Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM MAY 2-8, 2018 UCW 9 Williams removal process underway by JEFF THOMPSON Legal wrangling may im- pede the process by which Fayetteville City Coun- cilman Tyrone Williams is removed from office. Williams' law yer and city at- torney Karen McDonald dis- agree on some of the steps city council is taking. As a courtesy, McDonald pro- vided attorney Kris Poppe an opportunity to offer feedback on procedures she developed to conduct what's known as an amotion. McDonald agreed to some of his ideas but rejected others. Poppe contends Wil- liams should not have been denied his right to vote on issues he's accused of be- ing involved in. McDonald insists the excusal protects the validity of the process. City council adopted McDonald's recommenda- tions following an hourlong discussion at a dinner meeting. Williams did not vote. North Carolina state law provides for the re- moval of public officials, but the process is general. McDonald stressed her rules and procedures are intended to make certain the District 2 councilman receives a fair and impar- tial hearing. Until now, the cit y had no written policy on amotion. It's the only time official efforts have been made to remove a member from office. Mc- Donald told council she fol- lowed her interpretation of state law because "we don't know where the process will take us." The first significant step is Williams being served with a petition for removal. It will culminate in a quasi- judicial public hearing. By law, council's amotion decision must be based only on evidence received during the hearing. Williams is a first-term council member elected this past November. He took office the following month and is al- leged soon thereafter to have asked Jordan Jones, the project manager of Hay Street development projects, for $15,000 to remedy an issue with the deed to the former Prince Charles Hotel build- ing. Jones' company is renovating the eight-stor y building. Jones recorded the meeting with Wil- liams and turned the recording over to the FBI. In March, Williams told council he had a finan- cial interest in Prince Charles Holdings, which Jones denied, and asked to be recused from voting on all downtown development projects because of a possible conf lict of interest. Later, Williams reversed himself, saying that he had been improp- erly advised by McDonald to recuse himself from voting. McDonald vehemently denied that, and council voted unanimously to excuse him from voting on anything related to downtown eco- nomic developments, including the minor league baseball stadium now under construction. The FBI has jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes, including public corruption at all levels of government. Cor- ruption includes bribery, which is offering to do something for someone for the expressed purpose of receiving something in exchange. It also in- cludes extortion by a public official, defined as the oppressive use of his or her position to obtain a fee. This is known as acting under the color of office. Tyrone Williams NEWS JEFF THOMPSON, reporter. COM- MENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly. com. 910-484-6200.