Mooresville Mayor Chris Carney, rebuked over pantless claims, surfaces in Italy
Mooresville Mayor Chris Carney, still under pressure over claims of being pantless at Town Hall with a woman present, previously said he’d consider leaving office after the Board of Commissioners approved the fiscal 2027 town budget.
While the board passed the budget on June 22, the mayor has been mum as to his political future. And he was a no-show at Monday’s special board meeting where commissioners reviewed items up for votes at their July 6 regular meeting.
Commissioner and mayor pro tem Eddie Dingler ran the meeting. Asked by The Charlotte Observer after the meeting where the mayor was, Dingler said he’d received a text from Carney saying only that he wouldn’t be there.
He was in Italy, vacationing with is son, Carney told the Observer in a text later Monday. He included two photos of serene Italian waters, and said, “This is why I debate retirement.”
He said he’ll be home on Friday, July 3, and will run Monday’s Town Board meeting.
He declined to say if or when he’ll resign.
The mayor won reelection in November and is in his second two-year term. In an interview with the Observer last August, he said if he won, his latest term would be his last. He more recently said he was considering leaving his term early to give the person appointed in his place months of experience before the next election.
“No confidence” vote
In April, commissioners voted 4-2 in favor of a resolution expressing “no confidence” in Carney and requested that he resign.
“Public confidence has been shattered,” commissioner Dana Tucker said before making the motion before a packed audience at Town Hall, which broke out in applause after the vote.
Carney told the Observer at the time that he did not plan to resign.
Faith in town leadership continued to erode since Carney’s late-night visit into Town Hall with a woman on Oct. 10, 2024, and lawsuits by former town employees who said they were forced out for raising concerns about the mayor’s actions, commissioners who voted for the measures said.
This story was originally published June 30, 2026 at 4:06 PM.