Charlotte Mayor Rob Harrington on Monday vetoed a City Council decision to delay a vote on a new 10-year airport lease agreement with American Airlines and other carriers by a month.
The push to postpone the vote was spearheaded by council members who want to improve the working conditions of contract workers at CLT.
Harrington, a corporate attorney, was appointed mayor this summer after Vi Lyles stepped down.
On Monday, he made his first power play – vetoing a council decision to delay a final vote on the critical lease agreement until late November. It was one of the first times a Charlotte mayor had issued a veto since Anthony Foxx's tenure from 2009 to 2013.
“With some trepidation, I don’t think we have had significant discussion of the timeline,” Harrington told council members. “I’m very willing to entertain additional discussion of the timeline. I’m going to veto that motion.”
The push to delay the vote was led by council member Dimple Ajmera, who is an ally of the Service Employees International Union. The SEIU wants to improve the working conditions and pay of airport contract workers – though state lawmakers this year prohibited the city from doing just that.
Ajmera, JD Mazuera Arias, Kimberly Owens, Renee Johnson, Victoria Watlington and Joi Mayo voted for the delay.
Ed Driggs, Malcolm Graham, Dante Anderson, LaWana Mayfield and James Mitchell voted no.
Though the lease agreement will likely ultimately get full approval regardless of when the vote is held, Harrington didn’t want to wait another month. City Council will vote on the agreement in two weeks, which was the original timeline.
The airlines have agreed to a $2.1 billion capital program, which includes an expanded atrium and Concourse C. CLT also plans to build an underground tunnel to get passengers to the new C gates faster.
The airport said the lease will allow it to begin studying an expanded international concourse and an expansion of Concourse B.
