Thank you, Nancy Oates!
We want to thank Nancy for her many years of thoughtful service to our town, most recently as a member of the Chapel Hill Town Council. Nancy dug into the details of historic preservation and made time to attend Historic District Commission meetings to keep up with what was going on. Nancy was also a champion on Council for affordable housing, diversity and inclusion.
Former Council Member Matt Czajkowski spoke of Nancy with high praise, “Nancy has always been determined to ensure that Chapel Hill’s unique character and exceptional quality of life are central to Town decisions.”
David Schwartz, Chair of the Chapel Hill Historic District Commission (HDC), commented, “For much of her term on Council Nancy was the council liaison to the HDC. She took that responsibility very seriously, attending all the HDC meetings and taking copious notes on the proceedings in order to be able to inform her council colleagues and the community at large about the important and often challenging work that the HDC performs. She did this not only because it was part of her job as a council member but because she cares about history and community and recognizes that the buildings and landscapes of the town’s historic districts provide a physical connection to our collective past and help to make Chapel Hill the special place it is. All of us who value local historic preservation owe her a great debt of gratitude.”
Bob Epting, Former Chair and member of the HDC says “As Town Council Liaison, Nancy Oates was at every HDC meeting, beginning to end, during my service as Chair. She even continued to attend when, without explanation, she was replaced as our Council Liaison. She worked hard to understand our work, to improve our procedures, and not just to witness, but to listen to the public’s presentations. By her first hand experience, she came to understand our diligence and good faith efforts to do the HDC’s work fairly and transparently.”
Molly McConnell says, “I’ve known Nancy for 23 years, first as a neighbor & friend. In addition to being a writer, she is a child advocate and former probation officer & parole officer with youthful offenders and adults, and pioneered an alternative to incarceration project. She understands what poverty does to the heart, mind, body, & soul, and seeks compassionate, healing, creative ways to remedy those challenges that she has seen lead to self-destruction, lost lives, and crime. She has seen first hand that being outside in nature & green space is healing to those who are living in “concrete jungles” and/or poverty and can’t afford to pay for recreation… Nancy is an advocate & a public servant committed to protecting and nurturing neighborhoods, protecting the natural environment, benefiting the diversity of people who live and work in Chapel Hill. I will miss her voice & presence on our Town Council, and am grateful for her service, and hope she will continue to serve our community. We need her voice.
We truly appreciate Nancy’s dedication to bettering our town. She was one of Chapel Hill’s most civically engaged citizens long before she stepped up to serve in elected office and we are confident that she will remain an articulate champion of the issues that matter to her and to us in the years ahead.
Nancy Oates has served four years on the Chapel Hill Town Council and ran for reelection this fall. She narrowly missed keeping her seat by 24 votes, which was reaffirmed in a recount on November 21. The fourth place finisher is Tai Huynh, a senior at the University of North Carolina.