Town Council weighs appointment options

Angered that Chapel Hill could be facing the first all-white Town Council in decades, Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP president Michelle Cotton Laws sent a letter to Mayor Kevin Foy and the council endorsing the two black applicants for the council’s empty seat.

The NAACP endorsed Donna Bell and Aaron Shah out of 12 applicants to fill the seat of former councilman Bill Strom, who resigned in August.

The letter outlines several points about the recent election, stating that a “racially homogenous” council does not reflect a broader Chapel Hill community.

It also denounces the greater emphasis on campaign funding during this month’s local election, saying that it discourages lower-income residents from running for any town position.

“Considering that historically whites have controlled both the money and the politics, it is becoming more difficult for African-Americans or Hispanic/Latinos for that matter, not to mention the working class and poor, to compete in the electoral process as viable candidates,” Laws said in the letter.

Local developer Carol Ann Zinn said she was offended by the statement and its comparisons of the Chapel Hill City Council to the Jim Crow era.

“I felt heartbroken by the accusations in the letter. This letter generates animosity and distrust,” said Zinn. “This election was not about race.”

Residents have been debating about how to fill the seat since Strom resigned.

Due to the timing of the resignation, the council will appoint his replacement. His seat was not one of the four up for election.

Jim Merritt, currently the only black member of the council, was not re-elected. He, like the other incumbents running, did not apply for appointment.

Some have said appointing Matt Pohlman, the fifth-place finisher in the election, would be the fairest option. He was just 203 votes shy of winning a council seat.

But the council is not required to use the results of the election in their consideration of the applicants.

A third option, proposed by Mayor Kevin Foy, would have the council select a candidate with beliefs similar to those of Strom.

Local NAACP lawyer Alan McSurely said the letter is merely a reflection of the NAACP organization as a whole, carrying the values the organization stated when it formed over a hundred years ago.

“In Chapel Hill there’s issues of police, environmental racism, gentrification,” McSurely said. “It would be good to appoint someone looking out for the lower class.”

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.