Agenda - 06-27-2006-9b - Laserfiche WebLink

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The County Manager and County staff reviewed the issue and the petition submitted and provided a report to the Board at the Board's May 5, 2005 work session, The report included information on the following: 1) the legal framework for stricture of boards of county commissioners; 2) the various methods of at-large election, district election, and combination of at- large/district election utilized for boards of commissioners in the 99 other North Carolina counties; 3) a history of past discussions by the Orange County Board of Commissioners in regard to Board representation and election; 4) same limited boundaries and statistical information showing the population distribution as it may relate to the consideration/formulation of district representation for Orange County. The report was intended to provide an initial framework of information upon which the Board of Commissioners could deliberate and determine as appropriate any further steps in evaluating this isstae and responding to the request and petition submitted. The Board then pursued a series of meetings over the past eleven months. Those meetings included two public hearings, one on August 24 and the other on August 31, 2005, to receive input from the public on this issue. This was followed by, at an October 17, 2005 work session, Board discussion of five initial draft maps/plans, an introductory preamble, a draft set of Principles, and a draft Process/Timetable. From that meeting, the Board then scheduled and conducted another public hearing at its November 2, 2005 regular meeting on three of the initial draft maps/plans, The next discussion occurred at the Board's November 15, 2005 regular meeting. At that meeting, the Board approved a motion "...[to] 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 then briefly discussed district elections at the .January 20, 2006 BOCG Retreat as part of the "Priorities" review. At a February 16, 2006 work session, the Board ftarther discussed district elections and proposed moving forward with Proposal 5, afive-member plan for the Board of Commissioners. The Board also determined that members from districts under Proposal 5 would reside in their respective districts, but the qualified voters of the entire County would nominate all candidates for and elect all members of the Board, The Board also confirmed that implementation of the district election plan far the Board of County Commissioners, with the approval of County voters in November 2006, would begin with the 2008 Primary Election, The Board received public comments on Proposal 5 and other items related to district elections at its March 2, 2006 regular meeting. This was followed at the next regular meeting on March 21, 2006 with further BOCC discussion of district elections and the approval of the following motion: "Staff to prepare a resolution, a map and a transition plan to be sent to referendum in November 2006, fora 7-member Board of County Commissioners, with 2 members from residential districts in rural Orange County, and at least two members and not more than three members from a residential district in Chapel Nill Township, with the remainder being at-large members. These 7 commissioners would be nominated and elected at-large. This proposal is reflected in Proposal 3, but need not be limited exactly to the district designs in Proposal 3."