From: George J Cianciolo [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 8:25 AM
To: Town Council
Subject: Appointment to Chapel Hill Transportation Board

Dear Mayor Foy and Council Members:

        An appointment to the T-Board has been scheduled for your April 5th business meeting.  There is only one application in the Town files that lists the T-Board as an interest and that is the application of Mr. Matt Hapgood.  As you might recall, Mr. Hapgood was also a nominee in November when, with the recommendation of the T-Board, you appointed Mr. Alex Smith to our vacancy at that time.  The T-Board had also interviewed Mr. Hapgood prior to our recommendation of Mr. Smith and we considered Mr. Hapgood to be an excellent candidate for a T-Board position (please see the attached leeter of recommendation from November).

        Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons (some valid, some not) the T-Board has been unable to hold 3 of its last 7 scheduled meetings because of the lack of a quorum.  This seriously inconveniences a number of people including the Board and Town staff members that show up for the meetings, as well as applicants and representatives that attend to present their applications.  Because we did not have a quorum for our last 2 scheduled meetings we were unable to vote on a formal recommendation for Mr. Hapgood's appointment.  However, as you can see from the November memo to Council, Mr. Hapgood is considered a strong candidate and I would ask that you appoint him to the T-Board without a formal recommendation from the Board.  Although having this additional member will not resolve all of the issues associated with our recent inability to achieve a quorum, it should help.

        On a different, but somewhat related note, I noticed in reading the minutes of your January retreat that attracting more diversity to your advisory boards is one of your highest priorities.  I suspect that some of the recent problems with attendance at T-Board meetings stems from a lack of appreciation, at the time of appointment, of how much is involved in serving on an advisory board.  I estimate that a conscientious T-Board member spends 8-10 hours per month attending meetings, preparing, etc.  I also estimate that a CDC member spends at least that much time as well.  I have noticed that attendance at CDC meetings also seems to be tailing off somewhat, although it hasn't become the problem that it is with the T-Board.  I suspect that people are just scheduling too many things in their lives and that they make commitments in good faith but then find it harder and harder to keep them.

        I endorse your desire to bring more diversity to your boards but I also suspect that some of the people we would most like to have on the boards may also have the least amount of time to allocate to such activities.  That was one of the concerns I raised in our discussions about greater student participation on boards.

        Thanks for your time.  I look forward to working with you in the future and hope that you will consider appointing Matt Hapgood to the T-Board at your April 5th meeting.

Best wishes,

George Cianciolo
Chair, Chapel Hill Transportation Board