A discussion by the Chapel Hill Town Council about downsizing by two members and extending the length of mayoral term was met with swift, vocal opposition during a public hearing last week. The community comments, in the span of just a few days, led the elected officials to stop considering any changes.
The local government passed a measure earlier in April to hold a dedicated hearing on the matter, with the idea of exploring a change to the town charter to eliminate a pair of seats from the elected body in upcoming election cycles and extending the mayor’s term to four years instead of two. During their own comments, council members sounded split on what they preferred, with some denouncing the ideas and others saying they wanted to take a closer look at the possibility of one or both possible changes.
Wednesday’s public hearing did not turn out droves of speakers – although those who did said they believed the fast-moving nature of the process for potentially trimming the council affected who was able to show. But even if not in amount, the weight and alignment of their comments sent a clear message to the Chapel Hill elected officials. Prominent members of the town’s Black community – Delores Bailey, Danita Mason-Hogans, Yvette Mathews, Betty Curry and Michelle Laws – all spoke against the pair of ideas alongside a trio of figures from Chapel Hill’s political past – former mayor Mark Kleinschmidt, former council member Nancy Oates, and multi-time town council candidate Will Raymond.
Mason-Hogans, a community historian and long-time advocate for Chapel Hill’s historically Black neighborhoods, was quick to point out representation of that community on council is a structural issue it has faced for a long time. By scaling back the town council from nine seats to seven, she argued the local government would be reducing the space where minorities can be decision-makers…