Some of the candidates for Town Council attended our season opener on Wednesday. I hope those who stayed through the development agreement discussion do not rue their decision to run. The Sept. 6 council meeting gave candidates an accurate picture of some of the tortuous discussions we get ourselves into. Council is beta testing holding […]
All posts in category Town staff
Season Premiere
Posted by Nancy Oates on September 11, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/09/11/season-premiere/
Better planning for affordability
Last year, when Orange County commissioners proposed a $5 million bond to be used for affordable housing, I pushed for a plan. The county commissioners instead offered a slogan — 1,065 homes for $5 million — that was so unlikely to be achieved that it didn’t rise to the level of a goal. Trying to […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 26, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/06/26/better-planning-for-affordability/
Paying our bills, and extras
You can craft a budget by starting with the money you expect to have in the coming year and determining how to spend it. Or you can envision the lifestyle you want and figure out how to afford it. Chapel Hill’s budget for Fiscal Year 2018, which starts July 1 of this year, does a […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on June 12, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/06/12/paying-our-bills-and-extras/
Historic professionalism
Days after the Historic District Commission meeting last week, the unsettling exchanges have stayed with me. Once again — and this happens routinely — an applicant requesting a Certificate of Approval treated the commissioners with disdain, as though they were something that must be scraped off the bottom of a shoe. I’ve been to meetings […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 24, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/04/24/historic-professionalism/
Chapel Hill’s Central Park?
Dream first; set your sights; then figure out what you have to do to get there. That philosophy has worked for me over the years, and town staff used it, too, last Saturday by hosting a charrette to find out what value taxpayers believe the 36-acre parcel we bought from the American Legion could add […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on April 10, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/04/10/chapel-hills-central-park/
Bargaining Power
People love to feel special. Sales agents make a living by understanding the power of “just for you”: “I don’t usually do this, but just for you, I’ll …” It closes the deal and mitigates buyer’s remorse. But “just for you” would lose its value if there were no standards or rules to push back […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on March 13, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/03/13/bargaining-power/
I have a dream; do you?
Chapel Hill’s town manager Roger Stancil nailed it in his remarks at the close of the town employees’ celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The event took place at Hargraves Center just before lunch last Friday. The program included a dramatic re-enactment of Rosa Park’s story, starring Myra Evans of Parking Services; a musical […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 16, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/01/16/i-have-a-dream-do-you/
To a Healthy New Year
My husband and I gave each other matching colds for Christmas this year, not the gifts we had intended, but a result of getting out and into the community more than I have in years past. When it comes to germs, especially in the holiday season, I’ve tried not to give back. And that means […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on January 2, 2017
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2017/01/02/to-a-healthy-new-year/
Free access or free money?
I’ve never been one to turn down free money, so when Chapel Hill Public Library director Susan Brown proposed changing the library’s Internet policy to block access to certain sites in exchange for becoming eligible for spending federal grants on technology, the tradeoff seemed reasonable. But she took ill the day she was to present […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on December 12, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/12/12/what-price-freedom/
The Deciders
Recently I asked the town manager for an organizational flow chart of town staff that would show who was in charge of what. I received 18 pages of charts in response, most of which broke out the hierarchy of positions in each department. The collection led off, however, with a master chart of management levels. […]
Posted by Nancy Oates on August 9, 2016
http://chapelhillwatch.com/2016/08/09/the-deciders/