Charlotte Government

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Government Type:

Charlotte operates under a manager/council form of government.  In this system, the governmental powers are divided among the mayor, city council, and a professional city manager. Charlotte changed from a strictly at-large system to a district system in the late 60's through the early 70's.  This measure was taken in order to address the under-representation of minorities in government.  The page below offers more information on each area of Charlotte's government, and highlights the representation of the city's minority population.

Mayor:

The mayor of Charlotte is Patrick McCrory.  Charlotte's mayor is elected by a vote from the city council.  McCrory is the longest standing mayor, as he as served nearly six full terms.  The mayor's responsibilities include appointing the city manager, city attorney, and city clerk.  Also, the mayor assists with appointing members to various city commissions.  Other duties include reviewing the budget and tax plans, approving city contracts, and ratifying city ordinances. 

Council:

Charlotte's city council consists of an eleven member board.  The council is made up of four at large members and seven district members.  At large members are elected by all registered voters in the city, whereas district members are elected only by voters within a specific district.  Each district is divided based on population numbers, so that each has approximately the same number of eligible voters.  One of the central duties of the council is to elect Charlotte's mayor.  The other responsibilities of the council run hand in hand with those of the mayor.  These include appointing the city manager, attorney, and clerk.  Also, the council reviews budget and tax proposals, including city contracts.  Further, the council deals with developing city-issue boards and commissions.   

At large member Patrick Mumford

At large member Anthony Foxx

At large member Susan Burgess

At large member John Lassiter

Mumford is a 3rd term Republican.  He serves on the transportation committee, as well as the housing and budget councils.

Foxx is a 1st term Democrat.  He serves on the housing development committee, as well as the budget and public safety committees.

Burgess is a Democrat who also served as Charlotte's mayor from 199-2001.  She chairs the housing development committee, and serves on the governmental affairs and transportation committees

Lassiter is a 2nd term Republican.  He serves as the chair of Charlotte's ecconomic planning committee.  He is also active in the restructuring government and governmental affairs committees.  Also, Lassiter acts as a city planning liaison.

Lochman is a 3rd term Republican.  He chairs the budget committee, and also serves on the restructuring government, housing development, and economic planning committees.

Turner is a 2nd term Democrat.  He chairs the community safety committee in addition to serving on the transportation, restructuring government, and budget committees.

Carter is a 3rd term Democrat.  She acts as vice-chair of the budget committee, and serves on the economic planning and transportation committees. 

Kinsey is a 2nd term Democrat.  She also previously served on the Mecklenburg County board from 1990-1994.  She chairs the government affairs committee, and is a member of the community safety, restructuring government, and planning liaison committees.

Barnes is a 1st term Democrat.  He acts as vice chair of the government affairs committee and is a member of the housing development and transportation committees.

Mitchell is a 3rd term Democrat.  He chairs the restructuring government committee, and serves on the economic development and community safety committees.

Dulin is a 1st term Republican. He holds the vice-chair position in the economic planning committee, and also serves on the government affairs and community safety committees.

Manager:

Charlotte's city manager is Pamela A. Syfert.  The manager is the most powerful position in the city, and is in charge of overseeing the daily operations and carrying out the policy decisions of Charlotte.  The city manager is appointed to the position by the city council  Syfert has occupied the position of city manager since 1996 after her predecessor, Wendell White, left for a different position at the University of Virginia.  Before being elected to this position, Syfert was the assistant city manager, and deputy city manager. 

 

Minority Representation:

The Ethnic Breakdown of the city government is as follows.  The mayor, and city manager are both White/Caucasian.  In the city council three of the at-large members are Caucasian and one is African-American.  Further, districts seven, five, one, and six all have Caucasian representatives, whereas districts two, three, and four have African American representation.

Not surprisingly, when broken down by race, the leading populations in Charlotte are White 58.3% and African American 32.7%.  African Americans have nearly proportional representation, as four of the thirteen government officials are Black.  Further, a comparison between the district map and African American population density in the city reveals that African American candidates do indeed represent districts dominated by that race.  It appears the same for Caucasians, who appear to be elected in districts dominated by that race.  Noteworthy is the lack of representation for the Hispanic/Latino population who make up 7.4% of the city's population.  One possibility for their non-representation is that the Latino population occupies areas/voting districts with high concentrations of African American voters.

In the near future, with rising rates of Hispanic/Latino and Asian populations moving into the city, government may have to address ways to incorporate those populations into governmental activities.  

This page was last updated: Thursday, April 27, 2006

This page was created by Jonathan Baker as part of a case-study  for Dr. Freitag's Group and Minority politics course at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire.