A delegation of 14 people from Fayetteville, including three Fayetteville City Council members, traveled to Saint-Avold, France, in the last week of May to celebrate “American Week.”
Saint-Avold, located in northeastern France near the German border, is Fayetteville’s “sister city,” a designation that has been in place for 30 years. The relationship involves the cities exchanging educational, cultural and business opportunities, according to the Fayetteville-Saint-Avold Friendship Alliance, the nonprofit organization that supports the bond between the cities.
Though Saint-Avold is much smaller than Fayetteville, with a population under 20,000, the cities share a common bond in their connection to the U.S. military and veterans. Notably, Saint-Avold is home to the Lorraine American Cemetery, where 10,481 American soldiers who died during World War II are buried, according to the American Battle Monuments Commission.
The Fayetteville delegation that visited in May included Council Member Mario Benavente, Council Member Malik Davis and Council Member Courtney Banks-McLaughlin. Also in attendance, among others, were Robert Patton, executive vice president of the Fayetteville-Cumberland Economic Development Corporation, Nat Robertson, CEO of the Greater Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce and former mayor of Fayetteville, and Karen Canady and Kris Johnson of the Fayetteville-Saint-Avold Friendship Alliance.
In the weeks following the trip, the rumor mill ran wild about the visit, in part because of an unscheduled trip to Paris the three council members took while there. Here’s what actually happened and what you need to know.
Who paid for the trip?
The city of Fayetteville paid $7,846 for the travel expenses of the three council members who went to Saint-Avold. This covered the cost of tickets, baggage and per diem for two days of travel, according to Marketing and Communication Director Loren Bymer. The Saint-Avold government paid for the other trip expenses, Bymer said, including hotel stays and meals for the Fayetteville delegation.
That $7,846 was not in the original travel budget for city council and was appropriated from the city’s general fund, Fayetteville’s main pot of money which in part comes from property taxes. The money was appropriated by the council as a consent item on May 13.
Each city council member receives $7,000 for travel each fiscal year, according to the consent item description. The extra funds were needed for the additional cost of council travel, the consent item description said.
The trip came after Saint-Avold officials, including Mayor René Steiner, visited Fayetteville this past fall. The city paid $10,000 for the visitors’ lodging and meals here.
A sojourn to Paris
Members of the Fayetteville delegation said they participated in a number of ceremonies and commemorative events throughout the visit, including a Memorial Day ceremony at the Lorraine American Cemetery. While the council members attended most of these events, an unscheduled trip to Paris — which is a four-hour drive from Saint-Avold — taken by three council members created some tension within the Fayetteville group.
Gail Morfesis, a vocalist who said she sang at multiple events during the trip and has performed in concerts with the Lafayette Society for 15 years, said the council members had left in the late morning of the day they were set to discuss economic development and Saint-Avold’s goals with city officials. She claims the council members had left about two hours into the economic development discussion, which she described as the “centerpiece of the whole program.”
“They sent a note saying they had gone to Paris for sightseeing,” Morfesis told CityView. “When they came back, they said that no one had told them that they needed to be there. I’m not privy to the information of what anybody told them or whether they perceived they needed to be there. But if you get paid by the city to go, you might assume that when they’re having the business portion meetings, that you might be invited.”
Canady, the educational liaison for the Fayetteville-Saint-Avold Friendship Alliance, said she had been asked, as the point person who was relaying schedules, by one of the council members about the itinerary for the rest of the day. She recalled saying there “might be some downtime” later in the afternoon. She said she never expected the council members to take a day trip to Paris.
“And then the next thing you know, 15 minutes later, they’re gone,” Canady said.
Canady said the council members’ sudden absence caused “some embarrassment” for the rest of the delegation in front of their French hosts, who had prepared presentations for the Fayetteville visitors about Saint-Avold, including their goals and visions for their city.
Canady believes the council members’ absence can be attributed more to “not being used to this kind of experience” rather than intentional absenteeism.
“It was a more low-key day, but nonetheless our presence was expected, and it was misinterpreted by the council as a free day, which caused them to step away from what we’re doing,” Canady said. “And it wasn’t really communicated very well to us what their plans were, so that by the time it happened and the rest of us were aware they were gone, it was too late.”
Davis said he and the other council members were under the impression that it was acceptable to leave after the morning meeting, saying they left about ten minutes after it ended.
“We left, and went to Paris, and were told that, ‘OK, cool, you guys have fun,’” Davis said, referring to the others in the Fayetteville group who were present when the council members informed them of their plan. “They even said to us, take pictures and bring me something back. And I’m like, ‘OK, cool, no problem.’
“So the Paris trip was a trip that we just took because we said we didn’t have anything on our agenda and we had time,” he said.
Benavente also said he had understood from Canady’s response that they could take the trip, after they had inquired about free time at the beginning of the visit.
“And she let us know that there was an afternoon, about four days in, where we weren’t assigned to be anywhere, to do anything,” Benavente said. “And we let everyone know that day that was our plan. The only feedback we got on the day of was to bring back a souvenir, and so we left that afternoon and came back the same day.”
Banks-McLaughlin did not immediately respond to requests for comment from CityView.
Future of sister city connection
Canady expressed optimism and excitement about the future of the sister city connection. As part of the educational exchange, she said nine teachers and two of their students from Saint-Avold are visiting Fayetteville in October. Canady said the educational exchange has had a life-changing effect on many of the Fayetteville students who have participated in it in the past.
“We have found so many times for students who have had this experience that it’s really opened up their world and caused them to either love to travel [or] want to have ideas of what they want to do in their life,” Canady said. “For some, it’s just a wonderful cultural exchange, but for others, it really does change their lives and open up new doors for them.”
Davis said he was grateful for the opportunity to visit Saint-Avold and deepen connections with Fayetteville’s sister city, especially as a place with strong ties to the American military like Fayetteville.
“It just gave me a greater appreciation for the city that we live in, because we are a military city, and we have some of our soldiers that went across the waters to fight for us and to fight for our freedom here in America,” Davis said. “And so for me, for the city, for the taxpayer dollars, it was a great experience to continue to grow the relationship with our sister city and build relationships not just here, locally, but abroad, so that we can do more things with our sister city.”
Editor’s note: Karen Canady, the educational liaison for the Fayetteville-Saint-Avold Friendship Alliance, is the spouse of Jason Canady, a CityView correspondent and magazine writer. Jason Canady was not involved in the reporting of this story.
This story has been updated on June 20, 2024 to clarify Karen Canady’s role during the Saint-Avold trip as a point of contact for the Fayetteville delegation.
Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608.
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Those 3 should have to repay the tax payers for that entire trip!
Nice job. Thanks for letting us know what our property tax payments are being spent for.
How much did the trip just to Paris cost? They should make a separate accounting for that. Make sure they don’t try to get reimbursed for any additional expenses incurred from the day trip. Otherwise, if they stayed within their travel allowance budget there was nothing illegal, just a rude and selfish decision on their part.
Given how vocal council members tend to be about transparency in city spending they shouldnt be surprised that their actions are being viewed as foolish. Its hard to believe there was no written agenda that showed free time and that they only had one person’s passing word to go on… especially when it involved taking a trip with a 7 hr travel time. Theyre adults who are trusted with making decisions for the city… why did they have to be told where they needed to be? The purpose of the trip was for them to attend. This obviously wasnt a “vacation” so why did they think it was? I hope they wont be granted these opportunities with the city in the future and I want the city to scrub their expense reports so not one cent of tax dollars goes to Paris.