A local advocacy group and some Fayetteville council members are urging the city manager to more closely monitor the communications department after a spokesperson released incorrect information to the media.
The controversy stems from a December 1 meeting when the council voted in favor of electing Derrick Thompson as mayor pro tem. Mayor Mitch Colvin announced that the vote was 6-4, which is what City Clerk Jennifer Arye recorded.
But council member Deno Hondros, who was recorded as casting a “no” vote, later told CityView he misheard what the council was voting on and actually meant to vote in favor of Thompson.
The next day, city spokesperson Loren Bymer announced the 6-4 vote in a press release. Then he issued a correction 40 minutes later, saying the vote was actually 7-3, although the official record currently shows a 6-4 decision, and Bymer did not send any additional press releases to reflect the change.
Fayetteville Freedom For All, a grassroots organization, quickly issued a statement demanding that the city retract its second press release, calling it a breach of public trust. Now the group says it wants Fayetteville leaders to enact safeguards to ensure only accurate information goes out to the public.
In an email to City Manager Doug Hewett, Freedom for All member Angela Tatum said Bymer “acted unprofessionally in his sloppy attempt to report such an important matter.”
Tatum said the incident eroded public trust in local government and that the city should publicly acknowledge that the second news release about the vote was wrong.
“Transparency and accountability is not just for our city councilmembers but for the entire City of Fayetteville staff, to include Loren [Bymer],” she wrote.
Conflicting Accounts Fuel Demands for Answers
Hondros and Bymer offer differing narratives about what happened during and after the December 1 meeting.
Hondros said he accidentally voted no, but the clerk later told him she had not seen him raise his hand during the vote and recorded him as a default “yes.” Bymer says she recorded the vote 6-4. Ayre would not comment to CityView for this story.
Bymer told CityView he saw Hondros raise his hand to vote in favor of Thompson, and that Colvin simply erred about the final tally.
“I’m confident, and I’m not leading you astray,” Bymer told CityView on December 2. “The mayor misspoke when he said six-four.”
City policy requires communications staff to send drafts of press releases to “Senior Management Team members and the Mayor and Council Members” before publishing them. Bymer said he typically consults with the city clerk before issuing press releases about council votes, but he did not do so for the mayor pro tem vote.
He defended his actions in an email to CityView. “No one instructed me to change the press release. I am the Director of the Marketing and Communications Department for the city and have the authority to publish a press release, or correction for a release, on behalf of the City of Fayetteville.”
Bymer said he edited the press release posted on the city’s website after the December 8 council meeting, when the council approved minutes from the December 1 meeting reflecting the 6-4 vote.
Some council members say the city’s communications department needs more oversight.
“I have shared my displeasure with the city manager, and I assume he is making whatever measures he deems appropriate to rectify or try to mitigate this, or just simply try to improve,” Hondros said.
Council Member Lynne Greene said she also plans to talk to Hewett.
“I don’t understand what led to the entire debauchery,” she said. “Well, I sort of have some theories, but only time will see if any play out.”
Hewett did not respond to a request for comment.
Government reporter Rachel Heimann Mercader can be reached at rheimann@cityviewnc.com.
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