City Council chairman Myron Lowery (below, answering questions from the media) told members of the media this afternoon that he believes the City Council will proceed with a vote Tuesday to declare a vacancy in the mayor's office.
He wouldn't say whether he would vote to declare the mayor's office vacant on July 11 -- Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton's original resignation date -- or July 30, Herenton's new resignation date.
He said city charter experts would have to determine whether the City Council could compel Herenton to step down on July 11.
Lowery said if the charter is "silent on the issue," then court action may be necessary to clear up the confusion.
"This is unchartered territory, folks; we've never gone through this before," Lowery said. "Legal questions are involved and have to be resolved."
Lowery, who held an impromptu press conference in his City Hall office, said that around noon Herenton hand-delivered a letter indicating he would resign July 30 instead of July 11.
"The mayor reaffirmed to me his commitment to resign and he said, 'Myron I'm not resigning, I'm retiring. I'm just delaying my retirement,'" Lowery said.
Lowery, who already has a team in place to orchestrate his transition as interim mayor, said he's choosing optimism over frustration.
"I'm going to take a positive spin on this by saying there's more time for the transition and more time for me to get city hall in order," he said.
Lowery dismissed rumors that Herenton was delaying the resignation to prevent him from serving as mayor pro tem.
"I have no fight at all with the mayor," Lowery said. "I didn't encourage the mayor to resign. He's talked about this for years. So this is all to do about the mayor and nothing to do at all about the council chairman."
And perhaps maximizing his moment in the media spotlight, Lowery took a few minutes to tout his own accomplishments, including progress made on The Pyramid and Mid-South Fairgrounds redevelopment. Lowery has said he will run in a special election to replace Herenton.
After Herenton announced his resignation two weeks ago, Lowery announced his top priorities for his term as mayor pro tem, including finalizing the Bass Pro lease of The Pyramid and accelerating the redevelopment of the fairgrounds.
"The word has gotten out," Lowery said. "I will say to you now that because I made those statements there has been tremendous movement on both of those issues" and both issues will be resolved quickly.
Lowery said he's heard Herenton wants to delay his retirement to take credit for those accomplishments.
"It doesn't matter who takes credit," Lowery said
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