As the city of Charlotte was negotiating a multimillion-dollar deal to help build a new practice facility for the Charlotte Hornets, attorneys for the city had deep reservations about how economic development director Tracy Dodson was handling the talks.
They wrote in internal emails that they thought Dodson was misrepresenting the terms of the deal to City Council, and touting benefits to taxpayers that weren’t true. One attorney was concerned that Dodson was too close to the basketball team and was “taking dictation from the Hornets.”
The emails were obtained by WFAE through a public records request.
In an interview, Dodson said she was “shocked” by how attorneys had characterized the negotiations. She said she did not mislead City Council and that the attorney’s office was overstepping its role as legal advisors and acting as negotiators.
“This all will be useful if the wheels fall off’
The dissension began when the Hornets changed their plans for a stand-alone practice center.
The initial plan from 2022 was for the team to build the courts and training center inside a new mixed-use tower atop the main bus station, which is across the street from the Spectrum Center. The bus station would move underground.
But the Hornets decided instead to build the practice facility on a city-owned gravel lot a block away.
The new agreement was more complicated, in part because the city was no longer counting on Dodson’s plan to use $60 million from the sale of corporate sponsorships to fund Charlotte’s share of the new building.
In early 2024, former Senior Assistant City Attorney Adam Jones wrote in an email to his colleagues that he believed Dodson was using her private email account to communicate with the Hornets.
“I assume she feels that this will help insulate her conversations against public records requests or discovery,” Jones wrote. “In my opinion, we should require that every g- - - - - - - email she has exchanged with the Hornets on this email account be printed and given to Council.”
Under North Carolina's public records law, emails and other documents created by government employees about economic development deals are public once negotiations are completed. Government business sent on a personal email account is also considered a public record, though it can be more difficult — if not impossible — to get those emails. Such private messages can’t be searched for by city employees, for instance.
Dodson said she didn’t do that. She said she may have received one email to her personal account, but she then forwarded it to her official city email account.
In the same email, Jones wrote that a sports consultant hired by Dodson was taking comments from the Hornets, and then telling the city attorney's office to make their requested changes.
He wrote that totally refutes “what Tracy said about the fact that we just want everyone to have an opportunity to be on the same page.”
He added: “We are taking dictation from the Hornets.”
He said it was important to document the problems in writing in case the deal with the Hornets failed.
“This is all information that will be useful if the wheels fall off,” he wrote.
Jones is now the attorney for Davidson County. He declined to comment for this story.
A better deal for the public?
In 2022, City Council approved spending $215 million to renovate the Spectrum Center as well as $60 million to help the Hornets build the practice facility in the tower above the bus station.
When the Hornets decided to build the practice facility on the nearby gravel lot, the city and the team shuffled the terms of the deal. They decided to spend only $30 million on the practice facility, but kick in an additional $30 million for the arena.
The team agreed to stay in Charlotte through 2045.
In March, Dodson presented a City Council committee with an update on the new plan. She and committee member Ed Driggs had created a spreadsheet showing the pluses and minuses of the new agreement.
To Dodson, the new agreement was much better for the public than the first one.
She told City Council members that the savings for the public “can be anywhere between 16, 17 million, upwards of 22 million (dollars).”
Driggs, whose background is in finance, was less enthusiastic, saying he thought the two deals were about the same.
Jones, the attorney, disagreed. In an email to other city attorneys, he said he believed the new deal wouldn’t save taxpayers up to $22 million. He wrote that it might cost them that much.
“The bottom line is that I think correcting the errors (in the spreadsheet/presentation) we would end up with a net negative of about $20 million to $22 million when comparing the 2024 deal with the 2023 deal,” he wrote.
Jones also dismissed Driggs’ own financial analysis of the deal.
“We all know Tracy provided CM Driggs with his information, of course,” he wrote.
Driggs declined to comment for this story.
Jones also wrote that Dodson had told the Hornets the team could have half of the 3.5-acre gravel lot for $10 a year for 99 years. In Jones’ opinion, the City Council never authorized that.
“To the extent we are obligated to provide it, that is something Tracy negotiated without Council’s approval,” he wrote.
Another city attorney, Anna Schleunus, agreed. She also reviewed Dodson’s PowerPoint shown to City Council.
“Slide of PowerPoint is sooooo misleading,” she wrote. “It ignores $ value of the gravel lot. It implies the city is getting 250 'new' parking spaces for employees when, in fact, we currently have that lot for free. It ignores that the ground lease will limit new taxes.”
Dodson: We’re all one team
In an interview with WFAE, Dodson defended how the deal was handled. When asked about the emails, she said: “Well, I’m shocked. At the end of the day, we’re all one team.”
She said Jones was going beyond his role of making sure the deal was legal and was instead trying to negotiate the terms himself.
“My opinion: Adam was overstepping his bounds a little bit,” Dodson said. “I mean, we heard him. But he was consistent in his frustration with the deal rather than being a partner, which was unfortunate.”
She said he was obstinate.
“It was: ‘I don’t like this deal. You shouldn’t do this deal,’ and that was it. They can criticize that deal all they want, but that was a piece of a 15-year extension,” Dodson said.
As for the attorney’s beliefs that the March 2024 presentation about the practice facility was not accurate, Dodson said he was not right.
“Nor did I mislead the council,” she said. “But it’s hard sometimes when you are trying to present this complex deal and now it’s drastically different (to show) how it’s still a good deal,” she said.
In a March 2024 email to Jones and other attorneys, Dodson pushed back on his concerns.
“To the issue of council being aware of the full cost of the transaction, many of staff feel as though we have thoroughly explained this new concept to council,” she wrote.
In a different email, she listed 10 meetings she had with council members and attorneys from November to February about the Hornets deal.
Jones and other attorneys wanted the City Council to have multiple votes on the deal.
In an email to him, Dodson said that wouldn’t be possible — and wasn’t necessary.
“We have repeatedly stated that coming back for a second vote is problematic for the Hornets and their timing,” she wrote. “You mentioned below the loss of negotiating power if there isn’t a second Council action. Threatening the Hornets with a second vote doesn’t give us any advantages of negotiation.”
Construction starting this year
The Hornets plan to break ground on the new facility early this year. The team declined to comment for this story.
Dodson is leaving the city this month to become chief operating officer of the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, a private organization.
Jones and Schleunes both worked for Patrick Baker, who was the city’s lead attorney. But he was forced out in a closed-session vote by Mayor Vi Lyles and City Council in the fall.
His last day was Dec. 31.
In an interview, he declined to comment in detail about the Hornets negotiations. He said he would “let the records speak for themselves.”
