Boards & Commissions

Council appoints community members to the following Town boards:

• Historic District Commission (one current vacancy, one upcoming vacancy)
• Community Design Commission (two upcoming vacancies)
• Planning Commission (three upcoming vacancies)
• Board of Adjustment (two upcoming vacancies)
• Grievance Hearing Board (four upcoming vacancies)

Council also appoints members to one partner board:

• Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) Board of Directors (one current vacancy, and one upcoming vacancy)

*For OWASA, Council reviews applications and conducts interviews directly. OWASA makes final appointments.

The Town accepts applications for the following boards, which directly appoint their new members. Our Council does not make these appointments:

•  EZ Rider Advisory Committee
•  Criminal Justice Debt Program Advisory Committee

Watch the New Member Orientation Video

Watch the Board Member Orientation Video

General Membership

Members of the board, commission, or committee shall be appointed to serve terms of three (3) years, unless otherwise described in the Membership section of this policy or superseded by the Town Code of Ordinances. The terms of the original members may be staggered so that all terms do not expire simultaneously. Vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired term only.

This applies to all advisory boards, unless otherwise described in the Membership section or superseded by the Town Code of Ordinances.

Quorum

For the Grievance Hearing Board, quorum is 5 members. For the Board of Adjustment, Historic District Commission, and Planning Commission, and Community Design Commission, quorum is 4 members, equal to a majority of members including any vacant seats. For all other advisory boards, quorum is a majority of members excluding any vacant seats.

Composition of Membership

At the meeting when board recommendations and applications are submitted to the Council, the Town Clerk shall give the Council a report on the race and gender composition of each board and commission. In addition, the application for membership on Town boards and commissions shall include a request for the applicant’s occupation and avocation. The application form shall also include a statement encouraging interested applicants to visit a meeting of the board or commission they are interested in serving on. As Adopted (2014-03-10/R-8) and Amended (2016-11-07/R-2), (2017-03-06/R-9), (2017-03-06/R-10), (2018-01-31/R-2), (2018-12-05/R-15), (2019-10-30/R-8), (2019-11-13/R-11), (2020-04-01/R-1), (2020-05-20/R-4), (2025-06-11/R-9), (2025-06-11/R-12)

Every September, advisory boards shall elect a Chair and Vice-Chair to serve a one year term. No one shall serve more than two consecutive terms as Vice-Chair and no more than two consecutive terms as a Chair. No one shall serve more than a total of four consecutive terms as an officer. An individual is eligible to serve again as an officer on the same board or commission after one year in a non-officer role or one year not serving on that board.

Chair’s Responsibilities

• Develop meeting agenda & packet with Staff Liaison
• Facilitate discussion
• Ensure interests of Town & Town Council are met
• Sign documents & represent board as appropriate
• Call special meetings in accordance with the North Carolina Open Meetings Law

Vice-Chair’s Responsibilities

• To fulfill the Chair’s responsibilities in his absence.

Member’s Responsibilities

• Prepare
• Show up
• Participate
• Be fair, objective & polite
• Follow through

Effective Members:

• Recognize serving the public is priority #1
• Are knowledgeable about the legislative process and issues affecting the advisory board
• Understand that authority is granted to the board not individuals
• Willing to work with the group to make decisions
• Recognize that compromise may be necessary
• Do not let personal feelings interfere with their judgment

All advisory board and commission members must be sworn in by the Town Clerk, her designee or a North Carolina notary public and sign an Oath of Office prior to voting on matters before the board.

All advisory board and commission members and applicants shall agree to comply with the following ethics guidelines adopted by the Council on March 1, 1999 and updated January 31, 2018 and October 13, 2021:

Ethics Guidelines for Town Advisory Boards and Commissions

Members of advisory boards and commissions shall not vote on any matter in which they have a conflict of interest or an interest which reasonably might appear to be in conflict with the concept of fairness in dealing with public business. A conflict of interest or a potential conflict occurs if the outcome of the matter being considered is reasonably likely to have a direct, substantial, and readily identifiable financial impact on the member.

Members of advisory boards and commissions shall not vote on any zoning amendment if the landowner of the property subject to a rezoning petition or the applicant for a text amendment is a person with whom the member has a close familial, business, or other associational relationship. See General Statute 160D-109(b). 

In addition, members of the Historic District Commission and Board of Adjustment, when these boards are hearing cases, serve as quasi-judicial bodies. Pursuant to General Statute 160D-109(d), members of these boards

“shall not participate in or vote on any quasi-judicial matter in a manner that would violate affected persons' constitutional rights to an impartial decision maker. Impermissible violations of due process include, but are not limited to, a member having a fixed opinion prior to hearing the matter that is not susceptible to change, undisclosed ex parte communications, a close familial, business, or other associational relationship with an affected person, or a financial interest in the outcome of the matter.”

The meaning of “familial relationship” shall be as defined under General Statute 160D-109(f).

Any member who violates these Ethics Guidelines may be subject to removal from the board or commission.

If the advisory board or commission member believes he/she has a conflict of interest then that member shall recuse himself/herself from voting on the matter.

In the event a member does not recuse himself/herself, any fellow member may raise an objection to that member’s participation at or prior to the hearing or vote on that matter. The remaining members of the advisory board or commission shall then by majority vote rule on the objection in accordance with General Statute 160D-109(e).

In cases where the individual member or the advisory board or commission establishes a conflict of interest, then the advisory board or commission member shall remove themselves from the voting area.

Any advisory board or commission member may seek the counsel of the Town Attorney on questions regarding the interpretation of these ethics guidelines or other conflict of interest matters. The interpretation may include a recommendation on whether or not the advisory board or commission member should excuse himself/herself from voting. The advisory board or commission member may request the Town Attorney respond in writing.

Application Process

The Town Clerk shall keep applications on file for a 12-month period beginning on July 1st and ending on June 30th. Applicants who are not appointed within this time will be notified and encouraged to reapply.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply for only one board, but may apply for up to two boards if their preferences are ranked.

Appointment Process

In January of each year, the Town Clerk shall notify the Council and all advisory board and commission chairs of those advisory board and commission members whose terms expire June 30.

The Town Clerk shall advertise vacancies from February through April in a newspaper or newspapers of general circulation within the community and such other means as may be deemed effective, including, but not limited to, mailings to community organizations, public service announcements, and letters of invitation to residents who have expressed interest throughout the year, and posting the advertisement for vacancies to the Town’s website. An application must be on file and eligibility determined for the Council to consider appointing a person to an advisory board or commission.

Beginning in March, the Town Clerk shall distribute to the Council and the respective boards and commissions the applications that have been received to date from eligible resident s wishing to serve. The Town Clerk will not forward applications to Council or boards and commissions if the applicant’s eligibility has not been determined. Upon verification of an applicant’s eligibility the Town Clerk shall forward the application to the Council and board or commission for consideration.

The Council requests that the boards and commissions review all applications and recommend candidates to the Council for each vacancy, unless the board or commission declines to do so. The board or commission’s recommendation should clearly articulate the reasons why it is recommending each applicant. The recommendation shall be submitted in writing to the Town Clerk no later than April 25. If a board or commission elects not to recommend applicants, it is requested that the board or commission notify the Town Clerk of this decision in writing by April 25. Notwithstanding recommendations from boards and commissions, the Town Clerk shall forward the names and applications of all eligible persons interested in appointment for the vacancy on a board or commission and the board or commission recommendations to the Council for its consideration. The Council may choose to not consider appointments without a recommendation from the board or commission.

Applications received after the Wednesday prior to the Council’s regular business meeting at which appointments are scheduled shall be held until another vacancy occurs, thus allowing the Town Clerk to verify the applicant’s eligibility and the board or commission to make a recommendation.

Mid-term vacancies shall be filled from applications on file without special advertising efforts unless requested by the Council. However, any application from an individual currently serving on a standing advisory body will not be considered for a mid-term vacancy on a standing advisory body. The board or commission shall submit a recommendation for these appointments to the Town Clerk no later than the Wednesday prior to the Council’s regular business meeting at which appointments for the vacancy are scheduled, unless the board or commission declines to do so and notifies the Town Clerk in writing by the Wednesday prior to the Council’s regular business meeting at which the vacancies are scheduled to be filled. The Council may choose to not consider appointments without a recommendation from the board or commission. Additional applications received after this time will not be considered until the next vacancy occurs.

Council members may not write in a person’s name who has not applied. If possible, Council members are to mark and sign their ballots prior to the meeting, and forward them to the Town Clerk at any time prior to the start of the meeting. The Town Clerk will provide the results of the balloting at the appropriate time during the Council’s meeting. If vacancies remain (applicants did not receive 5 or more votes), the Council may immediately hold further rounds of balloting to fill the vacancies, or may postpone filling these vacancies until the next regular meeting.

Beginning with the first regular meeting in May, and through the second regular meeting in June (four consecutive regular meetings of the Council), the Council may consider appointments to three or more boards and commissions per meeting.

All appointments to Town boards and commissions are made at the will of the Council. Therefore, Council may remove at any time a member of a board or commission.

Members of standing boards may apply for a different board or commission seat without having to resign unless and until the appointment is made.

Members of a standing board are eligible for appointment to an ad hoc committee or task force concurrent with their service on a standing board. Individuals may serve on multiple ad hoc committees or task forces concurrently.

Length of Term

Members serve staggered three-year terms which shall expire on June 30.

Advisory board, Commission, or Committee members who are appointed by Chapel Hill Town Council may be removed at any time by a vote of the Council.

Consecutive Terms

No one shall serve on an advisory board or commission for more than two consecutive full terms, except in the case of the Board of Adjustment. An individual may serve on the Board of Adjustment for up to three consecutive full terms, provided at least one but no more than two of those full terms is an appointment to an Alternate Member seat.

Following a one-year absence, an individual is eligible to serve again on the same board or commission. The Council may reappoint an individual to a board or commission for an additional one-year term following two consecutive terms, by resolution for the purpose of completing ongoing projects.

Additionally, when a vacancy occurs before the scheduled end of a term, the person appointed to such a vacancy shall complete the term of the seat. This is considered a partial term and the individual will be eligible for two additional full-terms on the board, or three in the case of the Board of Adjustment.

Resignations

Resignations shall be submitted in writing via hardcopy or email to the chair of the board or commission, who shall forward the original written resignation to the Town Clerk for Council notification.

Attendance

Any member of the board, commission or committee who misses three (3) consecutive regular meetings or more than half the regular meetings in a calendar year shall lose his or her status as a member of the board, commission or committee, and shall be replaced by the Council or Orange County Board of Commissioners, as appropriate, provided that special extenuating circumstances may be considered by the full membership of the board, commission, committee and/or the Council prior to automatic removal, on a case by case basis. Absence due to sickness, death, or other emergencies of like nature shall be recognized as excused absences, and shall not affect the member's status on the board, commission or committee, except that in the event of a long illness or other such cause for prolonged absence, the member shall be replaced.

The attendance provision also applies to any member of a board or commission that does not have regular meetings, or any alternate member of a board or commission that does meet regularly, who misses three (3) consecutive meetings or more than half the meetings in a calendar year at which their attendance is expected.

Advisory Board or Commission’s Chair and staff liaison shall to reach out to a member who has two consecutive unexcused absences to alert the member of the attendance clause. Notification shall also be sent to Mayor and Council and Town Clerk. Upon the third consecutive regular meeting absence, the chair or staff liaison shall send another notification to the member, Mayor and Council, and Town Clerk.

Leave of Absence

Leaves of absence from boards shall be approved by the Council and shall not exceed five months. No interim appointments will be made.

On March 6, 2017, the Town Council passed a resolution establishing a pilot program for remote participation by members of Town advisory boards in advisory board meetings. Resolutions (2020-04-01/R-1), (2020-05-20/R-4), and (2022-06-08/R-13) amended this policy as follows.

Only Boards and Commissions shall be included, not the Council.

Some or all of the Members of said Boards and Commissions may attend meetings remotely and fully participate in all discussions and votes on business of the body. Said members shall be counted toward a quorum.

Remote participation in voting on non-quasi-judicial applications by Boards and Commissions shall include the following situations in which the Boards and Commissions are reviewing plans;

• Cases where the body makes recommendations to the Town Council
• Cases where the body has administrative authority to approve or deny, for example, a minor subdivision by the Planning Commission or a certificate of appropriateness by the Community Design Commission for the Blue Hill district.

For members of the Board of Adjustment and Historic District Commission, remote participation shall not include voting on quasi-judicial applications, nor shall quasi-judicial hearings be held without a quorum of members present in person, except during a State-declared State of Emergency and pursuant to the provisions of G.S. 166A-19.24.

This policy does not limit the number of scheduled meetings that a Board or Commission member may participate in remotely, nor does it limit the number of Board or Commission members who may participate remotely in a given meeting.

These meetings shall provide an opportunity for the public to participate and comment during the meetings by remote methods, including email, telephone and other methods, to the extent practical.

The Town Council seeks to attract persons from diverse backgrounds to serve on the Town’s boards and commissions. The Town Council believes that childcare and transportation can sometimes be barriers to service on boards and commissions for many qualified and interested Town residents.

The Town Council included resources in the FY2018-19 budget adopted on June 13, 2018 to fund a pilot project for providing childcare and/or transportation assistance for qualifying board and commission members as a way to increase diversity among those who serve. 

Parameters of Program

• Assistance is limited and is intended for those who truly need it. If the cost of childcare and/or transportation is a genuine barrier to a person’s participation on a board or commission, the Town may be able to help.
• Board or commission members may qualify for assistance upon submitting the Reimbursement Form to the staff liaison indicating their need for assistance.
• Staff Liaison (specific to board or committee) will coordinate with Clerk's Office Advisory Board Support at advisoryboards@townofchapelhill.org for processing.
• For childcare assistance, the Town will provide a stipend equal to the living wage ($16.60 per hour) for each hour of the meeting, plus one half hour ($8.30) to cover the time it takes to get to and from the meeting.
• Requests for childcare and/or transportation assistance must be made at least one day before the board or commission meeting.
• Staff will work with board members requesting transportation assistance to determine the most appropriate option between transit and other transportation services.
• Neither advances nor retroactive requests will be considered.
• There is no guarantee that funding will be available all year.

Best Practices

• Staff liaisons will notify the Clerk's Office as soon as a request for childcare or transportation assistance has been made. Within one day of the meeting, staff liaisons will let the Clerk's Office know how long the meeting lasted.
• The Clerk's Office will submit a check request to Business Management Department (BMD) within one day of a stipend request, including two copies of the Reimbursement Form from the board member with an explanation of payment. One copy of the Reimbursement Form will remain with BMD; the second copy of the Reimbursement Form will be sent to the board member along with the stipend.

Board of Adjustment

Membership

Extra Territorial Jurisdiction Resident (ETJ)

• Must live within the Town of Chapel Hill's ETJ

Joint Planning Area Resident (JPA) or Extra Territorial Jurisdiction Resident (ETJ)

• Must live within the Town of Chapel Hill's JPA or the ETJ as outlined in the Joint Planning Agreement

Chapel Hill Resident (5)

• Must live within the municipal limits of the Town of Chapel Hill

Alternate Member: JPA or ETJ Resident

• Must live within the Town of Chapel Hill's JPA or ETJ as outlined by the Joint Planning Agreement.

Alternate Member: Chapel Hill Resident (2)

• Must live within the municipal limits of the Town of Chapel Hill

Appointing Body and Enabling Legislation

• All members are appointed by the Chapel Hill Town Council except for the ETJ and JPA resident seats which shall be appointed by the Orange County Board of Commissioners.
• Enabling Legislation is North Carolina General Statute 160D-302 and Town of Chapel Hill Land Use Management Ordinance Article 8.

Community Design Commission

Membership

Preference is given to applicants to represent at least two of the Community Design Commission interested areas in addition toe the seat requirements: people with disabilities, seniors, UNC-CH employee, parents, transit depending, business community.

Chapel Hill Resident (6)

• Must live within the municipal limits of the Town of Chapel Hill and have demonstrated special training or experience in a design field such as architecture, landscape design, horticulture, city planning, green design, place making, or a closely related field.

Extra Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) Resident

• Must live within the Town of Chapel Hill's ETJ.

Non-Voting Liaison(s)

Chapel Hill Town Council Liaison (2)

Appointing Body and Enabling Legislation

• All members are appointed by the Chapel Hill Town Council.
• All non-voting liaisons are appointed by the group or organization that they represent.
• Enabling legislation is North Carolina General Statute 160D-304 and Town of Chapel Hill Land Use Management Ordinance Appendix A, Article 8.

Historic District Commission

Membership

Chapel Hill Town or ETJ Resident (7)

• Must live within the municipal limits of the Town of Chapel Hill or the Town's Extraterritorial Jurisdiction.

Appointing Body and Enabling Legislation

• All members are appointed by the Chapel Hill Town Council.
• Enabling legislation is North Carolina General Statute 160D-303 and Town of Chapel Hill Land Use Management Ordinance Article 8

Planning Commission

Membership

Preference given to applicants who represent at least two of the Planning Commission interest areas in addition to the seat requirements: pedestrians, people with disabilities, public transit dependent, bicyclists, seniors, student (High School, college), civil engineering, parents, commuter, business community.

Extra Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) Resident

• Must live within the Town of Chapel Hill's Extra Territorial Jurisdiction

Joint Planning Area Resident or ETJ Resident

• Must live within the Town of Chapel Hill's Joint Planning Area or the ETJ as outlined in the Joint Planning Agreement.

Chapel Hill Resident (5)

• Must live within the municipal limits of the Town of Chapel Hill and have demonstrated education, special training, experience, or interest in urban planning, a design field (such as architecture or landscape design), construction, environmental sustainability, housing, or transportation.

Non-Voting Liaisons

Chapel Hill Town Council Liaison

Town of Chapel Hill Youth Council Liaison

Appointing Body and Enabling Legislation

• All members are appointed by the Chapel Hill Town Council except for the ETJ resident and JPA resident seats which shall be appointed by the Orange County Board of Commissioners.
• All non-voting liaisons are appointed by the group or organization that they represent.
• Enabling legislation is North Carolina General Statute 160D-301 and Town of Chapel Hill Land Use Management Ordinance Appendix A Article 8.