The Fayetteville City Council met on Monday, January 27, 2025, at 6:30 PM in the Council Chamber. The meeting included a special recognition of retiring City Clerk Pamela McGill, a report from Police Chief Brayton on recent homicides, and the annual report from the Fayetteville-Cumberland Human Relations Commission. The council approved most items on the consent agenda, tabling two items for further discussion at the next work session.
The council approved the consent agenda with the following exceptions, which were tabled to the February 3, 2025 work session:
All other consent items were approved unanimously (9-0):
Police Chief Brayton reported eight homicides in the first 24 days of 2025. Seven of eight cases have been solved with warrants and arrests; in all cases, suspect and victim were known to each other. The incidents were classified as: two crimes of passion (no domestic history), two negligent firearm handling, two lifestyle-related, one mental health crisis, and one still under investigation. The chief emphasized these are not random acts and contrast with the retaliatory/gang violence seen in 2023. The department's clearance rate for homicides remains near 90%, exceeding national averages. Councilmember Benavente asked about contextualizing the uptick against overall crime reductions (10% decrease in 2024). The chief confirmed the department continues programs like Faith in Action, Phoenix Center partnerships, and gun safety education. Councilmember Davis confirmed no juveniles were involved. The mayor noted that negligent firearm handling (accidental shootings) is counted as homicide and stressed community responsibility for safe gun storage.
Chairwoman Donna Pelham presented the FY2024 annual report. Highlights included: a community conversation with Jane Elliott (anti-racism educator), the annual awards luncheon (February 13, 2025, with over 100 nominations), the Denim Day luncheon (April, sexual violence awareness), and the 2024 statewide human rights conference at Fayetteville Tech. The department investigated 13 cases (ADA, housing discrimination, other), assisted over 1,000 calls, and trained 35 local agencies. The commission contributed 1,259 hours of volunteered service (plus individual community work).
Council discussion included a debate about the commission's effectiveness and budget. Councilmember Benavente criticized the commission for being used as a
Who is joining us by phone? Councilmember, can you hear us? Councilmember Hare, can you hear us? Yes, sir. All right. Good good to hear you. All right, Council, with every meeting we start typically after the call to order with the invocation, we ask that we would please stand. Ask the Pastor Chris Covington of Country Club Drive Church of Christ. Come. I know got my brother in instead. So Pastor will get you to lead us. Yes, sir. Shall we pray? Mighty and merciful Father in heaven, we're grateful and thankful that you allowed us to be here tonight. We're thankful for everyone that has come out here, Father, with an interest in this community. We're praying tonight, Father, for the mayor. We're praying for the council that they will work together, Father, for the betterment of this community here. We're praying that their efforts will be fruitful, that they will be productive. We're praying, Father, that they will be united together as one as they have a vision for this community here. We pray uh, Father, that we as a people, as diverse as we are, different backgrounds and different places where we come from, Father, we pray that we will stand behind them, rally behind them and support them in this effort that we might make the city of Fayetteville a thriving community once again. And it is in the Jesus' name that we do humbly pray this prayer. Amen. Amen. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, individual with liberty and justice for us. Thank you for that. Uh Pastor, you want to give us a few words about you. I know you guys are doing some great work in the community over there at the church of Christ. You want to tell us a little bit about yourself and your ministry in the ministry. Uh yes, is it okay if I turn and face her? Yes, sir. Yeah, probably I'll say about three, four years ago, we had a vision to actually build a community center. Uh many of you know that during that time COVID came, the social distancing, many people didn't know what was going on, shutting down businesses, schools closing, even some church doors was closing. So people didn't think it was a wise decision, but we were trusting God in the process. And lo and behold, four years later, we got the center up, and we do have a strong commitment to the community, especially our youth. So there's a lot of things that we have going on there. We have showers in that community center. Uh we have partnered with the boys and girls club there. As a result of partnering with them, we were able to actually start a summer program. So we started it last year. Uh, and we uh actually got 54 kids uh last year. The parents were so excited about that, they loved it, and so we're looking forward to it again this year to have even more kids. We also have an open gym night on Wednesday nights where we bring the youth in off the streets, uh at risk kids, and they come in there and they play ball and things of that nature. So we just have quite a few things that are going on. God is really blessing that work there, and we're just looking to do greater things for the community of Fayetteville, and so that's our story. And uh, you know, he was a bit modest. Uh I actually had opportunity to go over there and to see it in action. And not only do they have a gymnasium where these kids are playing, they have a game room for kids who don't play, so it's full of computers. They have computers that they do their homework, they have classrooms, and they have a whole plethora of uh services. And so I just want to commend you all for what you're doing. They they stepped out on faith on their own dime and and uh we tried to marry them up with some of the city programs for for some of that, and I hope that's going well, so we'll check in with you.