Kleinschmidt seeks to unify town

Mayor-elect Mark Kleinschmidt will take office in December knowing that almost half the electorate voted for someone else.

But he said he is confident he can unify Chapel Hill residents.

Tuesday’s election divided voters between Kleinschmidt, who earned 48.62 percent of the vote, and Matt Czajkowski, who earned 47.46 percent, according to unofficial results from the N.C. State Board of Elections.

Kleinschmidt said although the campaigns might appear to have polarized voters, they showed the goals he and Czajkowski have in common, like environmental protection and downtown revitalization.

“I want to try to move the focus to those things,” he said. “The earlier we have people on board with common goals, the more successful we will be.

“There’s important work to be done.”

Czajkowski has two years remaining in his term on the Town Council.

Re-elected council member Laurin Easthom supported Kleinschmidt during the election and said she thinks he will be effective at bridging the gap.

“One of the unfortunate outcomes of the campaign is that people had labels put on them,” she said.

Town Council candidate Will Raymond said neither of the labels — “pro-business” and “establishment” — were effective categorizations for him.

“A lot of people have been talking about ‘divided,’ but that’s a very narrow way of looking at it,” Raymond said. “The concerns of the community cut across the arbitrary groupings.”

One of the first unity-building actions on Kleinschmidt’s agenda is to gain support from more local businesses, he said.

“I do not believe that those who did not vote for me do not share my views on other issues,” Kleinschmidt said.

“Those economic issues are the ones that are causing the greatest division.”

Kleinschmidt said he received endorsements from several businesses and large developers, including Meadowmont developer Roger Perry and Southern Village developer D.R. Bryan.

“I want to build on that support,” he said.

Former mayor Rosemary Waldorf, who endorsed Czajkowski, said she didn’t think the election reflected a polarized community.

“I don’t think people were voting so much against other people,” Waldorf said. “But they were voting for people they were enthusiastic about or issues they were interested in.”

She said she thought the candidates had similar viewpoints but emphasized different issues.

“The most important step to take to bring the new Town Council together is to make sure all the issues that were talked about during the campaign are addressed,” she said.

Kleinschmidt said he is eager to get started.

“I’m anxious to begin working with the newly elected and returning council members, including Mr. Czajkowski,” he said.



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