Neal Bench

CHAPEL HILL- Orange County Commissioner Penny Rich’s written request that Chapel Hill Planning Board Chair Del Snow resign continues to generate local discussion and debate. The letter was penned to town mayor Mark Kleinschmidt. According to her strongly worded letter, what prompted Commissioner Rich to write the mayor to ask Chapel Hill council members to ask Snow to resign as the town’s Planning Board Chair, were the comments she made during a December 11 Orange County Board meeting. To quote from Rich’s letter: “Del Snow, was the third speaker and identified herself as the chair of the Chapel Hill Planning Board. Ms. Snow reported that the planning board is pro-transit but did not support the MPO’s [Metropolitan Planning Organization] long-term transit plan.” That’s how the meat of the letter begins. Notice how the letter references the way Snow initially identified herself. Rich goes on to say: “Ms. Snow repeated that she is the chair of the Planning Board a number of times and never stated that she was speaking as an Orange County citizen… It is my understanding that neither you nor council gave Ms. Snow instructions to represent the town on this matter.” Del Snow sees it differently. “I wasn’t representing the town and I didn’t make any comments that would lead anyone to believe I was representing the town, that I was representing the planning board and...