Citizens interested in serving out Ward 3 City Councilman Mike Woodard's term have until noon Nov. 30 to make applications.

Woodard won election to the state Senate in Tuesday's election and has resigned from the City Council effective Dec. 31. He leaves with 11 months remaining on his term.

Woodard is not allowed to take part in choosing his replacement.

The six remaining council members will appoint a successor after an application and interview process. They have not set a date for making the appointment, but will pick finalists at a special meeting Dec. 20.

Application information and forms are available from the City Clerk's office: 919-560-4166 or ann.gray@durhamnc.gov.
 

After winning the District 22 state Senate seat last week, Mike Woodard (right) resigned his City Council seat at Thursday's council work session.

After congratulatory applause, Councilman Eugene Brown handed Woodard a bottle of red wine.

"Based upon the current makeup of the state Senate, you may need a little more of this," he said.

Woodard, a Democrat going into the Republican-dominated legislature, looked at the label.

"Based on the current makeup," Woodard said, "this says it's only 13.5 percent alcohol."

Woodard's resignation is effective Dec. 31. The remaining council members will elect a successor to serve out the last year of his term in January.
 

Durham City Council members are reassuring food truck lovers that proposed new rules aren’t meant to quash the Bull City’s mobile eateries. (See the rules here.)

The rules go to a public meeting 5:30 p.m. Monday in Durham City Hall. Among other things, trucks would be banned within 100 feet of a restaurant entrance without the restaurant owner’s permission. Second, trucks could be banned around Durham Central Park, including when the Durham Farmers Market meets Wednesdays and Saturdays.

In an email, City Councilman Mike Woodard reassured one constituent “the intent of the proposed ordinance is not to ‘overregulate’ food trucks.” Rather, the city has received some complaints about street vendors, not just food trucks. “This ordinance is our staff's first attempt to address these concerns while not destroying the unique business opportunities and culture that have come about as a result of food trucks,” he said.

State Senate candidate Mike Woodard has hand-delivered overdue reports that had prompted his opponent to file a complaint Monday with the state Board of Elections.

But the campaign chairman for Woodard's opponent in state Senate District 22, Durham attorney Kerry Sutton, has found another ground for complaint about Woodard's campaign management.

Woodard's Statement of Organization, which was due Feb. 25, identifies his campaign treasurer as Michael S. Wilson of Louisville, CO. North Carolina elections law requires campaign treasurers to be North Carolina residents.

Woodard names himself as Assistant Treasurer and as Custodian of Books.

Wilson was listed as Woodard's treasurer on a 2005 statement filed with the Durham Board of Elections, with a Durham address. Durham County tax records show that Wilson sold that residence in 2008, and do not show him as current owner of real property in the county.

Colorado records show Wilson as a registered voter in Colorado.
 

State Senate candidate Mike Woodard is tardy with some financial paperwork. His campaign organization has yet to file an organizational report with the state Board of Elections that was due two months ago.

Amy Strange, campaign finance compliance specialist with the state Board, said  Monday that her office had attempted to contact Woodard's campaign and had no response.

Woodard said he received a written notice about the missing report last Friday. The notice gave him 30 days to comply, he said.

The next Election Day is more than seven weeks away, but candidates' campaign signs have proliferated all along Durham's streets these past few days.

If it seems a little early for that kind of thing, times have changed. So have Durham's election rules, and some in the political community are miffed that not everybody got the word.

"This is about fairness. No more, no less," said George Lawrence, campaign chairman for state Senate candidate Kerry Sutton, one who didn't get it, while her opponent is, current City Councilman Mike Woodard, is one who did.

Because he, like some other candidates, asked for it. It's like this –

City Councilman Mike Woodard filed today as a candidate for state Senate.

Woodard, in the middle of his third four-year council term, is running against attorney Kerry Sutton for the new Senate District 22, which covers part of Durham County along with Person and Caswell.

Before redistricting, the 22nd District covered Moore and Harnett counties. Most of the city of Durham remains in Senate District 20, along with Granville County. District 20 incumbent Floyd McKissick has yet to file for re-election.

Three Durham City Council members were appointed or reappointed to committees of the National League of Cities this week.

• Councilman Farad Ali, appointed to the Community and Economic Development Policy and Advocacy Steering Committee. The committee deals with community and economic development, financial institutions, international trade, housing, land use, and recreation.
• Mayor Pro Tem Cora Cole-McFadden, reappointed to the Human Development Steering Committee. The committee is concerned with employment and job training, child development, aid to needy families, unemployment support, immigration, health, education and equal opportunity..
• Councilman Mike Woodard, reappointed to the Transportation Infrastructure and Services Policy and Advocacy Steering Committee. The committee works in public transit, streets and highways, aviation, and passenger and freight rail.

The National League of Cities is a resource and lobbying organization representing 19,000 municipalities. Its committees decide policies for the league on various public concerns.
 

Good news this morning for the Triangle Veterinary Emergency Clinic and the folks of Morreene Road: NCDOT has changed its mind.

According to City Councilman Mike Woodard, highway department engineers met this morning and decided the clinic will not have to add a turn lane in front of its planned new clinic at Morreene Road and Linden Terrace -- thus removing the need to move a city sewer line and saving the clinic around  $250,000.

As reported in last Saturday's Durham News, residents near the clinic site -- former Mariner's Cove restaurant location -- want the clinic to move in and renovate the warehouse eyesore in their midst. After learning that DOT's requirements for the turn lane and sewer move jeopardized the clinic's plan, they mounted a campaign to convince DOT to reconsider and enlist city and state officials on their side.