112 Bolton Place
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
(h) 919-929-7666
jimward@nc.rr.com
Term of Service
2007–2011 (2003–2007; 1999–2003)
Biography
Three-term Town Council Member Jim Ward was chosen by his peers as Mayor Pro Tem in 2009.
Jim Ward is a UNC employee, working as a curator at the North Carolina Botanical Garden for the past 29 years. He was elected to his first term on the Town Council in 1999 and now is serving his third term through 2011.
At the Botanical Garden, he oversees some native plant collections, teaches public education courses, and serves as liaison between the Botanical Garden and other agencies and groups.
He first became involved in community service through his appointment to various citizen advisory committees. He has served as a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission, Greenways Commission, Library Committee, Design Review Board, UNC Land Use Planning Panel, Sustainability Committee and UNC Horace Williams Zoning Work Group. He is a member of the Chapel Hill High School PTA. He was a den leader for the Boy Scouts and a baseball coach for a Parks and Recreation baseball team. He has served on Citizens for Sewers, an advocacy group created to address failing septic systems in the community.
Ward grew up in Wilmington, Del., after living for short periods of time in Centerville, Pa., Richmond, Va., Buffalo, N.Y., and Clinton, Iowa. He moved to Chapel Hill in 1975. He has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio, and has completed coursework toward a master’s degree in botany from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Ward is married to Lynne Wentworth, program director for the Orange-Chatham County Guardian ad Litem program. They have two sons, Nick and Sam. Ardent travelers, places they have explored include the western United States, east Africa, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and western Europe.
Membership
- Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board
- Public Art Review Committee for Chapel Hill Public Library
- Council Committee: Conservation Easements in Open Spaces
- Council Committee: Economic Development
- Council Committee: Facilities Naming
- Council Committee: Orange Water and Sewer Authority (Interview Committee)
- Council Committee: Sustainability, Energy, and Environment
- IFC Mens Residential Facility Work Group
- Intergovernmental Parks Work Group
- International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)
- Library Board of Trustees
- Library Building Committee
- Friends of the Library
- Mayor’s Committee: Campaign Public Financing
- Orange County Air Quality Advisory Committee
- Orange County Transfer of Development Rights Task Force
Orange County Visitor’s Bureau Board of Directors
- Public Transit Committee
- Sustainability Committee
Duties
During the disability of the mayor or while the mayor is absent from the Town, the functions of the office devolve upon the mayor pro tem. The mayor pro tem presides at all meetings of the Town Council in the absence of the mayor. A member of the Council serving as mayor pro tem is entitled to vote on all matters, and is considered a member of the Council for all purposes (including the determination of whether a quorum is present.)