Norris Councilwoman Loretta Painter resigns
Norris Councilwoman Loretta Painter addresses a crowd of city residents during a candidate forum held in 2024 just prior to the November city election, in which she won a seventh two-year term on the council. Looking on at left is Mayor Chris Mitchell. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
“I’m off to a new adventure in a new state,” she said in her brief resignation email to Whited. “Best to all.”
Painter was first elected to the council in 2012, and has easily won re-election every two years since.
Her current term – as well as the terms of the other four council members – expires at the end of November.
“I’m moving out of town and starting my new adventure, and leaving City Council after 14 years,” Painter told The Courier News. “And it has all been extremely interesting.
“I hope that the person who take my seat is an independent thinker and that they enjoy the process as much as I have,” she said.
“I love the process of local government. The people I have worked with have been challenging and interesting at the same time.”
The remaining four council members are expected to name a replacement for Painter to serve until the end of her term in November.
“We have a process we follow to fill a vacancy, and we will discuss it at our next meeting (June 8),” Mayor Chris Mitchell said Monday afternoon.
The other four council members are Mitchell; Charles P. “Chuck” Nicholson, who is also vice mayor; Bill Grieve; and Travis Honeycutt.
The biennial council election will be held Nov. 3, and all five winning candidates will be sworn in at the start of the council’s December regular meeting, Dec. 14.
Painter had previously told The Courier News that she was not planning to run for re-election in November.
She is also a member of the Norris Water Commission, which consists of all five council members, and is the council’s representative on the Planning Commision and the Community Development Board.
All but Honeycutt were last elected in November 2024.
Honeycutt was appointed by the council in December 2025 to fill out the unexpired term of former Councilman Will Grinder, who was serving his third term when he resigned in October 2025.
Nicholson, Grieve, Mitchell and Honeycutt are expected to run for council in the Nov. 3 election, along with several other potential candidates – including whomever is appointed to serve the rest of Painter’s term.
Qualifying deadline for the November city election is noon, Aug. 20, and the first day to pick up nominating petitions is June 22.
The mayor and vice mayor are chosen by a majority vote of the new council after it is seated in election years.
Mitchell is in his ninth two-year term as a council member and mayor, serving nearly 18 years.
Grieve has served nearly six terms on the council, and has also served as vice mayor,
Nicholson is serving his second term on the council, but was well known before as the chairman of the Norris Tree Commission. He’s also in his second term as vice mayor.
