Orange County Board of Commissioners

The week in county politics starts tonight when the Chapel Hill Town Council will consider what to do with its vacant seat and continue Tuesday when the county commissioners review solar power development and Carrboro Alderfolks get an overview of the town’s budget for the upcoming year. Later in the week, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board will consider approving several policy changes.

Both the county school board and Hillsborough Town Board will be on break this week.

Here’s the whole rundown:

CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERPERSONS

It’ll be another busy week for Orange County’s elected bodies this week. The Hillsborough Town Board and county commissioners will hold a joint meeting covering an array of subjects from transit to economic development, while the commissioners will talk solid waste and the potential 2016 bond referendum earlier in the week.

The Carrboro Alderfollks will review the progress of the town’s parking management plan, while the Chapel Hill Town Council will hear comments on proposed changes to the Ephesus-Fordham form-based code district.

The Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board will consider its policy on weapons and work on revising the calendars for upcoming school years, while the Orange County School Board will have a meeting of its policy committee. Details on that have not been released.

Don’t forget to join us for our rescheduled editors meeting Thursday at the Looking Glass.

Here’s the whole rundown:

CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERPERSONS

On April 9, Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools will present an unprecedented living wage policy for full and part-time employees to the Orange County Board of Commissioners.

According to School Board Member James Barrett, the idea for a living wage policy emerged from a cost-savings discussion during the summer of 2014 to move some school janitors from district to contract-based employment. In doing this, the city would save money at the expense of a drop in wage for workers.

The unanimous board-approved wage decrease from about $11.50 to $9.50 an hour infuriated Barrett, who was not present for the vote.

“I raised a fuss about it,” he said. “I didn’t think it was acceptable to give our lowest paid employees a twenty-percent cut while at the same time giving our highest paid employees—our administrators—a three-percent raise.”

Later in September, Orange County Commissioner Mark Dorosin continued the discussion of a living wage for both employees and contractors in a joint meeting between the school board and the Orange County Board of Commissioners.