BY STACIE LETT CAIN
Embattled Mooresville Mayor Chris Carney told town commissioners on Monday that he has considered stepping down.
If and when he resigns, Carney stressed, will be his decision. He did not reference the public criticism related to ongoing media reports about his late-night hours in Town Hall with a female consultant, the lawsuit related to a town security video of his activities that night, or the related federal whistle-blower lawsuits the town is embroiled in following the dismissal of three employees who raised concerns about how senior town officials handled the incident.
After commissioners handled some routine business related to annexation and rezoning requests on Monday, Commissioner Dana Tucker renewed his effort to force Carney out. Urging his fellow commissioners to listen to the concerns of citizens demanding action, Tucker asked for another public showing of “no confidence” in the mayor.
“On April 6 this board voted for No Confidence with a request for the mayor to resign and what I want to discuss with fellow commissioners is if we feel the same way after six weeks. If we do, we need to decide if we are going to take further action to reinforce that action,” Tucker said.
He then asked for a vote to recuse Carney from the discussion, making a motion that failed for lack of a second.
Regardless of the outcome of the motion, Carney was adamant that he would not remove himself from the discussion.
“You can make that motion for me to recuse myself but I’m not going to leave.” Carney explained. “But you are free to bring the motion.”
In a contentious discussion that followed, Carney pushed back at Tucker, pointing out that he was not the only town official that the commissioner had set his sights set on.
“I can’t get past the fact that every month since you have been on the board, sir, you have tried to fire me or the town manager,” the mayor said. “I just want to get to a place where we can get the ocean calm so you can do the town’s business. That’s all anybody wants here.”
Carney went on to explain that it had always been his plan to not finish out this term and that he had even considered who would be best to complete his term. The goal, Carney said, is to spend more time with his family but it would be done on his own terms — not on Tucker’s.
“My wife and I came into this knowing it would be a short run,” he explained. “I didn’t even know if there would be a second term. It was only because there was a specific, inappropriate move to go after specific members of our team and we are past that.”
Carney said his focus, once the town’s 2026-227 budget is approved, will be on his family. That has always been his plan, he said.
“As of July 1, we don’t have a budget,” he explained. “The biggest and most important thing this board does is pass a budget. To not focus on discussions of the budget now is politically immature. We need out staff members to know that they are in good hands, and we need them to know that their benefits and salaries are safe in the next year.”
Tucker rejected that argument. “I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time,” he responded. “I think we can pass a budget and still do what is right for the town.”
Carney responded by lobbing Tucker’s own words back in his direction.
“Commissioner Tucker, you admitted that you were the least knowledgeable about the budget and we are trying to do our best to help everybody get to a place to make a good decision,” the mayor said. “We need to pass the budget. We hope to pass it 6-0, but if it ends up in a split vote, then what?”
The mayor, referencing his role as the tie-breaking vote, again emphasized his priority of passing the budget.
“We have to get at least four votes to pass the budget,” he explained. “That should be the most important thing to all of us. And, hopefully, someday you will realize that’s the most important thing.”
Mayor Pro Tem Eddie Dingler summarized his understanding of the board’s wishes and asked that the discussion related to the mayor’s ability to lead the town be tabled until the budget has been passed.
“My job as an elected official is to get us to a place we need to be,” he explained. “As I said, we need to get us through the budget process. We have had some pretty deep discussions that can’t be discussed publicly but that is my request … that we get this budget passed. Get us through July and then whatever it is we will do it. At the end of the day, the job gets tiresome. There is no manual. My concern here is that we would be divided on a budget and get stuck and that’s not fair to the taxpayers of this town.”