Graham council removes $1,500 mayor trip funding; Jane Albright donates

The Graham City Council voted 3–2 on March 5 to strike a $1,500 budget allocation that had been intended to fund Mayor Chelsea Dickey’s trip to a North Carolina Main Street program conference in New Bern, and city manager Megan Garner later confirmed a local donor covered the cost. Councilman Bobby Chin singled the line item out from the consent agenda and moved to approve all other allocations except the $1,500; the motion passed with Chin, Bonnie Whitaker and Ricky Hall voting to delete the funding while Dickey and Councilman Jim Young opposed.

The $1,500 allocation had been on the council’s consent agenda, described in reporting as “a list of putatively non-controversial items,” and the single-out procedure allowed the council to take the trip funding to a separate vote. Chin’s targeted motion was recorded as approving the consent package minus the mayor’s New Bern trip, a procedural move that produced the 3–2 result.

The New Bern event is sponsored by the North Carolina Main Street program, which the reporting preserved as describing its work as “downtown strategic economic development planning and project-specific technical assistance to communities in the Main Street program.” The program also is framed in source material as building “local capacity for downtown revitalization, small business development, and rehabilitation of historic properties.” The $1,500 figure is the only specific travel cost cited in council materials and local reporting.

After the council deleted the allocation, Mayor Dickey related that an “anonymous donor,” who appreciated her desire to attend, had made a $1,500 donation to the city in order to finance Dickey’s trip. City Manager Megan Garner later confirmed the $1,500 donation and identified the donor as Jane Albright, owner of the Things Above bookstore on Court Square in Graham. Garner said the matter is likely to return to the council for formal action, stating that “the item would likely recur on the city council’s March 10 agenda as a budget amendment, subject to council approval.”

City records and reporting do not yet show whether the city has completed formal acceptance paperwork for Albright’s donation, and there are no public statements on record from Jane Albright or from the three council members who voted to delete the allocation explaining their votes. The March 10 agenda appearance, if scheduled as Garner indicated, would require a council vote to approve a budget amendment restoring the $1,500 for the mayor’s attendance at the Main Street conference.

For further local coverage or questions about council procedure, the office listed in reporting is Alamance News, 114 West Elm Street, Graham, NC 27253, phone 336.228.7851.