May 27, 2025

Kristine Smith writes history. The history of Mecklenburg County government, one meeting at a time.

The Clerk to the Board of County Commissioners, in her summary minutes of open and closed commissioner meetings, says she knows that county residents not only want to know who voted how, but what commissioners thought about the issue coming before them. The rules of the road for clerks in every North Carolina county are written by the General Assembly.

Much of Smith’s presentation dealt with government mechanics. But when she mentioned that in the next few weeks commissioners would be voting on funding for one-time grants and expenditures, ears perked up among Forum participants who operate nonprofits. Her discussion made clear that while there are many ways that such fund balance expenditures to gather five votes, the clearest way is by finding on the board a commissioner who will advocate for the project when the voting begins.

Smith gave a heartfelt answer that many youth might benefit from hearing, when asked why she loves a job that some might find boring or unimportant.

Below the morning’s video are Clerk Smith’s presentation slides. But first are eight pages of handouts describing the county’s advisory committees, and then details on two of those committees that have the largest number of vacancies. The presentation slides may also be downloaded as a PDF here.

Contact info for the Clerk and her staff are at the bottom of this file.