By Elizabeth Friend
WCHL Community Government Reporter

The president of the local chapter of the NAACP is concerned about the potential lack of racial diversity on the Chapel Hill Town Council.

Michelle Cotton Laws says she was prompted to write a four page letter to Mayor Foy and the Town Council to express her concerns about the upcoming appointment to fill Bill Strom’s seat.

Speaking on behalf of the NAACP, Laws urged council members to forgo pressure to appoint the fifth-place finisher from last week’s election in favor of ensuring racial diversity on the town’s governing board by nominating one of the two African-American applicants. With the defeat of Jim Merritt, the Chapel Hill Town Council will be all-white for the first time since 1953. Laws worries that without representation, racial and ethnic minorities will have no voice.

Laws’s letter also expresses concern about the tone of the debate surrounding the council appointment.

Laws says that during the election, some parties unfairly pitted the goals of economic development against social justice.

A dozen people have applied to fill the council vacancy left by Bill Strom’s resignation. The council will hear from those applicants on December 9th, and make a final decision December 14th.