On Monday night the council faced an agenda weighing 9.5 pounds with routine matters but apparently one hot item submerged in the consent agenda. That night my mind was mainly on saving the People’s Channel, passing a town budget (that was difficult and took months), holding Time Warner Cable accountable, and passing our test pilot public financing of council campaigns. Health care for the council was the hot item buried amidst everything else.
That’s no excuse for passing it. Before the meeting, I had not heard much about it from anyone. I don’t have health care with the Town and so the issue was not on my front burner. I am not sure of my future plans on running for Town Council again, either. I did receive a call from Sally Greene explaining why the Health Care Committee came up with the recommendation it did but heard very little if anything from any citizens out there. I was also aware that Orange County commissioners receive this same benefit, as do other municipalities across the country.
Yet since the meeting, I have certainly thought about this much more (understatement), and have heard from a huge number of citizens about how insensitive the council was in casting this vote for a “life time of health care”. Even though other governments do this for their elected officials, I regret my vote for the ordinance for Chapel Hill Town Council. I think this was bad timing and a mistake.
This is not a council that is intransigent, set in its ways and so selfish that it would not consider the town’s voices in its decision. I’m confident we will address this issue head on.
I hope we abolish this ordinance once and for all.
I will say that serving on the council has many costs that are not so apparent to the average citizen. For one, although it is listed as part time, it really isn’t. This council position as I have stated before, has cost me my career and has pulled me away from my family. I do not currently benefit from town health insurance, but I do get paid twice a month (a little over $400). For the amount of time spent, that works out to about $6 an hour. I did not choose to serve on council though for the money! That’s for sure. I know I can speak for all council members in that we want to make Chapel Hill a better place to live.
I agree that we should not fund council members’ health insurance after two terms. While this did not impact me personally, I regret the vote yet realize that this will be easy enough to change. The council needs to talk about this and abolish it.
