressed to protect
patient confidentiality.
2. We are missing race and ethnicity data for between 30-40% of confirmed cases.
3. We don’t know who may have COVID-19 that wasn’t able to get tested, and we don’t know what groups the patients with missing data fall under.
This data should not be used to make generalizations about who may or may not have higher rates of infection.

Click here to download the entire release.

Click the graphic for a link to the library's YouTube channel.

Take advantage of the Medicare Annual Election Period from Oct. 15-Dec. 7, and you may save money

The Orange County Department on Aging and the N.C. Seniors’ Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP) invite Medicare beneficiaries to review their 2021 Medicare Drug Plans and Medicare Advantage Plans.
Medicare plans change each calendar year. Your medication costs can increase significantly if your plan changes their drug list and pricing as of Jan 1. Many people save hundreds and even thousands of dollars by switching plans, but most can only change during Medicare’s Open Enrollment Period: October 15 – December 7. The Orange County Seniors’ Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP) provides free and unbiased assistance.

Meet with a certified counselor for an Annual Medicare Review. You can choose an in-person appointment at the Seymour Center in Chapel Hill or the Passmore Center in Hillsborough. Or choose to schedule a Zoom video chat.
To schedule an appointment, visit our website at www.orangecountync.gov/ocncSHIIP or call 919-245-4274.

www.orangecountync.gov