A lawsuit filed by former IT employee Jeff Noble in January 2026 alleges that Mayor Chris Carney was caught ushering local journalist Jaime Gatton into the town hall building in October 2024. Noble spotted Carney and Gatton together after noticing the mayor swiped his ID to access the building at odd hours, and the lawsuit claims Carney was wandering the hallways without pants on. Under North Carolina state law, Carney can technically stay in office because there is no statutory mechanism to remove a mayor.
Commissioner Dana Tucker said the board can take further actions to communicate they stand behind the resolution requesting Carney's resignation. Tucker created a presentation about ways he believes Carney went against the board's ethics, which prompted the no confidence vote. Three lawsuits arose from former employees claiming they were fired after raising concerns about the town hall incident.
There are things, further actions that the board can take to continue to communicate to him that we stand behind the resolution, but I don't feel like it's appropriate to comment on what those actions are at this time.
Mayor Chris Carney said the board hired a complete independent group to look into the allegations, and a report says it just never happened.