Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles’ decision to stop attending almost all recent City Council zoning meetings and her sometimes awkward public speaking appearances have raised concern privately among many community leaders and other council members as to whether she will finish her fifth term, which ends in December 2027.
According to the city of Charlotte charter, the city’s mayor "shall" preside over all City Council meetings. But Lyles, who is 73, has only attended two monthly City Council zoning meetings since the end of 2024 — and those were to conduct other city-related business. One was to name a new replacement for former City Council member Tariq Bokhari.
Around two years ago, she started regularly leaving the zoning meetings early, and letting then-Mayor Pro Tem Dante Anderson finish them. More recently, she has turned over running the entire monthly zoning meeting to Republican council member Ed Driggs. Lyles hasn’t attended a zoning meeting since November.
The mayor still attends and presides over most regular weekly council meetings, though she often relies on City Manager Marcus Jones and others to help her navigate what can be a complex process of motions and votes. In Charlotte's manager-led governance system, the city manager runs the city's day-to-day operations, and the mayor only votes if the city council is tied on an issue.
In addition to the mayor stepping back from some of her official duties at the dais, council members, business and community leaders have told WFAE privately that the mayor struggles to communicate as well as she has in the past. WFAE spoke with a half-dozen people who expressed concern about the mayor and questioned whether she would complete her term; none would go on the record, either out of fear of crossing the mayor or because of the subject's delicacy.
WFAE asked Lyles directly about her health and whether she would finish her term at the Government Center on Monday, before the city manager's budget presentation. She at first said she would make that decision later.
"We will see. I will make a decision at some point," Lyles said. She declined to answer follow-up questions.
Lyles was then escorted away, first by her longtime assistant Kay Cunningham and then by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer who declined to allow attempts by a reporter at follow-up questions.
WFAE then asked a city of Charlotte spokesman for a statement Monday on whether the mayor planned to finish her term. The city has not responded as of Thursday morning, despite multiple follow-up attempts.
Less engaged
At a recent meeting in April, she appeared confused when calling the meeting to order.
“Good afternoon, everyone, good morning, and good afternoon, everyone, thank you for being here,” Lyles said. “Good evening. I think it’s evening, but you can never tell in this weather.”
At least three council members have said privately that Lyles is less engaged on key issues than she was in the past. Her top assistant, Kay Cunningham, now handles communications and negotiations with the council on some issues.
Lyles is the city’s second-longest serving mayor, after Pat McCrory. Previously, she worked in the city’s budget office for almost her entire career, rising to assistant city manager. She easily won reelection in November, getting more than 70% of the vote.
In that same election, Mecklenburg County voters approved a one-cent increase in the sales tax to pay for a multibillion-dollar transportation plan. It was a capstone achievement for Lyles, as she had championed and worked for years to realize the tax and transit plan.
She has also successfully pushed to increase the amount of money spent on affordable housing. And earlier this decade, she launched the Mayor’s Racial Equity Initiative, a $250 million public-private partnership designed to bolster Johnson C. Smith University and to bolster low-income areas of the city, among other things.
