Agenda - 02-16-2006-2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 For the November 2, 2005 public hearing, staff provided two other attachments, The first of those attachments was a summary of the draft district election plans potential impacts on current members of the beard of commissioners, The second was a letter and attachments from County Attorney Geof Gledhill on the issues that may arise with district elections related to redistricting. Those attachments are provided again with this abstract, Also for the November 2nd meeting, staff detailed statistics on the number of commissioner seats for the 100 North Carolina counties based on information from the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.. That information is noted again below: 4 Counties -Three Commissioner Seats 61 Counties -Five Commissioner Seats 3 Counties -Six Commissioner Seats 27 Counties -Seven Commissioner Seats 1 County -Eight Commissioner Seats 3 Counties -Nine Commissioner Seats 1 County -Eleven Commissioner Seats Staff also noted information on the use of nominating districts versus residential districts for the district election of members of other beards of commissioners in North Carolina. Through a process of elimination based on existing information, the County Attorney and staff had contacted 22 counties, having determined that contacting the remaining 77 counties would likely not add anything. The counties contacted included Brunswick, Carteret, Chatham, Craven, Gaston, Henderson, Johnston, Moore, and Randolph, and Watauga. Results of these contacts were that only one of the 22 counties contacted (Carteret County) utilizes districts for nominating board of commissioner candidates in the primaries. Successful primary candidates in Carteret are then elected on an at large basis in the general election. The other 21 counties utilize the district delineations for residency purposes only with candidates receiving votes on an at large basis both in the primary and in the general election, The next opportunity for Board discussion occurred at the November 15, 2005 regular meeting, At that meeting, the Board determined that it would like to invest more time at a work session for specific discussion of the issues and possibilities associated with the district election of commissioners. The Board did approve a motion at the meeting that "the Board will pursue a district election system and have a referendum in the general election of 2006 on the map that the Board of Commissioners adopt." The Board also briefly discussed district elections at the .lanuary 20, 2006 BOCC Retreat as part of the "Priorities" review, and members of the Board generally indicated an interest in reaching a conclusion on district elections discussions with two additional meetings, if possible. Tonight's work session provides the Board the opportunity to discuss and consider any possible maps/plans for additional review and/or decision. Based on BOCC discussion, staff can provide any analysis requested by the Board for additional BOCC discussion and/or move forward based on Board direction. Decision points for the Board's current and/or future consideration include: 1) Any further confirmation/determination by the Board related to pursuing a district election system and the associated referendum; (As noted above, the Board did, at its November 15, 2005 regular meeting, approve a that `Yhe Board will pursue a district election system and have a referendum in the general election of 2006 an the map that the Board of Commissioners adopt." 2) Determination by the Board that it wants to pursue one of the three maps/plans presented at the November 2, 2005 public hearing, or, in the alternative, provide