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.
Several local government boards have busy agendas this week, but all eyes will be on the Durham school board, which meets Thursday (and now also Wednesday) to address the biggest issue in town: a salary dispute that’s led to widespread walkouts and school closures. Not to be outdone, the Carrboro Town Council has scheduled five consecutive days of meetings: two of those are closed-session meetings to discuss a personnel (town manager?) matter, but then the board meets publicly on Tuesday, with a closely-watched vote scheduled on whether to expand the town’s water and sewer boundary south along 15/501. Meanwhile, Orange County Commissioners have their eye on development north of town, with a discussion scheduled this week on the future of the Greene Tract.
Here’s a rundown of local government meetings this week in Durham, Orange, and Chatham Counties.
Orange County
The Carrboro Town Council has a busy week, with five straight days of scheduled meetings that began with a legislative breakfast last Friday and a budget retreat on Saturday. Council members then have two straight days of closed-session meetings to discuss an unspecified personnel matter; the first of those meetings was Sunday, then the discussion continues at 6 p.m. Monday, February 5. (Officials have not specified the reason for the discussion, but it could be related to the ongoing search for a new town manager, following Richard White’s departure last year.)
Finally, the town council will hold their regular meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, February 6. Tops on their agenda: council members will consider amending the Water and Sewer Management, Planning, and Boundary Agreement (WASMPBA for short – sometimes pronounced wham-spuh, if you want to sound in the know) to expand the Chapel Hill-Carrboro water and sewer boundary further south along 15/501. (The WASMPBA boundary is similar to the “rural buffer” limiting development beyond town limits, but the two are not the same: expanding the WASMPBA boundary will not immediately affect the rural buffer.)
Also Tuesday, the council will take one final vote to officially change the name of Carr Street to Braxton Foushee Street. The street is currently named after Julian Carr, who helped establish the town in the early 20th century but was also a prominent white supremacist; Braxton Foushee, by contrast, is a longtime public advocate and civil rights leader who became the first Black member of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen (now Town Council) in 1969.
Click here for links to all of this week’s Carrboro Town Council agendas.
Orange County Commissioners meet in the Whitted Building at 7 p.m. Tuesday, February 6. This week’s agenda features a discussion of the Greene Tract, a large plot of undeveloped land just north of Chapel Hill. Plans are in the works to develop a portion of that land, with affordable housing topping the list of needs; Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Orange County will all ultimately have to approve a final plan. County commissioners will consider approving a contract with an engineering firm to provide civil design services for a Greene Tract Master Plan.
In addition to the Greene Tract discussion, commissioners will also receive a presentation on a draft of a Solid Waste Master Plan for the county.
Click here for the board’s full agenda.
Finally, the Orange County School Board meets in the Whitted Building at 6 p.m. Monday, February 5, for a work session that includes a discussion of financing capital projects and recruitment/retention of teachers and staff. Click here for the board’s full agenda.
Chatham and Durham Counties
Durham County Commissioners get the week started with a 9 a.m. meeting Monday, February 5. Commissioners will hear presentations on a variety of topics: plans to develop 268 acres of wooded land on Santee Road into a park; updates on capital projects from Durham Technical Community College and the Museum of Life & Science; an update on the process of developing a new five-year county strategic plan; an update on how the county is using the $62 million it received in federal COVID-19 relief funds; and a presentation on planned transit improvements for the upcoming fiscal year. Click here for the full agenda.
The Durham City Council also has a busy week, with meetings at 7 p.m. on Monday, February 5, and again at 1 p.m. on Thursday, February 8. Thursday’s work session will feature annual reports from various city boards and commissions; Monday’s meeting will feature a “Black Teens in Crisis” resolution to direct resources to address the youth mental health crisis, which disproportionately affects Black teens. Click here for links to both agendas.
Finally, the Durham County school board will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 8, in what’s likely to be the most closely-watched local government meeting of the week. School board members will attempt to resolve the ongoing pay-dispute issue that’s led to repeated walkouts, sickouts and protests among teachers and staffers. (The short explanation: an accounting error led to some district employees receiving raises that weren’t covered in the district’s budget, and now the most obvious solutions to get back under budget will effectively create pay cuts for many.) The school board met for seven hours on Friday but failed to reach a decision. The agenda for Thursday’s meeting has not been posted as of Monday morning, but it will be available at this link.
Update: following additional protests on Monday, the Durham school board has also scheduled a special (mostly closed-session) meeting for Wednesday, February 7, at 6 p.m. Click here for details.
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