April Mills, candidate for Carrboro Town Council
Carrboro voters will elect a new mayor and at least two new Town Council members in November.
Incumbent Council member Eliazar Posada is seeking a second term in office and will compete with four newcomers — Jason Merrill, Catherine Fray, April Mills and Stephanie Wade — for three open seats in the Nov. 7 general election.
Carrboro Mayor Pro Tem Susan Romaine and Council member Sammy Slade chose not to seek another term.
The new council will also fill a vacancy on the board next year, replacing Barbara Foushee, who is unopposed in her race to be the town’s next mayor. Carrboro Mayor Damon Seils decided earlier this year to step down after one term in office.
Early voting in the nonpartisan Nov. 7 election starts Oct. 19 and runs through Nov. 4..
To find polling places and full details on early voting, visit co.orange.nc.us/1720/Elections or contact the Board of Elections at 919-245-2350 or vote@orangecountync.gov.
Name: April Mills
Age: 43
Occupation: Business development and sales
Education: Master of Business Administration
Political or civic experience: Graduated from Leadership North Carolina; participated in seven Inter-City Trips with the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce; N.C. Economic Development Association member; service on multiple nonprofit boards, including Red Cross, Association of Corporate Growth and Triangle Commercial Real Estate Women. Four years of dedicated service on Claremont HOA, addressing stormwater and compliance issues
▪ Two decades of active involvement in the Triangle community.
Campaign website: aprilforcarrboro.com
What do you think the town’s top three priorities should be? Choose one and describe how you will work to address it.
▪ Community and Infrastructure, including sustainability
▪ Public Transportation, including BRT, North Carrboro and Hwy. 54
▪ Stormwater management/flooding
Implement surety bonds on new developments, construct stormwater ponds capable of withstanding 50-year or 100-year storm events, preserve existing trees to minimize erosion. Overall, the town needs to create a master plan for all neighborhoods and perform an inventory or what is working and what is not, how other neighborhoods are impacting one another, and create a plan that works with HOAs, individuals and neighbors to address these issues.
The future of the Bolin Creek Greenway is a key issue this year. What do you see as its role in the town’s future, and should it be paved?
The town’s role is to listen to everyone and be thoughtful with growth and what benefits the community. The town also has a role to be a good steward of the environment and understand the cost benefit. We do not know the (construction) cost and maintenance cost for the four options. I understand that parents want safe school commuting. I do want greenways and accessibility for all abilities.
Carrboro is experiencing more infill development and housing. What would you do to guide town growth and meet current and future housing needs?
The Triangle is growing, and more infill will continue in Carrboro. We need to be thoughtful and plan for development and growth, have a master plan and work to fulfill that vision. That includes identifying land for affordable housing by offering incentives for developers to include affordable housing or implementing a linkage fee and focus on mixed-use development. We should require green space in communities and invest in infrastructure. We must work with GoTriangle and continue building bus-rapid transit (BRT) and bus stops. I don’t like seeing families waiting for a bus in a ditch with a sign. I want people to feel safe riding the bus.
Do you support keeping Orange County’s rural buffer, where the lack of water and sewer limits growth? How do you see the town growing with or without the buffer?
Yes, I support keeping the rural buffer. We have opportunities to build density downtown, which should be a focus before we break an agreement with the other towns. We have opportunities to densify and be thoughtful for growth, maximizing public transportation, and building infrastructure before we create more sprawl. At some point, I am sure this will change. But for right now, we have to do better and focus.
How can the town bring people together who have different viewpoints to find workable solutions?
In Leadership North Carolina, we were taught to have three cups of coffee with a person: one time to listen, another to talk, and another to compromise. I always try to put myself in the other person’s perspective to understand the impact. Building trust takes time, and it takes action. I have met and will continue to meet with people where they live, walk their neighborhoods, walk a potential site, and look at the land, water, and trees and how to align the new development. I want to continue to ask questions others are not asking and come to a solution together.
The Orange Report
Calling Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough readers. Check out The Orange Report, a free weekly digest of some of the top stories for and about Orange County published in The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun. Get your newsletter delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday featuring stories by our local journalists. Sign up for our newsletter here. For even more Orange-focused news and conversation, join our Facebook group "Chapel Hill Carrboro Chat."
