City Council Zoning Meeting - Special Meeting

Good afternoon and welcome everyone. As the mayor pro tem, I will call this meeting to order and ask for introduction beginning with our city clerk.

Billy Tons, deputy city clerk. Andrea Leslie-Fight, city attorney.

Good afternoon, Victoria Watlington, I have the pleasure of serving you as a member at large. Joy Mayo, representing district three. Kimberly Owens, representing District 6.

Malcolm Graham, District 2. Ed Driggs, District 7.

Good afternoon, Luana Mayfield, Council Member-at-Large. Good afternoon, JD Masueta-Arias, District 5.

Renee Johnson, and I have the honor of serving District 4.

Thanks, everyone. At this time, I will step away and allow the council to elect a chair pro tem. Is there a motion to appoint a chair pro tem?

I will take it.

Is there a motion?

Council Member Mayfield? Motion to appoint Council Member Graham. Is there a second? Second. Second by Council Member Watlington. All those in favor, let me know by saying aye, or raise your hand. Okay. I'm going to turn it over now to Chair Pro Tem, Council Member Graham.

Good afternoon everyone. The interview form is part of the city council's process fulfilling the vacancy of the office of the mayor. Each interviewer will be asked a series of questions by the city council. And each interview will also address city council and the public when responding. No appointment decision will be made today. The city council will consider the appointment of the next mayor at a public feature meeting on next week. At this point, I would like to turn the meeting over to the city clerk and the city attorney, where they will reveal the procedure for today.

Thank you, Chair President Graham. By way of background, the ballots for nominations were provided to council members on Tuesday, June 16th, 2026 at 12 noon. The ballot showing council members nominations of up to three nominees were returned to the clerk's office. Results were tallied, and based on the nominations, the top five nominees from all council members were contacted for interviews. The top five nominees, I will read them at this time, and this is not in order of the top vote, but rather in alphabetical order. They are as follows. Harold Cogdell, Carrie Cook, Roberts Harrington, excuse me. James Mitchell, Jr., and Senator Caleb Theodorus. At this time, each of the interviewees have been, their names have been placed into a cup, and at the time of the interview, they will be called forward based upon random drawing by Madam Clark. Mr. Chair Pro Tem. And so at this time, as you can see, there is a table placed at the center of the room. Each interviewee will be seated there, and the council members will have an opportunity to ask questions. You all will have an opportunity to select one question from the compilation of questions that you all came up with individually. And we just ask that you would stick with the same question for each interview. Do not deviate, please, from that list of questions and simply stick with the same question with candidate one through five. I will pause there for any questions. Otherwise, I'll turn it back over to you, Mr. Chair, pro tem.

Any questions for the city attorney? I recognize Council Member Wallington.

Thank you. Just for clarity, the question that we picked does not have to necessarily be one we initiated. That is correct, as long as you stick with the same question throughout the process. Thank you.

Council Member JD.

Thank you, Chair Pro Tem. So just to clarify, out of all the list here, it doesn't have to be the summary question, but it could be any of the questions.

Great question, Council Member Masueta-Adias. The summary question was an overview or a compilation of the themes of questions, and each candidate received the summary question. They did not receive the individual questions, but you should choose from the individual questions listed below.

Thank you, Madam Attorney. No further questions.

Any further questions for the City Attorney or the City Clerk? Council Member Mayfield.

Thank you, Council Member Grahams. Clerk, Once we finish this piece, are we going to ask all of the candidates to step across the room so that we have the opportunity based on the number that our clerk pulls so all of them will be advised to step right across? Thank you for clarification.

Yes, the candidates will be placed in a separate room without screens so that the questions will remain sequestered during the process. Okay.

All right, again, each candidate will sit at the table facing the council. Council members will have the opportunity to ask questions of each candidate. At the conclusion of the questions, each candidate will be provided a one minute to address the city council and the public to provide any additional comments that they want city council to know regarding their application to be mayor. We're going to try to limit each session to 30 minutes. There will be a five minute warning when your time is coming to an end to all the candidates. There you see the five minutes. When your five minutes is up, I will let you know for sure. Finish your thoughts. We're not going to cut you off mid-sentence, but finish your thoughts and then your time will be over, okay? All right, the quorum, again, we ask the members of the audience to sit and listen quietly. This is the council's time to hear questions and answers from the potential candidates. Council members, I hope that you will govern yourself accordingly in terms of the rules that we put in place in reference to the questions. And I have one question on the floor at a time directed to the temporary chair who will acknowledge members to speak. Lastly, there may be some two decision points that we have to make. After all the candidates have given their presentation, those are relatively processed questions for the council as we approach Monday night. But I think we should all be on the same page once we leave the meeting. So before we ask the candidates to excuse themselves, are there any questions for the attorney? Is there any questions that someone want to raise for the council? So at this time, we're going to ask the candidates to leave the room. And then, matter of fact, it might be the first time, Madam Clerk, to draw the first name so that person can actually stay. So let's see who's going to be the first to be with us.

Who's the staff person that's going to go up? Okay. Caleb Thredrose.

Senator, come forward. Thanks to everyone. We'll see you shortly. Welcome to the Charlotte City Council meeting. This is a special meeting to hear from you. Questions that many of my colleagues ask about your candidacy to be the temporary mayor of the city of Charlotte for the next 18 months. You have 30 minutes. There will be a five minute warning, a one minute warning. When that one minute is up, you have a minute to make any closing remarks to the council. Welcome again. The floor is open for questions.

Thank you, Madam Attorney, and welcome and congratulations. I'll get right into the questions. What concerns, if any, do you think the public might have about your appointment as mayor, and how would you address those concerns? Additionally, what strengths and experiences do you believe make you well-suited for this role?

Excuse me, thank you council members for having me here and for the questions. I think part of it, it's a question I've gotten, is obviously a term of age. You know, a question I've gotten, 32 years old, so how is it possible for somebody 32 to come into this process and really help counsel. And to that, I think there are different ways to measure experience. I think a lot of you all have seen me especially come up within city politics, but to also apply myself to service wherever that service may be needed. I think that we have different ways of measuring said experience through the political circles, whether it is the black political caucus, whether it is experience within the private sector working with big and broad and sophisticated organizations working and managing these teams. So I think part of the question and part of the answer is really the quality of the experience instead of how long have you been here. As I've tried, no matter how much you try to grow a beard and look grown, none of that will quite help unless you're here actually doing the work. And so I would say that that's probably the biggest thing I've heard anyways.

Additionally, what strengths do you feel that you bring to the position?

I think partially just to help out with, there are many experienced people, not within only folks that are going for the interim role, but even especially on council. But I think experience also has to be married with foresight. The many of the problems that the city and even the state face are things that I've been thinking about for quite a while. I've worked in technology for the past decade or so, and I've talked about how artificial intelligence has the ability to really change society. And so I feel like with folks that have seen other technological advancements through their experience, we can marry that with some of the things that I've brought up. And also just the biggest obvious one is the relationship with the state. I think there's oftentimes a gap between understanding of our friends over in Raleigh and the General Assembly and the importance of Charlotte. And I think those folks do understand that. But I think I can help to kind of marry that divide and making people realize that, listen, Charlotte is important to the state. We have 30% of the GDP, the majority of growth. And vice versa, we have a governing structure that's predicated on a general assembly that wants to work with the city of Charlotte. And so kind of marrying that duality is something that I would be able to help with.

Thank you, Senator. As Charlotte continues to grow, what specific actions would you prioritize to ensure growth benefits all residents? And how would you hold public, private, and institutional partners accountable for measurable progress?

One thing is oftentimes the platitudes that we say and the phrases have to be married with a specific metric that we are measuring. It's not enough just for a corporation or a private entity to say that they're here and here for the best interest of Charlotte. But in turn, that has to look like how many folks have we, how many members from CMS have we gotten to get an internship from a corporation? So our asks as a city and constituents of some of these organizations have to be getting specific asks from these corporations. And part of it is just to understand that, listen, everyone's progress is dependent on each other. There's no corporation that's here that's not dependent on the growth of Charlotte. Having shareholder value is not mutually exclusive to having folks that are working class being able to progress themselves. So I do think relative to other cities and even other states, Charlotte has done a good job of marrying those two ideals. And we're just at another impasse where we need folks that can come in and speaks to both sides, whether it's working class grassroots organizations and also our corporate partners. But the very pointed answer I would give is there have to be specific metrics relative to the company slogans that we're used to hearing. Thank you.

Subsequently, follow up. It's a follow up. How would you apply that theory to when it comes to Charlotte Airport and airport workers?

Yeah, I think, listen, as we have continued negotiations with Charlotte Douglas Airport, there have to be specific asks, especially for corporations. Again, we have to fit within the confines of the actual law. Like, there's state law that mandates how Charlotte Douglas Airport and how American Airlines are to conduct themselves and what power they have in terms of the people that they are hiring. And part of our job, especially having the Charlotte Douglas Airport, is to ensure that they also realize that, listen, folks have to come visit the airport. And whether you travel or not is dependent on how you're doing economically. and whether Charlotte is a great place for your kids to be in terms of CMS. And so, again, you can get overly specific because this is frankly how state law is written. But I think we have to be strong on our side in the Charlotte Douglas Airport to have specific asks themselves from American Airlines without us overstepping state law.

Council Member Mayfield, and before she starts, I just want to remind the council members to be focused on the questions that we all agreed upon. And any follow up question has to be germane to the initial question that has been asked. Council Member Wallington.

I just also want to, as a process check, point out from a time standpoint that you are limited to 30 minutes, so just be mindful about that when you're answering.

Your question should limit to 30 minutes. You're 15 minutes into it. We want to get around the table, so I won't take up any more of your time. Council Member Mayfield.

Mr. Graham.

Council Member Ashmer.

Thank you. And I know we have only 30 minutes. I'm stopping his clock. So if he can start... in a different direction for the second or third candidate to ensure that everyone gets their questioning. Thank you.

All right. So, okay. So council member Mayfield, where we're starting his time as us right now.

Okay.

Right. So we stopped, we stopped his time during this time. We just had this conversation. Right.

All right, so to direct comments to the chair, and the chair will make sure that we're all on the same accord. Council Member Mayfield.

Thank you. Thank you for joining us today. How do you plan to maintain your employment and do this role as it takes up a significant amount of time?

Yeah, I think it's just reflective of what I've had to do. I'm not dependent on anyone else but myself. So all of the sort of political work that I've always had to do had to maintain a job while I did it. And so, yeah, just continuing to, especially within, listen, the General Assembly. This is a role where I have to be in Raleigh for half the time, being able to balance private sector responsibilities, even family responsibilities. And it's just something I'm accustomed to. Well, when I interned for the city of Charlotte, You know, as many folks would know, I had to balance going to class, making sure I made it here on time, going to neighborhood meetings. And so when you're just sort of passionate about service and governing and something that you've done for 10, 15 years, you have always found a way to balance and to excel at both.

Council Member Drakes.

Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, afternoon. In order to achieve a more orderly council process, how would you work outside of meetings to help council identify priorities and achieve consensus?

Yeah, part of it is going to be dependent on the pre-work that you do before you come to the dais. I think part of my responsibility has to be having foresight to specific timelines of different issues. This week, it's not that we're talking about data centers, but where do we see the discussion of data centers over the next six months? Okay, how can we work backwards to ensure that this topic is discussed at this committee meeting? How can we ensure that we have private one-on-one meetings throughout the week with council members that I can better understand their goals? I think that part of the process is where I would lean on pre-meetings, pre-preparation, so that, you know, sort of discussions on the dais are all about getting to a final outcome and not just sort of drift. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Owens.

Senator Tedros, nice to see you. A recent rescission of the I-77 project recommendation reflected strong public engagement and differing perspectives about transportation planning. What do you believe should be the next step in addressing congestion and mobility challenges along the I-77 corridor? And how would you as mayor ensure the public is meaningful involved in the process?

Yeah, it goes to some of the pre-planning that Councilmember Driggs just asked about. I think the problem with the entire process of even I-77 is, for example, you didn't get public input on specific maps until we were almost at the finish line. Again, this is that foresight and that pre-planning that we need to get back to. If we had more community input before a problem came to manifest itself, you start to realize the goals of the community and even those within transportation sectors, the business lines, et cetera, aren't too far off. You give yourself time to have a compromise and to have a solution that the both community and everyone else can agree on. And so that pre-work, it's a lot of work, but that is needed. And I think an area where you saw that fail was the I-77 discussion. to where every conversation was followed by, we need an answer in two, three weeks. And I don't think that was necessarily fair, both for NCDOT, I don't think it was definitely fair for the community members, and anyone involved in this discussion.

Council Member Anderson.

Good afternoon and welcome. In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the city right now? And you can only pick one. I know we have a plethora.

Yeah. I would say to the extent that the mayor, mayor pro tem and city council can work cohesively on the same goals. Council member, I don't think there are specific policy problems that city council can't solve. Again, we are the 14th largest city in America. We are the fastest growing city in America. We are a destination destination. to jobs, to education. Out of the 157 people moving here every day, 40% of that is actually UNC Charlotte graduates. We have the resources already here. So whether it's affordable housing, economic development, childcare, I believe that the city of Charlotte, working cohesively with staff, amongst ourselves, with the mayor and Mayor Pro Tem, can actually solve a lot of those problems. And so, yeah, I think it has to be just how cohesively we can all work together, because I don't think that there's a specific policy we can't figure out.

Council Member Mayo, are you prepared?

Yes, sir. Thank you. How would you ensure meetings are efficient while still allowing robust debate with discussion?

Yeah, in large part following the already existing policies and procedures that are set in place. I think part of my training ground was managing some of the black political caucus meetings where you have many personalities, many people within the political spectrum, but ensuring that, listen, I want robust debate. We want every single person to have their voice there too, but there are actual policies and procedures. We're getting an example of that from Senator Graham here. about the recognition from the chair needing to have to wait for people to present their actual ideas. And there's not meant to silence certain council members or folks, but it's meant to have order. So listen, I want a robust debate, but part of that has to be a specific policy and procedure that we all have to follow.

Thank you. Council Member Wallington.

Thank you Mr. Chair. Good afternoon Senator. Charlotte's priorities are not new conversations, but the tools, partners, and scale of these challenges look very different than they did even five years ago. Can you walk us through a specific example of work you're doing right now or have done in the very recent past that directly connects to one of these priorities?

Yeah, I think with every single policy, they all interconnect. But within the State Senate, listen, I'm on the Transportation Committee. And so we are looking throughout the state to see how transportation policies, how we properly fund specific projects. And I'm sure you know, especially as of recently, transportation, not only recent I-77 decision, but the transit bill, which I supported, have been big topics that we've been discussing. And so I think it really helps to have someone who can be able to maneuver through the state policies and NCDOT and to continue to help council and the city at large try to maneuver through these transportation issues. Listen, as the PAVE Act passed, this is 20 years that we're going to have development within transportation. the city of Charlotte will now be a transportation hub because of the transit tax. And so part of that is you need somebody with a good understanding of the PAVE Act, which I did vote for, and how to do things like ensure MPTA are on the same board as the city of Charlotte. And so, yeah, I would definitely say transportation has been the biggest discussion point and having experience on not only transportation committee, but also appropriations for transportation at the state level would definitely kind of inform my position.

Councilwoman Ashmer.

Welcome, Senator. The next mayor will play a major role in shaping this election of Charlotte's next city manager. How would you ensure city council is meaningfully included in that process? And what structure would you put in place to make sure city staff is proactive, transparent, and communicative with council members and residents, especially in communities that often feel decisions are made without them?

Yeah, I mean, Councilmember, going back to some of the earlier points about pre-work, to continue but going back to some of the earlier points about pre-work i think it's that much more important that council sets up the goals in terms of what they want within the process i think oftentimes where we get into sort of disagreements and deviate from certain points is we're actually arguing about different goals that we would have and so if something like communication and council input is an actual goal then we need to ensure that that's reflected within the metrics that we set up when interviewing for a new city manager And I think that that's important because ultimately you're only going to behave as good as the metrics that you set up. And I think if you set that up ahead of time, you'll have meaningful engagement with an assortment of city managers. If you set up the metrics to have city staff, or excuse me, city council have input in the actual discussion, if it's there in the metrics, the outcome will reflect that as well. So I think all of the pre-work and the metric setting in the beginning and the goal setting is that much more important to actual follow-up discussion and trying to figure out who best to appoint.

I'm going to ask a question and I want to borrow Council Member's Mayo question, which is, what is your philosophy on committee work and the role committees should play in shaping policy?

Yeah, I think I have a pretty biased perspective being in the Senate, but I think the committee is where the majority of policy making should be done. I think ultimately every council member is elected, so every single person not only has a vote, has a right to say something when it comes before the dais, etc. But I think the critical specific points should be debated, and there should be along a rope to give whenever you have discussions within the committee. So philosophically, maybe that's just the majority of where my experience has come from, where you kick back things to the committee to do the work and bring it before council. But I think council has every right to discuss every single topic. And if folks decide to kick it back to committee or they see a problem with how specific committee kind of does on a specific item, then they have every right to do so. But I think for the sake of organization. But there are obviously, especially the bigger issues, data centers, I-77, et cetera, that are not gonna be all figured out within committee and have every right to be discussed within the dais.

Okay, time check. We got 14 minutes, so we'll... We'll just take random questions from council members that may have follow-ups. And I recognize Ms. Mayo, if you have a question, I'll acknowledge you and follow up. Mayo?

Thank you, Chair. Actually, I would like to go back to Council Member Mayfield's question about your employment. I didn't feel like I quite got enough with the answer with that. Can you tell us more about with your current employment, how you think this time will be spent? Because being the mayor, even being on council is a lot. Yes. Yes. And having a full-time job. So can you give us a little bit more information about your schedule? Are you self-employed? I don't feel like I really understood the answer to that question.

Yeah, I thought the council member wanted a general response. Right now, I don't work anywhere else. In the beginning of the term, I consulted for technology companies, smaller companies. But right now, this is what I do full-time in the state senate. And that's how I've been able to kind of juggle every single policy, make all my committee meetings. Unfortunately, that's not very common in Raleigh, but I'm there for every single committee meeting. And I guess, Councilmember, apologies if I came up short in that answer. My answer was more so to reflect that all the time that I have been involved in politics, even when I worked at different banks, et cetera, I've always been able to manage both of those things. I've always been able to show up to BPC meetings. I've always been to show up. here when I worked in the city of Charlotte for under council members. And so just to give you the more specific but the broader how I kind of view some of these things.

Appreciate that. Thank you.

Just want to remind the council members to focus on the questions that are on the paper. There's a follow-up to a question that's already been asked. I think that's appropriate. We just want to make sure there's some consistency for all the candidates that we're interviewing. Recognize Ms. Wallington and then Mr. Drake's after Ms. Wallington and Ms. Johnson in that queue.

Thank you. I just wanted to go back to the question specific to the work that you're doing right now or have done. Can you just give me a little bit more specific example? Walk us through. a specific example of work that you've done. It can be now or in the recent past. Just kind of give us the framework. What was the situation? What action did you take?

What was the result? Even as of, let's just say a few weeks ago, there was a bill that I introduced called the Coaches Care Act, which attempted to get mental health training for every single coach in North Carolina as a requirement. One thing in terms of being cohesive and worked with other different partners, being in the super minority, you don't have a great probability of passing a specific bill. But due to the relationships that I have within the General Assembly, both at the corner offices and many of the elected officials, we were able to get the Coaches Care Act to get adopted by the National, excuse me, the North Carolina High School Athletics Association. And they made it a requirement, voted 18 to zero, to have every coach in North Carolina have that as a requirement that they need to take the mental health first aid. I'm sure a lot of us share that mental health is a very big, important issue within society. It underlies both affordable housing issue, economic development, homelessness, all of these issues intertwine with mental health. But that's just an example of working with different partners. NAMI was among the biggest partners that helped out. And working with Republicans that were sympathetic to make that a bill. And again, a super minority as a Democrat and a freshman. Thank you.

Council Member Droegs.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To be clear, we can ask another question from this list. Is that right? Sir, how important are intergovernmental relations to the city's agenda and what are ways you as mayor would work with our intergovernmental partners to achieve outcomes for our city?

Yeah. um outside of the tactical continuous meetings that you'll need uh both with members of the governor's office uh the state senate the house cms county commission i think part of that is listen trust compounds uh the relationships you've built with certain uh folks whether it's in the general assembly ultimately compounds and i think what you have to do, especially within the role, is doing things like having continuous meetings, having very blunt discussions, whether it's Republicans or folks in CMS, in order to talk about what are the goals of the city? How do you ensure that you don't have mission creep and you don't creep into maybe a CMS goal that is there? And so, I think, Councilmember, continuous discussions with these partners of ours, built through trust and years of knowing folks like, whether it's CMS board Stephanie Snee, whether it's a Mark Jarrell, whether it's a Senator Phil Burger, Destin Hall, or even the governor. And these are folks that we've built relationship over the time that I've both been in Raleigh and in Charlotte.

Mr. Chairman, I follow up. Do you think our relationships with other governments currently are good?

I more so see it as an opportunity to become better, but only because, listen, I'm on both essentially sides with relationship with council members here to hear a specific city perspective, but also in Raleigh, getting an understanding from somebody like a Senator Phil Burger of what they would like to see out of a Charlotte. And so from my viewpoint, maybe I just see it as the gap is not that wide. Raleigh understands that 30% of the state's GDP is Charlotte. The majority of the reason why people come here, we have 900,000 people that live in Charlotte during peak hours during the week. It's about 2 million from the folks that live here. So people understand the importance of that. But I think there's just been more of a communication and a gap that exists to where we get into these policy disagreements when I think, again, back to pre-work, back to relationships, those things can be mended.

Thank you.

Council Member Johnson. Thank you.

Thank you. Charlotte adopted an ordinance in 2024 related to individuals who are unhoused. What are your thoughts on those policies and Charlotte's overall approach to homelessness?

Yeah, I think part of it is The shortcoming, I think, was not necessarily doing enough. But not only from the city perspective. I think when I have viewed our, especially our homeless population, I think the shortcomings have been not enough investments in mental health. And let me prerequisite by saying this is not something that the city of Charlotte understands. can do alone especially even has the power of funds to really do a lot of and so out of a city ordinance I would have liked more partnerships with a county to contribute additional beds in order to counteract some of the city ordinances, so I think I just to answer it directly, I think I would have wanted more of the intergovernmental portion of it. I understand the constraints that the city of Charlotte has, but I think the county continuously contributing to it, are hospitals more involved with that discussion? It's the only thing I would probably point to, but I'm very well aware of, especially council members being asked to do more when you know the constraints of city government relative to everyone else.

Council Member Anderson, and then we'll do a time check.

thank you how do you see your relationship between the mayor and council and what does it look like in practice when you disagree with the body that appointed you and last part of this is how do you see your relationship with the manager on a day-to-day basis yeah I think with council listen

We're a group of collaborators, and I see that the interim mayor has to play a facilitator's role. Ultimately, you all are the ones that are making the policy, especially now that we're post-budget season. And so part of my job has to be, A, understanding your specific goal, and then how can I help to push that forward? How do you do that? It has to be through things like weekly meetings. I have to understand what specific items you're actually personally passionate about. There are certain maybe discussions that you don't necessarily want to contribute as much. And I think that's reflected in what we've done in Raleigh. Listen, the policy disagreements are even wider. obviously, especially with different political parties. But even a Democrat in Asheville is not the same as a Democrat in Charlotte and especially one from the mountains, for example. And so that experience has taught me, listen, even though we share the same political party, you disagree on X, Y, Z, but are passionate about this thing. So my job is like, how can we find the common areas that we do agree on and how can we just work on those items initially? So that looks like, I mean, I have to work with you all individually. I have to have relationships with you all individually and to realize what's important specifically to you. And city manager portion, again, you all set the policy. I'm... pretty much my responsibility is setting that relationship with the city manager who delivers on that policy day to day, obviously through the functions of the city of Charlotte. And so part of my job is to be that communication between you all and the city manager. Of course you have your individual relationships, but I see it as a daily communication that has to be done with city. Listen, when I chaired the Charlotte Equitable Development Commission, I learned firsthand that you can't do anything without city staff, especially helping. And I understand, despite that may be some of the frustration, especially with council, but part of my job has to be that diplomatic connection between you all and the city manager.

All right, you have five minutes left. Council Member Wallington has been recognized.

Thank you. I just wanted to follow up on the previous question in regards to intergovernmental relationships. You've spoken quite a bit about your differentiator being that you've got relationships here and in Raleigh. You are a sitting senator. Given that that is really the charge of a General Assembly member is to take the needs from the local community to the General Assembly, can you help me understand why why that skill set is needed here in the mayor's office versus where you're already sitting?

Yeah, I mean, when it comes to constituent connections, like, again, you all deal with constituents. You get elected by your constituents. So it's not necessarily on that front. Part of it is just connecting those interests in Raleigh, because ultimately, Raleigh is the state authority that determines a lot of times what city folks, what policy they are to think about. And I think there just has been a disconnect between Raleigh's priorities and the General Assembly's and whether it's the city of Charlotte. It's not only Charlotte as well. And so that's more so where I'm leaning on in terms of connections within Raleigh. It's not necessarily the constituent part because you all report back to your constituents as well. So I think, listen, the General Assembly has shown that there is a willingness to get involved in certain things. what I would deem as city areas, city ordinances, politics that you all should be concerned about. And so what my job I would see partially there is to guide some of those conversations because there may be a disconnect there. But you know, comma, also I do think it's a specific skill set and experience that you need even as an elected official. I'm sure you all get annoyed with all the comments about needing business people that understand business and that's the same thing as working in politics. It's not. There's a very vast difference between reporting back to constituents, taking their every single emails, and necessarily working with the private sector and other shareholders. And so that's more so what I would point to is just the experience in Raleigh relative to those figures and their relationship, not the constituent part because we all get elected by our constituents.

Okay. Any more questions? We probably should be around the three-minute mark, I would imagine. You don't have to use all of it. So if you want to give your closing one-minute statement, if there's no other questions, we'll receive that right now. And the floor is yours.

Yeah. Listen, I really appreciate the time, and especially the time you all have taken. It's a bit of a last minute to come up with a policy and procedure to do interviews. And so I really appreciate you all taking the time. At the end of the day, I think... When this role had come up, I saw a need to serve with you all. I have individual relationship with council members. I have probably one of the few people that's listening from start to finish the city council members to get involved to try to understand what's going on. And I saw that there was a need for a person to come in and work with you all on your individual goals as well. I think that, again, much like the two minutes that I had shared, sort of my priorities, they're not to come in on an 18-month runway to try to reorganize the city of Charlotte. But I have the experience working with city staff. For the past 10 years, I have, whether it's commuted from UNCC to try to understand the city politics, whether it's having certain council members force me to take the packet home on Thursday and and to make sure I'm as prepared as council members on Monday when I was in school. That experience has led me to a place where I think I can manage some of those relationships, not only within city staff, with you all and other folks within government. And so I do think I'm the most prepared in order to do this. And I do hope that I get your all support. But again, thank you for the time and the questions and the experience as well.

Senator, I want to thank you for your leadership. I want to thank you for your commitment to public service here in Charlotte as well as in Raleigh. And I want to thank you for taking the time to speak with the council today. Likewise. Thank you all. We will draw another number.

I drew Carrie Cook, but from my understanding, there's been an agreement to yield the time to Harold Cogdell.

What? Does he have a conflict?

Please instruct questions to the chair. The chair will communicate it to the room so we won't have to cross going forward. So does he have a conflict is the question.

Yes, Mr. Chair, he has a conflict.

Is the council willing to make an amendment to our process to allow him to go out of order? Council Member Mayo.

I make a motion to, do I have to make a motion to do that? Sorry, you were looking at me crazy. Yeah, I make a motion to amend this for Harold Cockdale's.

Is there a second to that? Second. Is there any discussion in reference to that? My only question, does all the other candidates are in agreement with that?

I was told it was okay.

Okay. First, motions on the table have been properly seconded. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye. Those opposed? One, please invite Mr. Cogdell to the room. I kind of know he's taking his son to. Disney World. This afternoon at 4 o'clock, something like that. Hello, sir. So you will be disappointing. That's a priority, right? Family first, for sure. Council Member Johnson. Then Council Member Anderson. Council Member Johnson.

So as far as the follow-up questions, when we had two or three questions, did someone keep track of who asked those next questions?

Okay, good. All right, thank you. Then we're going to start on this side of the room for Mr. Cogdell. And again, limited to the questions on the table, any follow-ups, I will permit F.S. Germain to the initial question. And I thought the first round went pretty well. Mr. Member Wellington.

Just to clarify, the follow-ups that came after all of the original questions were asked, those are to wait until after, correct? Yes. That's right. Yes.

Is Mr. Conch here? Council Member Drake.

Should our second question be the same necessarily as the first, like for each candidate? The follow-up? Yes. No, no, the second question that we can ask during the general Q&A.

Yes, everything should be uniform based on the questions that we've all decided. Council Member J.D.?

I'm sorry. It should be the same.

Let's go. Are you through, Council Member Drake? Yes.

I'm just saying that both of the questions we asked, one when it's our turn, another one afterwards. Did that second question that we asked be the same for each candidate? Yes.

Okay. Council Member J.D., and then we have a candidate in front of us. Let me get J.D., and then I'll get Ms. Anderson.

Chair Pro Tem, for clarification, so the previous question, I'll ask that question, but then when we have the other round, I can ask the follow-up question, correct?

Yes. Thank you. This will be the last question for Ms. Anderson, then we're going to give our time to the candidate. Thank you.

I had a question. I was trying to ask it before the candidate came in, but in the last round, city attorney, there was a question that was asked. Thank you, sir. In the last round, there was a question that was asked that had some presumption in it about one of our employees, and I did not have that information prior to that question or this meeting, so I didn't understand the level of appropriateness of that question. I just want to make sure we're okay.

I understand.

It was Okay, I think the question is to me or her?

No, that's for the city attorney. I had no prior knowledge of the presumption of that question. I don't know if my colleagues did or not, but I certainly have not had that information. I wanted to understand the appropriateness of asking that question.

In light of the transitions that could happen throughout the organization, perhaps we can zoom out to modify it to reflect any transition. There can be a number of transitions within the organization.

Yes, ma'am, because I said will. There was a very directive language there that, again, I was not aware of.

Okay, so... And I would recommend... transitions in the organization as opposed to singling out a single position.

Does everyone have that noted for the question, right?

No. Top of page two, bullet number two.

Top of page two. Again, what I'm going to do is allow one more question on this topic, and then we're going to focus back on the candidate interview. Council Member Mayfield.

Thank you. Where are we? Top of page two, bullet number two. What is the actual question? Begins with the next mayor. We'll play.

What was the issue? I'm sorry. I couldn't keep up with that. What was the issue with that?

No, we got it. Bullet. I don't understand the issue either, so I'm trying to figure out.

Because not a questions may ask it needs to be asked again I just need to know what word or line are we changing in this rather than rather than singling out the selection of Charlotte's next city manager perhaps we would just say selection of Charlotte next leaders and and not think a lot of specific position. OK, thank you.

All right, so all right, so we're going to pivot back to the candidate and we can invite Mr Cogdell in and thank you.

And if I may, Mr Chair protein just quickly. Instead of will play might play.

Thank you. OK, we're all good. All right, we're good.

If the manager was probably worried.

Mr Cogdell. Mr. Cogdell, welcome to the interview for the interim mayor position. We thank you for taking the time to be with us today. You have 30 minutes for your presentation. Each council member will be asking questions. We ask you to be mindful of your time limits. in terms of your responses to fully capture what you want to say for sure. Lastly, after your 30 minutes is done, you'll get a five-minute warning from the clerk. You'll get a minute warning from the clerk. And then when that minute comes, if you should utilize all of it, finish your thought. You don't have to stop abruptly. Finish your thought. And then you get a minute closing argument. First question is Council Member Eshmere.

Thank you. Welcome, Mr. Cogdell. The next mayor might play a major role in shaping the selection of Charlotte's next city leaders. How would you ensure city council is meaningfully included in that process? And what structure would you put in place to make sure city staff is proactive, transparent, and communicative with council members and residents, especially in communities that often feel decisions are made without them? I borrowed that from my colleague, Council Member Jady.

And Council Member Ejmer, the first part of the question, I want to make sure I understood it correctly. How would I play a role?

It's my play. I did not say it's definite that's going to happen, but you might play a role in shaping the selection of Charlotte's next city leaders, whether that's attorney, the manager, the clerk. And I'm just interested in understanding how would you approach that process to ensure that council is meaningfully engaged and residents, especially those who often feel left out of the process?

Thank you very much, Council Member Ajmera and Council Member Graham. Thank you. And to all members of the City Council, I appreciate and I'm humbled for the opportunity to come here and have this chance to talk with you. I'm a big believer in inclusive government. I'm a big believer in inclusivity. I'm a big believer in wanting to hear from anyone that has a vested interest in decision-making for this board. I'm going to back up for just a moment, and how much time do I have for this question?

As much time as you want to answer it, but all the council members would like to ask you a question, and your total assumption is 30 minutes.

Get right to it. Having served on this board, I recognize as a council manager of formal government. Council makes the decisions about policy in this community. Each and every council member, if I were to be given the opportunity to serve in this interim capacity, I would make a conscientious effort to reach out and forge a relationship open up a channel of communication with each and every member on this board. For those who I've not had an opportunity to speak to, I apologize. I'll make more effort to reach out and talk with you. I am committed to doing that. I think it's very important that everybody be engaged and involved in decision-making. I think it's fundamental, and democracy sometimes is messy. I mean, decisions don't just oftentimes just get made without some debate, dialogue, discussion, and dissent. So I think that it is very important to have an inclusive manner in which, and culture, in which you are arriving at your decisions. Everybody has a vote, everybody has a voice, and I think it's very important that communication also is taking place, not just at the meeting on a Monday at the dais, but that we are working towards trust building, we're working towards communicating with each other outside of this building, And I think that will help the decision-making process as this board moves forward to check to the challenging issues that it faces. Council Member Wallington.

Thank you. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Council.

Charlotte's priorities are not new conversations, but the tools, partners, and scale of these challenges look very different than they did even five years ago. Can you walk us through a specific example of work you are doing right now or have done in the very recent past that directly connects to one of those priorities?

Well, like I said, council sets priorities. I know that there are a number of priorities, affordability in this community, transportation, and public safety. I hear very much from a lot of different folks. I can speak from my own personal professional experience that public safety is something that I've been involved with, engaged with in various ways for... 35 plus years from being a probation officer to being a prosecutor to now being a lawyer I handle criminal defense matters and I am engaged in a lot of different ways with the justice system with how policy is being developed from over at the courthouse and I think What's important is, and I saw this recently, I attended a public safety forum at the church I attend, and it had several elected officials and law enforcement officials talking about public safety. And one thing I thought was, all of that is great, but every one of these individuals are reacting to something that has already happened or alleged to have happened. So if you really want to get at sort of the underlying core issues of public safety, you really got to peel the layers of the onion back a little bit deeper and get ahead of it and talk about how we're being intentional about addressing mental health, mental illness, about how we're addressing substance abuse, whether or not individuals have access to that, and also uh... how we're working with the community i mean we have law enforcement officials that are city employees how those individuals are really focus on building bridges with the community i think a critically important yes protection is critically important from a police officer perspective is always serving and part of that is forging those relationships with the community that's just public safety you know i i think that There are other issues, the affordability piece is a real issue. We gotta be mindful of the lane city government travels in, what city government can and can't do, but we also have to be open-minded, to be innovative, to think about, to look both internally at how we might be able to address some of the, whether it's fees that are being charged, whether it is unnecessary restrictions that are no longer necessarily something that has to occur. How do you find that right balance? So I think that's a complex question that requires a little bit of deep dive, and I hope Commissioner Wallington, I addressed it in some way, in a satisfactory way. Follow-up, quickly.

Okay. Well, because my follow-up was going to happen afterwards like it did before. I just wasn't sure if I should ask it now or later.

If it's germane to your first question, very quickly, very quick response. I'm mindful of your time.

Yep. Can you give us a specific example, think of a particular situation, what action you took, and what was the result? My question is specific to a specific example of work that you are doing right now or have done in the very recent past. Can you just walk us through a specific circumstance? Sure.

specific circumstances around one of those specific areas?

Okay.

Well, I'm gravitating back only because that's the professional work I do every day. Public safety, for instance, there was a recent bill, Arena's Law, I'm sure everyone here is very familiar with it. I thought it was critically important to try to bring together those people and stakeholders that would be impacted by that. I did work with some members here at the dais and reaching out to those individuals and talking with them about this, how this is going to affect our city, how this is going to affect individuals in our community. Is this ultimately going to be Increase public safety, or is this going to increase. Incarceration because increasing incarceration. When you're not getting at the core issues, that's driving why a person is being incarcerated is not necessarily creating a safer community. So, to look at. try to put together some alternatives so input can be provided to the state legislature and to have that chance to meet with some members on this dais, as well as judges, as well as law enforcement professionals, mental health professionals. And we were able to come together and have a very collective and productive conversation, I thought, that yielded a message that we could send back to Raleigh. Council Member Mayo.

Thank you. Thanks so much for joining us.

Certainly.

How would you ensure meetings are efficient while still allowing robust debate and discussion?

Well, I go back to having chaired the Board of County Commission and both as chair and many times as vice chair. I think it's really important to give individuals, everyone, an opportunity to have their say. But I also think you have to balance that with being respectful of time. You have an agenda. There are certain specific things that are on an agenda. And it is my personal belief that when we are debating, discussing an agenda, then anything within the purview or parameters of that agenda item is very much permissible. But when the conversation gravitates away from that, outside the scope of that particular agenda item, if I'm being blunt, whoever's chairing that needs to call that out of order and needs to bring the focus back to the decision that's sitting in front of the board to have to make. That is very important. If the council's decision and desire is to look at changing policy around how meetings occur, I recall council had sort of a clear policy about how meetings are governed. You know, that's certainly council's prerogative, and as interim mayor, I would be very open to that. It is whatever you as members of the council want to do if there is a majority will to do that. Now, I do think one of the things I do recall that was changed while I was chair of the At that time, only the chairman or county manager could put an agenda item on the agenda. Other council members felt like we weren't able to discuss certain things, we could never get to certain things, and so the issue was referred to the governance committee. The governance committee discussed it, dialogued about it, and came back with a recommendation, and that recommendation was if more than half of the members of the board wanted to support adding an agenda item to the agenda, and they could get... uh... support from sign off uh... from the majority of the members it would take to pass that agenda item than that agenda could be at that item could be added to the agenda in other words there were five voting five carried the day as opposed to six if four out of five wanted to debate discuss that particular agenda item than that item was going to make it on the agenda uh i that is a policy that council has every right to review look at i think it needs to be thoughtful it needs to be thought out you need to run through scenarios to see what makes sense but that's certainly something that i as if i were given an opportunity to serve in this capacity i wouldn't have objection to and would quite frankly say absolutely if government's committee wants to take a look at that look at it But I think what's important about any committee, and by the way, a lot of work, my experience on serving on boards, public and otherwise, most of the work is done at a committee level. You have to... Committees come back with recommendations after having done deeper dive studies. You need a diverse group of thought serving on committees. If you put a diverse group of thought on committees and entrust that committee with the leadership of a member of this board, that their skill set, their experience, and their passion aligns with the committee that that committee, then I firmly believe that we have the opportunity to flush out a lot of the details about a particular issue before it arrives at a board meeting. And that recommendation is going to oftentimes carry pretty heavy weight with the ultimate board, but you've got to also have some trust in your colleagues.

A time check and then council member. 17 minutes, Mr. Cogdell. I'm sorry, I'm talking to Mr. Anderson.

Welcome, Mr. Cogdell, and love your passion about public safety. Welcome you to our citywide public safety forum next Wednesday on the 24th. In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the city right now? And I'd like for you to have a level of specificity and choose one. I know there's a myriad you can choose from, but if you can talk about one, that would be great.

That is a tough question, Councilmember. I'm sure it was designed to be that way. It is really hard to say one, because right now, to be very candid, we hear a lot of conversation. There's a lot of community noise about things that are very big. We're talking about intergenerational transformational type of issues that this board is going to be having to deal with over the next several months, whether that obviously is I-77, whether that's renewal of the lease at the airport. There are a number of issues that are big. I can't say that either one of those is the biggest issue. I think the biggest issue, and perhaps I'm being naive or overly optimistic, but if this board figures out a method of governing in a way that people are trusting each other better, people are listening, I'm a firm believer in a couple of principles. Seek to understand before being understood. Make a friend before you need a friend. I think it's critically important that everybody have a philosophy that we're here for the right reason. We're here to serve and we're here to serve. try to make thoughtful decisions about the greater good of this community. And I know you're asking for one particular issue, but I'm not gonna put affordability, which is critically important, over public safety, which is also critically important, which transportation is also critically important. I just can't say that there's one. I can say that if there's in my mind one, Let's figure out how we can do it in a consensus-building, collective, respectful manner, in a thoughtful manner that's for the greater good of all.

Councilwoman Owens.

Thank you. A recent rescission of the I-77 project recommendation reflected strong public engagement and differing perspectives about transportation planning. What do you believe should be the next step in addressing congestion and mobility challenges along the I-77 corridor? And how would you, as mayor, ensure the public is meaningfully involved in the process?

First thing I would do is try to reach out to each one of you, sit down, talk to you, and listen to you, and try to understand what your perspective is, what your thoughts are, and what the logic and rationale is to why you have the position you have. But I would not stop there. That would just be the beginning. I would want to hear from city staff, from the city manager's office, from the city attorney's office. I'd want to hear from our local delegation. I'd want to hear from the State Department of Transportation secretary. and obviously leadership in the legislature. I would want to hear from community leaders. I would want to hear from those impacted by the current design. I want to hear from those that are more concerned about the environmental implications. I would want to hear from anyone that has a vested interest, which if you live in this region, you have a vested interest. This is one of the biggest decisions that will be made by our Regional Transportation Planning Authority for generations to come. But at the same time, I think we've gotta be serious, we've gotta be pragmatic and understand that We are urban core. We have unique circumstances, unique needs, unique challenges that don't exist in a lot of other areas of the state. We have to figure out how in a consensus building way to share that message with leadership in Raleigh, urge leadership in Raleigh to not make decisions that could adversely impact this community for generations. I mean, transportation, that is a major transportation corridor. We've got to get this right, but we've also got to understand what limitations and restrictions we have and the implications for not hearing what Raleigh is saying. I don't have the answer. I don't sit here and try to say, I'm sitting up here applying for a position and talking to 10 people, all of which have more information, have been in meetings, been brief, had communications with stakeholders, with community leaders, with DOT officials. Every one of you knows more than the five of us sitting out there. And if whomever sits in that chair is not willing to listen to you all and listen to this community, I think that some short-sighted decisions could get made. And we need to really make sure that we're thinking it through. We need to make sure that we are communicating in a way that is not elevating. It is not, um, alienating, but it is trying to help convey and move forward the message of Charlotte and what we need for this community. Council member Drakes.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are four more of us. So just, uh, there are four more of us. So I just want you to think about your answers so that you can get done in the time. Time check.

All right.

Mr. Cogdell, in order to achieve a more orderly council process, how would you work outside of meetings to help council identify priorities and achieve consensus?

I think maybe Council Member Dries, I touched on that before. I think reaching out and talking with and having, I don't know, standing cup of coffee with everybody on this board on a very regular basis is critically important. Urging members of this board to talk to those that they know they may not agree with. Maybe they don't agree with them, but talk with them, communicate with them in an open and honest way. And I do firmly believe that this board or any board functions much better when you don't just arrive at a meeting not knowing where we're headed, what we're doing, where is the consensus. So one thing, and I know this may be out there, in some ways, but I believe in innovative thinking. I believe in creative thinking. Just because you've always done it this way doesn't mean you always have to do it that way. One of the things I often ask, I think about the, I'm a lawyer, obviously you guys know that. Court of Appeals oftentimes holds court in other locations. They've held court in Mecklenburg County. They've held court at law schools around the state. Is there any reason that this board could not meet in a district or in each and every district and rotate through the districts and give the local district representative an opportunity, a short period of time, to highlight what issue or challenge in that district exists? And I don't want to come here to the government center to tell you about it. I want everybody to come out to where I am and say, look, here is what I'm dealing with in this district. and have a meeting there where the community input will be, I believe, will be greater because you have easier access to get to a council meeting when the council meeting is five minutes down the road. Now, of course, there would have to be logistics to that. There would have to be thought given to that. You'd have to coordinate that with city staff. But it is something that I think it shows the community we can move outside of this building and meet you where you are.

Thank you.

Council Member Mayfield.

Thank you. Thank you for joining us today and taking out the time. How do you plan to maintain your employment and do this role as it does take up a significant amount of time?

Thank you, Council Member Mayfield. You are absolutely right. At least Council Member Graham knows what I served before. I said, oh, my God. This is very time-consuming. I did not, quite frankly, I was 30 years old or so, I didn't realize just how much it was. I'm at a little different place in life. I have a far more stable law practice right now. I currently share office space with a firm here. I've already had discussions with that firm. I'll probably... Join that firm, or at least go in Council of Council with that firm. If I were selected, which would give me more support. And more other lawyers partners that could help me to cover some of the things that I would need to have coverage on. um because as lawyers we we have to be certain places sometimes but you have to have collaborative work environment that's supportive of that and i think with this potential partnership if this were to work out i could find that right balance council member jd thank you

Mr. Cogdell, Charlotte is a growing city, but too often that growth is not reaching everyone equally and working families are being left behind. How would you balance being business friendly and people first and ensuring our private partners are working collaboratively to close social economic gaps?

Thank you, Council Member. I think that is really the question that comes up quite a bit. That is nothing new. That has been a topic of conversation for 30 years or so since I've been around. I'm a big believer that balance is important. Every decision is gonna be unique and you can't always listen to the loudest voice You can't always listen to the loudest voices, whether they're in your district or whether they're just emailing you to death. You've got to figure out what's in the greater good. You also can't listen to the people that can write the biggest checks. I don't think that just because you write a bigger check or you have a larger sphere of influence that you listen to that person. You give that any more weight than anybody else. There has got to be intentionality in decision making, which requires extra effort on all of our part to understand the nuances. I've heard the devil's in the details type of quote. I've heard you got to get down to the nuances of it. And I hope that answered your question. I've got the time over here.

We've got five minutes left. One question from Council Member Johnson.

Thank you. What concerns, if any, do you think the public might have about your appointment as mayor, and how do you address those concerns? Additionally, what are your strengths and experiences do you believe make you the most well-suited for this role?

Thank you, Council Member Johnson. I've got to go back and say to the previous question, I got to say this. I'm a lawyer. I represent individuals. I do not represent corporate entities. I do not have ill will towards the business community in any way whatsoever. I listen. They're not going to fall on deaf ears. But understand, I don't represent the corporate interests. I represent individuals. I have now for 28 years. I think understanding the plight. I started, I gotta say, I started with a four-year college degree working in a convenience store because that was that era. That was that time. It was a recession. It was tough. I had to move from a convenience store to finally finding a job with state government and probation. Believe me, I firmly understand the difficulty that so many people are having, in particular with affordability, not feeling safe in communities. So balance is critically important. Now, your question, Council Member. I have, with regard to experience, I do believe that I am more experienced than any of the other applicants in serving in public office. I have more years of service in public office. I have actually chaired a public body board and I don't mean just the Charlotte, I mean the Board of County Commission. I chaired the Charlotte Housing Authority Board. I chaired the Charlotte Housing Authority Board as it went through the transformation to Livion. I have worked or chaired the Governance Committee for the Real Estate Foundation for North Carolina A&T for some years. I... think that you have a tough decision to make. You have a very tough decision. I don't envy you at all. You have very good people. I speak highly of each and every person, the other four people that are being considered. At least three of them I've known for years. I think that finding, listening, and I go back to core principles and that's what I really want to talk about. Who are you at your core? rational, pragmatic, I listen. I don't forget where I came from and my experience in life and how I got to where I am. We didn't just arrive here today. You gotta consider historical context. You also gotta consider the external factors that you don't have control over and how they, create parameters and challenges. But there's always a way to find a solution. I really firmly believe that. There's a way you find a solution. What I hope to be able to do, if given the privilege of serving in this capacity, is to help facilitate this board to finding those good solutions for this community.

Thank you. And what concerns of any do you think the public might... It was part of the same question. Okay. What concerns... Do I get my minute? What concerns, if any, do you think the public might have about your appointment as interim mayor, and how do you address those concerns?

I don't know what concerns the public will have. I really don't. I'm sure I'm not liked by everyone. I'm certain of that. I'm sure that other people are not liked by everyone. I'm far more concerned about being respected than liked, and I will do nothing to compromise my integrity.

Okay, so we have one minute before your closing argument. You don't have to use it. Any other questions? One minute closing argument. The floor is yours. Is there a follow-up? Nope. What?

One minute. Okay. Thank you for the opportunity to sit here. As I've said, this is a tough decision. I encourage you not to pick somebody because you like them. I encourage you not to pick somebody because you've... you've aligned with them on a political issue here or there, I encourage you to look at the qualifications, the skill set, the experience of the applicants. Ask yourself, who do you think you could work with? Who do you think will be a moderate, sensible, common sense voice that won't go out, speak on behalf of the city of Charlotte when the council has not authorized that? And I'm not suggesting that anyone has, but I'm saying you work within the parameters that as a chair of a board or as mayor, you work within the parameters that your governing body permits you to work within. Who do you think you could? That's time.

Finish your thought.

Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.

Mr. Caldell, on behalf of the council, I want to thank you for your public leadership, council member, commissioner, practicing law in this community for a number of years. We thank you for your interest in this opportunity, and thank you for joining us today.

Thank you all, and thank you for indulging my schedule. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Excuse me. Let's take a ten minute recess.

Yes, thank you, Chair.

¶¶ Thank you. This is James. ¶¶

¶¶ We're back live with Defeat.

Okay. All right. Welcome back to the Charlotte City Council meeting. Our next candidate is Mayor Pro Tem James Mitchell. We're going to start from inside out. Then we'll go that way. We'll start with you. Then we'll come this way and start with you. That way everyone can... Good afternoon, Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell. Good afternoon, council. Welcome to the Charlotte City Council interview for the interim mayor position. You will have 30 minutes in total. Each council member will ask questions that's been pre-prepared. There may be a follow up to those questions. You will get a five minute warning when your time is about to expire. You'll get a one minute warning. When you're running out of time, finish your thought, you don't have to stop abruptly, finish your thought and then at the conclusion, you'll get a 1 minute closing statement to the council. We're going to start inside out. So we're going to start with council member Owens and then we'll start with council member Anderson. Once we complete that side. Council member Owens, the floor is yours. Okay.

Thank you. Council Member Mitchell, the recent rescission of the I-77 project recommendation reflected strong public engagement and different perspectives about transportation planning. What do you believe should be the next step in addressing congestion and mobility challenges along the I-77 corridor? And how would you, as mayor, ensure the public is meaningfully involved in the process? Okay.

I think the I-77 is going to take really strong leadership and leadership from not only me, but from this entire council. I think, number one, we learned from what we did earlier that the public were not involved, or the public were not made aware of what was actually going to occur. So as mayor, if I'm fortunate enough to be mayor, I think the first thing we need to do is make sure we have the right stakeholders in the room. What we need to do is make sure this council is fully aware of all the ramifications as it relates to I-77. I think it was very clear that the design was a big issue. We have to address the design to solve this traffic problem. I think there was conversation about community benefits and community allocation. We never explained or articulated to the neighbors what could have been the benefits of the community allocation. I think we need to continue to have a different dialogue with NCDOT. Because immediately, it was a problem that we had to face that the credibility was lost the way NCDOT handled this project. I will be the first one to tell you we do have an I-77 traffic issue. How we solve it is going to have to be a collaboration of this community, this city council, and NCDOT coming up with another approach. But let me talk about the tough vote we had as council. I think it was a 6-5 vote, and so I would not be in favor of rescinding the rescinding. It has to be a new model that we put forth for this community to solve this problem.

Council Member Drakes.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Councilman. In order to achieve a more orderly council process, how would you work outside of meetings to help council identify priorities and achieve consensus? Okay, great.

So, council member, I have to play to my strengths, I'm a people person. And I believe having one on one meetings with council members on a monthly basis allow that dialogue and allow that communication. And set what I would call a new culture for us, a culture of collaboration, a culture of understanding, a culture of listening. Having different perspectives, having debate is not wrong. Diversity is our strong suit. I think as a council member and as a mayor, I think it's important that that door stays open and it stays open for a collective conversation among us all. I'm one to truly believe that during our council meeting, we should allow more opportunities. So to me, mayor and council topics should be the second and fourth Monday of the month. I think when we talk about how we're going to get the policy and the things we want to accomplish, we have to empower our committees and make sure our committees are doing the real work, which is policy. I've been around a long time, and I'm going to take what I think the best practices. And the best practice I think to lead is one by trust, one through collaboration, and one by building consensus. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Mayfield.

Thank you. Thank you so much for offering yourself up for the position. How do you plan to maintain your employment and do this role as it does take up a significant amount of time?

Thank you, Council Member Mayfield. So, Council Members, I would say since 1999, I've held two jobs. I've been fortunate enough to have a real job working for some top companies like Barton Milo, RJ Leeper, McFarland, and at the same time to be able to do this job as a part-time. And so I've been fortunate that my employees have seen value allow me to serve. And so I think being mayor of the 14th largest city, I will continue to have a job as business developer for McFarland. And I will continue to prioritize, make sure I get my work done. But more importantly, have the time and energy. I tell people I work two jobs. One is 40 hours for McFarland. The other is 70 hours for the citizens of Charlotte.

Council Member J.D. ?

Thank you, Chair Graham. Thank you, Council Member Mitchell. Charlotte is a growing city, but too often that growth is not reaching everyone equally and working families are being left behind. How would you balance being business friendly and people first? And how would you ensure that our private partners are collaborative partners in closing social economic gaps?

Thank you, Council Member J.D. So, Council Members, I'm actually addressing that at a town hall meeting I'm having Saturday, June 27th. And it's made of neighborhood presidents and developers. And the title is, Come Be a Pro, Let's Develop Charlotte Together. I do think, if you're talking about some of the pillars we have in our community, it is corporate, it is policymakers, and it's more important, it's our citizens. And so we need to continue to find ways to bring them together. And so part of the conversation I want to hear from the citizens, what is smart growth? What's your definition of nimbyism? And then what does community benefits look from your perspective? And the conversation with developers is about why are you developing Charlotte and what does development mean to you? Is it driven by profit or is it driven by making Charlotte a better community for all? But let's be very clear what our main responsibility has to be. And that's to the 879,000 citizens currently right now that call Charlotte home. So we need to continue to have town hall meetings. We need to continue to have open dialogue and making sure that even our zoning practice is the one that we need to change. Because we hear from neighbors a lot, it's like the community meeting is just a check mark. It's not real dialogue. And so I will be the first one to tell you, maybe we defer it to TPD. Let's look at our zoning practices and making sure our neighborhood voices are heard and heard early. I would tell you, using my experience, 14 members of district rep and now at large, it was always insulting to me when a developer would come and they'd never even pick up the phone and call the district rep. I would nicely tell them, you need to call Councilmember Johnson, Councilmember J.D. if it's in District 4 and 5. And so there has to be a different culture and a different way that our citizens feel like that we are working on our behalf. And I would tell you, Councilmember, we need to provide what I call stability. among our citizens, what we will support and what we will not support. And I think it'll make Charlotte a better place for all our citizens to call home.

Council Member Johnson.

Thank you. And thank you for your willingness to serve.

Thank you, Council Member Johnson.

What concerns, if any, do you think the public might have about your appointment as interim mayor? And how will you address those concerns?

I think the first concern they might have, does he still have enough energy in the tank to do this job for 18 months? And I would say, yes, I do. You know, Councilman Johnson, we are public servants. We're not perfect servants. And so we're all going to make mistakes, and at times we're going to have different conversations with some of our citizens. I will hope that over my years of serving the public, there's been one thing that people have felt toward me, and that is I love Charlotte more than myself.

Okay. So that leads to the second part. Additionally, what strengths and experiences do you believe make you well-suited for this role?

And how many minutes I have? So I'm going to do this quickly. Okay. You have 21 minutes left. 21 minutes left. So let's talk about the leadership, because I truly think when you are prepared to work in your community, you must do what I call leadership development. So I've been a graduate of leadership, Charlotte, a graduate of focus on leadership, a graduate institute of political leadership, and I've taken some courses, John F. Kennedy at Harvard. And then let's talk about just the track record. 14 years being a district rep in District 2, and now coming back since 2015 at large. I love being the cheerleader for Charlotte, North Carolina. The city has given me so much, and it's my way of repaying and saying thank you for allowing me to serve. So, Council Member Johnson, the Energize button is still Energize? I still think there's tough issues that we need to handle, but I think I want to do it from a different way. I want to do it for taking advantage of all our leadership that's in this room. We all bring different leadership skills, and I just want to be the captain of the team to make sure that our team is performing at a level that each and every one of you feel like you learned something for the 18 months of the leadership that I could bring to the mayor's office.

Thank you. Council Member Anderson. We're going inside out.

All right. Welcome, Mr. Mitchell.

Thank you, Council Member Anderson.

In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing our city right now?

Public safety.

Okay. Okay.

I think we heard loud and clear, Councilman Anderson, that this community does not feel safe. And so if that's your perception, it will become your reality. So I'm glad the current mayor decided we need to have our own public safety committee, which you chair. I do think public safety then touches on economic development. It touches our neighborhoods. It's a selling card that people say, I want to move Charlotte because it's safe. And so I do think our budget speaks very loudly our priorities as it relates to public safety. 10% pay increase, but also we hope that the funding will allow the 324 open positions we have to be filled. And then I think public safety also in a way of vision zero. We've got too many crashes that are taking place in our community. Public safety is, we're talking about downtown and in Providence 51, we're talking about the noise camera and red camera. Public safety has to be our number one priority for the next 18 months. And I'm fortunate enough to be your interim mayor, I will make sure it's our top priority for the next 18 months. Not saying we don't have other ones, but you say the number one is public safety.

Council Member Mayo.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. How would you ensure meetings are efficient while still allowing robust debate and discussion?

Oh, Lord, this is a good one. Okay. So first of all, let me say somehow we need to take all the good work that the work group is doing on the meeting decorum There's a lot of items there that I think that would need to come forward. So I don't know, do we refer that to the BGR committee? But it's a lot of work. So let's talk about how we need to improve. We need to start meetings on time as much as we can, considering that most of us might have another job or other obligation. Secondly, I think there needs to be a decorum the way we respect one another when we have conversation. Thirdly, I hope we can get to the point we have time allocation how long we can speak. Fourth, I think we have to change the decorum as citizens come in our building. I don't mind the passion from citizens, but I think all of us feel a little uncomfortable. It's been borderline disrespectful. And so how do we at one time embrace we want to feel your passion, but we need you to respect the building you're in and talk to us and share your ideas in a very professional way. You know, one thing I would say about our meetings, we have to find a way that we have disagreement, we do it professionally. And so in my mind, I would say, because I'm a basketball player, I think we need to have a huddle. So if you and I have a disagreement, how can we huddle before the scheduled meeting? And so we clear that it's not a personal attack, but we come from different perspectives. And so how do we embrace one another differences that makes the team better? Let me leave one last idea, and I want to just throw this out. Because one thing the meeting, the quorum talked about is how we state the ground rules for the behavior we're going to accept at the very beginning. And that way, even our audience will understand our expectations, how you had to act in the chamber.

Council Member Wallington. Thank you. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Council Member Wallington.

Charlotte's priorities are not new conversations, but the tools, partners, and scale of these challenges look very different than they did even five years ago. Can you walk us through a specific example of work you are doing right now or have done in the very recent past that directly connects to one of these priorities?

Sure. And so I'm going to have to do a cheap sheet because I know there's five of them. Great neighborhoods. Hold up. Let me do a cheap sheet. Great neighborhoods, well-managed government, safety community, transportation, planning, workforce, and business development. So let me take one that I'm probably more passionate about. That's workforce development. And I do remember, and Councilman Graham might have probably, we might be the only two here around this time, but IMWBE got struck, IMWBE program, a lawsuit was filed against it. And so Charlotte had to make a change to his program. And then we say, how are we going to set up another program that would address our small businesses in the community? And so working with staff, we came up with the new CBI program, Charlotte Business Inclusion. Because we were committed, and I was committed, to make sure our small business, the minority business, still had a voice in the community, but had a voice that people are going to champion, people can understand and support the new program. And so here we are today. CBI is probably now seven years old. CBI program now has reached almost a billion dollars in minority participation. And so Councilman Wellington, I will tell you, that's what leadership and working with staff and stakeholders is about. Being a leader, you don't have to have all the right answers. Sometimes you have to overcome the challenges. Sometimes you have to be strong in your conviction. You want different results for people we serve. And so that's just one example of how Even to this day, our minority business program is thriving when several years ago, they were questing, will Charlotte ever embrace minority companies again?

Thank you. Council Member Ashermeyer.

The next mayor might play a major role in shaping the selection of Charlotte's next city leaders. How would you ensure city council is meaningfully included in that process? And what structure would you put in place to make sure city staff is proactive, transparent, and communicative with council members and residents, especially in communities that often feel decisions are made without them?

So let me tackle the first one. So if I'm interim mayor, hear me loud and clear, James Smudgy Mitchell's name will not be on the ballot 2027. So I have the ultimate freedom of just developing the level of people around this table. And so let me apologize when I sent out my vision of my committees that it offended some people. It was not to offend you, but it was to say I believe each and every one of you should have the opportunity to have a leadership role on Charlotte City Council.

So my first thing would you- I think my question is, let me be very specific. When I talk about next city leaders, I'm talking about our direct reports, like the attorney, the manager, and the clerk.

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I thought you said it. So repeat it again then, Ms. Edgemere.

Yes. The next mayor might play a major role in shaping the selection of Charlotte's next city leaders. Okay, city leaders. Yes.

The three that we're responsible for.

Yes, yes. So how would you ensure that the process is transparent, communicative, and proactive where council is meaningfully engaged in the process? Right. And that's-

Okay. Thank you, Councilman Ashby. I'm sorry. I was thinking about the 11-year-old. We had three people that we know we were responsible for. We should have their evaluation on our schedule. We need to do a better job of being proactive. And so one idea I had is have quarterly, what I call 90 days check-in. So now we got the city manager, we know we're going to have the city attorney, we know we're going to have the city clerk. We have a BGR committee that we can refer this item to. So the BGR committee will talk about the evaluation, the scoring, and the date. We have to be respectful of everybody's time. We got work commitments, we got family commitments, and we got other commitments out there in the community. And so to me, the worst thing we do right now is always, we look at our calendar and it pops up like next Monday from two to five, we have our city clerk evaluation. Proactive and communication has to improve in a way I would like to improve it on a 90 day look ahead schedule. How are we going to do that evaluation be referred to the BGR committee? What criteria are we going to use goes to the BGR committee? So let's ensure all the work is done through committee, and let's work on me being proactive on scheduling these evaluations that fits council's schedule.

OK, let's do a time check. Ten minutes and three seconds. So raise your hands and I'll recognize anyone who wants to ask a question. Council Member JD, Council Member Anderson's in queue.

Thank you, Chair Graham. Council Member Mitchell. One second. How would you balance out the priorities and protect the local authority the city of Charlotte has? on our airport, but also improving the conditions of airport service workers.

Thank you. So I did have a referral actually put in to kind of address the airport. And unfortunately, it did not get sent to the Economic Development Committee. So let me share my thoughts. One is, and I give Councilmember Owens credit, we were at breakfast in politics. And we heard from two companies, ABM and Prospera, about the working conditions out there. And Councilmember Owens said at a particular time, there didn't need to be a service level agreement that we need, that we need to include as it relates to the working condition at the airport. We have to let citizens know that when we hear your concerns and conditions you have, particularly in the area of politics and public safety workforce development, we need to have a plan. And so my thing at that particular time, I asked Mayor Lyle so she can refer, is do a job fair with the ABM employees. to really understand how we can improve their quality of life. Can we assist them in getting more opportunities at the airport? We heard about the public safety concerns. Well, we got a public safety committee, and so how can we address some of the real concerns at the airport? I think, and this is my motto, I think doing nothing does not solve any problems, and it definitely will not solve the problems that we're hearing at the airport. Council Member Mayo and I were invited to attend a conference this past Sunday talking about an airport advisory council for minority companies. Charlotte, we was there to support them, and Charlotte was recently chartered to have an airport minority advisory council along with the city of New York. We were proud to be there, we was proud to represent, but you know what I took away from that is our minority businesses at the airport have a long way to go so they can sustain themselves. And so Council Member Mayo and I was proudly sitting up there, and as they say, Charlotte will have a new chapter. And you can just see the joy among our minority companies who have been working for three years to get this charter. Airport is an economic development as well as a transportation. But we need to make sure our airport reach certain guidelines that the city council would like to establish to make sure the employees are taken care of.

Thank you.

How do you see the relationship between the mayor and council? And what does it look like in practice when you disagree with the body that has appointed you? How do you see your relationship with the manager, the city manager, on a day-to-day basis?

Let's talk about the most important relationship is the 11 people that's around this table. The mayor doesn't have a vote. So the merit, the best thing, facilitate and create a culture that people can be honest and there's dialogue. Council Member Anderson, I would say that's why the one-on-one meetings we will establish will help that trust be built, but also gain an understanding of what do we need to do as a council to move forward. I think the city manager is responsible for staff. The staff is responsible for implementing the policies that 11 of us around this table raise our hand and tell them to work on. And so has it been a different culture? I think there's been frustration for all of us about how things have been moved and how we are being heard. Councilman, I can only bring you what I'm used to. And that is used to talking to people, working with people, and making sure people understand that there's more power when we work together. I've never been someone who needs attention or who likes to grandstand. I think as mayor, it's more important That you're loving, feel comfortable working together. You're loving, feel confident you can come to talk to the mayor on pressing issue. And I have to be open and to listen to that. Let me tell you one thing, too, I think helps that. That is open dialogue when we have meetings here at 5 o'clock. We do a gender review or a city council meeting. It's important that this community looks at us and say that it's the council that's working together, not for their own individual agenda, but for us, the citizens.

Five-minute warning has been given. Council Member Wallington is up. Council Member Drake is in queue.

Thank you. As a follow-up to the previous question regarding intergovernmental relationships, Mr. Mitchell, you are currently the mayor pro tem, the economic development chair, and the carpo alternate. Given where you already sit, why would you be more valuable in the mayor seat versus all of the roles that you currently have?

So, Council Member Wallington, first of all, I think there's other leaders on this table that can fit the role of mayor pro tem, chair of economic development, and carpo alternate. That's number one. Number two, I think my leadership style and leadership skills is perfect for this transition period we're having. This is a true transition period. And so I hope you all will feel comfortable that someone who's willing to do the work, who's willing to make sure we are developed and have leadership abilities to grow, and someone who's going to put this city forward instead of himself. I do not think in all my 20-some years of serving that I've always been selfish. I take pride in developing other people. And so I would like to say that after 18 months, the 11 of you all will be better leaders, the city council will be more accountable, and we have accomplished that we set out to do as it relates to our priorities. And I think I'm suited best, Councilman Wallington, leading this team to accomplish those objectives.

Councilmember Drakes, we'll get the last question, and then I think we should be ready for the one-minute closing statement, unless there's any other questions from members. Councilmember Drakes. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. How important are intergovernmental relationships to the city's agenda? And what are ways you as mayor would work with our intergovernmental partners to achieve outcomes for our city?

Thank you, Council Member Jurek. So I think there needs to be quality meetings between County Commissioner Mark Jarrell, School Board Chair Stephanie Sneed. Quarterly meetings, I think we have demonstrated success in historic Excelsior club, the city county participation. We had demonstrated success with the CMS with the teacher village. We gave a 1M dollars. And then and then councilman drinks, I think there's 2 other relationships that we need to maintain. So I would like us to have a government day in Raleigh. We need to make sure our relationships with Raleigh is respected from Raleigh as well as us. I'm going to encourage you all to go and march with our congressional relationships at NLC, because our congressional delegation is very important. Councilman Madrigs, I have always believed that when you have the three governing bodies in this community working together, schools will be better, the county will be better, and the city will definitely be better. Thank you.

Okay, any last pressing questions before the closing statements? Seeing none, the floor is yours for a minute to give us your closing statement.

Chair Pro Tem, I'm just going to go back to something I left you all when I did my two-minute speech. And I talked about the four Cs, so I want to reiterate them if I'm so honored to get your support on June 22nd. And the first C is collaboration. And so I talked about I want to create a culture that's about collaborating, meeting with the mayor one-on-one, and seeking your input. Second is about our committees. We need to empower our committees to do the real work. And so I would like for committees to have their standard meeting on the first Monday, and then you determine what I call a special committee meeting. We have to be flexible enough to get the work done. Committee assignments are very important, so I seek your input. I just want to have chairs and vice chairs on each committee, because it's about increasing leadership capacity on this council. Thirdly, it was about communication. We need to do a better job being proactive with our communication, engaging with our communication, and sharing our results. The last one was our citizens, who we need to work for each and every day. Thank you, Chair Pro Tem, for this opportunity. Thank you, council.

Mayor Portown Mitchell, I want to thank you for your civic leadership for all these years. Thank you for your commitment to the city of Charlotte, and thank you for applying for the interim mayor position. We appreciate your leadership. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you all.

Who's up next? Council Member Orland, you're next. No? Robert Harrington.

Robert Harrington.

Robert Harrington is next.

Oh, my.

Give me an opportunity.

I'm good. I know. I need to, too. Yeah.

Truth be told, I could use the restroom once more, but I don't want to be that guy.

Y'all want to take another two-minute break?

I'll just tip out. I don't want to stop nobody.

Okay.

We have one more.

Just two more.

Robert and then Carrie. Let's break for two minutes, three minutes. After Robert? Okay. Okay. From a mayor position for the city of Charlotte, in total you will have 30 minutes. Members of the council will ask questions. There may be a follow up question that's germane to the question that was previously asked to you. You will have a five minute warning. When your time is about to expire, a minute warning when your time is almost done. When you get the minute warning, just finish your thought. You don't have to stop it properly. And then at the end, you'll get a one minute closing argument to sum up your case. And so if Mrs. Johnson is ready, we'll start from that side and we'll work our way around the dais. Council Member Johnson, the floor is yours.

Thank you. Hello.

Thank you.

Thank you for your willingness to serve.

Absolutely.

What concerns, if any, do you think the public might have about your appointment as interim mayor? And how would you address those concerns? And then there's a second part, so I'll just ask that first. Okay.

No, so on the first part, I mean, I think I am one of the final five who has not served in elected office. It has not served in government, per se. And I think that raises concerns. I would imagine the public would have questions about that, and I think it brings opportunities, right? Because I have served in a number of positions from the North Carolina Bar Association to leading the board of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library system. And so I've got a good deal of experience in the around the public sector and in the public sector but i would expect that to be a question and i think the answers are that i've had good experience working with city and county and library and also working with private sector thank you

Additionally, what strengths and experiences do you believe make you the most well-suited for this role?

I think it dovetails, Councilmember, with what I said just now. I think we are in a time where, you know, sort of Bringing all of those experiences to bear, particularly in this interim period, would be helpful. I don't have political aspirations beyond this. And I think we've all said, of course, that we will not run for mayor. But I think this interim period gives us an opportunity to work internally. some within the council to make sure that all the council members' voices are being heard and that the council members feel that their voices are being heard, and then moving out from there, making sure that the public believes that there is a free flow of information and of viewpoints. I think my experiences up to now and my life experiences helped me to do that, and I'm eager to bring those skills to bear on the current situation. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member. Council Member J.D. ?

Thank you, Chair Graham. Thank you, Mr. Harrington. Charlotte is the fastest growing city, but oftentimes that growth is leaving behind working families. How would you balance being business friendly and people first, as well as ensuring our private partners are collaborative partners in closing social economic gaps?

Yeah, I guess I would start, Councilmember, with my experience. So I have spent my career here in what I would call the business sector. I mean, I have been a practicing attorney handling primarily business matters. I've also been heavily involved in the community, and that goes from, I think the first organization I was involved in here was probably Friendship Church. The second, probably right around the same time, was within Segal Avenue Partners, which is now Freedom School Partners. So I have spent... my career, certainly the last 30 years of it, bridging those gaps and making plain to partners on both sides of those issues. I won't say that divide because I don't want to concede that there's a divide, but in those different pockets of the community, the need to work together. And as we grow, I agree with you, I think it is particularly important that we do everything we can to make sure that working citizens and citizens, particularly families who have been here for generations, aren't lost in the growth. We need to make sure that the shiny new things don't overwhelm the things that have been here and the things that are distinctive about Charlotte. I think it's a balancing act, right? I mean, it is a balancing act because the fact that we are, there's something about the city that's drawing whatever that number is, 100 in the metropolitan area, 100 whatever a day. There's something we're doing right here that people see on the outside. I think we need to celebrate that, maintain those engines that drive the growth. But I completely agree with you that, and I can see it in the work that I do and have done in various civic organizations, we need to make sure people don't get lost. Thank you.

Council Member Mayfield.

Thank you. Thank you so much for offering yourself for this particular role. How do you plan to maintain your employment and do this role as it does take up a significant amount of time?

Councilmember, I suspect that's almost an understatement that it takes up a significant amount of time. You know, I've unfortunately come to a point in career and a place of work where my priority is getting this job done well, and that takes time, and I know it takes time. You know, I couldn't tolerate, and frankly, I think the folks that I have worked with couldn't tolerate having a public figure who was not doing what he or she, but they needed to do in the community. And so that has to be the priority, or you just don't do it. Council Member Drake.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. Good afternoon. In order to achieve a more orderly council process, how would you work outside of meetings to help council identify priorities and achieve consensus?

So I think when I step back and look at the situation, look at the council, look at the structure. The first thing is the overriding thing is trust. How do you maintain, preserve trust among the entire group? I think that's, to me, that's the purpose for the orderliness. This body, it's vital to, obviously it's vital to Charlotte, that this body be efficient and effective and create not just the reality but the perception of that. I think we need to be attentive to prior to meetings or outside of meetings having the committee structure work the way the committee structure should work and that's with you know leadership of the committee's that is energized about what they're doing it's you know considering committee structure you know maybe you have you know engaged I know we've had this in the past vice chairs but the committee structure has got to work and people have to trust the members have to trust that the committee structure will work and then for meetings there, you know, I've Some of my colleagues would say I've done too much of this in my career, but I've chaired a lot of meetings. And I think there is a necessary task, a necessary skill to making sure that voices are heard and that folks are recognized, that motions are orderly, that process is followed. There's a detailed procedure for this council that I believe you all revisited in June. I want to say June 8th. this year and you know it's laid out there and I know the overlay to that is Robert's rules and the overlay to that is the city charter which has some provisions but I think we have to follow those and it's not for the mechanics of following it it's because that's how you create trust if people understand the process to be heard in meeting and follow that process we have to be attentive to that but again I'd step back from that and say Both a reason for that and an outcome is trust. And without trust, you can't accomplish anything effectively.

Thank you. Council Member Owens.

Thank you, Chair. Afternoon, it's nice to see you. Thank you. The recent rescission of the I-77 project recommendation reflected strong public engagement and differing perspectives about transportation planning. What do you believe should be the next step in addressing congestion and mobility challenges along the I-77 corridor? And how would you as mayor ensure the public is meaningfully involved in that process?

So I'll start with the end of that, Council Member. I think the engagement of the public is vital. We can't do anything without hearing the voices of the public. I think there's no question that there's a congestion problem. There are congestion problems all over the metropolitan area, but there's a particular congestion problem on 77 South. To address that problem, I know we have the regional areas with Carpo, but it also takes the legislature. And I think we have to have meaningful dialogue with the legislature, with communication going both ways, right? And so it is the need for Charlotte to be, in fact, a municipal area, a municipal place that is treated with integrity. But it's also the realization that funding and a lot of control emanates from Raleigh and for that matter from Washington. So I don't think any of these are simple problems. I think communication is vital. I think finding a way to re-engage in an appropriate way in the process of developing 77 South is important. I think it has to be done. I think it is an immediate priority for whoever holds this role. And I think we have to be attentive to the public. We have to, and part of being attentive to the public is communicating both the city, but also importantly the state and the Department of Transportation communicating fully and effectively with the citizens. There's a whole, I mean we all know there's a whole lot of background here. There are years and years of background here that are real to people. And they're real to people who are my age. And so how we address those concerns of, it gets back to trust again, trust as we go forward is important. But I do think we have to re-engage in that discussion and figure out how we handle those challenges of transportation from middle of Charlotte to the South Carolina border. We can't ignore that issue.

Councilwoman Anderson.

Thank you and welcome.

Thank you.

In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing our city? And I ask that with the understanding that we have many challenges. But if you could focus on one that you believe is the biggest one, I'd like to hear from you on that.

Yeah, I think it's a broad issue that involves affordability, affordable housing, and the issues that I mentioned earlier with council member of how we make sure that a prosperous city the prosperity is shared as broadly as it should be i think affordable housing is in the middle of that um if i were going to stress on one i think it's you know it's affordable housing and the things that revolve around that so services for folks in the pockets where we're you know struggling with residents who can't afford housing anymore but there's a there are a bunch of wraparound services that i know are addressed um to some extent in the budget i mean i think we're we're working on those issues uh at least in the you know the bond proposal uh for affordable housing uh the referendum in november i think that's going to be really important for whoever takes this role to engage on behalf of the city and with the council on immediately because i think that's going to be vital the success of that is vital but i i think it's affordability combined with I'll use the word inclusion, but by inclusion I mean that all of our citizens have a real chance of participating in the prosperity of the city while maintaining the prosperity of the city. If I were going to do a second, I would say, of course, at all times, public safety. because none of this is possible without public safety. I know the budget included at least a strong start towards policing and public safety and fire, but I don't think that can be left out of any equation because the citizens look to us for that.

Council Member Mayo.

Thank you. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

How would you ensure meetings are efficient while also allowing robust debate and discussion?

Great question. I think that's largely, it gets back to trust again, but order, right? I think there has to be a, and there is. I mean, when you look at the procedures and you look at what we have available to us, running meetings efficiently, effectively, and according to our procedures is the sure, that's why the rules exist, so that you know the process to be heard, you have the opportunity to be heard. I think there are issues that we should, that council and leadership should send to appropriate committees when there are issues that can be more robustly addressed in the committee structure. But I think overall, and I guess I'd add another thing, communication, right? So one on one, I would intend to be in this building and among council members. as the default right and i hope that we can create a um you know sort of create or continue a process where many of us are in here because being able before meetings between meetings to talk and to talk even you know we're all going to disagree at times and my career is frankly you know put a kid through college largely on disagreements, that's what we do. But respecting disagreements and being able to work through them to some resolution. That takes time, it takes individual conversations, and it takes orderly meetings and process. And I'm accustomed to working on that from, I keep going back to the Bar Association, but that was 14,000 lawyers from across the state with a board of approximately 30 who are lawyers, right? And so not only do they have opinions, but they express them. And learning how to manage that process, working together to manage that process by the rules. We have procedures. We just need to make sure we're following them.

Council Member Wallington.

Thank you, and thank you for being here. You're welcome. Perhaps following up on your bar experience, or you can certainly pick something else, Charlotte's priorities are not new conversations, but the tools, partners, and scale of these challenges look very different than they did even five years ago. Can you walk us through a specific example of work you are doing now or have done in the very recent past that directly connects to these priorities?

Council Member, to the priorities specific to Charlotte or in general? So I think the most recent experience that I had in Charlotte in the public sector was as chair of the library board of trustees. And we worked through a number of issues. I mean, we go through a process periodically, I won't say every year, but periodically with the county on capital priorities and library facilities need to be constructed or renovated, otherwise worked on the dedication of human resources, of people to particular areas. I maintained a process. I won't say I started the process, but I maintained a process where we were in communication with staff, senior staff, and other trustees who we selected because they hopefully represented the city well. And it was diverse in every sense of the word board on purpose to make sure that we were getting the feedback from citizens about what they need and what they need in fast-growing new areas and what they need on Beatty Sport Road. We invested around that time in the Beatty Sport Regional, which we changed the name of to honor a citizen. But that's a It's a process of communicating with the public and then working internally to make sure that you're effective in getting it done. I think my library experience is probably the closest, in that sense, experience public sector in Charlotte. And obviously, I've done stuff with the Bar Association. That's statewide. But again, there you're working with, and I think it would be... I think it would be helpful here, that experience of working with people from across the state. And with working not as a lobbyist, we have our own lobbyists, right? But working conscious of the goals of folks in the legislature who have various opinions about Charlotte and various needs in their own communities. And I would really look forward to engaging that. So I would say that the experience is Charlotte is primarily library, but I think the skill set is developed from a range of other experiences. Hope that answers.

Thank you. Time check.

13 minutes and 14 seconds.

Okay, Council Member Ashermeyer.

Thank you. Welcome, Mr. Harrington. Thank you. Thank you for your service on the board of Phil Charlotte as well as the library. So the next mayor might play a major role in shaping the selection of our direct reports, whether that be a manager, a clerk, or the city attorney. How would you ensure city council is meaningfully included in that process, and what structure would you put in place to ensure city staff is proactive, transparent, and communicative with all council members and residents, especially in communities that often feel decisions are made without them?

Oh, great question. I think, and thank you, Councilmember, I think the communication on those issues, and, you know, none of this is easy, right? I mean, that's why we're here. That's why you guys devote so much time to this. The communication on all of those issues is key. I've not been through a process, obviously, of selecting a manager or a city attorney, but the voices in this room have to be involved meaningfully because if they're not, you set up a prescription. For folks not to feel a part of the process and in any situation like that, you run the risk of creating setting someone up for failure. Right? I think that's one of the keys for whoever is the next mayor is to make sure that. The intent going into the process is that voices be heard. Sometimes that takes longer, right? Because you might have to work through disagreements. You might have to work through a lot of questions. The outcome there is better. And so I would look for certainly to involve this body and look for appropriate ways to involve the body so that you have a voice and not just a vote. Okay, we probably got about 11 minutes.

All right, so the floor is open for general questions from the paper. I recognize Council Member Johnson and Council Member J.D., you're in queue.

Thank you. Charlotte adopted an ordinance in 2024 related to individuals who are unhoused. What are your thoughts on those policies and Charlotte's overall approach to homelessness?

I think we need to continue to devote the resources to the underlying causes. And I'm sure that is collaboratively with the county and the areas that the county works in, in human services and human resources, human services. I think the balance to that, balance is probably the wrong word, I think we need a vibrant city across the board. I think we need to take care of folks who are temporarily unhoused and realize that they're not the enemy, that they are folks who are in a situation that we're blessed not to be in as we sit here today. So we have to be compassionate and we have to put the resources, I would say, and I think I can help in this process, we have to combine the resources and perhaps help to guide the resources of the public and not the private and nonprofit sectors in working on these issues. And then both for the folks who find themselves on the streets and for those who are using those areas, we need not just the perception but the reality of safety. And so I think it's balancing those things so that we are attentive to the needs. These are our neighbors, right? But we also all have to feel, including those neighbors, have to feel safe in our various areas.

Council Member J.D., Council Member Mayfield, thank you.

Thank you, Chair Graham.

charlotte's airport is one of our city's most important economic engines how would you protect charlotte's role in shaping the future of the airport while also ensuring airport service workers benefit from its success i'll try a great question i'll try to take that in in some order i mean i think we have to continue to show that we are not good but exceptional stewards of that business because we are as is any city like us that operates an airport, we are at risk with Raleigh. And I don't mean that adversarially to Raleigh, but we are at risk. We are in a state where Raleigh has that type of control, as most states. And we are conscious of actions by Washington. And so it is a... It's an economic driver, and it's an issue of municipal integrity that we continue to be able to operate the airport, and that we operate it in an exceptional manner, which I think historically we have. I agree that we need to continually be looking at the support that we provide for all of our municipal employees, including those at the airport. But we have to be mindful. again, stretched from the business sector to the nonprofit sector to the religious sector, we've got to be mindful of the balance of making sure that we protect and preserve that asset while also making sure that we treat the employees there and our team members there with respect.

Thank you. Council Member Mayfield, Council Member Drake, thank you.

Thank you. This is a really long question, but I'm going to try to condense it. So if appointed interim mayor, how would you identify and manage any actual or perceived conflicts of interest arising from your employment, clients, business relationship, or financial interests specifically if your current profession required you to frequently recuse yourself from matters knowing you don't have a vote? Before the council, would you be willing to modify a step away from that role to ensure that the public has a fully engaged and independent mayor?

uh... thank you council member great question for someone sitting in my position of continuing to work uh... my intention is very much to remain with the caveat that i think i gave to council member earlier about this has got to be the priority uh... you can't do this job when it's not the priority uh... i think uh... i believe To the extent there are conflicts, they can be managed. I think they would be few and far between, but they're important when they arise. I think I would have to work my way through the process to make sure that they are, in fact, manageable. But we've got examples of Richard Venroot was mayor and was continuing to practice. And I think that that is a very successful mayor. I believe Mayor Gant was continuing to work. as time allowed uh... as an architect during his time uh... believe mayor mccrory continued to you know with connection employment with duke energy i think there is a model here uh... in perhaps one of the things that's helpful for for for all of the lawyer jokes out that it's helpful to lawyers This is one of the things we do, that question of ethics and being thoughtful and being careful. Not to say anyone else does it, but it is a part of the profession. It's who we are. So I think it's a manageable situation. I'd look forward to managing it. I would err on the side of protecting the city's interest in getting the job done. But my intent at this point is to maintain my partnership at Robinson Bradshaw.

Council Member Drake. Thank you. How important are intergovernmental relationships to the city's agenda? And I know that you've alluded to this, but what in particular are ways that you as mayor would work with our intergovernmental relations partners to achieve outcomes for our city?

I think I got that. I was making sure I looked at it. I was attentive to the time. I mean, I think there is a, you know, hierarchy is the wrong word. There's a list of partners that we need to, you know, work with. I think probably we have good relationship with them, but I would want to jump into that immediately. Obviously, Mecklenburg County and our, you know, dovetailing areas of engagement in the city, making sure that those continue to work, which I think is communication with Chair Jarrell and others, making sure that works. And then there's the host of others. If you sort of work your way out through the region, the work that we're now doing with standing up watching being standard up participating in standing up the metropolitan uh... public transit transit authority of the work that we do on the transportation level with car pro uh... the regionalism but the combination of regionalism the charlotte metropolitan area and the shared interests of municipalities and particularly large municipalities. As we go to Raleigh and we're having discussions or debate or however you want to frame it, it's not just Charlotte, it's not just Raleigh, it's not just Greensboro, it is the shared interests of municipalities and the shared interests of this incredible engine for the state that is the Charlotte area. So I've named a few of the entities, but I think understanding the importance of those partnerships is vital to access. We should not be in this on our own, and we aren't.

Thank you. Any other questions? Council member as mayor. And then I think we're running close to, we got three minutes and then you get a closing argument for one. So you got in total four minutes left.

Yes. I just wanted to follow up on council member Mayfield's question about, uh, your private employment, especially in your case. I just want to make sure. You said that you would prioritize the council work, right? And did you say you were willing to step away from your private employment or you would maintain the ownership interest?

I would maintain. I recognize the priority of the city for my own interests and for those that I've worked for almost 30 years around. the damage to your really sort of sense of self and professionalism if you don't do this well is irreversible. So the focus has to be doing this well. And the advantage in doing that is it's an 18 month, and one that I wouldn't be running for reelection to. So it's a defined period where you realize that your number one task is serving the council and the citizens of Charlotte. But I would, my intent is to stay with the firm.

Thank you. And you are a partner, right?

Yes.

Thank you.

Okay, seeing that there are no more further questions, you have a one minute closing argument.

Well, thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the opportunity to interview. I take the opportunity very, very seriously. Charlotte has been incredibly good to me and my family. I believe very strongly in paying that forward, and I think this is perhaps the ultimate way of paying that forward. As I said the other day when I had my short speech before the council, collaboration, communication, transparency. Figuring out how to work together in an orderly, continue to work together in an orderly manner, I would hope would be hallmarks of this 18 months. And I see this 18 months as, yes, they're going to be immediate priorities, but also as a bridge from now until the next elected mayor, hoping to put this city and the next elected mayor and council's hands in fantastic shape. I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you all today, and thanks so much for all that you do.

Mr. Harrington, we really appreciate your leadership and your commitment to public service and your willingness to consider this opportunity.

On behalf of the council, we thank you for your time.

Thank you. Thank you. Last but not least.

Ms. Carrie Cook.

Let's take five minutes. We'll be back in five minutes.

Thank you.

As soon as Ms. Wallington returns, we'll get started again. Okay.

Give her a second or two.

And after the last speaker, there's two process questions that we have to go through. They should go relatively quickly. So we will see. For Monday, yes. Just to make sure that we're all on the same page about how we're going to process what we do. I should have brought my tennis clothes with me. I could have left straight from here to go to the tennis court. I'm playing tennis in District, Council Member J.D. 's district today at Veterans Park. Oh, yeah.

Are you going to have time?

I've got to be there at 6 o'clock. I love Veterans Park, and I love the pizza. All right. I think we have everybody here. So we're going to call the meeting back to order. I think everybody's here. We have one more speaker. And after the speaker, again, we have two quick process items. We just need to make sure that there's consensus in the room in terms of how we move forward. So we're ready for Ms. Cook. Welcome. I want to take this opportunity to welcome you to the city council interviews for the temporary mayor position. We appreciate your interest in applying. You will have total of 30 minutes. Okay. Every council member will have a round of questions. There may be a follow up question or two for clarification. The city clerk will let you know when you get your five minutes warning. Okay. And then you'll get a one-minute warning. Once that is completed, don't feel free that you have to stop or properly finish your thought. And then you'll get a one-minute closing statement towards the end.

Okay. Okay?

Excellent. And so, Council Member Ashmer.

Welcome, Ms. Koch.

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

So the next mayor might play a major role in shaping the selection of our direct report. So we have three direct reports, manager, clerk, and attorney. So how would you ensure city council is meaningfully included in that process and that process is proactive, transparent, and communicative with all council members and residents, especially in communities that often feel decisions are made without them?

Thank you for the question, Councilwoman Ashmera, and thank you for the opportunity to be with you all today. I appreciate this chance to speak with you about my candidacy. When you think about the role that the mayor plays with the city manager and the city clerk and residents and Internal and external stakeholders more broadly, I think there's a key emphasis on trust, on transparency, on consensus building. Those are the things that I have done throughout my life and throughout my career on building trust, on building relationships, on building consensus and coalitions with different groups of people across this community from the east side to the west side, from north to south. I have been in communities and I think a reputation that I've had is being both grass tops and grass roots, which I view as a strength because I can connect and walk with the folks across our community hand in hand, be in the neighborhoods, understand and talk with residents. But also I can sit with executive leaders and ask for their input and ask for their concerns. But the biggest thing that I know that's important to all of us is for our city to succeed and for our residents to have quality of life. And so when I think about that, for our city to succeed, we've got to have trust, We've got to have transparency, we've got to have efficiency, and we have to deliver results. I am someone who would work with the three different entities that Councilwoman Ajmera mentioned to deliver results, but to do it together with you and to empower you in the roles that you have as council to lead. I think that's really important. I think it's important to listen. I think it's important to understand what you all are wanting to advance and not bring you a fully baked plan, but come to you for early iteration, for early feedback, for opportunity to build something together that we can all be proud of. When I think about the way in which the mayor operates with council and internal stakeholders and external stakeholders, last night my daughter said, Mommy, what does the mayor do? I said, The mayor is a bridge in a lot of ways, and you have to be a bridge of information. You have to be trusted and transparent as a bridge. I don't want to go over any bridges that I don't trust. And so when you have relationships, when you're able to work with folks, when you're able to include people in a process and galvanize people and build consensus, those are the ways that I have led and been known to lead across our city for over two decades, and that's what I would continue to do.

Council Member Wallington.

Good afternoon. Charlotte's priorities are not new conversations, but the tools, partners, and scale of these challenges look very different than they did even five years ago. Can you walk us through a specific example of work you are doing right now or have done in the very recent past that directly connects to one of these priorities?

That's a great question. Thank you for the question, Councilwoman Watlington. I'll just tell you all, I'm very excited about the areas of strategic focus that you've outlined since your retreat in March, because all of those areas, whether it's safety, whether it's housing, whether it's well-managed government, great neighborhoods, or planning and investment, are areas that I've worked in over the course of my career. and areas that I've worked in hand in hand with residents of this city. And so just to give a specific example as requested, over the last couple of years, I've done a number of significant things I'd say related to housing and to workforce development. And so let me just talk just for a minute about that. A few years ago, I served on the city's affordable housing committee when we were advancing our opportunity to move from to think about a continuum of care for our residents. And so not just those who are unhoused, not just those in the missing middle, not just those who are moving into ownership, but really thinking about that continuum and what we need to do to advance an opportunity for all of our people, no matter where they are in trying to find housing and build their life here in our city. And so when I think about the ways that I've engaged, one, again, working with city leaders, working with other internal and external partners, building collaborations, working with folks who are looking to build and develop more housing in our city, working to increase the housing trust fund allocation, Thinking about innovations and ways we use those dollars and way we support and increase the supply of housing. Preserving our NOAA, right? So making sure that our naturally occurring affordable housing remains in communities. And so those are things that I've done, but also currently serve on the Westside Charlotte Land Trust Board. And so continuing to advance the work there. Have done that also in an informal capacity as an advisor. And so advancing... housing issues so that everybody in this community, even if you are on the front end of being unhoused and we're working with other partners like the county and others where you need a continuum of care to support our residents, whether it's mental health or other services, county services that are needed, that is really important to our residents to be able to have a quality of life here. And so when you think about those core areas that you all have outlined as your priorities, I've been working in all of those areas, but those are some specifics I'd give you around housing. The last thing I would say is that I've partnered over a number of years, a couple of decades now, to work on um, the city's capital investment plan. And so when you talk about investments in streets and neighborhoods and housing, you know, I've been on the front lines of leading our advocacy and organizing campaigns to invest in our area so that we have shared prosperity for our residents. And so that's really important to me because when people have housing, that's connected to transit, that's connected to sidewalks, that's connected to work, that allows our folks to live, work, and play here in a way that everybody can benefit from. And so I'm really excited about that and grateful that you've outlined it as one of your core priorities moving ahead.

Thank you. Council Member Mayo.

Thank you. Good afternoon. How would you ensure meetings are efficient while still allowing robust debate and discussion?

That's a great question. Thank you for the question, Councilmember Mayo. I think over the years what I've been able to demonstrate in leadership across public, private, and nonprofit sectors is just someone who is an active listener, but also a leader and a facilitator. So I've been able to govern in rooms be a strong facilitator, be someone who is really a parliamentarian who says, OK, we've got a process, we're going to stick to our process, and we're going to drive that process forward to deliver results for the people that we're delivering them for. And so when I think about effective meeting facilitation, it's not just about the meeting itself. It's about, again, relationships, trust, and transparency. It's about collaboration and building consensus. And that's how I've shown up in our community to work with residents, to work with different leaders. And it's how I would want to show up with each of you if given the honor of working with you in that way. Because that's the way that we advance things with the priorities that have been set up. And that's the way we advance them in a way that's best for our residents because, again, everybody wants us to succeed here. So strong trust and transparency, allowing for discussion and dialogue to take place before you arrive at a meeting so that there's some galvanizing and some rapport and some consensus and some trust. around what we can do together. And those are just really active listening and facilitation, building consent. Those are just core tenants of governing well and continuing to lead to meet the moment. And I'll say that it's been quite some time since I finished this program, but going back to even serve on the board at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Government. I mean, we train local leaders to be effective. And so that was an important part of my own professional journey and allowed me to learn ways to listen and learn and lead, but also now being a part of helping to train other municipal leaders to lead effectively. Those are the things that I've continued to do throughout my career and it's what I'd want to bring to meeting facilitation and to helping to galvanize this group as we contend with the issues of the day to support our city.

Council Member Anderson.

Thank you and welcome. Thank you. In your opinion, what is the biggest issue or challenge facing our city today? And I ask that with the understanding that we have lots of challenges. But if you could pick the one that you believe is the biggest and speak to that.

So the biggest issue is I'd reframe it also as the biggest opportunity facing our city is we're a world-class city, the secret is out and we're growing. Our growth, the 150 plus people a day who are coming here, balancing that growth in a way that provides shared prosperity for all of our residents, and a way that we make investments in corridors and communities across this city, and a way that says we're going to drive this forward with not only these core priorities, but with the fiscal responsibility and with the prioritizing resident voice and the bringing in of cross-sector stakeholders. That's the biggest opportunity and challenge that I see, because if you don't do that well, you risk losing folks or leaving folks behind and you risk asking yourself, can our local teachers, can our firefighters, can our nurses, can our EMS workers, can our neighborhood coalition leaders and nonprofit leaders and working families build a quality of life here? And I believe they can and will continue to build a quality of life here if we manage growth well and support growth that provides benefits for all of our residents and their shared prosperity in that growth.

Council Member Owens.

Thank you, Chair. Good afternoon. It's nice to see you. The recent rescission of the I-77 project recommendation reflected strong public engagement and differing perspectives about transportation planning. What do you believe should be the next step in addressing congestion and mobility challenges along the I-77 corridor? And how would you, as Mayor, ensure the public is meaningfully involved in that process? Thank you.

Councilwoman Owens, I appreciate the question. And we hear from residents that congestion is a concern. We also hear from residents and we understand from our neighbors that they want quality of life and they want their voices heard on these issues. And so as we think about the next step in the path forward, again, I'm going to go back to trust. So building trust with communities so things happen with people and not to them. I'm going to go back to transparency and being open in deliberations as a group around this dais, but also open with the public in the process. I'm going to go back to relationships. So the relationships that I've built over the last two decades plus with legislative delegations and with... Transportation planning organizations, going out and continuing to find a way to advance together is important. Whether it's calling members of the MPTA or crypto or calling on regional mayors, calling on others to say, all right, we need to sit around the table and identify how we're going to address the demands that we have with our growth and the demands that we have so people can continue to enjoy a quality of life here. And we have to do that strategically, but it has to be people first and people centered. And so that's what I would say. I mean, I am firmly supportive of making sure our neighborhoods have connectivity, making sure folks can continue to enjoy the neighborhoods that they built, but also balancing that with our growth demands. And so I think a path forward is to say, When we come back around the table and nothing is, in my career I've learned that you gotta give a little bit and you gotta be able to sort of, there's a push and pull and there's a dynamic in place where nobody will get 100% of everything they want. But I've been able to work with different groups and say, how do we build a coalition, advance a solution, and deliver results for our people that everybody can live with and that everybody will be proud of in some way. Everybody won't get 100%, but that's what it takes to lead and govern is to find a solution and find a path forward.

Council Member Drakes.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. In order to achieve a more orderly council process, how would you work outside of meetings to help council identify priorities and achieve consensus?

I would work outside of the process doing the things I've been doing for my entire life, which are showing up, listening actively, leading intentionally, building coalitions across sectors, Working with stakeholders again the significance of building relationships and working with stakeholders working with local neighborhood groups working with corporate partners working with Neighborhood partners working with all of the folks that it takes to get things done I mean that's how I would show up to continue to advance processes and It's the ways that I've always shown up with communication, with active listening, trust, transparency, and also an acknowledgement that I don't have all the answers. So I don't have all the answers. You all are listening to your different constituencies and representing different perspectives. And that's a difficult process, but through that process and through being out hearing from folks, Advocating, I mean, you really, in this role, have to be someone who's willing to pick up the phone, go to Raleigh, go to Washington, go to the places and sit with the people, even when you disagree, and say, how do we get to a point and a place of agreement to advance Charlotte's priorities for Charlotte's people? And so I think that's an important thing that I've done in my career is calling on state legislative delegations, whether it's business growth and expansion, whether it's education and supporting our talent pipeline, whether it's investments and how we think about growing our city. I mean, all of those things are things that I've done and I'm comfortable to do on day one, and they would be an extension of the work that I've already done.

Thank you.

Can we get a time check? Okay. Council Member Mayfield. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us today. How do you plan to maintain your employment and do this role as this does take up a significant amount of time?

Well, I've recently transitioned from employment, and so I'm at a great place in my life. And part of this was the impetus or the catalyst to say, what's next? What are you going to do next? How are you going to serve next? How are you going to step in next? So recently, I led community development for the Fed and was able to drive investments and analyze data and inform monetary policy to support communities across six states and then work with folks across our country around best practices, around solutions, around low-income communities being better capitalized and better supported with building capacity and making investments, everything from skills and access to jobs, to non-skill-based barriers around housing, transportation, education, those things. And so my career has been one that span public, private, nonprofit, grassroots sectors. And now I'm at a place in my life where I've taken a pause to evaluate what is the next step. So I am able to fully devote myself to this endeavor with you all in advancing the priorities. Of course, I have a family, and so that is always going to be first and foremost for me. But I very much, as I have always done, lean into leading in different areas of my life. And it would be an honor to lean in to lead with you in this season, knowing that there's an interim period and the voters will next fall choose their next mayor. But there's an interim period to help support and advance the issues that we all care about for Charlotteans to succeed.

Council member JD. Thank you, Chair Graham. Thank you, Ms. Cooks, for being here. Charlotte is a grown city, but too often growth is shaped and leaving folks behind, especially working families. How would you balance being business friendly and people first and ensuring that our private partners are collaborative partners in closing socioeconomic gaps?

Yeah, that's a great question. Thank you for it, Council Member. I think balancing business friendly with people first is the epitome of who I've had to be over the course of my career. And so when I think about balancing the opportunity to talk with corporate partners, whether it was When I started long ago, long before this city started talking about economic mobility and social capital, when I built programs that invested in young girls in this city and invested in youth in our city and brought corporate partners to the table to say, you have to be a part of building our local talent pipeline. That work existed long before someone told us that we needed to work on economic mobility in the city. And then it just continued from there. So the balance of saying, hi, corporate partners, we need you. We can't do this work to the exclusion of you. We need you around the table for these difficult issues. But we also, we're here for our people. And so our people have to be the ones that are at the table making decisions, driving decisions, putting forward input. And I'll just give you examples of when I've been able to do that. One of the recent examples was when I launched Green Light Fund Charlotte and was able to galvanize a number of public, private, nonprofit partners, partnered with the city and the county to make investments in workforce and launch in the Center for Employment Opportunity Charlotte at the Goodwill Center. opportunity campus so that neighbors could have jobs in our community and have financial stability and security. I also helped to launch Financial Security CLT, which is a coalition of folks working together to make sure families can build a life here. And when we're allowing and making sure that those opportunities are possible. You're working with folks who, we have to say corporate partners, we need you side by side with us in this because many of the corporate partners are employing the residents of this city. And so when you think about the chance to invest in things like the Center for Employment Opportunities, invest in youth advocate program and alternatives to violence, which was another thing that we launched and it was in a few of you all's districts and the program has now expanded across the city. When we are able to bring together those strong partnerships with city, with county, with private sector stakeholders, whom were also in those collaborations to hire our residents and make sure they had a pathway to financial security, those are the things that I've continued to do throughout my career, and I think it's an important balance. So I've always tried to be a consensus builder, a trust builder, someone that leads with servant leadership, quite frankly, and a heart for people, but also understands the dynamics and the different stakeholders that have to be around the table together.

Thank you. Council Member Johnson.

Thank you for, I'm sorry. Thank you for your willingness to serve for my question, I'm sorry.

While you're looking for your question, I'm gonna inject one more thing to Councilmember JD's point. And this is just a really point, a point of pride because when I think about the partners that we've worked with in East Charlotte and the Charlotte Bilingual Preschool and Our Bridge for Kids and a number of other partners, and hired local parents to be educators and be neighborhood partners and to be leaders. Those types of collaborations with public, private, and nonprofit partners, I've just really gained a tremendous amount of respect and pride to be able to work with folks across East Charlotte and bring programs and investment into an area that sometimes has not always received that investment.

Thank you for your willingness to serve. What concerns, if any, do you think the public might have about your appointment as interim mayor, and how would you address those concerns? And there is a second part also.

Okay. Thank you for that question, Councilmember Johnson. Concerns. What I've heard, two community and what I've also heard, two business. And so, you know, I find that to be an interesting balance of concerns and a good mix, quite frankly, because you want to have trust across a number of different stakeholders. And so for people to say she's two community, she's been organizing on the ground, she's been leading nonprofits, she's been doing this. And for other people to say she's two business, she's been at the chamber, she's been at the fed she's been at these places i mean i think that's what we would aspire to have in a leader who has sat at the table who has advanced issues who knows what people across different perspectives are leaning into who has relationships across those different groups i mean i think that's the kind of person that is uniquely served in this moment and i have those relationships skills and experiences and again i'm going to go back to trust relationships, transparency, and consensus building, because those are the things that I think are important. And the challenges that people would say, I think are the very things that would help us be successful together for charlatans.

Okay. Let's do a time check. Council Member Driggs is up. Does anyone want to be in queue?

If I can, I'm sorry. I think she answered it. What's the second part? I'm sorry. I think she answered it, so we might be able to move on. But additionally, what strengths and experiences do you believe make you well-suited for this role?

Yeah, okay. Thank you. Yeah, she answered. She knocked it out of the park. Council Member Driggs.

Since my mic is on, can I?

And do you want to be in queue? Yeah, sure. All right, so Council Member Driggs, Council Member Johnson's in queue, and I don't see any other hands. Council Member J.D. ?

So how important are intergovernmental relationships to the city's agenda? And what are ways you as mayor would work with our intergovernmental partners to achieve outcomes for our city?

That's a great question. Thank you, Councilmember Driggs. I mean, intergovernmental relations are incredibly important, and going back to, you know, 20 years ago when I moved back to Charlotte after completing my studies, coming in to BGR meetings and sitting around and making sure I'm hearing the issues of the day and still continuing to do that today has allowed me to build relationships with city leaders, with county leaders, with school board leaders, with state legislative delegations and federal delegations, again, with regional mayors and COGs and local planning and transportation and investment organizations. And so doing that work over a number of years has really just provided an opportunity to be thoughtful with partners, to be fearless as an advocate for Charlotte's issues and Charlotte's priorities. So whether it was trying to determine how we continue to lean into emerging industries around logistics or transportation or energy or any number of things, working together with COGS, with regional mayors, with other regional transportation groups, state, federal groups, that's really important. So intergovernmental is something that I believe we have to continue to do really well to advance Charlotte's priorities and Charlotte's issues. And it's something I'm comfortable with. I'm comfortable picking up the phone. I'm comfortable getting on the road. I'm comfortable leaning in and having conversations with people who, again, sometimes have different perspectives and experiences. But at the end of the day, you do that because, for me, it's about being an advocate for our people and moving our issues forward. And I'm very much aligned with the core issues and priorities that you all have outlined. and would be excited to support those and pick up the phone and be a chief advocate for the city and for our people.

Okay. So the five-minute warning was given a minute ago, so you probably got about four minutes left. Okay. Council Member Johnson is in queue, and then Council Member J.D.

Charlotte adopted an ordinance in 2024 related to individuals who are unhoused. What are your thoughts on those policies and Charlotte's overall approach to homelessness?

Thank you, Councilmember Johnson, for the question. So again, I'm gonna go back to a couple of things with housing and thinking about it on a continuum. So when we start with our unhoused neighbors, I think we do have to continue to advance policies that increase the supply of housing and provide housing for our neighbors who are unhoused but we also have to be thoughtful about the partners that are around the table and think innovatively about how we continue to address the issues around our unhoused neighbors and so one of the things again coming back to the question is how do we partner with other folks going back to Councilman Driggs question intergovernmentally and so the county has a big part in this and when we think about some of the reasons that our neighbors are unhoused, including mental health and other challenges. And so part of my thoughts are around, yes, we have to advance policies and opportunities to increase housing supply. We have to advance opportunities for stakeholders to build a continuum of care together so that we can move neighbors from being unhoused into housing stability. And we also have to think about not just housing stability, but economic mobility and opportunity. So once somebody is stable, how do they now participate in market rate rent? How do they now participate in home ownership later on down the line? And there are so many partners, good, phenomenal partners in this community from DreamKey partners to other developers and partners to a number of housing organizations, Habitat Charlotte, a number of housing organizations, public and private partners and nonprofit partners who are working to advance issues. Liz Clayson-Kelly, you've just got so many leaders around this community that are doing work around housing and building and bringing people together who have been doing the work for years. And so I think just continuing to advance those issues is important.

Thank you. Council Member J.D., and then probably a quick response time check. One minute and 39 seconds. Okay.

Charlotte's airport is one of our most important economic engines. How will you ensure that Charlotte continues to protect that economic engine, but also protecting airport service workers and their conditions?

Thank you for the question, Councilmember J.D. So Charlotte's airport is a tremendous asset for our city and for our residents to live, work, and play and be mobile. When I think about the issues and opportunities, you know, a couple of things at play. One, you've got an opportunity to think about how to support the workers who work at the airport. I recognize the time is running short. Two, you have an opportunity. We don't want to wait until we get 18 months from now to really get into the details of renewing this lease and talk about what it's going to take to make sure that there's satisfactory agreement amongst all the parties. So I think just, again, trust, transparency, engagement early, understanding the tremendous asset that the airport is. understanding that we have to balance that with workers' ability to live here and build a life here. I think all of those things are in the balance here. Again, we're fortunate to live in a city with an asset like our airport. a combination of consensus building, thoughtful processes and negotiations, supporting workers' ability to live here and build a life here, and being thoughtful with advanced planning that allows us to continue to make the investments that we need for our citizens to enjoy this city is what I would say is important here.

Thank you. Okay. Very good. Okay. So you have a minute to share with the council. Any closing thoughts?

Well, I just would say thank you. I think we're in a moment where my skills, my heart, my experiences, and the way that I've led are really uniquely positioned to help us move forward. And so I don't... I don't believe that anybody around this table is not here for Charlotte's best interests. And while there are different constituencies and different issues and different groups, what I do believe is that we're all here now in a unique moment to be able to advance and balance the growth and opportunities in this city with the ways in which everybody can share in the benefits of that growth and that prosperity. And so I'm a Charlotte. I was raised in Charlotte. My mom is, you know, my shero. And we grew up in Councilwoman Johnson's district. Bought my first home in Councilmember Graham's district. You know, have done organizing and work in Councilmember Watlington's district. I've organized with folks in Councilwoman Ajmera's district. And so last week or last month, I spoke to a economic club in Councilman Driggs District. I mean, I've just really had an opportunity to show up in spaces and places across the city. Again, without a title, I did this long before there was ever a title associated with it because I just believe in and I love our city. I have imported a husband into this city. We have had two children here. And it's just a great joy to continue to build a life here. And I'd love to partner with you today. do that for our residents.

Well, let me thank you for your leadership and your commitment to public service and for showing up and showing up today as a candidate. And we appreciate the opportunity to hear from you today.

Thank you all so much.

Council, we have two process questions that should take relatively a short period of time. Right, so here we go. The first question is to determine the number of nominees on the ballot for June 22nd. I would suspect that we're advancing all five candidates. Sure. Is there consensus on that? Yes. Correct, okay. The second question is to determine the number of votes required to proceed subsequent balance if necessary, Obviously, if a candidate gets six votes, they are our winner. If a candidate doesn't get six votes, are we in agreement that the two top vote-getters will move forward for a runoff? Council Member Anderson, then Council Member Mayfield-Cinque.

Thank you. I just want to combine this with what we heard from City Attorney, I believe on Monday. I'm open to this discussion, but should we think about a threshold of votes, right? And so if, for example, someone gets five votes and then the next person closest gets two votes, should we think about a threshold of you have to at least have, you know, three or more votes or four more votes to advance. It's just a question I want to put out here. Clearly, I hope we can get to six and then we don't have to worry about this. But as we try to prepare the process ahead of time so we don't have confusion on Monday.

Thank you. So we have Mayfield and Wallington in queue.

Thank you. So on the same line, as far as a threshold, I've shared when we had small group discussion. I do think there needs to be a threshold for me. That threshold is five or more. Six is the majority. I would hope that we would be able to garner support of more than six for the individual that will be stepping into this role. I don't think three is the number for us to get to for, Conversation on Monday, I would hope that we have the opportunity and can identify our majority or better for an individual. I know it was stated that if it's six, they automatically get it. Personally, I'm looking for seven to nine, if not. Consensus of 11. That might be a little bit more difficult. But six is the minimum threshold. I think we have the opportunity to do better than six for this person that's going to be stepping in. So I do agree that we should have a threshold. I just don't think it should be as low as three.

All right. Just reminding the council, there will be 11 votes casted on Monday night. That's right. All five folks. So I think you need to take that into consideration. Council Member Wallington, then Council Member Dreyfus in queue. Council Member Eshmerga.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And maybe this, what you just spoke to, maybe addresses my question. Madam Attorney, can you just remind us of what you recommended, if anything, last time in terms of number of nominations for the day of?

For the day of, Dr. Arlington, thank you for the question. For the day of, each council member, I recommended that each council member would have one vote. Okay. And the minimum threshold, in reference to Council Member Mayfield's point, I suggested at a minimum three to keep it moving forward to advance to subsequent ballots if required, but certainly it's Council's pleasure.

Okay, so with that, I would support keeping it at three simply because if we each only get one vote and you get more than, I'm just not sure how that would even work. If you have to have at least five, that means only two people could even be in contention, and that means the other person lost. So I'm saying if you're saying that you have to have five or six or seven to get it and we each only cast one vote, if one person has five and then the others have three and three, for example, that means we are awarding, I don't want to say awarding, we're appointing a mayor with less than a council majority vote and that doesn't feel procedurally correct. Correct.

I can... Well, I concur with that. Council Member Draze is in queue. Next, I'm sorry. And then Council Member Ashmera. And I think I saw Mayo go up. Okay, Council Member Draze.

So we need to think about sort of the contingencies, how the numbers could play out, right? If you had two people that had four votes, for example, then somebody had three, then you bring the two forward. If somebody has six right away, they're chosen. But what about five, three, and three?

Yeah, right, that's what mine, yeah.

So that's a tough one, because now you don't have a basis

Right.

You could have a runoff between the true three vote getters to determine who is, and then run them against the top vote getter, right? That makes sense. That would strike me as being the best way to do that. And I think with that, we've probably covered the bases. I'm not sure there's a, I mean, it would be weird, right, 11 votes and all five of them get two or something. It could happen, though. So... I guess, as I say, you bring forward the top vote getter or the two tied top vote getters, and if people are tied at less of the top, you then run them off against each other and try to get it narrowed down that way. Yeah.

Okay, so Council Member Esmir.

So I just want to make sure I am clear on what Mr. Drake said. So you are not suggesting any threshold, correct?

Well, I'm looking at the possible constellation.

No, I'm just saying, I guess, I'm just, yeah.

I agree. I agree with you. If you have a situation where nobody got six, Right, so then obviously you're going to have a top person. You may have a tie for the top. You run those two.

No, I get it. I just want to make sure we are clear. You are not suggesting a threshold, and I agree with that approach. There is no threshold, but maybe just the top three ends up or... I remember, how did we do with MPTA? Did we MPTA process? I know there were four. I just wanted, if the attorney can... Because the MPTA process was, it wasn't easy, right? Appointment process. I want to see if we could replicate that for the final round.

So the challenge, well. Excuse me, Council Member Ashmer has the floor so we can hear. Attorney?

The one noteworthy distinction between the MPTA process and this process is that each council member only has one vote. You had multiple votes.

In the final round, we only had one. Oh, yeah, after the interview.

But you were voting for different categories. Right. And in this instance, at all times, each council member will have one vote.

Council Member Mayo, ask the floor.

Thank you. I'd actually like to make a motion regarding this. So I would like to move that we, when we're doing our first round of ballots, that we do the top two vote getters. And if there is a tie, that we do a runoff between those two. to determine who will be, you know, with the top vote getter. And then we're just having two people go against each other if we have to go to a round two.

There's a motion on the floor. Is there a second?

Just a comment, if I may. You can't comment for a second. Oh.

I'm asking for a clarification. Please. Address the chair so we can all hear, right? Second. That's the purpose, right? So it's been properly moved. It's been properly seconded. Council Member Drake has a comment.

So just so I understand clearly, right, if you have a top vote getter and you have a tie for second place, then what I'm suggesting is you have a runoff between the two second place people in order to determine then who will run off against the top vote getter.

Yes.

All right. So is that your motion? Yes. All right. So I'm in favor of that.

All right. Council Member Anderson is recognized. Council Member Owens is in queue.

Okay. So in that scenario, if we have, I'm not sure it's going to happen, but if we have two people that have five votes. How will we advance from that in the midst of your motion?

There's 11 votes being casted.

I understand, but it still is math. Two candidates could get five, and there could be two candidates with five, one candidate with one. So I'm just asking, in the face of this motion, city attorney, how would that work?

Chair, I just recognize.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The five and five, they would run off to select the mayoral candidate. Let's say the third highest vote getter would fall off, and it would just be this high.

That one.

Perfect. I just wanted to have clarity.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The math is math.

Right, exactly.

Exactly.

Thank you. Council Member Mayfield.

Thank you. So the scenario that I'm considering is the six five to me. Six five is because that's where we land more often than not. I don't think I, to me that's a one off cause we're 11 members. To me that will be the top two. I don't think for this particular pitch position that we are looking at for mayor out of five candidates that by that one vote, uh, individual, should then be appointed mayor. I feel like if we're looking at the five and we're, and we have the opportunity to get to the top two, then if it's a six, five vote when it's all done and that's all 11 counted that that six, five are the two that would go to the runoff. That's where I want to try to make sure that it's clarified. There's more clarity. So I'm saying, I'm not saying what I, Bill, make sure you capture. I am saying clearly that I do not think for this particular opportunity when we are appointing a mayor that the standard six out of 11 should automatically be appointed. If we have, and this is only if, when the votes come in, if we have a 6-5, then those two should be appointed. in the top 2 I think we should give ourselves at least opportunity of having a choice of 2 and not just say well out of 11 members 6 chose this particular person so this should be the person that or even if his 6, 4, and one person abstains I just want to make sure that we do have another opportunity to ensure that we are identifying what we think is the most appropriate right now to serve in this role of our city. And I just don't think during the minimum, the bare minimum of six out of the 11, which is our majority for this particular role in a dream world, we will be closer to eight, nine, if not for consensus. If it is a sample, an example of a six, five to me, that's the top two. And, those would be the two that we choose between for runoff. So I just wanted to make sure that I had that in the minutes.

Council Member Owens.

So my question has morphed a bit in light of that comment.

I'm processing that, but for me, if you do have a 6-5, for me, that does not suggest that you would then go to a runoff because you've had those 11 votes and you would just continue to perpetuate a 6-5 potentially.

That was the runoff.

So that is the runoff? So I would propose that we not advance for a supermajority, that we would continue to do a simple majority as we do our votes. I think it is commendable, the aspiration that we would have a degree of consensus around us. I think it would serve the city well if we were aligned and we were to communicate with one voice and then we did achieve unanimity. But I don't want to handicap us to continue to perpetuate A repeat 6-5 vote as you advance those two people to a runoff. I would propose that we maintain the motion, which I believe was on the floor, that it would be a simple majority. And we would adopt Mr. Driggs' language with respect to what would happen were we to have a five as the dominant. And then the other votes split between parties that we would sort it the way that he suggested. Thank you, Chair.

And then after that scenario comes into play, we can also have another vote to accept the nominee by consensus, which I think we should do, right? No matter who the winner is, because I think it's really important that we do that, right? So we can do that. I think that's appropriate. I think it's just protocol, right? Will somebody just do it, right? Make that motion. Council Member Anderson?

Just a point of information. Can the clerk read what the motion is that we're about to vote on?

The motion made by Ms. Mayo, second by Ms. Mayfield, was talk to vote getters move forward, and if we have a tie, we do a runoff. Okay.

Council Member Anderson has the floor.

That's why I was asking because I just heard something a little bit different. Yeah. I thought that was the motion, right? But then I just heard, I want to make sure we're all on the same page here, the top vote getter will advance clearly if there's a top vote getter and they don't get six. But I just heard that then the rest of them would have a runoff to select the top two. That's only if there's a tie. Okay. Is that correct? I just want to make sure we were all on the same page because I just heard something different.

Okay. Council Member Drays, Johnson, and then we're going to call the question.

So I want to clarify, top vote getter, less than six, right? You got a runoff, okay? Then that person runs against the second highest vote getter. If there's a tie for second place, then you have a runoff between those two. to determine who will run off against the five vote getter for the final outcome. So I'm not sure the motion captures that, does it?

I can add that to it.

Go through the chair so everyone can kind of know what we're doing, right?

Hey, thank you, Chair Pro Tem. You're doing a great job. Thank you. I appreciate it. I like this Q thing.

So the clerk has captured the elements of Council Member Anderson's question about the motion.

Yes, the top vote getter, they get less than six. That person and the other individual will have a runoff.

Okay, so that's incorporated in the motion that's on the floor.

So let me ask a question. I think this clarifies it.

Councilman Johnson, you have the floor.

Thank you. If someone has, if there's four, three, two, and then a tie at one. They don't have a tiebreaker. It's only if the second place has a tie. Is that correct? We're only advancing the top two. Okay. So if the bottom number is a tie, then we're not advancing that. Okay. So that's the clarification. It's not an automatic tiebreaker. It's only if the second place has a tie. That's right. Thank you. Thank you.

Are we all good?

Yes.

Any clarifying questions? No. Are we ready for the vote? Can you read the motion one more time?

So, and I'll clean this up a little bit, but the top two vote getters or the top vote getter that is less than six, those two people will have a runoff if there is a tie.

Okay.

If I may, may I take a stab? So if we have a top vote-getter who has less than six, that top vote-getter will advance. If the second place is a tie, there will be a runoff between the second place two individuals, two candidates in the second place, and the winner of that runoff will advance against the top vote-getter. That's right. Is that correct?

That is the motion. Will we all get it? We're ready to vote.

All right, let's do it.

All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

All those opposed? The ayes have it. Last item is process, right? So it is my understanding that the ballots will be distributed to the council members at the beginning of the 5.30 meeting. There's not a, right? All right, Madam Attorney, help me out.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is a little bit different than your typical process for boards and commissions. The proposal is that the ballots would be provided at the beginning of your 530 meeting. You will have a hard copy ballot, an envelope. You will fill out the ballot. You will turn it into the clerk's office. Representatives from the clerk's office will be present. You will turn it in. The meeting will begin. The clerk's office will tally while the meeting is is ensuing and will prepare a report. It will be provided to Madam Mayor to read the results. And if we have a winner, we have a winner. If not, we will proceed as we've outlined here today.

Okay. The only thing that we discussed earlier, and I just want Councilor Impitt, there will be public speakers coming to speak to the issue. The question is, should we wait until after they make their presentation to vote, or do you guys want to vote at the beginning of the meeting? That's just a question for the floor. So I recognize Councilmember Owens. Raise your hand. I'll get you. Councilmember Owens, Councilmember J.D., Councilmember Esmirth, and Q. Just a question, yes or no, a process thing.

Thank you, Chair. I am in favor of awaiting an actual vote until we've heard from the community. I think that the community has probably felt a bit of disintermediation, and we need to do all within our power. to help them feel incorporated into our process. And so voting before we've heard for them seems contrary to that. So I would be a fan of not doing that.

Council Member J.D.? Short and sweet. I agree with that. Council Member Ashmer? Okay.

Council Member Anderson? Just a question because I just looked at the agenda. So when is that taking place in the space of the agenda? And the reason why I ask is if it's not at the appropriate space in the beginning, should we deliberate around whether we should move it up so residents aren't sitting here all night as we conduct our business agenda?

I agree with that. The clerk has been raising her hand for a while, so let's hear from her and then we'll come back.

To Council Member Anderson's question, it is item 22 on the agenda, which is the part of the agenda where you normally would have appointments to boards and commissions, because you do have an appointment to the planning commission also that night. I was just also going to add that as of this moment, we don't have any speakers that have signed up to item 22 just yet. However, today is Thursday and persons could sign up to speak to that agenda item between now and Monday or even at the meeting for that matter. So I just wanted to provide that information.

I heard Council Member Mayo, Council Member Anderson is in queue. Okay, I'm in queue?

Yes.

Okay.

Mayo? Madam Clerk, when would you recommend that we potentially add this? I'd rather be respectful of residents' time and start the public hearing for the interim mayoral race, and then we have our vote. so that people have other things to do in the evening they can. What would be your recommendation looking at the agenda?

Perhaps if not after the public forum, because you also have a public forum that night. So there will be, you know, we have probably at least 15 people or close to 15 people signed up for the public forum on Monday. And perhaps after that or either at the time of the city manager's report in that area, one of those two things. But there is a public forum scheduled for Monday at 5.30.

All right, Councilmember Drays, I'm sorry, Councilmember Anderson, I'm sorry.

Thank you. Again, I'm reviewing the agenda, which I did earlier, so we do have a public forum. But this particular item is not under the section of public hearings. And so I just raised that because we hadn't discussed that, the whole concept of having a public hearing on this particular item. So I just want to make sure in the public hearing section here, it's not listed.

It is not a public hearing. However, it is an agenda item and public can speak to any item on your agenda. Uh, if they sign up in it in advance, well at the meeting, even it's just an agenda item, you know, the title. Number 22. So they could potentially, someone could sign up to speak to that.

I understand. Thank you. I just wanted to speak to the fact that we actually hadn't had that discussion as a body around this action. So thank you.

i suggest that we kind of move it up on the agenda right after the public hearing uh that where we we and we can also do the other appointment i think it's only one at the same time we just advanced it on the agenda uh so the public won't be waiting there all night um that's my recommendation councilmember drugs i agree with that mr chair i'm just wondering have we published that agenda already

All right, so then what action does it take by us, if any, formally to just move it up?

City Clerk.

It would just be a matter of communicating that to the manager's office and to strategy and budget. I don't know that there's necessarily a need to republish the agenda just to move an item up. We could just make them aware of council's desire to consider this at an earlier time in the meeting.

Okay. Council Member Jaydee, Council Member Owens, then we're going to close out the discussion.

Could I follow up?

A quick follow-up for Council Member Drakes.

So if somebody wanted to sign up and they came late and we had already done it, I mean, it's a technical issue, but somebody could show up later in the meeting seeing 22 and then be told, oh, no, they already did that. So I just want to be sure that we observed the right procedure.

Okay. Council Member Owens.

I'd like to ask the question of the city attorney. Can you clarify that point and what is best practice? Does it make more sense to publish that to obviate the need for somebody arriving and not being able to speak?

In light of council's decision today, I would highly recommend republishing the agenda with directing the manager's office and team and staff to republish the agenda with it being moved higher up in the agenda.

Thank you. All right. Council Member J.D., then we're going to kind of close this conversation.

We don't need a motion, but if we could just get consent, well, we can get consensus. Is that the direction of council? Yes. After the public forum, to be clear. Correct. Okay, thank you.

Yes.

This is just a suggestion to get our communications team to disperse this in our social media channels to ensure that all constituents are aware that they can speak.

Okay, that sounds good to me. All right, so no votes necessary, just consensus. Madam Attorney, Madam Clerk, we're all on the same page. Again, so even when we, if there is a runoff, you will get another ballot. Just want to make sure in the envelope, you will mark, they'll go back and they'll calculate and come out again and give it to the mayor and she will make the announcement. All right. Motion to adjourn. Second. Second. I'm going to recognize Council Member Johnson. I'm going to take your motion for sure.

Thank you. Just to clarify, if there's a runoff, it's going to be done Monday the 22nd, right? It's all done. Okay. Same night. Okay.

I'm accepting a nomination. Okay.

All right. Good. Okay.

Big day, everyone.

Second, Council Member Mayfield. I'll second her motion.

I get a motion to adjourn.

I did. Second.

I second.

I second. Yes.

Let's go home. Thank you. Thank you.