Fayetteville mayor and council member blame politics for motion to censure them

Last month, the Fayetteville City Council settled for $200,000 with former Police Chief Gina Hawkins, who said in an Aug. 4 letter that she was the victim of gender and racial discrimination.

The move headed off a potential lawsuit by Hawkins, who left the Fayetteville Police Department last February. But lingering tension on the council shows the matter is not settled among all members.

During a Tuesday work session, Councilwoman Courtney Banks-McLaughlin made a motion to formally censure Mayor Mitch Colvin and Councilman Mario Benavente for what she says are their actions that led to the city payout.

“Both the mayor and (the) council member should be held accountable for these actions as well as this misconduct,” she said before the vote. “As a representative of the city we must lead by example; we must be transparent.”

The motion failed after receiving no support from other council members. Colvin and Benavente did not vote, on the advice of legal counsel.

Banks-McLaughlin said on Wednesday the motion did not go as she had hoped, but she would do it again because it was the right thing.

“I was hopeful that there would have been some support,” she said, “maybe one or two. But I kind of figured it wouldn’t go through."

She described herself as transparent and said she believed in holding people accountable.

“In anything that we do there's consequences,” she said, adding that a censure would “let the public know we don’t condone this. That was the hope. Unfortunately, it looks as if my colleagues do condone things like this taking place in a work environment.”

More: Troy Williams: Former Fayetteville police chief allegations should concern us all

Colvin: Banks-McLaughlin trying to boost race for NC house

Colvin and Benavente have denied Hawkins’ allegations.

On Wednesday, Colvin said that Banks-McLaughlin’s move caught him off guard. He said she had not made a “peep” about her thoughts on the settlement during council discussion surrounding the Hawkins letter.

The only explanation that “makes sense” is she is using the move to boost her race for a North Carolina House seat, the mayor said. Banks-McLaughlin has announced her intention to run for the District 42 seat in the state legislature.

Colvin noted that his brother, Michael Colvin, is one of her opponents in the Democratic primary.

“It’s unfortunate that got brought into our business,” he said.

Colvin said he did not believe the issue of the settlement would linger. He said people he had talked to were more interested in what the council could get accomplished in the next two years. The council held elections in November; the new terms started in December.

“That’s certainly my focus,” he said. “Hopefully she can share those same sentiments, and when we get to work, let’s do the business of the citizens and leave the other stuff at the door.”

Benavente: Hard feelings could linger, slow down progress

Benavente also said Wednesday he thought McLaughlin’s campaign for a House seat drove her to propose the censure.

“I think this is motivated by gathering some attention,” he said, “the wrong kind of attention, though.”

He said he could not recall her submitting a council member's request to add an agenda item “in years.”

“That should be something that we use to bring up an idea that would benefit the city, not necessarily as a way to have five minutes of a political talking points,” he said.

Benavente said his biggest disappointment over the failed motion that there would be hard feelings from Banks-McLaughlin’s side and potentially slow progress on shared agenda items such as homelessness, fully funding an Office of Community Safety and youth gun violence.

“I was kind of counting on her support in moving these issues forward in the next two years,” he said.

He said that the councilwoman, in her remarks after the motion failed, blamed everyone on the council, calling them all guilty in a later TV interview.

She “tried to burn every possible bridge,” he said.

Banks-McLaughlin challenged the idea that the progress would slow on issues.

““That almost made me laugh,” she said. “I’ve always advocated (on) homelessness,” she said.

She asked where Benavente was when she proposed adding beds to the Day Resource Center, which the city opened last year downtown.

“Where were you at? Why did you vote that down?” she asked.

Banks-McLaughlin: It’s not about politics but doing the right thing

Banks-McLaughlin also pushed back against her colleagues’ contention that she made her motion because of politics. She compared the idea to spitting in her face and said it was a direct contradiction to how she conducts herself on the council.

“For them to say that out of anything, it was like, 'That’s all you guys got? That’s all you have?'

She said: “I’ve always stood on the right side. If it’s something that’s wrong, I’m going to jump in front of it. I’m going to try to get it handled.”

She also scoffed at the notion that she hadn’t spoken about the Hawkins letter and settlement before now, noting that all the council members were advised by the city attorney not to speak about the matter.

Two sides on the former police chief allegations

Hawkins, who began her tenure as chief in 2017, said in her August letter that she had suffered in a “hostile work environment” that included instances of Colvin screaming at her about her department’s performance during the June 2020 protests over George Floyd, which ended in riots downtown. She said Benavente “verbally attacked” her in conversations about city priorities, among several other accusations leveled at city officials.

Banks-McLaughlin made the formal motion at a December meeting to offer the settlement. Benavente and Deno Hondros were the only two of 10 members on council to vote against it.

Benavente said Wednesday he did so because he thought the council should not have agreed to spend “an outrageous amount” on what he said was a demand letter that presented no evidence. He said a lawsuit, if one were even filed, would have generated headlines over the course of many months but would have made revealed “that all of the allegations were bogus.”

“If this went to court, it would have gotten dismissed on day one,” he said.

But Banks-McLaughlin said Wednesday she believes the allegations.

Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville councilwoman says censure attempt was about accountability