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Can you share the emails that Council members received opposing the reappointment? The most recent messages in the Town's public archive are from last December (!).

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author

Unfortunately, Carrboro, unlike Orange County and Chapel Hill, do not automatically publish Council emails.

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Perhaps one of the council members would be willing to share the messages they received.

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Jun 5·edited Jun 5

Hi,

We received exactly one email on this subject:

"Dear Mayor Foushee,

(And copied council members)

It has come to my attention that OWASA is hoping to renominate the Vice Chair of OWASA and I would like to suggest that Ms Kramer not be re-appointed and taken off tomorrow night's agenda.

While we are faced with PFAS in our water as well as flooding issues I do not feel that Ms Kramer is the appropriate person for the position. I would fully support another candidate who has research and scientific qualifications, as she does not.

The issues of flooding and PFAS are very important to climate change and the health of our town, as well as those around us, and I would hope that TOC would promote someone with the skills and credentials to address these issues, rather than a journalist who has not spent her time focusing on these very pertinent issues. While she may be a very intelligent person, I don't think she's qualified for this specific position.

We are an intelligent town and there are many well qualified candidates that would be great for this position and I hope that you would also want to see someone who works in this arena be promoted to the position for the well being of all.

A quick glance at the OWASA board shows that almost every other member is more qualified for the Vice chair position, they all have hydrology backgrounds or urban planning backgrounds or are environmentalists. In contrast Ms Kramer has worked at media organizations and the population center- none of which deals with hydrology, water quality, or impacts we have on environmental systems.

Thank you for taking the time to read and consider my comment."

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author

Jason--there were at least 2 other emails sent to the mayor. You may want to suggest that in the future all emails from the general public sent to the mayor be shared with council members.

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Thanks Jason. The writer's concerns seem reasonable. How common is it for Carrboro to appoint residents to the OWASA board who lack expertise in hydrology, urban planning, environmental protection, or some other field related to water quality?

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