City Council bickers over role of city clerk


The most acrimonious debate during Monday night’s City Council meeting came when council member Ranger Wilkerson defined what he perceives as a problem with the role of the city clerk. The position of city clerk is held by Dianne White.

Wilkerson contended that the city clerk “needs to be a city clerk” and not perform other job duties. He cited the problem of who develops the council agenda as one aspect of the issue.

Mayor Clem Seifert attempted to clarify the issue, stating that there does not exist a clear understanding of the separation of duty between the city clerk and other city administrative positions.

“It makes it hard to do the job,” he said.

No council members voiced an opinion as to what exactly the job description is for the position of city clerk beyond the statutory requirements.

Wilkerson expressed a desire that the clerk keep minutes for all Henderson City Council standing committees. There are 10 such committees.

Council member Elissa Yount made a motion that the city clerk keep minutes for all standing committee meetings. “How do we follow the law if we don’t have a policy?” she inquired of the council.

Yount’s motion was not seconded.

Council member Bernard Alston weighed into the debate, telling Yount: “You’ve interpreted a statute and assumed it is the only interpretation.”

North Carolina general statutes require that minutes be kept of all public meetings under the open meetings law. According to City Attorney John Zollicoffer, minutes may be general rather than transcripts.

The statute does not specify that the city clerk exclusively keep the minutes. At least one of the standing committees has its own secretary.

A motion was introduced to become compliant with the open meetings law, and the matter was referred to the Human Resources Committee for further study. The motion directed the city clerk to take the minutes at all public meetings until the issue is resolved.

The council unanimously passed the motion.