Balancing the roles and responsibilities of overlapping governments has always been a challenge and from time to time, there is considerably more tension in the task than at others.
Unfortunately, we are re-entering a cycle in which the give-and-take between municipal leaders in southern Orange County and the county government is getting more heated.
We’ve seen this in both the efforts to keep what we’ve already funded, such as libraries and dental clinics, and in forward-looking efforts, such as adding recreation and economic development.
Part of this is budget-driven. The county’s massive, multi-year investment in offices and facilities in Hillsborough would probably not be as much of a sore spot if things were rosier in Chapel Hill and Carrboro.
And part of this is the result of uncharted territory in the form of a reconstituted and expanded board of commissioners, now with district representation. This November, the second representative for District 2, which covers the top two-thirds of the county, will be elected. Although candidates must reside in their district and win a district-based primary, they are elected by the whole of the county. When this system was debated and ultimately implemented, there were theories as to how it would play out. One concern was that despite assurances that those representing the new districts would act for the good of all county residents, it would exacerbate what us old-timers used to call the North-South split.
In previous incarnations of the split, the locus of concern was in balancing the needs of the two school systems. While that dynamic still exists, a lot of hard work has gone into creating a more reasonable and less confrontational process.
Now tension is rising over libraries and infrastructure. Concerns about the county’s static contribution for Chapel Hill’s library have been simmering for about three budget cycles. Unresolved, they will likely boil over in 2011’s election-year climate.
Meanwhile, Carrboro just got word that plans for a permanent branch here have been shelved for now, a move that, like the closing of the Carr Mill dental clinic, has riled its leaders.
Carrboro also has shown a reluctance to buy into the county’s strategy in economic development. Members of the board of aldermen have questioned whether the emphasis on infrastructure to attract industry and retail along the U.S. 70/I-85 corridor comes at the expense of more locally focused efforts south of I-40.
As the recent visit by local leaders to Asheville underlined, local governments need to be unified to pull off any kind of strategy – libraries, infrastructure or attracting more visitors.
Having the boards at odds with each other over these issues and others is not a winning formula. Whether it is fair or not given the dire budget gaps throughout this era, the perception that the county is tilting its priorities northward is a very real thing down here – as real as the perception around the county seat that the rich communities down south will do just fine no matter what.
As I said the other day, the municipalities in the OC all love to sing Kumbaya, but we can’t harmonize and we each demand a solo.