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Mecklenburg County commissioners’ meeting attendance is outpacing their Charlotte City Council counterparts at the same point in their last election cycle.
Most incumbents on the Board of County Commissioners are running for reelection this year. While some are doing better than others when it comes to attendance, the group is averaging a total attendance rate of more than 90%.
The Observer looked at board meetings held since the beginning of 2025 to determine who was missing the most meetings. While no commissioners had perfect attendance, none had an attendance rate of less than 80% during the time period, the Observer’s analysis found. And five of nine commissioners had an attendance rate of 90% or more.
All but three current commissioners will be on the ballot seeking another term in November.
District 6 representative Susan Rodriguez-McDowell, who leads incumbents in attendance, said it’s a key part of an elected official’s commitment to their job.
“Unless everyone is showing up, it’s really hard to get things done,” she said.
Mecklenburg County commission attendance rates
The Observer examined in-person attendance at 75 meetings held from January 2025 to July 2026, including regular meetings, board retreats, budget meetings and special meetings. Attendance was determined based on official meeting minutes, or video recordings of meetings without minutes available.
Rodriguez-McDowell missed just one meeting in that period, for an attendance rate of 98.7%.
At the other end of the list was District 3 Commissioner George Dunlap, who missed 11 meetings in 2025 and has missed 3 additional meetings so far in 2026. That pushed his attendance rate down to 81.3%.
Asked about his attendance at full board meetings, Dunlap noted that he also serves on multiple commission committees and in leadership of other civic organizations and boards, including the National Association of Counties, North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, N.C. Sheriff’s Association and University City Partners.
“Even with this, I still manage to attend neighborhood meetings and events when invited. On occasion, meetings conflict with one another and I decide where Mecklenburg County’s representation is needed most,” Dunlap said in an email.
Some commissioners’ attendance numbers varied greatly from 2025 to 2026.
District 2 Commissioner Vilma Leake, who lost a Democratic primary in March, missed seven meetings in 2025 but has perfect attendance so far in 2026. Combined, that means she’s attended 90.7% of meetings since the start of 2025.
At-large Commissioner Yvette Townsend-Ingram attended all but one meeting in 2025, but she’s missed nine meetings so far in 2026. She attended one of the meetings she missed virtually. Most of her 2026 absences coincide with when Townsend-Ingram announced she’d undergone open-heart surgery. Altogether, she has an attendance rate of 86.7%.
Below is a breakdown of how often county commissioners attended meetings in person since January 2025. The numbers, expressed as a percentage of total meetings held, do not reflect late arrivals or early departures:
- Susan Rodriguez-McDowell: 1 absence, 98.7% attendance rate
- Mark Jerrell: 4 absences, 94.7% attendance rate
- Arthur Griffin: 4 absences, 94.7% attendance rate
- Laura Meier: 5 absences, 93.3% attendance rate
- Vilma Leake: 7 absences, 90.7% attendance rate
- Elaine Powell: 8 absences, 89.3% attendance rate
- Leigh Altman: 9 absences, 88% attendance rate
- Yvette Townsend-Ingram: 10 absences, 86.7% attendance rate
- George Dunlap: 14 absences, 81.3% attendance rate
In addition to Leake losing her primary, Meier and Powell previously announced they weren’t running for reelection this year. The other six incumbents advanced to the November general election in their quests for another term.
How does Mecklenburg County Commission attendance compare to Charlotte City Council?
Mecklenburg County commissioners’ average attendance is slightly better than that of their Charlotte City Council counterparts at the same point in their last election cycle.
The City Council’s attendance rate was 86.4% about 18 months into the council’s last full two-year term, the Observer reported previously, to the county’s 90.8%.
While no county commissioners attendance rate dipped below 80%, two City Council members had attendance rates in the seventies.
‘You really need full participation’
Good attendance is essential to accomplishing commissioners’ goals, Rodriguez-McDowell said.
“You really need full participation from people,” she said.
It’s important for residents to understand that commissioners are also showing up outside of full meetings of the board, Rodriguez-McDowell added. They also attend committee meetings, community gatherings and political party events.
“It’s a big deal to try to show people that government is actually working for them and engaged,” she said.
Rodriguez-McDowell said her own high attendance is due in part to the fact that, unlike some of her fellow commissioners, she doesn’t have another job or young children.
“I’m just really fortunate that I’m at a stage where I’m able to focus on this and kind of give it everything,” she said.
