This series of posts will be made weekly on Chapelboro to help inform our community about local government meetings. All meeting days, locations and times may be subject to change. Check town, county, and school district websites for additional information.
This week’s local government spotlight is on Pittsboro, where residents are pushing back on data mining and public surveillance at both the town and county levels. Chatham County Commissioners have scheduled a public hearing to consider a 12-month moratorium on any new data mining facilities and AI data centers, after numerous residents raised concerns at last month’s meeting. Meanwhile, Pittsboro residents are planning to show up at this week’s town board meeting to urge officials to stop using Flock license-plate cameras, which have raised serious privacy concerns. (Hillsborough canceled its own contract with Flock four months ago.)
Here’s a rundown of local government meetings this week in Durham, Orange, and Chatham Counties.
Orange County
And the Chapel Hill Town Council meets Wednesday, February 11, at 6 p.m. in the Chapel Hill Public Library. The council will receive a financial report, including the results of last year’s audit; they’ll get a staff update on the process of revising the town’s Land Use Management Ordinance (LUMO); and they’ll discuss the process of evaluating the town manager’s job performance. Get a link to the full agenda here.
Chatham and Durham Counties
The Pittsboro Board of Commissioners meets at 6 p.m. Monday, February 9. Their agenda includes an update from the town’s water system, but the highest-profile issue is one that’s not on the official schedule: residents are organizing to show up in force at Monday’s meeting to urge the town to stop using Flock license-plate cameras. That surveillance technology has been employed by many communities to help police identify suspects and locate missing persons, but it’s also raised serious concerns about privacy and data security – and recently, concerns that Flock might also share information with federal agencies like ICE. (The town of Hillsborough canceled its own contract with Flock in October of last year.) Get the official agenda at this link…