Key local figure
Mike Nelson served as mayor of Carrboro from 1995 to 2005, the first openly gay mayor in North Carolina, after winning a seat on the Board of Aldermen in 1993, where he championed the town's domestic partners ordinance. He later served as an Orange County commissioner from 2006 to 2009.
Source: UNC Wilson Special Collections Library: Michael R. Nelson Papers, circa 1890-2012 (#70140)
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1 indexed record is connected with this person, and the index includes one work by Mike Nelson.
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Nelson first ran for elected office in 1989 and lost his bid for a seat on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen by 32 votes.
Nelson won a seat on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen in 1993, and as an alderman he championed the domestic partners ordinance the town adopted in 1994.
The Board voted unanimously to amend the Town Code so that statements of domestic partnership could be filed with the Town Clerk, set the effective date at October 11, 1994, added a $40 registration fee, and extended the financial disclosure required of elected officials to cover their domestic partners. The Board took no action on a third proposal to extend health insurance benefits to domestic partners of town employees.
People: Mike Nelson · Jacquelyn Gist · Ellie Kinnaird
Setting town employee health insurance for fiscal 1995-96, the Board of Aldermen voted that the town would bear any expense of adding coverage for domestic partners to its Kaiser plan, after asking staff on May 23 to find out why the insurer Healthsource did not offer such coverage. The vote was six to one, with Michael Nelson opposed.
People: Mike Nelson · Jacquelyn Gist · Ellie Kinnaird
Michael R. Nelson, then a member of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen, won the mayor's race at the municipal election held on November 7, 1995, becoming the first openly gay mayor elected in North Carolina. The Board approved the Orange County abstract of votes from that election at its meeting of December 5, 1995.
Part of LGBTQ political firsts in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, 1980s–1990s · 4 events
People: Mike Nelson · Ellie Kinnaird
At the Board of Aldermen meeting of December 5, 1995, outgoing mayor Eleanor Kinnaird gave closing remarks and Mayor-elect Michael R. Nelson took the oath of office, along with aldermen-elect Jay Bryan, Hilliard Caldwell and Alex Zaffron. The Board then appointed Diana McDuffee to the alderman seat Nelson vacated.
People: Mike Nelson · Ellie Kinnaird · Hilliard Caldwell
After the search narrowed to four sites judged permittable, the council voted 7 to 2 to recommend a reduced site OC-17, adjacent to the existing landfill, as the county's next sanitary landfill. INDY Week reports that the county commissioners and the Hillsborough board also voted for it that month, with Carrboro Mayor Mike Nelson opposed.
People: Mike Nelson
The Board of Aldermen discussed asking tree removal workers to identify themselves at town hall before starting work, after Mayor Mike Nelson cited a resident who paid $800 in advance to remove Fran-felled trees and the workers did not return. Staff were to bring a formal proposal to the next meeting.
People: Mike Nelson · Hilliard Caldwell
At the Board of Aldermen meeting of June 3, 1997, Mayor Michael Nelson issued a proclamation naming June Lesbian and Gay Pride Month in the Town of Carrboro.
People: Mike Nelson
At the December 6, 2005 meeting the Board of Aldermen approved the November 8 election results, in which Mark Chilton defeated Alex Zaffron for mayor, 1,337 to 776, and outgoing Mayor Michael Nelson gave his parting comments.
Nelson placed third of seven candidates in the May 2, 2006 primary for three county commissioner seats and went on the November ballot; his papers date his service as a commissioner to 2006 through 2009.
The board voted unanimously to develop a solid waste transfer station at the landfill site, following its Solid Waste Advisory Board's recommendation, over objections from Rogers Road residents. The landfill was then expected to fill in 2010.
People: Mike Nelson · Robert Campbell · Valerie Foushee
County Commissioner and former Carrboro mayor Mike Nelson announced that he would not run for re-election to the Orange County board.
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