appointments
Come back with me to the summer of 2009. Filing just ended for the Chapel Hill Town Council and Mayoral races when powerhouse Council Member Bill Strom suddenly announced he was resigning and moving to New York. Strom was called "Machiavellian" and much worse.
First it was just the typical Strom haters that accused him of attempting to manipulate the process by waiting until just after the filing period, so that his replacement could be chosen by his friends on the Town Council. Strom himself claimed the timing was purely accidental. However, in the following weeks information trickled out showing that Strom’s actions were every bit as intentional as they looked to the skeptics.
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
Chapel Hill Magazine's The Weekly had a nice scoop this afternoon. "The WEEKLY has learned that George Cianciolo will make himself a candidate to fill 's council seat after she moves to BOCC."They also noted that Jon Dehart will seek the appointment as well. Should be interseting to see their article next week, particularly if they have other names of folks planning to run. Also worth noting that if Penny was replaced by George or Jon, who'd both make good councilmen, that would leave only 2 women (22% of council/mayor) representing 53% of Chapel Hill...
Apparently students have been applying to serve on the Town of Chapel Hill's Transportation Board, but none have been appointed recently. I'm a bit surprised to see this, but it's hard to draw conclusions without knowing the details of each applicant. In the past students have contributed a lot to the T-board (and others). In fact, joining the board when I was a student in 1991 is one of the things that got me hooked on participating in local politics two decades ago!
With a seat on the board, Medlin said students would have more of a voice about routes and bus schedule times.
Dakota Williams, student body treasurer, said students should embrace the higher fees and advocate for better representation.
“If we’re paying 41 percent … there is no excuse for a student not to be on that board,” he said.
“Those decisions need to be made by the people who are paying for them, which is students more than ever,” he added.
Or more to the point, put a night or two a month where your mouth is. Spring is coming, and spring means many things: bird starting to return, daffodils and hellebores popping up in bloom, Bradford pears soon to be unleashing their terrible stench upon anywhere unlucky enough to have planted them. But spring is also the time when, at least in Chapel Hill, most of the appointments are made to advisory boards and commissions. According to the town's current vacancies page, there are almost 20 seats on various boards that are currently sitting empty. But on top of that, since most board terms are three years long, about a third of current board members will be coming up for reappointment. While terms officially end June 30, most appointments are made in the Spring - last year, most of them in April or May. So, right now is a great time to get your application in.
Joe Green has resigned from the CHCCS School Board (not that you'll notice that in the lack of media around here)
But I doubt we'll get into another "5th place finisher" fight because I heard MaryAnne Gucciardi moved out of the district as well. But I'm sure there will be interesting questions about whether to appoint another African-American. Or why not a Hispanic- or Asian-American given the large populations (14 and 11% respectively)?
(I almost called this post "Who's filling the gap, II.") With the tragic death of Chapel Hill Town Council Member Bill Thorpe and the certain election of Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board Member Pam Hemminger to the County Commissioners, both bodies will be selecting replacements to fill those seats in the coming months.
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