Letter to the Editor: Closed City Council Dinner Meetings Violate NC Laws for Open Meetings

The recent CityView article exposing Fayetteville’s “dinner meetings” should trouble every citizen who values transparency and lawful governance. What is described is not simply an informal gathering over food—it is a parallel system of government operating in a locked, upstairs room where major public business is discussed, shaped, and in some cases effectively decided before the public ever enters the first-floor council chambers.
That is not how open government works in North Carolina.
When the entire City Council meets at 5:30 p.m., behind a badge-lock door, with a staff escort required for entry, in a cramped room that can barely seat eight citizens, they are not hosting a “casual dinner.” They are holding an official meeting under North Carolina General Statutes 143-318.9–318.18.
The law is unambiguous:
If a majority of members gather to deliberate public business, the public has the right to attend, observe, and understand the
decision-making process.
Yet these dinner sessions routinely involve:
• Deliberations on developer contracts and litigation decisions,
• Strategy discussions before televised council meetings,
• According to former and current members, informal voting.
This practice circumvents both the spirit and the letter of the Open Meetings Law. Accessibility is not satisfied by posting a notice while placing the meeting in a locked, inaccessible location. A council member even acknowledged that the structure is designed to “make it not as easy” for the public to attend—an admission that should alarm anyone familiar with the statutory prohibition on meetings held to evade public scrutiny.
Equally concerning is the absence of written agendas, the destruction of audio recordings after minimal minutes are approved, and the use of a meeting format that no comparable municipality in North Carolina employs. When the public must guess what happened upstairs while watching a scripted performance downstairs, trust in government is not just eroded—it is actively undermined.
This is not about politics. It is about governance, law, and the public’s right to know.
If Fayetteville wants to restore confidence in City Hall, the first step is straightforward:
Move the dinner meetings to the first-floor chamber, publish agendas, livestream the proceedings, and treat them as the official meetings they clearly are.
North Carolina provides numerous resources and training opportunities precisely so that local governments avoid these pitfalls. Fayetteville’s leadership should immediately engage with:
• The North Carolina Open Government Coalition (Elon University)
• The North Carolina Press Association’s Open Meetings resources
• The Attorney General’s Open Government Unit
These organizations exist to ensure public bodies operate transparently and in full compliance with state law. The fact that Fayetteville’s dinner meetings resemble none of the best practices recommended by any of them speaks volumes.
This city deserves better. Transparency is not a campaign slogan—it is a legal duty.
Respectfully,
—Darden Jenkins, Fayetteville