Rearranging the Deck Chairs

Katrina, I am not saying that NTA folks wouldn't have voted for you, but that we just can't know. More importantly, I think the whole election would have been different if NTA residents had been voting.

And I don't think this has anything to do with character, but with doing what's best for Carrboro. And I think the Alderman have that in mind.

Or, Joan, more specifically, doing what's right for the residents of Carrboro they believe deserve a voice in government. I think who that includes speaks volumes about their character, as do many others.

Ruby's exacty right ... the BoA did not make any such promise (to appoint the runner-up). The confusion there is my doing. Guilty!

What I was referring to was the board's announced decision that they would use an appointment process (or any given process) when the new board hasn't met yet. Joan was making the point that the sitting board shouldn't commit the new board (in advance of the election) to one process versus another ... but they did that, didn't they?

Fair point.

No, Jean, the sitting Board made no such commitment. We have not discussed the issue, although at a recent meeting Alex Z. asked the town attorney to prepare a memo to answer questions that were being raised in the community about filling a vacancy.

Not only have we not discussed it, I firmly believe that it would be inappropriate for the current board to discuss this issue for the simple reason that the vacancy to fill the position is not created until Mark Chilton is sworn in as mayor---on December 6th. The decision-makers with regard to filling that vacancy are the individuals who will be on the board after that date. I will not be one of the decision-makers. Randee Haven-O'Donnell will be. It's just wouldn't be right for the Board of Aldermen, as it currently stands, to inject itself into this discussion.

I've learned that there may be a group of citizens planning on coming to next Tuesday night's board meeting to raise the issue of filling this vacancy. They have every right to speak and should be heard, but I hope they decide to wait until the next Board is seated. There is no action that the current board can or should take on this matter.

Thanks for the clarification on this, Mike, and all good wishes in your endeavors. I may have gotten turned around from news account, but had thought the application process was decided. Now that you've mentioned it, I do recall that Mike produced a memo to clarify what the law said about it.

I'll bet that Dec. 6 meeting is well-attended.

Can't help this go-round, but a better election method could help in the future.

The following is from the Fair Vote newsletter:

Dear Friend of Fair Elections,

We had an inspiring win for election reform on Tuesday.

In an advisory ballot measure placed on the ballot by a 7-0 vote of the city council in Takoma Park, Maryland, fully 84% of voters voted to use instant runoff voting (IRV) in future city elections. A majority of the city council has already committed to implementing the new system in time for the mayoral and city council races in 2007. IRV has now won by landslide margins in four consecutive city elections.

[ See the campaign website at www.takomaparkforirv.com ]

The same day, San Francisco's first citywide IRV election also went well – and will save the city millions of dollars. Right now, a second round of counting has begun for the city Assessor's race because no candidate won a majority of first choices. Rather than mail out 125,000 absentee ballots and hold a low turnout December election, San Francisco now just needs to count the second choices on the ballots cast for the third-place candidate. IRV likely will elect Phil Ting as Assessor-Recorder with a majority of support while not splitting the vote of the two Asian American candidates. It's a real testament to the power of this system to create positive and inclusive campaigns – and efficiency for taxpayers.

The municipalities and the state county commissioner organization need to get organized, challenge the hamstringing legislative powers, and get them off our backs wo we can have local democracy.

The local governments are always backing down for fear of lawsuits. Yet I don't know of any lawsuits enforcing home rule. Anybody know of any? Couldn't the leg technically sue over the affordable housing perecentage policies of Chapel Hill but haven't?

Just found this thread. Now I understand why the knives were out for Katrina Ryan in the final run-up to the election and on election eve. (And why Jacquie Gist never apologized to Katrina Ryan for comparing her to Karl Rove in her gracious "victory" message.) It's all about the open seat. Got it.

This if fun to watch for someone who lives in CH.

Does anyone know if one alderperson vacated their office before the election, would the electorate still cast only 3 votes or would they be able to cast 4? IMHO the alderpeople are tiptoing around what the definition of is, is.

Katrina can always start a recall election for mayor if she really wants to, apparently carrboro's town charter allows for a recall election with only 8% of registered voters required to sign a petition...

One of these days someone in carrboro is going to run an effective campaign urging the voters to only vote for 1 or 2 candidates and end up winning. The numbers are clearly out there e.g. 40% of the vote to Vanke in a WRITE IN campaign. I wonder if katrina would go for mayor via a recall election after all the new people are annexed?

It's interesting that Katrina refers to carrboro's town charter (which apparently doesn't specify how a vacancy is filled at all times?),, whereas the town attorney refers to the state charter...

the only mention in carrboro's town charter for filling vacancies specifies by vote totals in an election. anyone know if filling other vacancies IS somewhere in carrboro's town charter?

Jason,

Check out Democracy-NC (http://www.democracy-nc.org) links on IRV as well as voter owned elections:

HB 1024 is a pilot program that allows up to 10 counties to use a rank-voting method, with State Board of Elections approval and supervision, to avoid the expense and problems of runoff elections in their local elections. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Paul Luebke (D-Durham), passed the N.C. House on May 18, 2005, with bi-partisan support, on a vote of 79-32, and it is now in the state Senate.

The Carrboro electorate casts votes for however many seats are open. It has all to do with expired terms.

Please, no more "alderperson" and "alderpeople."

It's my birthday and I can say what I want to.

Happy birthday, Catherine!

JB, you asked about recall of Carrboro town officials. and about how many seats could have been on the ballot last week,
The Carrboro Town charter provides that if an aldermanic vacancy occurs more than 90 days before the midterm election (not 90 days before the end of a 4-year term), then the extra seat is added to the ballot. For instance, if both Chilton and Zaffron had resigned before August 8, then the ballot would have said "vote for 5".

as to recall,
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/1993/Bills/Senate/HTML/S809v5.html
provides that a petition of 8% of the registered voters is required, which would be about 1100 signatures. That legislation also provides that:

"Any such election shall be held not less than 50 nor more than 70 days after the petition has been certified as being sufficient. ...
Notwithstanding the other provisions of this subsection, no recall election shall be scheduled during the time period beginning on the first Monday in July and ending on the last Monday in August in any calendar year."

However, no one "runs for Mayor" in a recall election. The question is "yes or no" on recall, if yes gets a majority, the board of aldermen appoint someone to fill the vacancy.

coverage of this issue in the H-S today
http://herald-sun.com/orange/10-667138.html
(material in parentheses is my comments)

" However, Ryan, who was 511 votes short of third place in this election, says it's more than precedent that dictates she should be appointed to serve out the final two years of Chilton's term.
She points to a subsection of the town charter that states:
"If it is necessary to elect one or more aldermen to fill the unexpired terms of one or more aldermen whose offices were vacated, the person receiving the fourth highest number of votes for aldermen ? shall be elected for the unexpired term or terms."
Ryan said Friday she feels the town charter explicitly covers the current situation, and has requested comment from the state attorney general's office as well as from private attorneys on the matter. "

(sorry, it's not "necessary" to elect one or more aldermen to fill the vacancy, because that provision is explicitly ONLY triggered by the previous paragraph of the charter (not quoted) that says the vacancy must have occurred 90 or more days before the election.)

=========
Ryan, who has said she will present her case at next week's board meeting, said she also questions the town attorney's assertion that a special election cannot be held to fill the fourth slot.
"I'm not just asking for a clarification on the town charter, I'm also asking for an opinion on whether the board has the ability to call a special election," Ryan said, describing her correspondence with the attorney general's office.

(The law in North Carolina is settled, elections may only be held when authorized by law. The General Assembly has on ocassion authorized special elections for many types of isues, but always by specific legislation)

In an e-mail to her supporters sent Thursday, Ryan called for action and continuing support.

"I don't have any more money to devote to a long legal battle if the Board of Aldermen decide to hunker down and refuse to follow the law," she wrote. "I'm willing to stand and fight but I need your help."

(uh, sorry, if the board follows the town attorney's opinion, it will be following the law.)

oh, and one of the main reasons I know about the Carrboro charter provision in question is because I wrote it in consultation with Mike Brough.

Chapel Hil News weighs in:
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/opinion/story/2837324p-9288614c.html

As long term resident of Chapel Hill and Carrboro and having been a homeowner in both, I'm becoming increasingly offended by the division being sowed between the NTA and Carrboro as it exists prior to the annexation. Carrboro is being promoted as some sort of unthinking money gobbling bastion of "grooviness" and "funkiness" and "elitism." I currently own a home in Carrboro and among my neighbors are yes, professors, but also truck drivers, property managers and nurses. I live spitting distance from several apartment complexes where many working class folk as well as students live. I also have driven through neighborhoods to the east of here well within Carrboro that resemble the more affluent neighborhoods in the NTA. Though I agree that equal services (I like being able to walk to my fire station) should be provided to the NTA, I am finding it hard to grasp this idea that NTA is full of people Radically Different and in need of different representation than the rest of Carrboro as Carrboro is a lot more diverse than is being acknowledged.

Maria,

When talking about representation, I think it is much more similar to the discussions about district representation on the BOCC. Local government is about local issues, where a road goes, or how new development will affect an existing neighborhood. I would posit that someone who lives in that area and knows what the traffic is like at different times of day, or where kids tend to play etc. can give better representation and better insight to the entire board than someone who rarely if ever spends time there.

Most of the projects, and most of the large agenda items facing the board in the next few years are happening in the part of Carrboro north of Homestead Rd. When I talk about representation of northern neighborhoods, that is what I'm talking about.

There is also a difference in priorities amongst those 27516ers who moved into their homes for the school system( and maybe even a particular school), and those who chose Carrboro over Chapel Hill for its cultural amenities. Negotiating a town budget that addresses the priorities of these two different demographics fairly is pretty tough if no one from the former group is in the room.

Katrina makes some very excellent and relevant points in the post just above this one.

More data!

1995
2599 turnout (26 more voters than total mayoral votes cast)
1831 Bryan (70%)
1490 Zaffron (57%)
1383 Caldwell (53%)
1152 McDuffee (44%)
875 Collins (23%)

2005
2307 turnout (169 more voters than total mayoral votes cast)
1545 Gist (67%)
1280 Haven-O'Donnell (55%)
1247 Herrera (54%)
736 Ryan (32%)
601 DeVine (26%)
437 Marshall (19%)

(Note: 1995 is when Nelson first ran for mayor, against two opponents, and made national news with his victory.)

I haven't had the time to read the blow by blow by blow with Cameron and Tom and everyone else, but I figured I'd add fuel to the fire, or perhaps more accurately, the next chapter to the book.

http://apps.dailytarheel.com/blogs/pivot/entry.php?id=276#body

We've got a story today on what's going on in the whole situation with some new info, and that's my analysis right there.

Ted

Katrina,

I moved into my neighborhood for the school and for the layout of the house. We were looking at another elementary school in the Chapel Hill neighborhood where my husband grew up, but the foundations of many of the houses had ongoing problems. So we moved back to Carrboro. Though we were once 14ers, 16ers and even 17ers as well as former 10ers.

I vote for a represenative because I believe that person is a good listener, a good problem solver and a good decision maker. A person who is all three would be able to meet the needs of many neighborhoods and people.

I was watching, there were about 4 speakers including Katrina. At 8pm Time-Warner dropped the meeting. Jacquie had asked Joal to describe the process for her apppointment. At 8:08pm TW was still scrolling through Chapel Hill meeting schedule.

Thanks Andrea. I can't wait until Carrboro and Chapel Hill stream their meetings on the 'net. Hopefully we'll hear from someone attending sometime this evening.

Applications will be accepted until January 11. Interviews will be conducted January 19 (special meeting). A questionnaire is being developed (no more than 6 questions) that each applicant will be expected to respond to. I assume, although it wasn't addressed, that the questionnaire is to be submitted with the application and will then provide the basis for the interviews. The selection will occur at the meeting on January 31. Annexation area residents are eligible.

What wasn't addressed was the criteria the BOA will use for making the selection.

Damon,

John Herrara is the temporary liaison to the Transportation Advisory Board and Jacqui is the temporary liaison with the Arts Committee. Alex, as the alternate to Diana McDuffee, will fill in with the Transportation Partners. Permanet appointments will be made, as Dan says, once the new alderman is appointed. Steve Stewart and Mark Chilton will be the permanent representatives to the Community Leadership Council.

Andrea,

I'm weary of the 10 minute +/- hourly blue-outs of Carrboro BoA meetings.

Who is responsible for the stoppage of live programming while Chapel Hill announcements grace the screen?

I would be most happy to ask the appropriate person to consider running Chapel Hill announcements at the bottom of the screen while continuing live programming.

Can someone point me in the right direction?

If only the community owned the "means of communication"... ;-)

Maybe you can strongly encourage our municipalities to start streaming their meetings on the 'net (and archiving them for time-shifted perusal). I've even offered my technical assistance and expertise to get Chapel Hill up and running...partly because I don't have cable.

I attended tonight's meeting, but frequently monitor from home and have never experienced blue-outs. Richard White in the Carrboro Town Manager's office handles cable broadcast concerns. Carrboro main # = 942-8514.

Thanks, Catherine.

Time Warner is required by the FCC to provide a government access channel; Chapel Hill and Carrboro subscribers all pay a franchise fee for that service. The town's pay the personnel sitting in the control room at each meeting. I can see no reason why Chapel Hill announcements should be run at the bottom of the screen during a Carrboro town meeting. Mary is describing a technical problem that Carrboro should require Time Warner to fix.

Does anyone else wonder why we see Chapel Hill announcements but not Carrboro announcements? Is that due to the franchising fee agreement?

Catherine, I made contact, and got reassurance that Carrboro is working to correct BoA meeting interruptions and will pursue until resolution.

Glad to hear it, Mary. Much work has been done in the past, with home viewer input, to correct various technical imperfections like muddy sound and poor switching. Program interruptions fall into a whole 'nother category.

WillR - totally agree about internet streaming of BoA meetings. It's high time non-cable TV subscribers got access. Perhaps for starters WCOM could start running the audio of the meetings.

The application form and questionnaire for Carrboro's open BOA seat are now available. Both are PDF format.

Wow, some pretty interesting questions.