You Be the Judge

Reasonable People Disagree

Amanda Robertson and David Delaney

David Delaney, in his last regular Board of Commission meeting before resigning, accused three of his fellow commissioners of violating the North Carolina law. You can watch the the full, 15-minute exchange here.

The issue arose when the Executive Committee of the Chatham Democratic Party met to discuss whom they would nominate to succeed Delaney and fill out his term, which ends in December when the newly-elected Mike Roberson takes the seat for District Three.

In the April meeting with local Democrats, BoC Chair Amanda Robertson and member Katie Kenlan were physically present, and member Karen Howard joined virtually by phone or computer. Member Delaney joined after the meeting had started.

North Carolina’s open meeting law is codified in State Stature 143-318 Section 10 (d) states the following:

“Official meeting” means a meeting, assembly, or gathering together at any time or place or the simultaneous communication by conference telephone or other electronic means of a majority of the members of a public body for the purpose of conducting hearings, participating in deliberations, or voting upon or otherwise transacting the public business within the jurisdiction, real or apparent, of the public body.”

Rebecca Fisher-Gabbard, Assistant Professor of Public Law & Government at the UNC School of Government, said such a gathering is questionable.

“If a majority of the commissioners gathered together and did, in fact, discuss the vacancy and appointment of a board member (which, again, I cannot independently confirm), that would constitute the “transaction of public business,” she wrote to The Dispatch.

North Carolina’s closed session law (G.S. 143-318.11(a)(6)) explicitly states, among other things, that a board “may not consider or fill a vacancy among its own membership except in an open meeting.”

Pate McMichael, Director of the NC Open Government Coalition based at Elon University, agrees.

“If those are the facts (that a majority was in a meeting) without giving notice to the public (48 hours in advance), then it raises concerns,” he said. For him, the phrase ”simultaneous communication” and the subject matter is critical to defining it as an interest to the public.

Chair Robertson said in a heated exchange with Delaney in the May 18th Commissioner’s meeting that she consulted with County Attorney Emily Meeker of Poyner & Spruill after the April meeting, and assured Robertson she had not violated the law.

“We did not break the Open Meetings law, period,” said Robertson.

Commissioner Kenlan wrote to The Dispatch “that since there was no discussion, deliberation or decision-making taking place in that instance, we were not in violation of the law.”

In an email, Meeker wrote that it was her understanding (without being there herself) that the meeting was just about explaining the process.

“The four Commissioners did not conduct a hearing, did not deliberate, did not vote, and did not transact public business at this meeting. As a result, I concluded in my professional opinion that there was no violation of North Carolina’s open meetings law,” she wrote.

Sue Blalock, CCDP chair, wrote to The Dispatch that the Executive Committee decided to recommend Mike Roberson to fill the seat at a later meeting in May. Others have said there was more than one candidate.

Towards the end of the April meeting, Delaney said it was awkward when Blalock thanked him for his service.

“But I didn’t feel like, you know, I was in a position to be able to say anything because that would create a further problem under the Open Meetings law,” he said.

Delaney, himself a practicing attorney, attempted to put the issue on the May 18th agenda, but failed to get a second for his motion. Roberson attempted to move on with the meeting’s agenda, but Delaney persisted in voicing his concerns.

Robertson asked attorney Meeker what could be done if Delaney continued to disrupt the meeting, and Meeker said the Chair could have him physically removed by law enforcement. Delaney relented, and then wrote about it on Nextdoor.

It was not the first time Delaney clashed with the Board Chair over how commissioners should conduct themselves. He complained in 2024 that then-chair Mike Dasher was not revealing his board membership with Chatham County Partnership for Children when he was influencing how much grant money was being awarded to it by the county.

“And, uh, suffice to say that I was the only person who thought that there was a concern with how we as a board were handling that,” said Delaney.

However, now commissioners are required to fill out forms declaring any associations with non-profits before they award any grants at the beginning of the fiscal year.

Over the course of his three and a half year tenure, Delaney often attempted to broach topics for discussion in board meetings but failed to get the votes of a three-person majority necessary to get on the agenda. The board adopted the 3-person rule to cut down on “irrelevant issues,” said Karen Howard at the January 2026 meeting.

For instance, at one meeting Delaney wanted to talk about appointing a racially and ethnically diverse mix of people to county boards - a stated priority - because his fellow board members were nominating mostly White Democrats. Then-Chair Howard said such a discussion was unnecessary, and by the way, she was African-American in case Delaney hadn’t noticed.

Delaney also sympathized with Republicans who didn’t have a voice in local politics. He attempted to place a Republican, Terri Tyson, on the Recreation Advisory Committee on May 5, 2025 but failed to get enough votes from fellow commissioners.

Several people with first hand knowledge said on background that Delaney also complained about the legal advice given to the board by its attorney at the time, Bob Hegemann, to the point that inspired Hegemann to resign from the board, and recommend Meeker, who is at the same firm.

“I think we have very low standards for ourselves for what it means to be a legislative body. But if we start shifting that, we can do a lot better,’ said Delaney.

Commentary

There are no lawyers on staff at The Chatham Dispatch, but I am an expert at acting without thinking, and then trying to bullshit my way out of the consequences. Legal or not, the appearance of four commissioners in a meeting that was clearly the public’s business is a bad look, and makes the public wonder what else is going on - even if the reality is nothing. You can’t convince me the mere presence of four commissioners - talking or not - affected the deliberations if only to reinforce private conversations they may have had with stakeholders before the meeting. Two of them should have left the meeting, but I suspect their interest in the outcome was paramount.