In the wake of the news that Orange County Commissioner Mia Burroughs will not be running for re-election in 2018, commission chair Mark Dorosin has expressed his disappointment that he will no longer be working with her.
“I’m disappointed a little bit,” Dorosin said in an interview on Friday. “I think she’s been a great county commissioner.”
Burroughs cited being stretched too thin between her position on the board and her senior advisor role for Ipas – a global non-profit that seeks to protect women’s reproductive health and rights.
While she will certainly be missed, Dorosin says he understands the hardships of balancing such a heavy workload.
“I know how challenging that can be,” said Dorosin. “We live in a society that, on the one hand, seems to value multitasking, but the truth is the more tasks you do, the less effectively you do any one of them. And I think that’s how she felt.”
Former Chapel Hill – Carrboro City Schools Board of Education member Jamezetta Bedford announced last week that she will run for the seat.
Dorosin has been pushing for fewer commissioner meetings to make it easier for people with full-time jobs to serve on the board.
“As someone who’s had a full-time job while serving, it is really challenging,” said Dorosin. “It’s one of the reasons, I think, in a lot of places the folks you see in local government are people who are retired, people who are independently wealthy or people who are self-employed.”
Dorosin has worked as the managing attorney for the UNC Center for Civil Rights in recent years. The UNC System Board of Governors voted to remove the center’s power to work in litigation, which led to Dorosin’s role being terminated. He and other colleagues from the center have now launched a new non-profit – the Julius L. Chambers Center for Civil Rights – to continue their work.
The Orange County Board of Commissioners rank near the highest in the state in terms of number of meetings each year.
Mia Burroughs set a tone of civility during her term on the Commission as skill which is badly needed in all levels of government. We need elected officials who have the time to dig into the tough work that needs to be done, profession or not. I’m thrilled to hear that Jamezetta Bedford has thrown her hat into the ring for the District 1 seat bringing the financial and analytical skills needed during this fiscally challenging time.