{"id":2139,"date":"2026-06-25T09:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T09:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=2139"},"modified":"2026-06-25T09:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T09:04:07","slug":"charlottes-last-interim-mayor-has-some-advice-for-the-next-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=2139","title":{"rendered":"Charlotte\u2019s last interim mayor has some advice for the next one"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dan Clodfelter didn\u2019t learn about Charlotte\u2019s next mayor until Wednesday, two days after the Charlotte City Council picked Robert Harrington to succeed Vi Lyles<\/a>. It\u2019s one of the perks of retirement \u2014 Clodfelter was unplugged in the mountains and heard about the appointment on the radio driving back to Charlotte.<\/p>\n

Read more NC Central\u2019s poor financial health won\u2019t improve overnight. What that looks like<\/a><\/p>\n

The news has brought some memories, of course. Clodfelter was Charlotte\u2019s last interim mayor, picked by the City Council in 2014<\/a> after Mayor Patrick Cannon resigned. It was a much different time, Clodfelter says, and the circumstances were dramatically different. Cannon resigned on the same March day he was arrested for accepting bribes from undercover FBI agents. The Council didn\u2019t use a formal selection process \u2014 they went to Clodfelter, a familiar and sturdy officeholder in Charlotte and the North Carolina Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy job was very, very different then,\u201d Clodfelter says. \u201cMy job was to calm things down and reassure everybody that things were going to be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another difference: Harrington will have Lyles to lean on and explain how things work and what relationships need to be tended to. Clodfelter\u2019s predecessor was \u2026 unavailable. Still, Clodfelter was a successful interim. He calmed and reassured, as he was supposed to. He dug into public policy \u2014 always his comfort zone \u2014 and he had the gravitas to command respect from Council members and Charlotte leaders. The only negative for some: Clodfelter ran for a full term despite initially saying he had no plans to do so. He lost in the Democratic primary to Jennifer Roberts.<\/p>\n

His tenure was, he says, \u201ca hell of a lot of fun.\u201d Does he have advice for Harrington? Sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know what to expect in the job,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat I learned was that the best part was not attending meetings but getting around town and connecting with folks.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe other thing I enjoyed is that you were constantly bombarded with people who want to talk to you about this interesting thing they\u2019re doing or interesting idea they have. It was tremendous fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the advice: \u201cI hope he focuses on that part of the job. That\u2019s where the value of the job really is. The Council is going to do what the Council wants to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if Harrington, too, decides that he likes the gig enough to pursue it full-time?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a more explicit restriction on him about not running \u2014 I didn\u2019t have that,\u201d Clodfelter says.<\/p>\n

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But, he says: \u201cIf he changes his mind, well, he changes his mind.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cMy job was very, very different then,\u201d Dan Clodfelter says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nCharlotte\u2019s last interim mayor has some advice for the next one - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=2139\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Charlotte\u2019s last interim mayor has some advice for the next one - \u0421harlotte Relocation Guide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cMy job was very, very different then,\u201d Dan Clodfelter says.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=2139\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0421harlotte Relocation Guide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-25T09:04:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=2139#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=2139\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8dbe691609d05fbc6dbaa5c440b54a93\"},\"headline\":\"Charlotte\u2019s last interim mayor has some advice for the next one\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-25T09:04:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=2139\"},\"wordCount\":478,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=2139#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/e25033f1ad60e1fc9b40962e32734b54.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Read today's Edition\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=2139#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=2139\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/charlotterelocationguide.com\\\/?p=2139\",\"name\":\"Charlotte\u2019s last interim mayor has some advice for the next one - 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