Is it possible for two aldermen and a mayor to outvote New Bern’s six-member Board of Aldermen?
After two elected officials — who live in Ward 6 — and the Ward 3 alderman voted to appoint former Alderman Jameesha Harris to the city’s Redevelopment Commission and four aldermen voted for three other candidates, New Bern’s mayor claimed she would be appointed.
The vote took place during the New Bern Board of Aldermen meeting on July 14, 2026, at City Hall in New Bern, NC.
Peter Frey, Latasha Harper, Jameesha Harris, Precious Johnson, Deion King (sp), Tangye Middleton, Barbara Sampson, and Destiny Ward applied for one position on the city’s Redevelopment Commission.
Before the elected officials cast their vote for one person, the City Attorney M. Scott Davis said, “And if there’s a tie, you’ll just keep narrowing the field until you have a winner.”
While they were voting, Mayor Odham said Victor Dove and Robbie Morgan were eligible and interested in being reappointed and then they will take it up at the next meeting. Assistant City Attorney Marvin Williams said Morgan wasn’t interested.
Aldermen Robert “Bobby” Aster (Ward 3) and Dana Outlaw (Ward 6) voted for Jameesha Harris; James “Trey” Ferguson (Ward 1) and Sharon Bryant (Ward 2) voted for Peter Frey; Elainia “Lainy” White (Ward 4) voted for Tangye Middleton and Barbara Best (Ward 5) voted for Barbara Sampson. Mayor Jeffrey Odham (of Ward 6) also voted for Harris.
Odham asked Davis if they could fill the second position and Davis said they could. He continued, “Procedurally, were you imagining that it was going to be simply the highest vote getter or the first person to get four votes?”
“We’ve typically done whoever gets the most, but I mean if the board wants ta,” Odham said.
“If that’s what the board was expecting and that’s protocol, then I’m fine,” Davis said.
The mayor claimed, “Jameesha Harris will be appointed” and asked if they needed to take action and Davis said, “Let’s do just so there’s no question.”
Aster made a motion and Outlaw seconded it, then Odham said, “I don’t think we’ve done this in the past. Usually, whoever got the highest votes is who was appointed. We didn’t take a vote after that, right?”
Davis said, “Why don’t you make a motion then to just confirm that procedure so in the record it’ll be clear the highest voter?”
Ferguson called for a point of order and asked how someone could be appointed to the board without a majority vote.
“The board would now entertain a motion to confirm that procedure that’s how the person would be (inaudible),” Davis said.
Outlaw made the motion and Aster seconded it. Bryant, Aster, White, Outlaw voted yes. Ferguson and Best voted no. Odham also voted yes.
Odham talked about filing Morgan’s seat, but Ferguson questioned how they could fill it if the position wasn’t vacant. The mayor’s attempt failed.
Harris lost a bid for reelection to the Ward 2 alderman seat against Hazel Royal in 2022. She will join Kurtis Stewart (Seat 2), Reginald Jones Simmons (Seat 3), Victor Dove (Seat 4), Leander Morgan, Jr. (Seat 5), Steve Strickland (Seat 6) and Tabari Wallace (Seat 7) on the RDC.
Editor’s note: Wondering why two next door neighbors in one ward have two votes on all matters while the other five wards only have one vote?
In 2011, then aldermen Sabrina Bengel (Ward 1), Denny Bucher (Ward 3) and Dana Outlaw (Ward 6) voted to ask legislators to give the mayor the right to vote on all matters versus only voting to break a tie on a night when all aldermen weren’t present to represent their constituents. Two years later, the three aldermen ran for mayor, as reported here. This gave the ward where the mayor lives two votes on all matters.
Mayors in a vast majority of the 550 municipalities in North Carolina have very few formal powers, as described in the UNC School of Government book.
An attempt to ask legislators to change the city’s charter language back to the original language in September 2025 after an alderman resigned in 2024 and it took over 440 days to fill the vacancy because the mayor caused a tie every time the aldermen – the city council — voted to fill the seat, as reported here.
The newly elected aldermen talked about the possibility of changing the city charter regarding the mayor’s ability to vote on all matters during the January retreat at the Chamber of Commerce here:
We requested a copy of the applications to ensure the proper spelling of the names but have not received all the information by press time.
By Wendy Card, editor. Send an email with questions or comments.