A wolf in sheep s clothing: An anti-voter initiative in Fayetteville fayobserver.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from fayobserver.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin invited former Mayor Tony Chavonne onto his local radio show Monday. The main topics were Chavonne’s desire to change the city council’s structure and the Fayetteville Police Department response to the protests and riots last spring.
But toward the end of the cordial, nearly 50-minute discussion, a bit of news dropped: Chavonne has not ruled out a run against Colvin for the city’s top spot.
“A lot of people want to know, will you and I face off in the next election?” Colvin asked.
Chavonne did not answer that question. Instead, he referred back to his push on behalf of Vote Yes Fayetteville, which seeks to collect 5,000 signatures toward changing the City Council makeup.
At the time, the city comprised 174,000 residents.
A group called Yes 2 Referendum had pushed a citywide vote that would end the structure of nine members serving nine districts and replace it with a council with six single-member districts and three at-large, or citywide, seats. The mayor would continue to be elected at-large. The referendum was the only issue on a special ballot in February of that year.
Just over 6,200 people voted against the change, nicknamed “6-3” during months of community debate.
The light turnout just 12% of registered voters underscored that, as passionate as the council structure issue was to some in the political chattering class, most city residents’ minds were on other things. In fact, a 2000 referendum to change the seats to the current single-member model drew more voters, despite the city having less population at the time. That year, more than 8,200 voted in favor and just under 7,000 against.