Agenda - 10-16-2018 8-a - Minutes

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17 1 John Roberts said the map would only need to be revised if there was a significant 2 discrepancy. 3 Commissioner Burroughs said this happened in 2010, and everything was fine in the 4 end. 5 Greg Wilder said the County went through an evaluation process, and there were 6 changes, but they remained within the standard deviation of 5%. 7 Commissioner Burroughs said she is inclined to keep everything the same, except to 8 add the district elected. 9 Commissioner Price asked if this would leave the at-large positions. 10 Commissioner Burroughs said yes, in her thinking. 11 Commissioner McKee said he is supportive of this, and is wary of doing anything that 12 would involve the legislature. He said no one should think that the effective representation rural 13 versus urban is going to change. He said the breakdown of the Board is not rural versus urban, 14 but rather issue-to-issue, with members swinging back and forth. He said going to district- 15 nominate and district-elect will take away the argument of some people in district 2 that say, 16 "we nominate, but the whole County elects." He said there is a perception of unfairness. 17 Commissioner Price said the perception is, "we nominate, and Chapel Hill elects." 18 Commissioner McKee said the most equitable thing is to go to district-nominates and 19 district-elects. He said he thinks it is possible for a republican, independent, or green candidate 20 to win if one can get on the ballot and run a strong campaign. 21 Chair Dorosin asked John Roberts if legislative involvement was required for the County 22 wants to go to 4-3. 23 John Roberts said no, that would not require legislative approval. 24 Commissioner McKee said some options would require legislative involvement. 25 John Roberts said pure districts do not require legislative involvement; the County could 26 go can go to 7 districts and not go to legislature. 27 Commissioner Marcoplos said going with 7 districts would lead to it all going pie shaped 28 towards Chapel Hill, which would be ridiculous. 29 Commissioner Marcoplos said he has immersed himself in this issue more than anyone, 30 and has studied it for many years. He said his goal is to enhance democracy, and the only way 31 to provide fair representation is to go over to proportional representation, instant run off, or 32 cumulative voting, etc. He said FairVote.org gives a lot of information, but this would require 33 going to the legislature, and that would never work. He said the suggested "district-nominate/ 34 district-elect" is a waste of money and time, would change nothing, and it does not accomplish 35 the goal of increasing democracy, and, as such, he cannot support it. He said democrats will 36 always win in Orange County for the foreseeable future, which is the root of the issue for folks. 37 He is not in favor of using taxpayer money to address symbolism, and the Board has better 38 things to do with its energy, and should give this up for now. 39 Commissioner Burroughs said Carrboro used to be an incredibly conservative mill town, 40 and has flipped in the last 30-40 years. She said the foreseeable future is not that far. 41 Commissioner Rich said she shared her thoughts over the summer with Chair Dorosin, 42 and she would like to hear from the voters. She said a way to do this is to set up a committee, 43 and have public sessions throughout the County for resident input. She said any type of 44 committee would have to have a charge from the Board of County Commissioners. She said 45 Chatham County is doing something similar, as it is considering increasing its number of board 46 members and the way of doing elections. 47 Commissioner Rich proposed the creation of a committee to research this, noting that 48 when the County went from 5-7 board members, there was an internal committee that came 49 back with recommendations. She proposed creating a committee that does more than hold two