CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte City Council voted 6-4 to approve a resolution of intent on a government structural change impacting term lengths and the number of districts in the city.
The changes were discussed during Monday's council business meeting. The resolution of intent calls on three changes in the city's government, including:
- Changing term lengths for councilmembers and the mayor from two years to four years
- Adding an eighth district member
- Staggering election terms
With the resolution of intent now approved, a hearing will be held to discuss these proposed changes with the public on March 13. The changes will then be put to a public vote at a later date.
"It's going to be left up to the voters to decide as part of the referendum," Dimple Ajmera, Charlotte City Council at-large member, said during Monday's meeting.
These changes are years in the making for the Charlotte City Council.
In 2020, the Citizen Advisory Committee on Governance (CAGC) was established to review the current structure of the Charlotte City Council.
The CAGC recommended all of the changes discussed on Monday in November 2020.
Charlotte City Council and council committees reviewed the recommendations across 2021 and 2022 before the proposal was finally pushed forward in January 2023.
Ajmera was hoping that this issue would get moved forward on Monday rather than move back to committee meetings, where it has been for nearly three years.
Charlotte District 6 City Councilmember Tariq Bokhari said he thought the agenda item is a waste of time.
"The thought of even floating this conversation right now, let alone, doing it with one hand, while with the other hand, going ahead and asking for a one-cent sales tax referendum is politically tone deaf, at absolute best," Bokhari said.
At-large councilmember LaWana Mayfield said Bokhari's points of discussion were disingenuous.
"If there was consensus prior to 2022, then that council should have moved this conversation forward," Mayfield said. "You chose not to."
The eighth district will add a new member to the council to oversee a part of the city. The boundaries of this district have not yet been determined. This change would replace one of the four existing at-large council seats with the eighth district seat.
Contact Jane Monreal at jmonreal@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.