A rookie city councilman and other council members pondering the idea of changing the city election charter to boost their terms from two to four years received a crash course Monday night in Humility 101 and Fayetteville City Council 101.
And they got a dose of reality from more than 30 city residents in opposition, and did they ever get a dose.
“It is hubris to think you’ve won an election and that you don’t need the people’s input to increase your terms,” Peter Pappas, 45, told Mayor Mitch Colvin and council members at a public hearing in a capacity-filled City Hall council chamber. “And now you think you’re somebody. That’s deplorable, and it’s wrong changing your term from two to four years.”
Pappas failed in his July 2022 election bid to defeat Derrick Thompson for the District 6 seat vacated by former Councilman Chris Davis. Thompson, according to the Cumberland County Board of Elections, received 964 votes, or 60.59%, to 621 votes for Pappas, or 39.03%.
Thompson, 62, first proposed four-year, staggered terms at a March 3 City Council work session, when he said the council is empowered by state statute “because we can” to do what Thompson said can save the city money and time and provide stability for long-term and strategic municipal projects.
“… Everybody on council knows four-year, staggered terms is the way to go,” Thompson said on March 3, although council members Kathy Keefe Jensen said her District 1 constituents do not support four-year terms and Mario Benavente said previous referendums for four-year terms repeatedly resulted in defeat for similar plans.
Mayor Pro Tem Johnny Dawkins told CityView last week that while he voted with the mayor and council members Shakeyla Ingram, D.J. Haire, Brenda McNair, Courtney Banks-McLaughlin, Deno Hondros and Thompson to hold a public hearing, he will not support four-year, staggered terms for future councils.
When asked by Benavente at the March 3 work session why he was not interested in putting the proposal to a vote in a November referendum, Thompson smugly responded, “Because we don’t have to.”
Apparently, Thompson’s pompous attitude didn’t set well with some city residents.
One after another after another and after another weighed in at Monday’s public hearing, with former council members Yvonne Kinston, Charles Evans, and Juanita Gonzales among those opposed to four-year, staggered terms. Antonio Jones, a fourth former council member, urged the council in an email prior to the hearing to “allow this issue to be voted upon by those that voted you in.”
‘Who do ya’ll think you are?’
A stoic Bobby Grantham set the tenor of the public hearing from the outset.
“If two terms is good enough for the president of the United States, who do ya’ll think you are?” he asked. “I guess the real question is how do ya’ll have the audacity and the gall to stranglehold democracy.”
The evening would not subside for the council, and particularly for Thompson, who has said previously that changing council terms to four-year, staggered terms has been on his personal agenda since first taking his seat on the council.
Twenty-three of 28 city residents who spoke were in opposition at the hearing.
Extended term lengths were not without support.
John Czajkowski, who once unsuccessfully ran for City Council, said people generally have a fear of change.
“So, really it’s up to you whether the city goes to four-year terms,” he told the council. “People have a fear of change because they don’t want to leave their comfort zone. … I’ll say comfort and the fear of change are the greatest enemies of success.”
Melvin Lewis came in favor of four-year, staggered terms, saying fewer elections could save money.
Joseph Windley said four-year, staggered council terms would save taxpayers money and, “It gives us an opportunity to ensure that there’s some continuity and stability as others are rotating out with four-year, staggered terms. This stability and continuity would allow at least half of the City Council to remain in place to allow the projects that have already been established and already been voted upon.”
Imagine, Windley said, if the mayor and every district council member were voted out of office at once.
“Where would we be without somebody to help continue to see where we are and to continue the projects that have already been established?” he asked.
No matter, those opposed to extending council terms ruled the evening.
“One of the things I’ve come to really admire is the can-do attitude of this city and how the people are both gritty, resilient and passionate,” Bobbie Burgess said. “But one thing I’ve also learned is that the people of this city are not ignorant. Far from it. … It is very clearly a power grab, and everybody in this room can see it.”
As a city stakeholder, Burgess told the council she is “greatly disappointed.”
And Burgess wasn’t done there, either, saying should the council opt to vote in favor of changing from two-year terms to four-year, staggered terms rather than allowing residents to vote in a November referendum, the decision would be “slimy, unethical and just simply not professional.”
She would leave the council with a final word.
“So, I need to remind you all, council members, that as stakeholders, we are watching,” Burgess said. “As stakeholders, we are taking notes and as stakeholders we will use our voice to express our displeasure should this matter be passed behind closed doors. Some of you might be losing your seat in this upcoming election.”
Alex Rodriquez, who lost in his July effort to unseat District 1 Councilwoman Kathy Keefe Jensen, gave the council a piece of his mind, too.
“This comes off as a power grab … simple greedy politicians who want to extend their stay without going through the public and campaigning to the people why you should keep your job every two years,” he said. “It’s plain laziness.”
Kaitlyn Potts didn’t spare Thompson.
“What is so weird about this is that this is coming from someone who’s on the council for the first time ever, not someone who’s been on here for a really long time,” she said. “And this appears to be a careless attempt to have more power by someone who’s new to local government.”
Christina Aragues told the council that the proposal and the public hearing were a waste of time.
“To vote yes for this and push this forward is that you’re not listening to your constituents,”
Aragues said. “… You’re not listening to the voters, and that is huge.”
Rose Gallagher said that while state law may give the council the authority to make the change, she opposes it.
“We, the voters of this county, should determine the council members’ term limits,” Gallagher said.
Debra Barton said she is president of the Cottonade Community Watch and was speaking for a consensus of 864 members.
“I think it’s very necessary to get input from the citizens, and I think that input should be in the form of a referendum,” Barton said. “Any important decision regarding the structure of our elected governing body should be voted on by the citizens. I know it was suggested by at least one council member that it could be done without input or vote of the people, which was substantiated by the city attorney tonight. I think that is somewhat arrogant to not give this to the community for the decision.”
Remembering 2005
Richard Van Wy had a message for the council, too.
“If you’re doing your job and doing it well,” Van Wy said, “then your actions will speak for themselves, and the people will keep you in office.”
He reminded council members of 2005, when the council voted to annex residents of west Fayetteville into the city.
“The last time something like this was attempted was with the Big Bang annexation, with the exception of Councilman D.J. Haire,” he said. “Everyone on the City Council from the mayor on down was out of office within two cycles. Just saying.”
Robert Walls told the council there is a difference between a constitutional republic and a banana republic.
“One has a referendum,” he said. “The other votes for themselves. Every decent American should oppose any time a group of people decides to extend their terms and their power. That is not what America stands for. That’s not what the city should stand for.”
Remembing a mayor’s words
Lisette Rodriguez had a message of her own.
“I want to begin my time with the quote, ‘It’s a miscarriage of justice to not let the citizens have a voice on it,’” the 25-year-old community activist said. “This is a direct quote from Mayor Colvin from back in 2018 when The Fayetteville Observer was reporting on the potential of a four-year council term. … I would love to be standing here having a public hearing about establishing an office of community safety instead, and I know a lot of your constituents would agree with me. So, I’m asking you to either table this or put this on the ballot for the people to decide, and if you do not, I’m sure myself, the organizations I work with and volunteer for and the majority of the other constituents behind me would be more than happy to gather the 5,000 signatures needed and go through the proper process to get this as a referendum on the ballot.”
Carey Berg acknowledged the City Council, by state statute, has a right to change length of terms for the council.
But …
“Just because council has the authority by vote to pass this issue doesn’t mean it’s the right way to do it,” Berg said. “The voters should make that important decision.”
Angela Taylor Malloy came to the public hearing with her granddaughter.
“She asked me, ‘Is this where they make up their own rules?’” Malloy told the council. “Now I promise you, she had no idea what we were talking about. I had not told her anything, and she said because if they’re going to do anything they should do things that help people and not focus on doing things for themselves. This is out of the mouth of a 9-year-old.”
Sheila Cuffee said she came Monday with “a bad feeling about things right now” and agreed with others on opposing the four-year, staggered terms proposal.
“I do want to say when a council person says, ‘Because I can,’ I have issue because I can does not mean I should. ‘Because I can’ is the mantra of the privileged, the authoritative and the power-hungry. … ‘I can’ says, ‘Shut up, because I know better than the voter what is best for them. ‘Because I can’ says to me you have no respect for our democratic process.”
Cynthia Leeks, president of the Seabrook-Broadell Community Watch, ripped her prepared statement in front of the council and told council members she would just shoot from the hip. Some council members, she said, already have served too long.
“Let’s slow down,” Leeks implored the council, and move on to other matters more important to the city. “God bless you, but let this one go.”
Jerry Reinoehl told the council that voters in 59 of 60 precincts rejected the 2018 plan to extend terms in a referendum.
“I am concerned that four-year terms can increase the risk of establishing a group of local career political elites who enjoy the pomp and circumstance and privilege of office with practically automatic reelection,” Reinoehl said.
From those who have served
Yvonne Kinston, a former District 9 councilwoman, asked the council to send the proposal to the November ballot for city voters to decide. Former Councilman Charles Evans, who also served three four-year terms with the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners, said so, too.
“When I was on council,l I made some gaffes, you know, when I was a freshman councilman,” Evans said. “But one gaffe that I did not make was, I tried very hard not to make is. to omit the citizens of this great city. I tried very hard to make sure that they were included in anything that I would bring before the council for the city of Fayetteville. … Please don’t take it upon yourself to make that decision for us. Please put that on the ballot. As one young lady said, we’re smarter than you think. So, I beg you. I urge you. Don’t forget us, because there’s somebody else here” and “they’re going to remember you at election time.”
Juanita Gonzales, another former city councilwoman, told the council that length of terms is not germane to a council member’s service.
“I’m the only person in Cumberland County who has served on all three governing boards,” she said in bringing a cavalcade of speakers to a close. “When I was elected to the Board of Education, it was for six years. When I was elected to the county commissioners, it was for four years. And when I was elected to City Council, it was two years. But never did it matter to me how many years I served. I was there to serve the people and do the business of the people. So, it just doesn’t really matter how many years you’re there. You should be there doing the job that you were elected to do. We want a safe city, we want a clean city, we want a progressive city, and that’s where you need to be putting all of your energy into doing that now. What I’m here to say is you need to do the job that you were elected to do. You need to do the job that you’re getting paid to do, and you need to be worrying about the people and not yourself.”
Epilogue
The mayor and City Council can decide what’s next at their April 24 regular meeting, according to City Attorney Karen McDonald, by voting to change two-year terms to four-year, staggered terms, refer the matter to a referendum on the November ballot or take no action either way.
But this City Council got a dose Monday night that has been a long time coming. For the council, a lesson in Fayetteville City Council 101. For freshman Councilman Derrick Thompson, a lesson in Humility 101.
With apologies to Mayor Pro Tem Johnny Dawkins, Councilwoman Kathy Keefe Jensen and Councilman Mario Benavente, all who say they will not vote for extended terms, the people spoke loud and clear.
“It is arrogant to assume that you deserve longer time without having tangible evidence of you serving your community prior to your political career or during your political career,” Christian Mosley told the council members, most of whom have remained mum on the issue. “And it is cowardly at best to say that this should be done outside of the democratic process. I’m here to say that your lack of integrity has been acknowledged and noticed.”
The mayor later would close the public hearing after all had their say.
“And, council, with that we’ll take a 10-minute recess,” Mayor Colvin said.
The mayor and the council likely needed one, because they got a dose at this public hearing from city residents.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
