Marriage of mayor, city manager puts some town leaders on edge

CRAMERTON, N.C. -- The mayor and the town manager plan an unusual mixing of the branches of municipal government.

Mayor Cathy Biles and Town Manager David Young are scheduled to marry Oct. 1, and not all of the town's leaders are happy about it.

"I'm not saying they need my permission, but there's definitely a line of do's and don'ts in the business world and they have crossed it," said Commissioner Ronnie Murphy.

Other commissioners say they don't worry about whether the marriage will influence town business.

"Both of those parties do a great job," said Commissioner Jacque Sumner. "From a personal perspective I wish them luck."

Several commissioners have asked Town Attorney Bill Brown for his opinion on the marriage. Sumner also wants a written opinion from the North Carolina Institute of Government.

"My informal opinion is that I don't think it's a direct or indirect conflict," Brown said. "It's a manager-council form of government so the manager runs the day-to-day operations and he reports to the board of which the mayor's not a voting member."

In Cramerton, the mayor votes only to break ties or when commissioners are absent and she's needed to make a quorum. Biles said she has voted twice in the seven years she has been mayor.