Town Council loses 2 incumbents

The Chapel Hill Town Council now has three new members. Nancy Oates, Michael Parker and Jessica Anderson will join incumbent Donna Bell to fill the four spots open on the council.

“Now it’s time to get to the hard work, which I don’t know whether to look forward to or run away from,” Anderson said. “It would just be a matter of developing working relationships with some council members I don’t know as well and get people involved.”

Anderson received the most votes with 17.01 percent, while Bell received 14.33 percent, Oates received 14.16 percent and Parker received 13.39 percent.

“I’m really excited to work with the other folks on the council to keep pushing Chapel Hill forward,” Parker said. “The voters have made their choices. They are all good people. We all want the same thing for Chapel Hill, which is to make Chapel Hill better. We will all work together to do that.”

Anderson and Oates were both endorsed by the Chapel Hill Alliance for a Livable Town.

Anderson said she wants to focus on education policy and collaborating with the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education, while Oates said she wants to get the inspections department in shape and improve affordable housing options in Chapel Hill.

“I want to focus on creating jobs for the young people in town,” Parker said.

“I want to expand affordable housing and I want to improve Chapel Hill Transit.”

Oates said people in the Chapel Hill community needed to make their voices heard.

“Going up against the incumbent is almost an impossible task,” she said. “You can’t let fear get you down.”

Incumbents Jim Ward and Lee Storrow lost their campaigns for re-election. Ward has been a member of the town council since 1999, and Storrow joined the council in 2011.

“I’m proud of the campaign I ran,” Storrow said.

“I am thankful for all the people who supported me and supported the work I’ve done over the last four years. Every elected official knows they serve at the pleasure of the public, and I am excited to continue to support the things I care about like advocating for the Rogers Road community — supporting economic development in a new role.”

Parker said the town owes Ward and former Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt a huge amount of gratitude for their years of tireless service to Chapel Hill.

Adam Jones, Paul Neebe and David Schwartz also lost their campaigns.

Schwartz, a co-founder of CHALT who was endorsed by CHALT, said he, Anderson and Oates helped one another through the campaign.

“It’s not easy to be rebuffed over and over again by organizations that seem to be transparent,” Schwartz said. “There were many times during the campaign where it felt like one more kick in the stomach would be too much.”

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