The Macon County Board of Commissioners (BOC) held a lengthy and often contentious session on July 8 as they addressed personnel issues, public safety, and questions about their role as elected officials in relation to appointed boards.
Primarily, Board of Health (BOH) Chairman Jerry Hermanson, accompanied by all BOH members, addressed a series of pointed questions – mostly personnel-related – from commissioners during the joint session, which was called by Chairman Josh Young. “Some of the issues are no fault to your board,” he explained. “By design, there may be some flaws in the system. I think we’re here asking for help … I took 19 tally marks from my email of complaints that I’d received [recently], and we feel like your board doesn’t have a channel to the general public.”
“My phone has rung off the hook on problems, internal problems, people out here in the community very upset,” added Commissioner John Shearl, who serves as the liaison to the BOH. “We have no authority or control over what’s happening.”
Shearl said he was supportive of Commissioner Barry Breeden’s suggestion that the BOH be moved into an advisory role on health issues, while putting the Board of Commissioners in charge of human resources and final authority on administrative oversight.
Hermanson, often supported by BOH members speaking individually, pushed back on the idea of being moved into an advisory role due to the complex set of legal requirements and authorities that the BOH and the public health services are required to follow. He also raised concerns that, according to him, only one official complaint had been passed on by commissioners to the BOH prior to the July 8 public meeting.
Breeden characterized the Public Health Department as “a toxic work environment,” based on complaints he had received, and he feared if commissioners did not intervene quickly, the county may lose critical health personnel.
Commissioners agreed to disclose the full set of complaints they had received during the next BOH meeting on July 29. Because the majority of complaints appeared to be personnel-related and could not be raised in a public setting, the workaround will be to provide those complaints in the closed session of the July 29 meeting. Commissioners also agreed to begin the legal process of considering converting the BOH into an advisory role, which more than a quarter of North Carolina counties have chosen to do in the past decade.
With required public notification timelines, a public meeting on the matter is expected to be held in September.
Burningtown F&R improves; Highlands’ playground shored up
Interim Fire Chief Ken McCaskill shared a list of accomplishments that the Burningtown Iotla Fire & Rescue Department (BIFR) has been able to secure since June. These were offered when commissioners pressed BIFR to consider a formal consolidation with the Cowee Fire & Rescue, after being put on probationary status due to a number of deficiencies.
McCaskill said BFIR had closed the loop on outstanding reports, passed a July 7 inspection that showed all pumpers operational, and had increased its membership roster to 28 personnel. With 16 members meeting the state requirements of 36 hours of training, and five more expected to complete training by July 31, BFIR will exceed the state mandate of 19 firefighters meeting full-service requirements.
Shearl thanked BFIR for bringing its force up to speed so quickly. He lauded the work of Cowee Volunteer Fire and Rescue for shoring up BFIR over the past eight months and expressed his hope that Cowee would soon be able to end its supportive function in responding jointly on BFIR emergency calls, especially since Cowee was not being compensated for this additional service.
BFIR will hold an open house at 1 p.m. on July 19, to which the public is invited. A formal community meeting will follow at 3 p.m.
Commissioners asked BFIR to report on its next inspection at the Aug. 12 meeting to determine if they can end tis probation and consider merger talks fully closed.
Highlands Commissioner Brian Stiehler briefed the board on the progress of fundraising for the Highlands Community Playground, which requires slightly more than $1 million to move to the construction phase. Despite a heavy lift from private fundraising, Stiehler said that efforts to secure two grants over the past year had fallen through. As such, playground organizers were asking the Town of Highlands and Macon County to provide $50,000 each to help close the gap on the required $150,000 remaining.
In a unanimous vote, commissioners agreed to appropriate $50,000 from the general fund balance.
County alcohol sales to go on ballot; community funding pool board ends
A strong showing of local restaurant and hospitality business owners spoke at the July 8 meeting, making an economic case to change the long-standing “dry county” policy. Currently, local businesses are not permitted to sell alcoholic beverages outside the Town of Franklin and Town of Highlands, often inhibiting business expansion and leading to fewer restaurants outside the town areas. Breeden placed this item on the agenda to consider expanding access to alcoholic beverages through regulated on- and off-premises sales. Commissioners Danny Antoine and Shearl pointed out that even if one personally did not consume alcohol, they understood the potential business need for those in the hospitality industry to do so. In a 5-0 vote, commissioners agreed to allow this issue to be decided by voters. County Attorney Eric Ridenour was tasked with reviewing state guidelines and potential language for a future ballot initiative.
While commissioners quickly dispensed with the business of the appointments of Debbie Tallent and Richard Brady to the Town of Franklin Planning Board, and Pete Haithcock and Janet Shuler to the Airport Authority, they fell into large disagreement on how to handle the final plan for the Community Funding Pool (CFP), which required final appointments to its advisory board to take action on pending grant applications.
After initially agreeing to pare down CFP’s board from 13 to 7 members last month, commissioners found themselves locked in a philosophical debate over the role of government in disbursing funds to not-for-profit entities, how to ensure the application process would not be tainted if they themselves sat on the boards of entities requesting county funds, and whether elected officials rather than non-elected appointees should handle the final say in funding disbursal.
After considerable and respectful debate on these issues between Commissioners Gary Shields and Shearl, commissioners came up with a novel approach, deciding not to appoint a CFP board for Fiscal Year 25-26. Instead, they decided in a 3-2 vote to create a subcommittee composed of Commissioners Breeden and Antoine to review this year’s applicants. The commissioners will vote on final disbursal of the $75,000 in remaining CFP funds that have rolled into the current budget.