WS Chronicle

Winston-Salem City Councilmember Barbara Hanes Burke has filed a lawsuit against fellow Concilmember Kevin Mundy for defamation. The lawsuit comes after Mundy sent an email to a member of the Ministers’ Conference of Winston-Salem and Vicinity (MCWSV) calling Burke a bully and accusing her of questionable practices, specifically around affordable housing.

Attached to Mundy’s email, which has been obtained by The Chronicle, are emails from two organizations, Housing Justice Now, and The Coalition for Accountability and Transparency. The emails were also sent to other members of the city council. In those emails both organizations wrote about a meeting held by Burke in October to discuss city-owned lots available for $1. 

The City of Winston-Salem owns several lots across the city that they sell to nonprofits and developers for $1 in exchange for the promise to build affordable housing. According to both organizations, during that meeting Burke let it be known that she had an agreement with the former city manager that all control over contractor selection and the sale of the $1 city-owned lots would flow through her Northeast Ward office. The two organizations also accuse Burke of encouraging her constituents to voice their grievances at City Hall. 

“Mrs. Burke argued that her prior arrangement with the former city manager had been disrupted and urged attendees at the meeting to sign a petition aimed to retain control of the process within her Northeast Ward office,” read the email from The Coalition for Accountability and Transparency. “At the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church’s pastor’s urging, many attendees signed the petition. Furthermore, residents were instructed to attend the next city council meeting to voice their grievances.”

In addition to using outside sources to support his claim, in his 1,700+ word email, Mundy also details Burke’s alleged push to derail a proposal that would have brought 50 affordable homes for approximately $150,000 to the city. Mundy said Burke’s requirements for affordable housing included things like a garage, brick or stone on the front of the house, a paved driveway and several other amenities that raised the cost to $250,000. 

Mundy wrote, “Barbara tried to quash the entire proposal. Behind closed doors she told the representatives of this effort that ‘they would never build the first home as long as she was on city council.’ She claimed their housing was “substandard” because it didn’t have all of her bells and whistles. And the back side of the house only had one window – a design that allowed the builder to put a staircase against that wall and bring the overall cost down. 

She managed to throw up enough roadblocks that the project went from 50 homes to only four.”

To further support his claim, Mundy said Burke has been looking to control affordable housing and the land acquisition process for some time. He wrote, “Barbara had been calling the shots before current City Manager Pat Pate came on board. Speaking honestly, she is a bully. She has bullied me on various issues, and she bullied former City Manager Lee Garrity until he basically let her do what she wanted unchecked.” 

He also mentioned that Burke had a “tremendous amount of influence” over former Assistant City Manager Patrice Toney, and she promised to make her the next city manager if she allowed her to have free range when it came to certain housing policies. 

Mundy said when Garrity retired, and she couldn’t deliver on her promise to Toney, Burke went to the Ministers’ Conference and accused other councilmembers of being racist. 

“Her hope was to apply enough social pressure on city council to rescind the job offer to Mr. Pate and promote Ms. Toney so she would have someone in that office over which she had influence,” Mundy wrote. “One of the facts she did not share was that one of the external candidates was a Black woman, and this person was a top pick for at least three of the white council members. Because our processes are soooo slow, however, by the time we asked her for an interview, she had already accepted a city manager position elsewhere in the state.”

Now, Mundy says Burke’s only focus is to get rid of Pate. He wrote, “Pat has stood up to her a number of times, held his ground, and enforced city and state policies. This is what we needed him to do. The Burke family does not like being told no, and this is retribution on Barbara’s part. It’s not fair to the other 260,000 people in the other seven wards or the other seven elected officials. They are not being represented when one person is given this much power and those in authority are complicit in allowing it to happen.” 

Mundy has said he sent the email because he is concerned about the misinformation Burke is sharing with the Ministers’ Conference and other organizations. 

“I am not trying to build a power base or make money off my position. I did not run for a second term on city council, so I’m not trying to get myself in the spotlight for re-election. I’m just concerned, like these other groups, about the direction CM Burke is trying to take and her misrepresentation to the Ministers’ Conference and other Black leadership groups,” Mundy wrote.”

To address the email, the Ministers’ Conference and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County NAACP branch held a press conference. Rev. Angela Brown assured the public that the Ministers’ Conference remains autonomy-free, and will not be swayed by any individual, church, or any other organization.  

Al Jabbar, president of the NAACP, demanded that Mundy apologize for his remarks about Burke. Jabbar said he thought the email from Mundy was distasteful and downright disrespectful, not only to Councilmember Burke and her family, but citizens in the Northeast Ward. 

“We come today not asking but demanding an apology from Councilmember Kevin Mundy,” Jabbar said. 

A few days after the press conference, Mundy was served with a lawsuit by Randy James, Burke’s attorney, that had been filed by Burke a day earlier with the Forsyth County Superior Court. 

The Chronicle has reached out to Councilmember Burke for comment but has not yet heard back. This is a developing story and will be updated at wschronicle.com.