The New Bern Board of Aldermen and mayor voted on Tuesday night for a resolution that will prevent residents from electing city officials in 2029 and move elections to 2030, if a local bill and charter change are approved.
Aldermen Trey Ferguson, Sharon Bryant (Ward 2), “Bobby” Aster (Ward 3), Lainy White (Ward 4), Barbara Best (Ward 5), Dana Outlaw (Ward 6) and Mayor Jeffrey Odham (of Ward 6) adopted a resolution requesting a local bill and approval of a charter change for New Bern’s elections for 2030 on April 14, 2026 at City Hall in New Bern, NC.
For years, the city’s elected officials have talked about moving the nonpartisan odd-numbered municipal election to a presidential or midterm, even-numbered year. Now they’re asking for the Legislature to change the law to give them more time in office and use the plurality method.
A little history
It costs New Bern about $45,000 to hold an election in an odd-numbered year every four years if there isn’t a runoff election.
In 2021, the board decided to redistrict the wards before holding an election and the General Assembly passed a law to move the city’s election from October 2021 to May 2022, which gave the aldermen and mayor an additional eight months in office. The total cost of the election was $34,972 — $6,043 for the election plus $28,929 for three races that went to a runoff.
The newly elected aldermen and mayor took office in August 2022, and the issue arose again in October 2023 when they talked about extending their 3-year, 3-month term to a 4-year, 4-month term.
In April 2024, the city attorney told the board that odd-year elections had been held in New Bern for at least 40 years. Aldermen Kinsey, Best, and Prill were in favor of changing the election to a plurality method. Mayor Odham said, “it would be hypocritical for him to advocate for no runoff as he would not have won the seats for Ward 6 alderman or mayor (without a runoff),” according to meeting minutes. Alderman Bob Brinson (now NC State Senator) said, “We can still move the election to 2026 and still have a runoff…to save money.” Five aldermen voted to keep the elections in the odd-numbered year with Brinson voting no. The mayor also voted no.
New Bern’s October 2025 election cost $46,565. The mayor and Ward 4 alderman races went to a runoff, which cost an additional $43,570.
A month after taking the oath of office and being seated, the new Board of Aldermen and mayor talked about moving the election so they could have more time in office and change to the plurality method. It was also noted that they would run the risk of the NC General Assembly changing elections from nonpartisan to partisan if the city asked to move from odd to even-numbered years, as they’ve done across the state.
In March 2026, the aldermen gave direction staff to draft a resolution to ask the NC General Assembly to move the election using the nonpartisan plurality method. The mayor also voted for the motion, as reported here.
On April 14, Susan Williams, the director of Craven County Board of Elections, told the Board of Aldermen the election would cost about $2,839 if it was held using a nonpartisan plurality method in a midterm or presidential election year for coding costs.
She said if they have a nonpartisan plurality method with a primary in March, the election would be held in November.
City Attorney M. Scott Davis said the deadline to file a bill was on April 13, so Bob Senator Brinson filed a draft bill that notes the city would have to hold a special election if a vacancy isn’t filled in three months.
Alderman Ferguson said the resolution that was presented to them didn’t say anything about them having to hold a special election if they can’t fill a vacancy.
Alderman Aster said he would rather not have it in the bill, but if they had to, he suggested at least 120 days.
Davis told Aster that counties have 60 days and it goes to the county clerk to fill because counties are partisan. He said it may not fit for nonpartisan cities and towns to pitch it to the clerk.
The city attorney said another solution was to not let the mayor create a tie to fill a vacancy.
Ferguson said he doesn’t want that (the verbiage that addresses filling a vacancy) in the bill. He said he preferred to have a different bill that says the mayor can’t vote to create a tie. He said he wanted a clean bill that deals with elections.
The Board of Aldermen and mayor voted to adopt the resolution that was presented to them in the meeting packet. No public hearing was held.
On April 15, Senator Brinson told NewBernNow.com, “I intend to file a local bill moving New Bern’s non-partisan election to 2030 and changing it to the plurality method as the Board of aldermen requested. I also intend to follow through on comments I made in several forums during last year’s New Bern elections to include “In the event of a vacancy on the Board of Aldermen, a special election shall take place if the vacancy is not filled within 90 days of the beginning of the vacancy.” He noted the special election would be held in accordance with General Statute 163-287.
Is this what voters want?
By lengthening terms, New Bern’s voters will have fewer opportunities to hold politicians accountable.
Related news
The New Bern Board of Aldermen will hold a regular meeting on April 28, 2026, at 6 p.m. in the second-floor courtroom at City Hall, according to the city’s website. The meeting agenda and packet can be found here.
Meeting videos are available City 3 TV, the city’s Facebook page and the city’s YouTube channel.
By Wendy Card, editor. Send an email with questions or comments.