Ruby Sinreich's blog

I was excited to receive notice a few moments ago that Orange County's Manager Frank Clifton will retire effective September 29th. The Board of County Commissioners will now have an opportunity to recruit a leader who can truly advance the values and visions of Orange County residents. manager Clifton's letter is below

June 27, 2013 

Chair-Commissioner Jacobs, Vice Chair- Commissioner McKee, Commissioners Pelissier, Rich, Dorosin, Price and Gordon - CC: John Roberts-County Attorney and Donna Baker-Clerk to the Board

Soon, I celebrate another anniversary of my 39th birthday.  My wife and I have decided to pursue challenges and opportunities that allow us to achieve goals we value together.  Hence, per my employment agreement (90-day written notice) I advise of my intent to resign as Orange County Manager effective September 29th, 2013 and register for retirement from NCLGRS thereafter.

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.

Not enough Chapel Hill residents participate in public meetings and advisory boards. This lack of engagement leaves the Town at a disadvantage without the valuable input of a broad range of Chapel Hillians, and also leaves many people feeling frustrated and cut off from decisions that impact their lives and issues that concern them.

As an alumn, I am pretty excited to have a woman chancellor at UNC. I also like that she's an environmental scientist. I'm always wary of folks without strong roots in the community, but Dr. Folt has a lot of potential.

What do y'all think?