Monday, January 25, 2010

WFAE Says Tonight's Vote Regarding The Marcus Jackson File May Not Even Matter

Tonight’s the big night for Charlotte City Council, CMPD and City Manager Curt Walton. Will city council vote to release the personnel file of former officer Marcus Jackson?

Well, as WFAE’s Lisa Miller reports today, it might not matter if council decides to make the file public. Sure, such a vote would put more pressure Walton, but he still has the final say. City Attorney Mac McCarley sent Lisa Miller the following e-mail last Friday:

If Council wants to authorize the release of file material after reviewing it, the Manager would have to reach the same conclusion before the issue could move forward. The statute requires the Manager to make a written finding that public confidence in the service requires releasing otherwise confidential material, and then the Council must concur. I don’t know Curt’s current thinking on this issue, but up until early this week, he was still of the opinion that release was not warranted.

If both the Manager and Council agreed to a release, it could probably happen sometime in the business day following Council action.

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