McElrath splits time between homes in two districts

District 2 school board member Richard McElrath said Thursday he moved out of his longtime home in that district during a period of family turmoil but has been spending nights there for the last couple of months,  since he decided to run for re-election.

McElrath

In a phone interview from his home on Lake Norman outside Huntersville,  McElrath said he still likes to spend days at that house, which is in District 1.  He keeps his dogs there and enjoys the quiet,  he said:  "I work better here."

But McElrath said he and his wife are now living in the District 2 house off Beatties Ford Road,  where he's registered to vote.

That qualifies him to continue representing District 2,  which covers west and southwest Charlotte,  says Mecklenburg County elections director Michael Dickerson  (see a map of school district zones here).  "Residency is where they plan to return when they leave,"  Dickerson said.  McElrath's situation  "sounds fine to me,"  he said.

Don Wright, general counsel for the N.C. Board of Elections, agrees  (read a 12-page report on N.C. voter residency requirements here).

McElrath's District 1 house

McElrath said he and his wife were among the original residents of the Garden Park subdivision in west Charlotte.  Mecklenburg County property tax records show the couple own that house,  a four-bedroom home built in 1968,  and a two-bedroom home outside Huntersville,  purchased in 2007 for $430,000.

When McElrath ran for school board in 2009, there were rumblings about his having a house outside the district.  McElrath said at the time he was fixing up the lake house as a weekend place.  No one has ever filed a challenge to McElrath's District 2 residency,  Dickerson said.

I visited both homes this week and asked McElrath about his living arrangements as part of the backgrounding we do on candidates for public office.  I found no one home at either location,  but saw McElrath campaign signs stashed outside  and two dogs in a fenced enclosure at the District 1 house.

Campaign signs at lake house

McElrath, who filed for re-election on the last possible day, said he was wavering as he tried to resolve a difficult family situation.  He said his daughter and granddaughter moved in with him and his wife at the Garden Park home,  but conflict with his daughter led him and his wife to move into the lake house.  McElrath said they eventually asked their daughter to move out.  "Now we're back in it,"  he said of the District 2 home.  "We've been there every day for the last couple of months."

Residency questions aren't uncommon in local races.  Charlotte City Councilman James Mitchell,  who was defeated in the Sept. 11 Democratic mayoral primary,  told the Observer shortly before the primary that he had moved out of the home in District 2,  which he represents,  and into a new house in the city's District 4.  No one has formally challenged his eligibility to serve out his District 2 term.

In 2003,  Vilma Leake faced a challenge from County Commissioner Bill James and other residents about her eligibility to represent District 2 on the school board.  Leake,  who is now the county commissioner for District 2,  owned a home in District 6 and rented an apartment in District 2 at the time. The Mecklenburg Board of Elections held a hearing and ruled in Leake's favor.

Byers-Bailey

Dickerson said McElrath's arrangements are unlikely to create problems:  "There are plenty of people I know who have a vacation home on Lake Norman and live here in Charlotte."

McElrath will face Thelma Byers-Bailey,  a first-time candidate and resident of Charlotte's Lincoln Heights neighborhood,  in the Nov. 5 election.

CMS school board race starts today

Filing for the six district seats on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School board opens at noon today.

Four years ago,  most of the incumbents stepped aside,  leaving new members to claim five seats on the nine-member board.  This year four of the incumbents  --  Rhonda Lennon, Joyce Waddell,  Tom Tate and Eric Davis  --  say they plan to run again.  Richard McElrath in District 2 said this week he still hasn't decided,  while Amelia Stinson-Wesley,  an appointee to the District 6 seat,  says she's not ready to tip her hand.

For a $60 filing fee,  contenders can take a shot at one of the toughest jobs in town.  Board members earn about $12,600 a year  --  far less than Charlotte city council members or Mecklenburg County commissioners  --  for overseeing one of the area's biggest organizations. Members need to keep up with rapidly changing trends in education;  understand a tangle of federal,  state and local regulations;  and have a working knowledge of such fields as construction,  technology and transportation.

Candidates should be prepared for anything.  The folks who got elected in 2009 didn't expect to be plunged into teacher layoffs and school closings,  but that's what dominated their first couple of years.  Then came a superintendent search.

For those of you who decide to take it on,  please shoot me a link to your campaign web site,  some bio information and a good head shot (ahelms@charlotteobserver.com).  I'll try to make it easy for blog readers to stay up to date on the campaign.

The boundaries have changed slightly since the last district election.  See the district map here,  and click here to see which precincts have been assigned to different school board districts.