The Carrboro Board of Aldermen and the Orange County Board of Commissioners both meet Tuesday night, each with agendas focusing on racial equity.

Carrboro Aldermen will receive an update from the Carrboro Police Department on their ongoing efforts to eliminate bias and promote equity in policing. County Commissioners, meanwhile, will discuss a possible response to an issue that’s drawn even more recent controversy: the prospect of a pro-Confederate group raising a giant Confederate flag on private land somewhere in Orange County. (The group has been trying to raise Confederate flags in every county in the state.)

Numerous Orange County residents turned out at a meeting in February to demand action to prevent such a move. Orange County’s unified development ordinance (UDO) already has some provisions regulating “banners and signs,” including flags, but residents at the February meeting asked the board to go further. The First Amendment prohibits the county from banning any particular flags or forms of expression, but the county can enact “time, place, and manner” restrictions governing the size and the height of flags – provided those restrictions are “reasonable” and applied neutrally to all flags regardless of their content.

So Tuesday night, commissioners will consider authorizing an effort to amend the UDO to establish new height and size restrictions for flagpoles and flags. If the Board votes to authorize the process, the county’s planning board will meet in April to develop a specific amendment, which county commissioners will consider at a later date after a public hearing.

The County Commissioners meeting will begin at 7:00 at the Southern Human Services Center on Homestead Road; other agenda items include a presentation on what county officials are doing to protect the security of voting machines, with the primary election coming in less than two months.

Get the full agenda here for the Orange County Board of Commissioners.

The Carrboro Aldermen meeting will begin at 7:30 in Town Hall. In addition to the policing report, board members will also receive an update from OWASA on a new infrastructure project.

Get the full agenda here for the Carrboro Board of Aldermen.

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