Charlotte City Council absences are rising. Which leaders are showing up?

Absences among city leaders have more than doubled at Charlotte council meetings over the past decade, according to city records.

The Charlotte Observer analyzed meeting minutes and video recordings for 79 business, zoning, special, strategy and budget meetings since the current term began in December 2023. Committee discussions were also included since they involve the full council, but individual committee meetings were not because the mayor and mayor pro tem are not assigned to committees. The Observer also looked at minutes for the previous four terms.

There have only been three meetings this term when all 11 council members and the mayor were present and on time, according to the city’s minutes.

District 7 Councilman Ed Driggs, who has one of the strongest attendance records, said people need to cut council members some slack. It’s a demanding role that is balanced against outside responsibilities. But leaders should take their commitment seriously, he said, and that means showing up.

“My bottom line is, if you’re not at the meeting, it better be for a good reason,” Driggs said.

Here is a breakdown of how often Charlotte City Council members and the mayor attended, according to records. These numbers, which are expressed as a percentage of the total meetings held, do not reflect late arrivals or early departures:

• Marjorie Molina, District 5: 97.47%
• Ed Driggs, District 7: 94.94%
• LaWana Mayfield, at-large: 93.67%
• Tariq Bokhari, District 6: 90.48%
• Dante Anderson, District 1: 89.87%
• Malcolm Graham, District 2: 88.61%
• Renee Johnson, District 4: 87.34%
• Tiawana Brown, District 3: 86.08%
• Vi Lyles, mayor: 82.28%
• Dimple Ajmera, at-large: 81.01%
• Victoria Watlington, at-large: 78.48%
• James “Smuggie” Mitchell, at-large: 67.09%

All incumbents are seeking reelection this year except Bokhari, who stepped down in April to accept a position in the Trump administration. Council appointed Edwin Peacock to finish out Bokhari’s term.

Peacock, who is seeking election to an at-large seat this fall, was excluded from this analysis because there have only been nine meetings since he took office. He has missed one meeting so far.

Who attends the fewest meetings on Charlotte City Council?

Attendance habits are no secret among council members.

In a July 29 email addressed to Lyles and sent to the full council, Graham voiced concern over “frequent delays” that pushed meetings past their scheduled start times because not enough members were present. Meetings cannot begin without a majority.

Members also depart early, which he said can leave less than half of council present by the time meetings adjourn.

“Even when topics that members personally advance, like the vote for an outside attorney, they don’t show up,” Graham said in his email. “Members of the public, media, and staff consistently arrive on time, and it reflects poorly on the council when we do not.”

Mitchell has maintained the worst attendance record dating back to at least 2015. He resigned partway through his term in 2021 but was back to campaigning by the next year. The current term marks his highest absence rate yet: He’s missed one-third of the meetings, left a dozen early and shown up late to more than a dozen others — sometimes arriving well over an hour into the proceedings.

Mitchell attributed his uptick in absences to “doctor’s orders.” Procedures in March and April kept him away for an extended period.

If those two months were omitted from the calculations, Mitchell would still be absent about 30% of the time, according to city records. Regardless, Mitchell said his attendance has never been an issue with his constituents who have consistently reelected him.

He answers their calls, attends community events and gets things done on their behalf even if he isn’t voting on every issue, Mitchell said.

“I do think it’s important, but at the end of the day, the citizens judge us about the results we get,” Mitchell said. “The results, I say, outweigh the meetings. I do think people understand that we have to work another job.”

There’s an 11% jump in attendance rate between Mitchell and Watlington, who has the second-most absences. She’s followed by Ajmera and Lyles, respectively. Their records all hover around 80%.

In his email, Graham highlighted that Lyles’ “participation has been limited and her absence felt” during zoning meetings.

Lyles has attended less than half of the 18 zoning meetings. Former Mayor Jennifer Roberts, Lyles’ predecessor, attended all but two zoning meetings during her term.

The city’s video recordings show Lyles almost always leaves before the meeting is over when she does attend. She’s attended just one zoning meeting this term from start to finish, recordings show.

Lyles says her absences are strategic: She delegated zoning to Anderson, the mayor pro tem, so she can gain experience facilitating meetings. The mayor pro tem can only lead meetings when the mayor is absent.

Lyles discusses meetings with city leaders in advance to determine whether her presence is needed, she said. The mayor cannot vote except in cases of a tie.

“It is the responsibility of other people to come to those zoning meetings and participate in development that is happening in our city,” Lyles said. “My position is that if I am needed, I will be there. But if I am not needed, I have a wonderful opportunity to continue to do things that I do in time with my office.”

Molina, Driggs, Mayfield and Bokhari are the only four council members who have attended more than 90% of meetings. Anderson fell just shy of that mark.

How does current council compare?

Eight years ago, all but two council members maintained a 90% attendance level. Absences have steadily increased over that time with the exception of a temporary drop during the early days of the pandemic, which saw three months of perfect attendance.

Council members and the mayor missed an average of 13.7% of meetings during the current term, up from 6.3%. And while everybody was present for about 24% of meetings this term, the full council was present more than 40% of the time during the 2015-17 term.

“We have to make a conscious decision to be present. You’re going to miss some meetings,” Mayfield said. “It’s one thing to miss a few meetings. It is a very different conversation where, if you’ve missed more than a quarter of the meetings, then I would ask the question of, how effective are you?”

Absences on Charlotte council don’t show the whole picture

Meeting minutes do not track when officials leave early. And while records note late arrivals, the city’s methodology is inconsistent. Council members are sometimes, but not always, marked late for arriving just a couple minutes after a meeting begins.

There were still clear trends in late arrival data.

Molina has the fewest absences, but she also arrived late to more than one in three meetings, records show.

Brown is a close second — also arriving late to more than one-third of meetings. Those numbers are at least twice as high as the council average, though exact rates are hard to pin down.

On the other end of the spectrum, Graham and Lyles were the most punctual, with one late arrival each. Mayfield, Driggs and Anderson are just behind them, with only a small handful of late arrivals.

“We all have other responsibilities, but this is one we kind of signed up for,” Graham told the Observer. “Part of being an effective and efficient council member is showing up and being there, and being prepared once you walk in the room.”

Charlotte leaders respond to attendance data

At-large candidate Namrata Yadav took note of the repeated absences and incorporated the issue into her platform. If elected, she wants to create an online accountability dashboard that would display member attendance to the public and track other key decisions for voters.

Yadav’s team pulled 2025 attendance data and published their findings on social media in August. With so few people on council, every vote matters, Yadav said. A single absence can sway the outcome of important decisions.

Council members offered a softer analysis of their imperfect records.

Mayfield and Driggs share the most consistent attendance, and that’s in part to their life circumstances, they said. Mayfield does not need a full-time job, and Driggs is retired. That gives them more time on their hands than some of their colleagues who might juggle 40-hour work weeks and the needs of their young children, they said.

Adopting a tough attendance standard could limit the people who run and cost the city strong leaders, Driggs said.

Molina has only missed two meetings this term. That means she doesn’t get to go on vacations or take three-day weekends, she said. She plans her life schedule around city council.

But life happens.

Molina has two kids who go to schools on different sides of town, she said. Sometimes meetings spring up that she hadn’t planned for, and sometimes work responsibilities run long.

“For everyone, no matter what they do for a living, things will happen. Things will come up, and they will have to be absent,” Molina said.

Brown said there is room for improvement where attendance is concerned. She’s noticed some of her colleagues “don’t come to regular meetings” and “there’s always someone absent.” But council pays part-time wages for full-time responsibilities, she said. That’s a sentiment shared by several council members.

Explaining her own late arrivals, Brown said she balances a full-time consulting job, leading a nonprofit organization, a part-time job for American Airlines and side gigs driving for Uber and Lyft.

Still, Driggs recalled an occasion where he suffered a serious leg injury but shown up to a meeting the next day, leg throbbing. He’s showed up with seasonal illnesses, too, he said.

“I really don’t like to miss a meeting,” Driggs said. “I’m not sure that other people have quite as high a bar as that.”

Nick Sullivan

The Charlotte Observer

Nick Sullivan covers city government for The Charlotte Observer. He studied journalism at the University of South Carolina, and he previously covered education for The Arizona Republic and The Colorado Springs Gazette.