Town Leaders Concerned About Mooresville Mayor Controversy

MOORESVILLE, N.C.,None — Town leaders in Mooresville are concerned about future development in the town after recent controversial actions by the town's mayor.

Eyewitness News obtained three disks that are the source of some of the problems. The disks include all e-mails sent from Mayor Chris Montgomery's town e-mail account from July through December 2010. They include more than 1,400 e-mails, some intimate, to a woman who is not Montgomery's wife.

Then came news that Montgomery applied for a job with Langtree Group, which is currently developing a huge residential and commercial project. The company has millions of dollars tied up with the town. The developer alerted town leaders when it received Montgomery's application because of a conflict of interest.

"This is not a distraction we asked for," said Chris Carney, the Mayor Pro Tem.

He told Eyewitness News he hopes a lack of confidence in Montgomery does not affect future potential development, because leaders of major companies already moving to Mooresville are bringing up concerns regarding the mayor.

"Their question was, ‘Is this a distraction we need to be worrying about?'" Carney said.

Carney added that corporations are still expressing interest in relocating to Mooresville despite the recent events. (Click here to read an e-mail sent to commissioners from Carney.)

Neither the e-mails to the woman or the application to Langtree are illegal, but several aspects of Montgomery's leadership abilities have been criticized in e-mails from Mac Herring, a town commissioner. In one, he states, "the Board is essentially operating without you." (Click here to read the e-mail exchange between Herring and Montgomery.)

All this combined could call for action from the town board. State rules show an elected official has to commit a felony to be ousted from office. The board will now take up the issue of whether there are grounds to censure Montgomery. That would happen if commissioners found that Montgomery's actions constituted "conduct unbecoming to the position for which he was elected." If they do that at their next meeting on Feb. 7, Montgomery can choose to resign.

Mooresville residents said the issue needs to be addressed.

"He's supposed to be representing us and people are supposed to be looking up to him," Roxanne Kraemer said.

Montgomery sent Eyewitness News a statement about the controversy, which you can read by clicking here. The statement seems to acknowledge there have been problems, but says he does not plan on stepping down any time soon. "My plan of action is to move forward, continue to be a conduit between the town and government, and to remember my priorities," the statement says in part.

WSOC