Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and the majority of the Charlotte City Council voted last week to “end” the employment of the city attorney, Patrick Baker, according to a memo obtained by WFAE and people familiar with the matter.
The memo does not disclose the reason for Lyles’ and the council’s decision to end its relationship with Baker, who has worked for the city since 2019.
But multiple City Council members who were part of the discussions said one contributing factor was Baker’s decision this spring to facilitate a public records request from WFAE about the city’s proposed transportation plan. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential personnel matter.
WFAE had requested the draft legislation for a proposed transit authority and a new one-cent sales tax. Under the state’s public records laws, draft documents are public records.
The city refused to release the document. After weeks of delays, Baker then sent WFAE a copy of the bill in order to comply with state law.
During Baker’s performance review in closed session earlier this month, Mayor Pro Tem Dante Anderson told Baker that he had “leaked” the document, according to four people who were part of the discussion.
The release of a public document is not a leak — it’s required under state law.
Other council members complained that Baker had not told them and City Manager Marcus Jones about sending the document to WFAE.
Under City Manager Marcus Jones’ tenure, the city has been slow to fulfill public records requests. A memo from City Clerk Stephanie Kelly from early October shows the city has 415 outstanding records requests from 2024; 411 outstanding requests from 2023; 396 outstanding requests from 2022 and 350 unfulfilled requests from 2021.
There are some outstanding requests dating back to last decade.
Baker declined to comment to WFAE about his future with the city. Lyles also declined to comment, citing confidentiality around personnel issues.
Council members also discussed in closed session Baker’s role in representing the city in a complicated negotiation with the Charlotte Hornets over hundreds of millions of dollars in publicly funded improvements to the city-owned Spectrum Center.
The city is hiring attorney Anthony Fox to handle its negotiations about Baker’s severance, according to the document. (Fox, who works at Parker Poe, is not the same person as the city’s former mayor, Anthony Foxx, also an attorney.)
The city has laid out two options for Baker’s future, according to the memo. He can retire in eight months on or before June 2025, the end of the fiscal year. That would allow him to “communicate (his) separation as a voluntary retirement.”
The other option is that he would be able to “access a lump sum payment per (an) employment agreement.” That would “follow written notice of the Council’s decision regarding your separation of employment.”
Lyles and at least six council members voted to move forward with the plan. The vote is not public and won’t become public because it was about a personnel matter in closed session.
They have not taken a formal vote to terminate Baker, but that could happen if the two sides do not reach a financial agreement.
A memo from Lyles said if council members have questions they should direct those to her, Anderson or council member Ed Driggs, one of two Republicans on the council. Driggs chairs the council’s transportation committee and has become a close ally of the mayor in the last two years.
