$1 kept settlement with CMPD chief’s husband out of Charlotte council’s hands
A state investigation found that the city of Charlotte’s settlement with Lance Patterson — paid days before his wife became police chief — circumvented city council approval by one dollar.
Patterson, a former Charlotte Fire Department battalion chief, had a pending, seven-year-old lawsuit alleging racial discrimination against the city until the week before his wife, Estella Patterson, became chief of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in October. N.C. State Auditor Dave Boliek on Thursday released his findings and said his investigation was “prompted by media coverage and public inquiries about the timing and approval of this settlement.”
Boliek said his office did not find any issues “with respect to transparency or the funding sources or approval process of the Patterson settlement.” He noted, though, that the $99,999 settlement was a dollar short of needing council approval. Per city rules, any settlement less than $100,000 can be approved by City Manager Marcus Jones. Anything more must go to council.
The report also noted that the payment was divvied into a $59,999 sum for Patterson’s attorneys and $40,000 for Patterson.
The Charlotte Observer previously reported the city once offered to pay Lance Patterson $180,000 if he dismissed his case, and he accepted. But the case continued in federal and appellate courts when there was a disagreement about those calculations.
Charlotte spent $1M fighting and settling with Black firefighters
In his Thursday report, Boliek said the city should publish all the settlement-related information it can in a timely manner. That’s something the city has struggled to do.
An Observer investigation last month found that the city spent more than $1 million in mostly taxpayer funds fighting and eventually settling with Patterson and other Black firefighters who accused the department of racial discrimination, retaliation and snubbed promotions.
To report the city’s spending, the Observer made a public records request for invoices it paid to law firms. City officials initially failed to provide those records, instead giving only a tally of dollar amounts. It later sent 80 bills after the Observer’s attorney, Benjamin Leighton, sent a letter arguing the invoices are public documents.
Charlotte’s secret settlement with former Police Chief Johnny Jennings in May 2025 prompted another review from Boliek. In Jennings’ case, the council approved a $305,000 settlement to squash a potential lawsuit about threatening texts from a former council member, WFAE reported.
The city went weeks without disclosing the settlement.
After Boliek’s investigation, the city promised to release information about its settlements “within a reasonable time.”
