Orange County NC Website
"nominate", and he is okay with "produce." He would like to leave the door open for a better word. <br />He said that the bottom line is that there are already two County Commissioners in the rural area. <br />Chair Carey said that he recognizes that there is no way that lines can be drawn that will <br />produce any particular philosophy on the Board of County Commissioners. He does support an <br />option that allows Commissioners to be nominated in a district. He has come full circle because <br />he used to oppose it. He thinks that a nomination in the district and an election at-large would <br />accomplish some of the objectives of all of the groups. He wants to preserve the at-large <br />election. <br />Commissioner Faushee agreed with Chair Carey an bringing forth one proposal that allows <br />nominating from the district and an at-large election. She said that this would most likely address <br />the philosophical issues. She said that her first choice would not be to do this, but she thinks that <br />if they are going to respond to what they have heard, then they should at least bring forward a <br />proposal. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that maybe the best solution is to hold open how it is going to be, <br />because she does not think the County Commissioners are ready to narrow it down. <br />Commissioner Gordon made reference to principle #6: "Any district plan should provide <br />African-Americans, women, and other minorities an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their <br />choice." She said that she assumed this meant that African-Americans, women, and other <br />minorities would be given the same opportunity as Caucasian males. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that it is important to note that this is already being <br />accomplished and there are few places in the world where this is being accomplished. This is the <br />first time that there have been two African-Americans on the Board of County Commissioners. <br />He suggested adding some verbiage that says this is already being accomplished. <br />Chair Carey suggested adding language that would "maintain" this equal opportunity. <br />Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the last principle about not increasing the <br />divisiveness in the County and said that they have tried to accomplish this by bringing people <br />together. He said that because he is conservative about making change, he goes back to page <br />three where the staff contacted 22 counties similar to Orange County and 21 used districts for <br />residency purposes only. His concern is that they do not leap too far in trying to act to a <br />legitimate concern, but make it more divided. He said that it seems that there is a standard way <br />of doing this in North Carolina. He said that to go from the current system to a district system is a <br />large step in the direction of accommodating the concerns that people have raised. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis supported Commissioner Jacobs' comment. He said that they could <br />learn from these 22 other counties. <br />Geof Gledhill said that Commissioner Jacobs' comment is valid, but there are a significant <br />number of pure district systems among County Commissioners. There are 14 pure district <br />systems. <br />Chair Carey said that the situation is different in every county. He has found that there are <br />varying degrees of happiness with the district systems. He wants to do what is best for Orange <br />County now. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to the last principle: "District lines, and any efforts to <br />establish districts, should not exacerbate perceived divisions within the County," and said that the <br />word "perceived" is a very dangerous word. He suggested taking this principle out and Chair <br />Carey agreed. <br />Commissioner Gordon suggested taking out "perceive" and say that, "The new system of <br />voting should not exacerbate divisions within the County. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis suggested, "Any district plan should foster greater participation in the <br />election process by all citizens." The Board agreed with this language. <br />Commissioner Gordon asked for information about the implementation process and how and <br />when the district boundaries will came into effect. <br />