It’s time for a sea change at the Orange Board of County Commissioners and we can’t think of two better candidates to do the paddling for District 1 than Mark Dorosin and Penny Rich.

Both candidates are keying on transit, economic development and trash as the most important issues facing the county.

Each has experience serving on town government, something that is lacking on the current board. Dorosin served on the Carrboro Board of Aldermen from 1999–2003. Rich is a Chapel Hill Town Council member.

With Orange County’s trash plans still in limbo even as the Rogers Road landfill is set to close in June 2013, now is the time to elect leaders who have the vision for how to responsibly dispose of the waste.

If we invented our ideal candidate for this office, his or her résumé would look similar to Dorosin’s. He’s the managing attorney at the UNC Center for Civil Rights, where he works alongside Julius Chambers. Dorosin was instrumental in the successful campaign to rescind the anti-lingering ordinance in Carrboro that prevented day laborers from congregating on a public street corner during midday hours. He knows the issues facing small local businesses. He owned Hell, a favorite Rosemary Street watering hole, for a decade. He also worked as a loan officer at Self-Help Credit Union.

Like the other candidates, he opposes Amendment 1, but he takes it a step further by stating that if the referendum passes, he would instruct the county to continue offering benefits to same-sex couples and those in civil unions until the federal government says otherwise.