After briefly discussing its call for a special election in 2022, the Carrboro Town Council decided to continue with its method to fill a vacant council seat.

The six-member council held a meeting Tuesday night, its final business meeting of the year, and had an agenda item of considering its method to add a seventh member.

When Mayor Damon Seils was sworn in, his council seat became vacant with two years remaining on the term. Carrboro’s town charter maintains the council can fill a vacancy either through an appointment or by special election, with the council deciding on December 7 to have a special election that coincides with North Carolina’s 2022 primaries.

Just one day later, though, the state Supreme Court issued an order that suspended election filing and delayed the primaries due to a lawsuit challenging the recently-drawn legislative and congressional district maps.

Seils spoke to 97.9 The Hill ahead of Tuesday’s meeting and said he supports having a special election to keep consistency.

“The last two vacancies of this kind, the town council in Carrboro has used special election as a method for filling the vacancy,” he said. “In my mind, for consistency’s sake, that made sense.”

On Tuesday, most of the Carrboro Town Council members shared sentiments that supported waiting for the primary elections in May.

Randee Haven-O’Donnell voiced their support for it being a decision for the Carrboro community instead of an appointment by the town council members.

“This the way of participatory democracy,” they said. “Certainly this year, and in recent history, more than anything I want to perpetuate the importance of voting…that voting matters and that we all get behind the effort to break down any voter apathy that may exist.”

A three-judge panel is expected to meet in early January to review the lawsuit, with a ruling required by January 11. Town council member Danny Nowell pointed out Tuesday night that January 11 is the when the town council will have its first meeting in 2022, strengthening his decision to wait.

Barbara Foushee was the lone Carrboro council member who said she’d prefer an appointment to the vacant seat. She said she does not want to take options away from Carrboro voters, but also wants to be conscious of the workload and commission responsibilities for all the council members while the seat remains vacant.

“I’ve always been in favor of the appointment,” said Foushee. “I know who my colleagues are in this screen and we just hired this amazing town manager. So, I know that we could pick someone to sit in that seat for two years. I know it’s a little different of a hire, but nonetheless, we did that.”

“The only reason I would say this,” she continued, “is to get somebody in that space so we would have seven instead of six council members.”

No vote was held on the matter since the Carrboro Town Council took no action.

Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Carrboro approved a resolution to grant funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act to several local businesses as recommended by the town’s COVID Grant Review Committee. The full meeting can be found here.

 

Photo via the Town of Carrboro.


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