By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board Chair Pam Hemminger and Orange County Planning Board member Bernadette Pelissier say they plan to file soon for the May Democratic primary for Orange County commissioner. They’ll join incumbent commissioner Valerie Foushee who has indicated previously she’ll seek another term.
Filing season starts Monday at noon and Hemminger, who sought a seat on the board in 2004, said she plans to get started early. She said she wants to run because of her concern for how the county will handle growth.
Hemminger, who was appointed to the school board in 2005 and won election in 2006, said she thinks her experience with schools and as a longtime parks and recreation supporter will be an asset to the board in dealing with growth issues. “I feel versed on it and I want to help,†she said.
The county has a number of budget and tax issues to tackle, Hemminger said, including how to keep up with the need for new schools. With the school district about to open Morris Grove Elementary, known for years as Elementary Number 10, Hemminger said “elementary number 11 needs to be started right away.â€
Pelissier, who served on both the Orange County Planning Board and the county’s Commission for the Environment, said she is also concerned about managing the county’s growth. The key, she said, will be in developing and carrying out the county’s new comprehensive plan, an effort being led by the planning board.
“I’m very committed to seeing that we have very good planning for our county,†Pelissier said. Her experiences on the board of the Orange Water and Sewer Authority during the 2001-2002 drought, she said, convinced her that there needs to be a long-term approach to managing the county’s resources.
Pelissier said if she wins the post, she also hopes to focus on local economic development, particularly in bolstering the farm economy.
Foushee, who was elected in 2004, is a former chair of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education. She has indicated she’ll seek another term, but, citing a busy week, deferred outlining a platform to The Citizen for this story.
All candidates studying a possible run for the board of county commissioners will have to weigh running for an at-large or district seat (see story on page 1), a novel experience in Orange County. Starting this year, the new board will expand to seven members with one at-large seat, two District 1 seats and one District 2 seat.
Neither Foushee nor Pelissier indicated where they intend to be on the ballot, but Hemminger said she definitely plans to file for a District 1 seat, which closely mirrors the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district, where voters are more familiar with her.
The new districts, she said, added a twist to the race.
“But hopefully anybody running knows they’ll represent the whole county and not just their district,†she said.
Pelissier has some serious competition now, check it out! I would be very nervous if I were her.
http://squeezethepulp.com/w/ho:march_2008#neloa_jones_files_for_orange_county_commissioner_at-large_spot