Ousted county commissioner plans to skip remaining meetings

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James, R-District 6, has been a fixture for 22 years at the dais, but the ousted elected official said he will not attend his final two meetings.

Commissioners have meetings scheduled for Nov. 20 and on Dec. 3, which will be when newly elected commissioners will officially be sworn in.

“There is one left for the old board, and I elect to skip it,” James told Channel 9’s Joe Bruno in an email. “That is also not unusual and is completely at my discretion.”

[LINK: Election Results]

Earlier this week, Democrat Susan Rodriguez McDowell defeated James by more than 2,500 votes. District 6 stretches throughout southern Mecklenburg County from Pineville to Matthews.

James, who operates the Twitter handle “meckcommish,” blocked nearly everyone from his Twitter account and changed its setting to private after losing his bid for re-election.

James told Channel 9 he also did the same with his Facebook account.

[Republicans ousted as 'Blue Wave' sweeps across Meck County Commission]

“I didn’t block everyone, just deleted political and media followers as I convert to private life,” James said. “If I knew someone personally, I kept them. If I didn’t, I dropped them. I think that is a wholly appropriate standard for a private citizen.”

A spokesperson for Mecklenburg County said James is not violating any county rules for blocking people on Twitter. The spokesperson also told Channel 9 James already received his final paycheck from the county.

Despite his planned absences, James has not vacated his seat and Rodriguez McDowell will not be sworn in early.

Channel 9 also obtained an email James sent to County Manager Dena Diorio following his loss.

In the email, James informed Diorio he would not be attending the remaining meetings.

“Need help boxing and moving all the junk in my office (as I suspect others do.) Add my name plate from the dais to the pile,” he said in the email. “If the new board ends up awarding me the Order of the Hornet – I won’t be there – just mail it to me. Probably have some stuff to fill out at (human resources.) Will talk to them.”

In an additional email to Bruno, James said he has enjoyed serving for 22 years, but he did not address his former opponent.

Dan McCorkle, campaign manager for Susan Rodriguez McDowell, said James never called to concede or congratulate his future district representative.

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