Town of Chapel Hill boards facing many vacancies

The vast majority of volunteer boards and commissions that advise Chapel Hill government don’t have enough members.

The town is looking for applicants to fill 85 empty spots on 22 boards and commissions. The spots come from a combination of term expirations and already unfilled seats.

Members of the groups take the workload off the Chapel Hill Town Council. But the fact that members do not get paid could discourage applicants, council member Penny Rich said.

“It’s not that easy to get people to volunteer, and you aren’t getting paid for it,” said Rich, who served on the Orange Water and Sewer Authority board of directors for six years. “Some boards meet more than once a month, and that can scare people.”

In addition, Rich said people with families and full-time jobs often don’t want the demanding board positions.

Terms expire June 30, leaving many boards with empty seats. The Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission, for example, will lose five members on top of the six vacancies it already has.

Most appointments are scheduled for the summer.

 In OWASA’s case, having a full board is essential to ensure an odd number of members cannot split a vote, Rich said.

“You have got to have the full board to vote and when you don’t, you can only have discussion and not vote,” she said.

Evangelee Shuler, former member of the Public Housing Program Advisory Board, said her board always had one or two empty seats, but it didn’t affect how the board operated.

“Unless an issue came up that we had to vote on, then we would have to rally up people to come and vote,” Shuler said.

The town has listed the open seats on its Web site and in the newspapers as a way to get the word out.

But Rich said the town needs to push harder to inform the community.

“The numbers are really high and we want to make sure it’s not like that,” Rich said. “This is something that the council will pay attention to and it should not be taken lightly.”

Amy Harvey, communications technician and Web manager for the town, said the number of empty spots isn’t unusual.

“Thinking to the last couple of years, each board has a certain number of seats and terms that expire each year,” Harvey said.

Rich is now on OWASA’s nomination committee to help appoint people to the two vacant spots it will have June 30.

There are no UNC students serving on any of the boards currently, but they are welcome to apply, especially for the transportation board, Harvey said.

“We are always looking for students as well to fulfill these positions,” she said. “We need a different perspective to take in to account.”



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