Continuing our series about upcoming municipal elections, here's a look at what's happening in the northern part of the county in the race for Hillsborough Town Board. As a reminder, election filing opens in just a few weeks on July 5th. (You can read my post about Chapel Hill Town Council here and Molly's post about Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board here.)

There are two incumbents up for re-election this year:

Mike Gering was first elected to the Hillsborough Town Board in 2001, and has announced that he will not be seeking re-election this year. "The town is in good shape, and I believe change is healthy - both for me and for the town," Gering said in a news release, as reported by the News & Observer.

Frances Dancy also faces re-election this year. Dancy will complete her fourth term on the Town Board this year, and has not yet announced whether she will seek a fifth term yet.

Today the North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed a trial court ruling from last year that placed an injunction on Chapel Hill's ability to enforce its Towing from Private Lots Ordinance.  The law requires signage, provides for limits on fees, and requires multiple forms of payment be accepted by the towing company.  This is a big victory, not only for Chapel Hill, but for every community in North Carolina that regulates this kind of activity (Durham, Raleigh, Asheville, Charlotte, to name a few).  It is especially welcomed following last year's NC Supreme Court decision in Lanvale v. Cabarrus County that had county and municipal officials concerned about how far local governments could go in implementing local ordinances to protect its citizens.  (Not to mention the War on Cities the Gen Assembly has been fighting for the last several years).  Here's a link to the decision.

I'm pretty sure that no other municipality in North Carolina could have done business from prison in Raleigh tonight. But Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton (who helped instigate Mega Moral Monday) as well as Alderpeople Michelle Johnson, Damon Seils, and Sammy Slade all committed civil disobedience with about 140 other people - including Chapel Hill Town Council Member Donna Bell and OP Editor Molly De Marco - by refusing to leave the rotunda in the N.C. General Assembly.

Among the 1,000 protesters outside the NCGA were a quorum of Orange County Commissioners (Bernadette Pelissier, Penny Rich, Renee Price, and Mark Dorosin), a Carrboro Alderperson (Randee Haven-O'Donnell), OP regular Mark Marcoplos, and two more OP editors (Travis Crayton and myself).

As Travis notes in his post on the upcoming election for Chapel Hill Town Council, the filing period to run for the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools Board of Education also begins on July 5th.

Three incumbents are up for re-election: James Barrett, Michelle Brownstein, and Greg McElveen

James Barrett was elected to a two-year seat in 2011. He intends to run for re-election.

Michelle Brownstein was first elected to the CHCCS Board in 2009. She is currently Board Chair. She also intends to run for re-election.

Greg McElveen was appointed to fill Pam Hemminger's seat when Pam was elected to the Orange County Board of County Commissioners in 2008. He was elected to the seat in 2009. Greg will not be seeking re-election.

With all the talk about restructuring Chapel Hill's advisory boards, I thought it might be good time to publicly share my idea for a new board to help foster better civic engagement and more open government, while also addressing the gap left by firing the technology advisory board 7 years ago. I shared this proposal with the Mayor's Committee on Communications in late 2010, but there didn't seem to be much interest at the time. Maybe now there is an opportunity to do something to make Chapel Hill more participatory and democratic.

Yesterday at noon, Chapel Hill's Economic Development Officer Dwight Bassett provided a brief, one-hour presentation outlining some key facts and developments concerning retail, housing, and office space in Chapel Hill. The full presentation can be viewed here.

I attended and live-tweeted the meeting. You can see the play-by-play below.