County races up for change

A move to change the way the county elects its leaders has sparked discussion locally and soon will arrive as a bill in the state legislature.

Newly elected Rep. Bill Faison, D-Orange and Caswell, will introduce a bill in late March that would create a countywide referendum on whether to start electing county commissioners from specific districts.

The move is somewhat unconventional because Faison initiated the proposal.

“That is a local issue, it’s not a statewide issue,” said Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange. “Historically, we introduce local legislation based on requests from elected officials.”

But Faison, who plans to circulate a draft of the bill soon to about 40 local leaders, said his introducing the bill is an example of checks and balances — not skirting the system.

“Hopefully, if one part of government won’t be responsive to you, hopefully another will,” Faison said.

“I think there’s a good chance of getting this through the state legislature because it’s not being legislated,” he added. “It’s just giving the people a chance to vote on the issue.”

But Orange County Commissioner Stephen Halkiotis said he doesn’t need to read the bill’s exact text to know what he thinks about it.

“I don’t plan to support anything that he introduces,” he said of Faison. “I also perceive it as a form of political bullying on his part.”

He added that Faison does not represent the county, but won victory only thanks to votes from Caswell.

The issue — also proposed 10 years ago — reignited this year after Faison and farmer Bob Strayhorn presented the commissioners with a petition with more than 1,000 signatures calling for district-based voting at their Jan. 31 meeting.

The bill is intended to increase the rural sector’s sway in county politics. Some believe that the more populated southeastern part of the county dominates area politics because the entire county votes on each of the five commissioners.

“If the county were homogenous, that’d be fine, but the county is really, really divergent,” Faison said.

The bill would divide the county into four commissioners from the township of Chapel Hill, two from the rest of the county and one at-large member. Each commissioner would have to reside in the district he or she is elected to represent.

Officials said that much of the tension between rural and urban areas in the county stems from land-use regulations.

“I think the view in the rural area is that the county commissioners view the rural area as open space for the urban areas,” Faison said.

District-based representation at the county level is a growing trend in North Carolina, said Robert Hester, director of member services for the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners.

He said that 43 of the state’s 100 counties elect their commissioners at large, as Orange County does.

Of the other 57, most use a combination of district and at-large commissioners, much like Faison’s plan.

Halkiotis said he dislikes the rush that Faison has put on the issue, which county officials have wanted to resolve locally.

“He doesn’t respect our process; he doesn’t even let us study the request,” he said. “I do not play that kind of game — not with Representative Faison, not with anyone.”

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.