Incumbent and four others face off for Fayetteville City Council District 2 seat
Editor's note: This article was updated on April 20 to include a statement from candidate Joseph "Bear" Dewberry's campaign team.
The current councilwoman, a former councilman, a former challenger and two newcomers are vying to represent District 2 on the Fayetteville City Council.
Incumbent Shakeyla Ingram is running to keep her seat. Also running are Janene Ackles, who lost to Ingram in 2019; newcomer Joseph Dewberry; newcomer J.V. Peterson; and Tyrone Williams, who resigned from the City Council in 2018.
The 2021 municipal elections were delayed due to a postponement in the U.S. Census results, which are necessary for redistricting. The May 17 election will be for the 2022-2023 term.
District 2 includes the downtown area, the airport, parts of Haymount and Massey Hill.
Janene Ackles
Ackles is a grant writer who runs a nonprofit consulting business and deals with insurance claims. She was also the chair of the District 2 Democratic Party and has hosted community events like cookouts.
She considers herself “the face of Fayetteville,” since she works, has a business, owns a house, has raised her children and has a grandchild here.
During this time, Ackles said that she realized that “We weren’t getting a lot of things others were getting,” she said. “I wanted to make my neighborhood and my area better.”
In 2019, she ran for City Council and lost to Ingram by less than 200 votes. She considers that result “pretty decent" for her first try.
During that campaign, Ackles discovered that politics was her calling. “I felt like for the first time in my life I was supposed to be there,” she said.
Now, Ackles is running against Ingram again. “Quitters are not winners,” she said. “If it’s something you really want to do, you won’t just stop because one door closed. You’re going to keep going.”
Read more: Fayetteville Councilwoman Shakeyla Ingram lists accomplishments
Previous state election coverage: Familiar faces vie for NC Senate District 19 in Cumberland County
In the last three years, she said a coalition of community watch groups has been formed to help keep the dozens of neighborhoods of District 2 safe. She has also created a program for low-income individuals to help move them into homes they own.
Ackles said she stands for viable housing and homeownership support, creating a women’s homeless shelter, providing activities and educational opportunities for youth, creating programs for seniors, ensuring that incoming industries support the city, and bettering the relationship between the city and other governmental bodies.
“I feel like to really move things we have to start with the bottom,” Ackles said. “Our city is only as great as our most underserved community.”
If elected, Ackles said that she would be a “tangible” councilwoman because she would leave her job to become “a full-time elected person” for her term. “Plus, I have a personality that everybody loves,” she said jokingly.
Joseph "Bear" Dewberry
Dewberry is a retired special operations medic who now owns a restaurant in Fayetteville.
He decided to run for City Council after the "cumbersome" process of launching his business, according to a statement from his campaign team on April 20. "He felt certain there was a better way to bridge the relationship between the city and its business owners," the statement said. "Since that time, he has observed the tone of disrespect and disunity that exists among some members of the City Council, and he believes that the people of Fayetteville deserve a culture of respect and cooperation."
Dewberry's platform is centered around what he calls "third places." These places are "where people exchange ideas, build community, and enjoy recreation," the statement said. Examples include churches, coffee shops, barber shops and restaurants.
"Those places invite conversation and elevate the community," the statement said.
Dewberry's statement added that he was the best candidate because he could "bring together talented groups of people and oversee efforts" to develop long-term solutions by "leveraging the experience and expertise of relevant people in the community and building a consensus of ideas."
Shakeyla Ingram
Ingram is the incumbent who has served on the City Council since 2019.
In a letter to the Fayetteville Observer in March, Ingram said that during her tenure she ensured that all streets in Savoy Heights were on the 2022 street resurfacing schedule, supported small businesses through incentives, financed an affordable housing study, encouraged “minority-led development,” supported the revitalization of the Murchison Road and Bragg Boulevard corridors, and funded a community building at Mable C. Smith Park.
Now, Ingram is running for her second term. She stands for promoting transparency and accountability, fostering affordable housing and homeownership, bettering city infrastructure, supporting locally-owned small businesses, bettering public transportation, addressing homelessness with lasting solutions, fostering healthy relationships between first responders and the community, improving the workforce with diverse and inclusive jobs, and beautifying the community, according to her website.
She did not respond to requests for an interview.
J.V. Peterson
Peterson is the president and general manager of Unit Funeral Services. He was not able to be reached for an interview.
“I am confident that our all-American city can be a world-class city second to none,” Peterson said on his website. “To get there is incumbent upon leadership to have a laser focus on our human infrastructure.”
Peterson also said on his website that he would serve at the pleasure of residents. “It is our obligation to work toward the safety and security of our community – where our commitment is to one another,” he said. “As a leader, I want to serve by lending my experience, in a collaborative way, that strengthens our physical and economic infrastructure in a way that ensures equity and lifts us all.”
He has been an adjunct professor at Fayetteville Technical Community College and held managerial positions at Wisconsin Energy Corporation, General Electric Information Services Company and Hewlett-Packard Company, according to his website. He has also been on several boards, including the Fayetteville-Cumberland Human Relations Commission, Lincoln University Board of Trustees, Montgomery County (of Maryland) Human Relations Commission and YMCA Board of Directors in Atlanta.
Tyrone Williams
Williams runs a nonprofit called Community Advancement Awareness and is a former councilman who left in May 2018.
At that time, a recording surfaced that had Williams on audio telling a developer of the downtown Prince Charles Hotel, which is now an apartment complex on Hay Street, that he could resolve an issue with the property title for $15,000.
Initial coverage: Williams refuses to resign
Williams said that the recording was “pasted together, and the words I said were not put in the right manner.” He said that he had done contract work on the property and was owed $15,000.
No charges were filed against Williams because of that recording, according to records in December 2021.
Read more: Former Fayetteville councilman Tyrone Williams, who resigned in 2018, considers new council run
Four months after his resignation from City Council, Williams faced an unrelated charge of indecent liberties with a minor, brought by his ex-wife. He was convicted of misdemeanor assault on a child in April with 12 months of probation, records show.
And: Ex-Councilman Williams accused of sex crime
“The whole thing is a witch hunt,” Williams said. “They wanted me out.”
When asked who “they” were, Williams replied that they were “the powers that be.”
Now, Williams is running because he believes that the City Council "needs somebody on the board that understands contracts,” he said.
He is against the development of the apartment complex on top of the parking deck on Hay Street.
Also: Hay Street parking garage will be topped by apartment complex instead of hotel, office space
In addition, Williams is running because “I understand the economic development of the city. I understand what’s best,” he said.
Williams said he stands for economic development by “building within.” This includes investing in infrastructure, providing workforce training opportunities like a research incubator for the youth, and encouraging higher paying jobs, he said.
“We can keep our kids here,” he said.
Reporter Ivey Schofield can be reached at ischofield@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Five face off for Fayetteville, North Carolina District 2 seat
