Newly elected Carrboro Alderman Sammy Slade may get to start a few weeks early.

The board plans to seat its newly elected members -- incumbents Jacquie Gist and Randee Haven-O'Donnell are the others -- at an organizational meeting Dec. 1, according to Town Clerk Sarah Williamson.

But Mayor Mark Chilton suggested back in August that the board apppoint the newly
elected alderman to finish the last few week's of John Herrera's term, according to a memo from Alderman Dan Coleman to his colleagues. Herrera resigned unexpectedly, saying he had moved, remarried and wanted to spend more time with his family. His resignation helped pave the way for Slade, whom he endorsed.

"Unless anyone disagrees, I would like to ask Mark [Chilton] to arrange with the
clerk and with Sammy that this would be our first order of business
next week," Coleman says in the e-mail.

That would give Slade three meetings to settle in. The board has meetings scheduled Nov. 10, 17 and 24, according to Williamson.

Mark Kleinschmidt edged Matt Czajkowski by 99 votes, and there could be more than that many provisional ballots left to be counted. There are 78 in Orange County, and the county Board of Elections will meet no later than Nov. 10 to decide whether they're valid ballots. Orange elections director Tracy Reams is still waiting to learn how many provisional ballots came out of the tiny portion of Chapel Hill that's in Durham County.

It's not likely very many, but Czajkowski nearly doubled up Kleinschmidt, 287-146, in that section of town, so it could make a difference, at least in narrowing the gap between the two men. If it closes to less than 1 percent of the total -- probably somewhere between 85 and 90 votes, depending on the total of provisionals -- Czajkowski would have the right to demand a recount. That will only take a difference of a dozen or so votes in the provisional ballots.

Czajkowski won election in 2007 after the Board of Elections denied a recount request from incumbent Cam Hill, who lost by about 60 votes.

UPDATE: Durham County has nine provisional ballots for the Town of Chapel Hill, making for 87 total -- not enough to change the outcome but perhaps enough to allow a possible recount. Czajkowski did not return a phone call inquiring whether he was considering asking for a recount.

A new poll from Public Policy Polling shows Chapel Hil voters evenly divided on whether one of the losing candidates in Tuesday's election should be appointed to fill Bill Strom's seat: 38 percent in favor, 38 percent opposed, and 24 percent unsure.
 
"Trumping that finding with the loss of Jim Merritt though is probably the question we asked about whether Chapel Hillians thought it was important to have an African American on the Town Council," says PPP's Tom Jensen.

Fifty-seven percent of voters said yes to that with just 28 percent dissenting. "I imagine given the strong support from the community that's the direction the Council will now go in with the appointment,' Jensen says.
 
Two other key findings from the poll, neither of which Jensen says is particularly surprising given the returns.  51 percent of Chapel Hill voters support publicly financed elections with only 31 percent opposed. 

"Given Mark Kleinschmidt's win and Penny Rich's first place finish it's clear there was no backlash from that and it's even possible the opposite was true," he says.
 

Former Town Council member Cam Hill registered his Chapel Hill Caucus political-action committee today, complying with state law. Hill drew criticism last week for a campaign flier attacking mayoral candidate Matt Czajkowski, who bumped him off the council in 2007. Hill had until today to register the PAC. Hill may have broken campaign-finance law by not noting that incoming mayor Mark Kleinschmidt had not authorized the flier. Hill has said he didn't know of that rule. Hill loaned his PAC $1,703.46 for the mailing, a sum he'll have to forgive or collect as contributions to the PAC. Hill will have to report the disposition of that debt in a January campaign-finance report, according to Orange County Board of Elections Director Tracy Reams.

I wrote a story in Sunday's N&O about the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board elections.

Greg McElveen, the only incumbent in today's race, called in and wanted to clarify some of his statements on the school budget cutbacks.

The state Board of Elections confirmed today that former Chapel Hill Town Councilman Cam Hill sent a flier from an unregistered political action committee promoting Councilman Mark Kleinschmidt for mayor.

The flier, which called mayoral candidate Councilman Matt Czajkowski "divisive" and "out of sync with Chapel Hill values," was paid for by CHC PAC. Neither candidate knew who sent it, and the mailing violated state election law by not saying Kleinschmidt had not endorsed it.

The state traced the mailing to Hill through a mailhouse bulk mail permit. Such mailings are considered a campaign media expense and are a public record, according to Amy Strange, a compliance specialist with the state Board of Elections.   

Hill has until Wednesday, 10 days after incurring the expense, to register as a political action committee, Strange said. Anyone raising money or spending money on behalf of a candidate is required to register, she said. Registering late can trigger fines, through the state typically issues a warning notice, giving the group 20 days after which the matter can be sent to the district attorney's office. 

The state received two complaints about the flier. UNC student Kendall Law, one of them, said Hill timedthe flier so he would not have to go public until after the election. "Clearly he knew what he was doing," Law said. "He didn't waant anyone to know he was doing this until after election day."

Czajkowski finished about 60 votes ahead of Hill to win a seat on the council two years ago. 

"Apparently he's still got some hard feelings about those results," Law said.

We tried to reach Hill before posting this news and will add his comments if we reach him.  

In Carrboro, Mayor Mark Chilton is seeking a third term. He is being challenged by political newcomer Amanda Ashley and Brian Voyce, who ran for mayor in 2007.

There are three open seats on the Board of Aldermen.

Incumbents Jacqui Gist and Randee Haven-O'Donnell are seeking re-election. Challengers Sammy Slade, Sharon Cook and Tim Peck are all vying for a seat.

Polls close at 7:30 p.m. Be sure to follow OrangeChat and look for election stories on chapelhillnews.com this evening.

What are your predictions?

Orange County Schools will present its annual financial audit report and individual school improvement plans to the board of education tonight.

The board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the school system's headquarters, located at 200 E. King St. in Hillsborough.

This is the board's only meeting this month. View the full agenda for tonight's meeting here.

Emily Bivins of Carrboro Elementary has been named the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools' Principal of the Year.

Bivins was selected for the honor by her fellow principals. She will now represent the district in regional and state competition. Bivins has been principal of Carrboro Elementary since 2006.

Prior to being named principal of Carrboro Elementary, Bivins served as the school's assistant principal. She was the coordinator of elementary education for Cherokee County Schools in North Carolina, as well as the director of elementary instruction and staff development for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. She served as a classroom teacher at Estes Hills Elementary, McDougle Elementary and Alexander Wilson Elementary in Graham.

She holds a bachelor's degree in education from Wake Forest University, a master's of arts degree in elementary education from Elon College, a doctorate of education in curriculum and instruction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master's degree in school administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The state's Department of Public Instruction released School Report Cards for districts and individuals schools late last week.

Each school's report card can be viewed at www.ncreportcards.org. You can click to view details on each school district and individual schools in categories like technology usage, funding, test scores, suspensions and teacher quality.

It's a quite interesting and comprehensive read. In addition to the standard testing reports, you can also check out how many of your school's computers have Internet access, or how many teachers have advanced degrees.