Meetings of the Finance and Intergovernmental Relations Committee are unique in their ability to draw lots of City Council members. It’s a simple forumla: The FAIR Committee handles all of the money matters, and money affects everything that interests the eight council members.
FAIR meetings have taken on greater importance now that the city is confronting its fund-balance problem and the budget season has begun.
So it was surprising that Friday’s meeting drew only one FAIR member, Chairman Bernard Alston, and two other council members, Mary Emma Evans and Elissa Yount — especially given that a discussion of the city’s “fund balance strategy” was on the agenda.
Perhaps the short notice of the meeting — less than 24 hours — was the problem. Perhaps Harriette Butler isn’t the only council member battling a cold.
Or maybe, just maybe, UNC’s 3 p.m. tipoff in the NCAA men’s basketball tournnament in Charlotte seemed like a slam-dunk for more excitement, if not more importance, than anything City Manager Eric Williams had to say at the same time.