Three of the five black City Council members said Thursday they intend to meet with incoming Council President Bill Bishop next week about the lack of minority representation in his appointed Council leadership positions for the coming year.
They intend to ask him to adjust his appointments.
A public meeting notice was issued Thursday afternoon that Council members Denise Lee, Warren Jones and Kimberly Daniels will meet with Bishop at 1 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.
Bishop, said Thursday afternoon that he looked for the best candidates for the leadership roles of the five standing committees.
“I don’t run a quota system,” said Bishop.
Council members Daniels, Jones, Lee and Johnny Gaffney met Thursday at City Hall to discuss the appointments.
Council member Reggie Brown did not attend and did not return a call seeking comment.
Bishop, who did not attend, did not appoint any of the black Council members to head any of the five standing committees: Rules; Finance; Transportation, Energy and Utilities; Land Use and Zoning; and Recreation, Community Development, Public Health and Safety. Bishop’s assistant Suzanne Warren attended the meeting.
Gaffney was the only minority leadership appointment as vice chair of Recreation, Community Development, Public Health and Safety.
Lee and Jones discussed calls they have received about minority representation on Council committees.
“It has come to our attention that there are concerns about diversity on City Council and how that diversity is utilized,” said Jones, the most recent black Council president. He was elected to the position during a previous term, serving two years as president in 1991 and 1992.
“As Mr. Jones stated, not to have one black member out of five black members as a chair of a committee does not sit well with us,” Lee said.
Bishop appointed Clay Yarborough to chair Rules; John Crescimbeni to chair Finance, Greg Anderson to chair Transportation, Energy and Utilities; Lori Boyer to chair Land Use and Zoning; and Doyle Carter to chair Recreation, Community Development, Public Health and Safety. All are white.
At the meeting, Lee said she didn’t expect to be appointed to any leadership roles on the standing committees for the coming year.
She was not appointed to lead any of the standing committees this year by Council President Stephen Joost.
Daniels, Jones and Lee plan to meet with Bishop next week to discuss the committee assignments and ask him to adjust the selections for better minority representation.
Bishop indicated that he would be available to meet Tuesday.
“I will listen,” said Bishop.
“We should be able to disagree and not hold grudges because it renders you ineffective,” Lee said at the meeting.
Bishop said he did not receive interest from Lee, Jones or Daniels to serve as chair or vice chair for any of the standing committees.
The meeting Thursday also was attended by James Nealis, executive assistant to Anderson and Boyer; BeLinda Peeples, executive assistant to Yarborough; Sonja Johnson, executive assistant to Richard Clark; Stan Johnson, executive assistant to Bill Gulliford; Scott Wilson, executive assistant to Don Redman; and Rebekah Hagan, executive assistant to Carter.
356-2466