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areas in the country is fundamental to the way of government - it is the way the North Carolina <br />House, the North Carolina Senate, the House of Representatives, and the U. S. Senate are <br />organized. It is also the way that a number of counties in North Carolina elect the County <br />Commissioners. He said that they would ask that a referendum be put on the ballot for this fall. <br />If the County Commissioners will not put forward the citizens' proposed referendum, then they <br />could put both proposals on the referendum and then let the citizens pick one of the proposals. <br />Will Raymond is a resident of Chapel Hill and he has worked for many years to get out <br />the vote. Recently, he was a candidate for Chapel Hill Town Council and he came before the <br />Board of County Commissioners many months ago when this issue arose for the first time, and <br />he suggested that if they were going to open this up, then they need to have some real change. <br />At that time, he requested that the Board of County Commissioners offer the citizens a real <br />choice in the system. His first idea is cumulative voting, the second change is non-partisan <br />representation, and the third is to move to aseven-member Board. He said that he represents <br />the Independents, and that it is not about geography anymore, but issues. He said that he <br />would like to request an alternative referendum on the ballot that would combine elements of <br />cumulative voting, seven members, and non-partisanship. <br />Dolly Hunter said that the most important issue to her is nomination by district and they <br />can stay with five members. She thinks that this will satisfy a lot of things that the citizens are <br />requesting. <br />Artie Franklin lives in Chapel Hill. He thanked them for bringing back proposal 3 and he <br />would like for them to consider district nominations with seven members, which will address the <br />issues of concern by petitioners. <br />Bob Strayhorn said that he wanted to assure the Board that this has been discussed in <br />the rural communities for at least the last 20 years. This is the reason they went to the petition <br />process. He said that he is a born Democrat and he is a Southern Democrat. He said that <br />when they started this process, they all agreed that they did not want to take away any power <br />from Chapel Hill and their representation. They just wanted same rural people on the Board <br />that could represent the concerns of the rural people. They did not want to target anybody and <br />he hopes that they have not. He is proud to say that the group he represents wrote no negative <br />letters to the editor. He is asking the Board to give it the consideration that the people asked <br />for. He is disappointed with some of the discussions. <br />Robin Cutson said that you can have Democrats with different ideologies. She said that <br />the discussion always moves toward rural versus urban. She said that she has heard in many <br />of the discussions that poor people are more conservative. She said that one of the most <br />important things is not disenfranchising the poor. This means listening to them and giving them <br />a voice. She said that if poor people are indeed more conservative, then maybe they need a <br />voice so that their needs can be made known. She would like to move away from the <br />discussion of liberals versus conservatives. She said that this might be a class issue and she <br />hopes that, as good Democrats, that they would want to give those people a voice, which <br />means nomination by districts. A countywide vote would not give them a voice. <br />Jamie Daniel said that he is a registered Republican and this is about people and not <br />about politics. He said that they are asking to have someone that they see everyday to <br />represent them from the northern part of the County. <br />Chair Jacobs said that he has been a resident of rural Orange County for over 30 years <br />and he thinks that he understands rural Orange County. He thinks that this Board, and <br />especially him and Commissioner Halkiotis, as residents of rural Orange County, have done a <br />good job of representing its interests. He said that he has tried to separate his personal feelings <br />from what people are saying that there is no one from rural Orange on this Board and no one is <br />representing rural Orange County's interests. He knows that this is not true and he knows that <br />it is not personal. He is not worried about Chapel Hill's power ar his own power, but what is <br />