New Bern’s mayor uses city resources to make misleading statements about three members of the Board of Aldermen.
Mayor Jeffrey Odham used the city’s resources to accuse three members of the Board of Aldermen of having “better things to do this evening than conduct the business of the city” on Oct. 8, 2024 in New Bern’s City Hall Courtroom in downtown New Bern, NC.
A meeting of the Board of Aldermen was scheduled for 6 p.m. but it was not held due to lack of a quorum as noted in statements by Brenda Blanco, the city clerk.
Instead of calling it a night and closing the courtroom, Mayor Odham used the city’s resources to make unfounded statements about Mayor Pro Tem Hazel Royal of Ward 2, Alderman Barbara Best of Ward 5 and Alderman Rick Prill of Ward 1 because they weren’t in attendance.
Alderman Johnnie Ray Kinsey of Ward 4 and Alderman Bobby Aster of Ward 3 sat next to Odham at the dais.
The performance
Typically, when the board doesn’t have a quorum, they adjourn. It happened on April 15, 2024. Mayor Pro Tem Royal and Alderman Prill were present. The mayor, Alderman Bobby Aster of Ward 3 and Johnnie Ray Kinsey of Ward 4, Alderman Barbara Best and then Alderman Bob Brinson were absent, according to statements made by the city clerk here. A video is not available on City 3 TV or the city’s YouTube channel.
That was not the case on Oct. 8. “Due to a lack of a quorum, a meeting was not held,” according to statements made by the city clerk.
After he announced there wasn’t a quorum, Odham said it wasn’t an official meeting, but he acted as if it was for 19 minutes. He asked the city manager to give a report, and Foster Hughes did. He opened the floor for public comment and four people spoke. He also talked about agenda items. The performance was live streamed on the City of New Bern’s social media sites and television channel. A video was uploaded to the city’s YouTube channel on Oct. 9.
The mayor asked the city clerk if she had heard from the “missing aldermen.”
She said Alderman Best and Alderman Royal said they notified her that they wouldn’t be able to attend. She said Alderman Prill “advised a couple of weeks ago, he would be out of town.”
Alderman Prill told NewBernNow.com on Sept. 24, that he told one staff member months ago that he was going to be out of town for the Oct. 8 meeting.
Even though the city was notified of their absence, the mayor said they were missing, insinuating it was political ploy.
Odham said the vacant alderman seat has caused some controversy without providing any additional explanation.
He made accusatory statements about his colleagues without giving them the opportunity to respond. This was live streamed on the internet on the city’s television channel.
Two citizens talked about two of the candidates, Dana Outlaw and Trevor Dunnell.
One resident said, “I hope, based on what you said at the outset, Mr. Mayor, that the vacant (aldermen) chairs aren’t due to some sort of a ploy.”
Alderman Prill told NewBernNow.com, “I believe the mayor’s comments reflect his high level of frustration as he realizes he does not have as much control over the board members that he thought he had or desires to have.”
Ward 6 alderman seat
The Ward 6 alderman seat became vacant when Bob Brinson resigned on July 30 to fill the vacant NC State senate seat for District 2 as reported here.
A special meeting was held on Aug. 2 to discuss the appointment process as reported here.
During that meeting, Alderman Kinsey told the mayor, “I will follow your lead.”
The board discussed sending mailers to residents of Ward 6 to inform them of the open alderman seat and Marvin Williams, the assistant city attorney, said they would come back to the board with more information the following week.
NewBernNow.com later learned that the board was polled after the meeting.
Prill told us, “Three members of the Board (myself, Alderman Best and Alderman Royal) were in favor of moving forward with the mailing and Alderman Kinsey, Alderman Aster and Mayor Odham indicated they were not in favor of moving forward. Given that there was not a majority in favor of moving forward, no mailing will take place.”
Of the six potential candidates, Dunnell and Outlaw were nominated for the position on Aug. 27.
Colleen Roberts, public information officer, told NewBernNow.com that “Dana Outlaw, Trevor Dunnell, David Gillespie, Darlene Brown, Ashley Smith and Barton Phillips” were the candidates.
Odham, Kinsey and Aster voted for Outlaw to fill the seat and Royal, Prill and Best voted for Dunnell. After casting votes multiple times, they remained in a 3-3 tie as previously reported here,
Best and Prill both made motions to postpone the decision until the next meeting in September.
Aster said he wanted to fill the alderman seat right away because the board had “a tremendous amount of work sessions and bond work sessions coming up.” He also said he wanted to immediately get to work.
Odham recommended a 10-minute break.
After the break, he asked the board how they wanted to proceed and Prill made a motion to “move forward with the agenda and adjourn the meeting.”
Odham said, “No, I verified with the attorney. That’s my decision and we’re going to keep discussing until we have some sort of resolution tonight, one way or the other.”
Two minutes later, Aster asked for the discussion to be postponed until the first meeting in October and it was.
It’s very suspect for Aster to choose the first meeting in October for the discussion to continue when Prill had already notified city staff months ago that he would be out of town during the first meeting in October.
NewBernNow.com asked Aster and Odham if it was so important to immediately fill the seat, why did they change their mind to postpone the decision for a month. Neither of them has responded to our requests for comments.
On Sept. 24, Prill asked the board to move the meeting to the week of Oct. 22 because he was going to be away during the first meeting in October. Kinsey, Aster and Odham said no.
Best responded, “I would think that if I was not present at a board meeting and it was asked of this board to delay a process or a discussion or vote on something, that this board would have the decency to allow that. It is each board member’s right to be present if they can help it and be present for discussion. I can’t believe that this board would deny that. If one of you were missing from a board meeting and there were discussions going on and it was pertaining to your ward or whatever city business, you would want to be present.”
“You know I never thought I would sit on this board and witness some of the things that are being said on this board, some of the things have been done on this board and to be a part of this organization and how some of us on this board have acted in reference to different business that relates to our citizens of this city. It’s just deplorable,” Best said.
On Oct. 8, the mayor said, “I’m very disappointed in the three members that chose to have better things to do this evening than conduct the business of the city.”
After the meeting, Alderman Royal told NewBernNow.com, “Nothing the mayor said was true. I would never miss a meeting without proper notification.”
Alderman Best told NewBernNow.com, “I’ve been very disappointed when board members haven’t shown up for important and time sensitive matters.”
All of the members of the governing board have missed meetings, so what makes this situation different?
When then Alderman Bob Brinson of Ward 6, Alderman Kinsey and Mayor Odham were absent on July 23, No board members questioned their absence.
In December 2023, Odham missed most of the presentation on the increases in power supply costs by Charles “Charlie” Bauschard, the director of Public Utilities. Kinsey was absent. No board members publicly questioned their absence.
Odham was late for Bauschard’s presentation during the budget work session in May. No board members questioned his absence.
He also said half of the members of the board communicated about the vacant seat in an email, but he did not say who they were or what they said.
Odham said, “I’m not going to say there’s a conspiracy,” but implied there was by saying there was communication between half of the members of the board.
He made it sound like they were doing something wrong. The mayor and aldermen regularly meet in groups of three or less to avoid a quorum and skirt open meeting laws.
The city clerk sent an email to Best, Royal and Prill on Aug. 29. She said that a meeting with the New Bern Housing Authority would be held on Sept. 11, 2024 and “The mayor and various staff will attend. Please let me know if you are interested in joining as well. To avoid a quorum of Governing Board members, attendance will be limited to the first 2 of you to respond.”
Mayor Odham called a special meeting for 9.m. on Oct. 11. There was no quorum, so a meeting was not held.
Story sensationalized
Tuesday night, a local television station reported that they received a copy of an email from the mayor. The email was from Alderman Prill to Alderman Royal and Alderman Best. It did not show that there was any response from Royal or Best.
The station showed a video of Odham saying, “We’re here to serve our neighbors and three of the members of this board let down the neighbors in Ward 6 and it’s very disappointing.”
What’s different?
What makes this different from all of the other times members of the governing board have been absent from meetings, left in the middle of meetings or have been late for meetings?
Foster Hughes, New Bern’s city manager, is the chief executive officer, not the mayor. New Bern doesn’t’ have a “strong mayor” form of government like some big cities. The city charter says the city is structured as a council-manager system of government.
The charter states, “The government and management of the city shall be vested in the council” and the mayor is the presiding officer. It also says the mayor is the head of the city for ceremonial purposes.
Editor’s note: The article was updated to provide clarification from the city clerk. It was initially reported that the Oct. 8 and April 15 meetings minutes noted the meetings were not held due to lack of a quorum. The city clerk clarified, “There are no minutes, but statements by me of no meeting and no minutes. The statements were prepared so 5 years or 50 years from now there will be no confusion as to why minutes cannot be found to coincide with the agendas for those dates.” Article was also updated to reflect the mayor called a special meeting for 9 a.m. on Oct. 11, but there was no quorum, so no meeting was held.
By Wendy Card, Editor. Send an email with questions or comments