Minutes 10-05-2021 Virtual Business Meeting

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17 Commissioner Dorosin and Commissioner Rich presented this they were more focused on having the two District 1 candidates in that one election, and the fact that they lost and single shot voting. He said in talking with Commissioner Dorosin and trying to get him to explain it, he argued that typically single member districts help minorities get elected. She said that that logic here does not hold water because a Black woman just won by over 2000 votes. She said other reasons were put forth but she said it was from two commissioners who had lost a race and not from the public that brought this forth at this time, and she voted against it because she did not want to spend a lot of time and money and concern on this from sour grapes. She said all this work has been done, and she thinks far more public outreach would be needed. She said with the General Assembly drawing districts, now is not the time to be doing this. She said if pandemic numbers come down and children can be vaccinated, that opens up a window later to have the real public outreach, the in person meetings and in-depth study that would truly be needed for everyone. She said it is pretty bad that people do not know whom to call. She said the survey shows more voter education is needed on that, but she is not persuaded either way. She said she thinks the Board should wait and see, and really consider whether or not to proceed with any additional changes, or whether to proceed incrementally by just focusing on district nominate, district elect as a first step and get public input on that. Commissioner McKee said his main concern is that if a change is made, he wants to make sure it is to a better system. He said if it goes to seven districts, he is concerned about how those districts will be drawn, and if it will have an impact on how well people feel they are represented. He said there are no uniform worldviews in Orange County, and neighbors of all kinds are living peaceably with each other. He said if these discussions happen, they need to happen in public, in multiple places across the county, and the group chosen to redraw the districts has demographic, geographic, and political diversity. Chair Price said Commissioner Dorosin brought this up last, but the issue has come up many times in the past. She said it is confusing and residents of District 2 want to feel they are choosing their representative, and not Chapel Hill. Chair Price said there is a need for further information, before moving forward with possibly redrawing districts. Commissioner Hamilton said before having a group redraw districts, she wants more input from the community to see if it even wants to visit this topic. Commissioner Bedford said she would like to wait to discuss next steps because the BOCC will receive an update on the census in October. She suggested adopting 1-4 at this time. Commissioner Greene agreed with Commissioner Hamilton and Commissioner Bedford. Commissioner McKee said before moving forward, there should be in person meetings in various places across the county for the public to attend. Chair Price said there seems to be no urgency to get this on the 2022 Ballot. She said the report should be widely distributed and feedback gathered. She said the BOCC has heard the desire for a change in the system for years. She asked if the Board wanted to sunset this committee or use it for future discussions. A motion was made by Commissioner Bedford, seconded by Commissioner Green, to accept the Manager's recommendations 1-4. Commissioner Fowler asked who the BOCC would use to gather more community input. Chair Price said it would be staff. Commissioner Greene said this can be decided at a future meeting. Chair Price said, in short, it would be staff as this committee is being sunsetted.