Fayetteville officials examine options for ousting councilman

Now that a defiant Fayetteville City Councilman Tyrone Williams has said he won't step down after he was caught on tape asking for money from a developer, city officials are trying to figure out what to do next.

Posted 8:27 p.m. Apr 10, 2018 — Updated 5:42 p.m. Jul 13, 2018

Gilbert Baez

, WRAL reporter

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Now that a defiant Fayetteville City Councilman Tyrone Williams has said he won't step down after he was caught on tape asking for money from a developer, city officials are trying to figure out what to do next.

Mayor Mitch Colvin and the other eight council members gave Williams a signed letter Monday, urging him to resign his seat. Numerous constituents also demanded that he step down.

"You need to stop rationalizing your poor decisions and your low ethical standards. You need to show respect for the constituents of District 2, your fellow council members and yourself and step down immediately," Fayetteville resident Amy Samperton said.

But Williams refused to budge.

"Sorry for my mistakes. I have always tried to comply," he said.

The Fayetteville Ethics Commission is investigating Williams' actions, but Mayor Mitch Colvin said the City Council might not want to wait six weeks for the volunteer commission to complete its report before taking some sort of action. He noted that officials need to regain the trust of Fayetteville residents as the city prepares to float a $37 million bond to build a minor league baseball stadium downtown.

"The public trust piece is what concerns me," Colvin said. "I need to make sure that the public continues to have confidence in their leadership on the City Council."

Officials are looking at changing Fayetteville's charter to allow for citizen-initiated recall elections as a way of removing unwanted council members in the future. They also are considering the rarely used amotion procedure to force Williams off the council more quickly.

Hope Mills officials used the process to oust Commissioner Tonzie Collins from office in 2013 following a series of sexual harassment and intimidation complaints from town workers. Mayor Jackie Warner said commissioners were able to vote Collins off the board during a one-day public hearing.

The council is waiting for guidance from the city attorney before making a move, Colvin said.

"Anytime someone is elected, the statutes give him certain rights and privileges but also responsibilities. So, you can't easily remove people, and now we've just got to see about it," he said.

Meanwhile, Williams has recused himself from votes cast on the ballpark and the $65 million redevelopment of the former Prince Charles Hotel, the project that caused the controversy.

Jordan Jones, the project manager handling the hotel redevelopment, recorded a Dec. 21 meeting he had with Williams and businessman T.J. Jenkins over a purported "cloud on the title" to the downtown property.

Williams had invested in a previous attempt to redevelop the hotel, but the New York developer behind that effort eventually filed for bankruptcy.

"I don’t know if there is any kind of way I can make it a smooth transition for you and what you’re trying to do, because I want the project to go, and I don’t want there to be no hiccups down the road," Williams said at the December meeting.

"I think I would just feel good if we just worked together some way to make it all go away," he said. "I’m not looking for a large amount of money. I’m just looking for a smooth transition, you know what I mean?"

He then suggested $15,000 to "sign off" on the deal.

Williams insists that "key facts" were ignored in coverage of the recording. He said Jones called him and offered $15,000 in cash on Feb. 13, but he declined the offer and told Jones to send a proposal to his attorney and the city attorney for review.

"Mr. Williams directed Mr. Jones to put all proposals through the attorneys, so it was Councilman Williams' intent that this be done properly," Kris Poppe, an attorney for Williams, said Monday.

Jones told the City Council on Monday that the communications Williams referenced to defend himself were part of a federal investigation.

"This text message and other text messages and calls I made to Councilman Williams were under the sole authorization and supervision of the FBI. All text messages were monitored and recorded by the FBI," he said.

Colvin confirmed that the FBI has investigated the case, but he wasn't sure of the current status of the investigation.

Williams has requested an independent third party investigate the case.

The Ethics Commission is trying to determine if Williams has a conflict of interest with Prince Charles Holdings LLC that would cause his previous votes regarding the hotel to be in violation of the city's conflict-of-interest ordinance.

District 2 residents are now frustrated that they have lost their voice on the council regarding two major projects downtown.

"The ball park-hotel deal, which is intermingled, is the biggest economic event to happen to downtown, which is just a few blocks from my neighborhood, and now we don't have a voice in that," resident Pamela Carter said.

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