From: George J Cianciolo [[email protected]]

Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 3:51 PM

To: Amy Harvey

Cc: Sheryl Sherman

Subject: Re: Appointment to CH T-Board

 

To The Mayor and Town Council Members:

 

        At its regularly-scheduled meeting on Tuesday, November 18th, the Chapel Hill Transportation Board reconsidered its recommendation to Town Council for appointment of a new member.  At that time the Transportation Board unanimously agreed (6-0) to again recommend to the Town Council  that Ms. Marie Eldridge be appointed to the vacant position on the Transportation Board.  The Board believes that appointment of Ms. Eldridge would be beneficial in several ways.  For instance, it would enhance the demographic makeup of the Board in two ways.  First, it would add another woman to a Board which currently only has one woman (1/8) on it.  Second, it would add a retiree to a Board which currently only has two retirees on it, one of whom will be leaving in June.

 

        More important than demographics, however, is the fact that Ms. Eldridge has relevant experience and a sincere desire to serve on the Board. She was formerly the Director of Accident Investigation and Data Analysis and the Chief Statistician in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Dept. of Transportation in Washington, DC.  The Transportation Board has recommended Ms. Eldridge in the past but she has not had sufficient support at the Council level to receive an appointment.   We believe that her continued willingness to come talk with the Transportation Board about her interest in serving reflects a deep and sincere commitment.

 

        Ms. Eldridge has had an application on file with the Town Clerk for approximately two and one-half years.  The Transportation Board was her only interest (other than the citizen's committee for Weaver Dairy Road) and she has persevered in her interest in serving in spite of the fact that she has not been appointed on several occasions when appointments were made.  We understand that there exist other qualified candidates but we do not believe that there are, at this time, any more qualified than Ms. Eldridge.  We asked all of the candidates who currently have applications on file in the Town Clerk's office and who expressed an interest in serving on the Transportation Board to come and meet with our Board.  Beside Ms. Eldridge, only two other candidates responded to our request.   Although we believe that there are additional candidates who we are sure would make excellent Board members, ! we would like to remind Council members that there will be two additional positions on the Transportation Board opening in June.  Thus, there will be ample time to interview these interested candidates and consider them for these additional openings.

 

        On behalf of the Transportation Board I would like to thank the Council Members for consideration of our recommendation of Ms. Marie Eldridge for appointment to the vacant position on the Board.

 

Sincerely,

 

George Cianciolo

Chairman, Chapel Hill Transportation Board