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Chilton win; Gist, Haven-O’Donnell, Slade victorious

Posted on November 5, 2009 by Staff

By Beth Mechum, Staff Writer

Election season has come and gone, but the Carrboro Board of Aldermen will have a decidedly familiar look.

Voters re-elected Mayor Mark Chilton, who garnered more than 70 percent of the votes, with 1,658. They also returned aldermen Jacquie Gist and Randee Haven-O’ Donnell, with 24.84 percent (1,507 votes) and 23.92 percent (1,451), respectively.

Sammy Slade will be the new face on the board, filling the seat left empty by John Herrera’s departure, having received 24.09 percent of the votes (1,461).

Mayoral candidates Brian Voyce and Amanda Ashley received 19.56 percent (450 votes) and 7.43 percent (171), respectively.

Alderman hopefuls Sharon Cook and Tim Peck received 14.89 percent (903) and 11.49 percent (697), respectively.

Soon, the campaign signs will be pulled up, the fliers will be recycled and the town will get to business as usual. But for the elected, the work has just begun.

“Now is when the real work happens,” Slade said. “One of the challenges, considering all of the significant bold actions I would like to see happen, is continual and sustained participation from the community.”

Gist said Slade, who is 36, has already inspired younger members of the community to become more involved, and that was part of the reason she, Haven-O’Donnell and Chilton supported him.

“He has a lot of knowledge about local issues, including local economic issues, and I’m excited to learn more from him,” Gist said. “He brings in a different set of tools and a different group of people that haven’t really been very involved: his age group. That’s going to be really neat.”

The board members said the topic they heard raised most by citizens during the campaign was the local economy.

“The main issue a lot of people were expressing to me is the tax burden on homeowners,” Slade said. “How to solve that is by diversifying the tax base and encouraging locally owned businesses, and, that way, take away the burden on homeowners.”

How to diversify the tax base, Chilton said, is one of his main priorities.

“I think we’re trying to look at how developing and fostering local small businesses is a way to generate more business activity within the town and the careful redevelopment of downtown Carrboro,” he said.

Environmental issues were also at the forefront, as they always are in Carrboro. Slade said he is hoping to bring his experience and knowledge dealing with climate-change issues at the national and international level to Carrboro.

Chilton said he wants to continue to make Carrboro more walkable, with greenways and bicycle paths.

Gist said she was out at the polls from 6:30 a.m. to close, at 7:30 p.m., and heard a lot of concerns from citizens about the town’s relationship with farmers.

“I spent a lot of time yesterday clarifying issues for people who had some misconceptions for the town’s goals for farms and how the town spends its money,” she said. She added that it was gratifying to come to some understanding with some people Tuesday, and that in her next term she expects that understanding to grow.

It’s expected that Slade will fill Herrera’s seat immediately instead of waiting until December, as was discussed in August.

When asked about the board looking remarkably similar to that in his past term, Chilton was proud.

“I think the message from Carrboro voters is that they mostly think the town is on the right track,” he said, “and we’ll continue on with many things we’ve been working on.”

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