New Bern Board of Aldermen postpones decision to fill vacant Ward 6 seat after split vote.
The New Bern Board of Aldermen postponed the decision to fill the open Ward 6 Alderman seat until the first meeting in October 2024 after votes end in a tie during Aug. 27, 2024 meeting.
The Board of Aldermen considered appointing someone to fill the alderman seat left vacant by Bob Brinson.
Alderman Rick Prill said six people applied for the position but there was no mention of who they were.
NewBernNow.com asked the City of New Bern for the names and Colleen Roberts, public information officer, responded in an email, “Dana Outlaw, Trevor Dunnell, David Gillespie, Darlene Brown, Ashley Smith and Barton Phillips.”
After a lengthy discussion and a number of motions, the board repeatedly split the vote between Dana Outlaw and Trevor Dunnell.
Alderman Rick Prill of Ward 1, Alderman Hazel Royal of Ward 2 and Alderman Barbara Best of Ward 5 voted for Trevor Dunnell, a news editor with the Daily News, New Bern Sun Journal and the Kinston Free Press to fill the seat.
Alderman Bobby Aster of Ward 3, Alderman Johnnie Ray Kinsey of Ward 4 and Mayor Jeffrey Odham voted for former Mayor Dana Outlaw.
At one point, Prill nominated Darlene Brown, but the motion failed.
Prill made a motion to defer the decision until the first meeting in September. Alderman Prill, Alderman Royal and Alderman Best voted yes; Alderman Kinsey, Mayor Odham and Alderman Aster voted no.
A few minutes later, Best made a motion to table the decision until the first meeting in September. Alderman Royal, Alderman Best, Alderman Prill voted yes; Alderman Aster, Alderman Kinsey and Mayor Odham voted no.
After a ten-minute recess, Prill said, “Mayor, I’d like to see you move forward on the agenda so we could adjourn the meeting.”
“Yeah. no. I verified with the attorney. That’s my decision and we’re going to keep discussing this until we have some sort of resolution tonight, one way or the other,” Odham said.
Aster made a motion to postpone the decision until the first meeting in October. The board voted 4-1 with Odham voting no.
See the full meeting agenda and packet here.
Meetings are live streamed on City 3 TV and on the city’s Facebook page. Recordings are normally uploaded to YouTube.
Watch the meeting here:
Editor’s note: This story was updated to include the names of people who applied for New Bern’s Ward 6 Alderman seat. We also added details about the motions.
By Wendy Card, editor. Send an email with questions or comments.
Related articles: Four express interest in New Bern Alderman seat ahead of Friday’s deadline; New Bern Alderman says direct mailing will not be sent to Ward 6 residents; New Bern Board of Aldermen to discuss vacant ward seat on Friday