Government
Filing has now closed for Penny Rich’s vacated Town Council
seat. There will be a special public hearing January 14th where the
applicants will be allowed to speak. The Council will consider
making an appointment to fill the vacancy on January
23rd.
There are 11 applicants to the seat. I believe that this applicant
pool is more diverse than in past appointment processes. There are
4 women, one student, one Latino candidate, one African-American
applicant, one candidate who identifies (per her voter registration
record) as multiracial, and a Republican. Below is a brief
introduction (in alphabetical order) to each
candidate:
Sally Greene-
Sally is a former Council member, having served from 2003-2011. She
did not run for reelection because of job commitments, but has a
new job now that will allow her the time to serve again. She has
written about her candidacy
here
on OP. In that thread, there is also a copy of the resolution
Council passed honoring Sally when she stepped down, which details
her accomplishments as a Council member.
Loren Hintz-
Newly minted county commissioner (and former Chapel Hill Town Council member) Penny Rich just sent a letter (quoted in its entirety below) to Chapel Hill mayor Mark Kleinschmidt. In it she takes strong exception to the behavior of Chapel Hill Planning Board chair Del Snow, who attended a county commissioners meeting last month to speak against the implementation of the Orange County transit plan. (See OP's live coverage of the meeting and discussion of the transit vote.)
While I wholeheartedly share Penny's concerns about Del misrepresenting the town, her call for the town to remove Del from the Planning Board will probably provoke a defensive response about municipal sovereignty, which will make it politically difficult for the town to actually do anything about it. Frankly I'm even more bothered that someone in a position of planning leadership such as Del is working to undermine the large-scale community transportation planning that is so critical to our future. Either way I'd like to see some new leaders on the Planning Board, preferably who appreciate both planning and process. But only the Chapel Hill Town Counil can make that happen.
Someone please help me out if I'm missing some hidden value here, but it seems to me that Orange County has found a way to spend money on technology while serving a few residents as little as possible. According to a press release issued today (below) the county is installing monitors in three county buildings with the time, weather, traffic updates, and emergency alerts when they are available. Because, you know, when there is danger afoot the first thing I do is get in the car and drive to a government administrative building.
When I attended the presentation of the County's technology plan last fall, I heard a lot of technobabble about citizen engagement and delivery of services. I can't see how these glorified smart phones fit into the plan.
Dan Coleman will be missed in Carrboro. I have a couple of sisters who lived in Australia. I've already written to Dan offering what help I can with his transition. But I know that he will enjoy his new adventure in Australia.
Which means. A vacancy will soon be opening on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen. And my mind turns to matters of political ‘establishment,’ the righteousness of challenge in a community, and what makes me itchy.
Now. Let's get clear. There is a political ‘establishment’ in Carrboro. This is not necessarily a bad thing. So, why the itch?
Well, I get itchy at any appearance of an 'establishment' coronation.
I get itchy at any sense that one has to be a part of an homogenous 'establishment' to make progress. That the primary attribute of a candidacy should be that one has worked one's way up the ladder of 'establishment,' allowing its members to get comfortable with one.
I get itchy at the suggestion that a community is, indeed, homogenous. When patently no community is homogenous.
From the Town of Chapel Hill:
The Chapel Hill Town Council has established the process for filling the vacancy on the Council resulting from the resignation of former Council Member Penny Rich. The Town Charter provides that this vacancy be filled by appointment for the remainder of Council Member Rich's term of office, until December 2013. Residents of Chapel Hill who are registered voters and otherwise qualified to hold office are invited to apply to fill this vacant seat on the Town Council.
There is no official form for applications. Applications must include the name, residence address, and signature of the applicant. The original application with an original signature must be submitted and received by the Town Clerk by 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 7, 2013. The Town Clerk's Office is located in the Communications and Public Affairs Department on the second floor of Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Chapel Hill, NC 27514.
Applicants may include information in support of the application if they wish and are encouraged to provide a written statement (500 words or less) outlining the applicant's view of issues facing the Town of Chapel Hill and interest in serving on the Town Council.
Applicants will have an opportunity to make brief remarks regarding their interest in serving on the Town Council at the special meeting of the Town Council at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, in the Council Chamber at Town Hall. The Council will then consider making an appointment to fill the vacancy at a special meeting/public hearing on Jan. 23, 2013.
Information: 919-968-2743
Date:
Monday, January 7, 2013 - 5:00pm
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