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Council to set timeline for Strom replacement

Posted on September 10, 2009 by Staff

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

When it returns Monday for its first regular meeting since June, the first order of business for the Chapel Hill Town Council will be to nail down a timeline for filling the vacancy left by the mid-term resignation of Bill Strom.

The council discussed the matter briefly on Friday at Town Hall before going into closed session to discuss a possible property purchase. The special meeting, which was called by Mayor Kevin Foy to discuss the property negotiations, triggered a provision in the town’s ordinance for filling a council vacancy.

The ordinance requires the mayor to inform the council at the first available regular or special meeting. After that, the town clerk has seven days to advertise the vacancy and list the procedure by which citizens can file applications for the seat.

Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos said notice of the vacancy is scheduled to be published Friday. Residents will then have until Oct. 12 to send in an application.

While the vacancy was officially announced on Friday, the rest of the process was left up in the air as council members opted to wait until their regularly scheduled meeting Monday to discuss the procedure by which the council would review applications, nominate candidates and vote on a nominee.

Council member Matt Czajkowski, who is running for mayor, said Friday he was uncomfortable with discussing the process beyond the official notice because the public was not expecting a special meeting and was expecting the discussion to take place on Monday.

“There is, in some parts of the citizenry, some, I think, concern about the process. I don’t think it’s well placed. I don’t think it’s valid, but I think in a democracy we’d all agree perception is vital to trust,” he said.

Fellow council member Mark Kleinschmidt, also running for mayor, said he was disappointed to hear questions raised about the timing of the special meeting. Although the process is starting earlier with the official announcement of the vacancy, the new council member still will be chosen after the November election. Kleinschmidt said there was nothing nefarious in the council’s action.

“Despite the attempts to make Bill Strom’s resignation the ‘death panels’ of Chapel Hill politics, nothing’s changed,” he said. “This is exactly the way that it would have operated if we were meeting on the 14th.”

In a memo to the council released last week, Foy said he’d like to give applicants 30 days — the maximum time under the ordinance — to submit applications. The council would then review those applications and hold a session in November to hear from applicants. Under the ordinance, the council must wait at least one meeting between placing names in nomination and voting on the next council members.

The council will discuss the timeline and the procedure for picking a replacement for Strom at the beginning of its next meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 14 at Town Hall. The meeting will be cablecast on Channel 18.

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