Three Community Funding Pool applications were approved during the Macon County Board of Commissioners’ meeting Tuesday, finishing off the last of the pool for 2025-26 and giving a total of $42,732.85 to different projects.
County Manager Warren Cabe started the discussion reminding the board the county had $38,000 remaining in the funding pool as budgeted for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Smoky Mountain Pregnancy Care center filed an application requesting $6,000 to start a Franklin “Dads Support Group” connected to CareNet’s Fatherhood Connect program and the National Fatherhood Initiative.
Commissioner Gary Shields said, “It’s the best money you’re going to spend. You bring parents, daddy back home, you bring people back into the house, they become parents with the children again; law enforcement will have less problems.”
The Friends of Nantahala Lake, a nonprofit organization of area homeowners associations, requested $3,602.82 to pay for a digital radar sign to be placed at Wayah Road to combat speeding in the area.
In the application, board member Joseph Moore said, “The residential and commercial areas of Wayah Road near Nantahala Lake have been chronically plagued with sports car and motorcycle enthusiasts who ignore speeding and safe driving laws. The Macon County Sheriff’s Office and Highway Patrol have worked with us on enforcement but are resource constrained.”
He said the radar signs have been shown to be an effective way to reduce speeding.
The Macon County Horse Association requested funding to illuminate the riding area at the Macon County Fairgrounds. Cabe said in addition to the $1,500 for pole replacement, the association would like either $19,948 or $33,130 for a lighting package.
Clay Bryson, president of the association, said lighting is one of the biggest issues they face now, especially when events run into the evening. At the moment, the association has to borrow lighting trailers from the county, which cause uneven lighting of the arena and shadows, which can cause problems for the horses.
“Anybody that’s got horses knows that some of these horses are a lot spookier than others, so you start casting shadows on the ground and around the area you can actually cause one of these horses, if it spooks bad enough, to rear or throw its rider,” he said. “Just this year we’ve got nine barrel races planned, one for every month. We’ve got two fun shows planned for the younger kids, we’ve got obstacle courses.”
Bryson said a priority of his as president of the association is to push for more equine opportunities with 4-H students and youth in general. Doing that would involve running events later into the evening to avoid the summer heat.
He shared both estimates are from a company in Kentucky that specializes in field lighting. He said the company has worked with the county before on other lighting projects, and the more expensive of the two options would provide higher-quality lighting for the field.
Commissioner Danny Antoine said, “As someone who’s worked with thousands of kids in this county, we always talk about how much these kids don’t have a whole lot to do. Now, we’ve got to realize that not every child wants to be involved in traditional sports so to speak. Basketball, soccer, volleyball, a lot of these kids want to do very unconventional, not traditional sports. We’re into martial arts, we’re considered to be a very non-traditional sport. If we don’t get a handle on this kind of stuff with these kids, we’re a part of the problem as far as I’m concerned.”
He added the work is outweighed by the benefit of getting kids to do more activities, which he said keeps them away from drug use and “the wrong things.”
Chair Josh Young said, “I feel like the term ‘heritage’ comes to mind for me and I remember when the FFA had a rodeo and I feel like this facility is a little bit underutilized.”
To cover the three requests, the board depleted the remaining $38,000 from the Community Funding Pool and an additional $4,732.85 from the county’s fund balance to cover each project.
PARTF
Parks and Recreation Director Seth Adams requested approval to apply for the annual Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant. The commissioners approved the measure, committing $650,000 to match the $500,000 PARTF grant the county is asking for. The county also approved Adams’ request to update the Parks and Rec Master Plan, which will help the county be more competitive for the grant. The county will know if it received the funds in November when the awards are given.
“With that we’re going to go after an amphitheater for $350,000, a multi-use covered court for $450,000, a restroom facility with a locker room for tennis for $300,000. And then a 5% contingency. So the total is $1,150,000,” Adams said.
Adams added the pickleball courts project is ongoing, with a demolition bid out. Cabe shared demolition should begin in around two weeks and the county is looking into doing some additional tree work to clean up the area. He said soil testing is finished. Adams said hopefully the courts will be finished in August.
Priorities
Cabe asked the commissioners to briefly discuss their priorities for capital improvements going into the budget season.
Commissioner John Shearl said, “I know it’s not capital and you’re going to be working on this, but we need to get to the bottom of the pay scale for all of our county employees … it needs to be across the board with a detailed comparison of what the pay scales are across the state of North Carolina. When you do the population, the cost of living and the benefit packages and everything else.”
Shearl added a list of things that would need to be done, clarifying they may not happen in 2026-27. The list included “a new justice center, which would include a new jail, a new courthouse and potentially a new Sheriff’s Department. We need to get to the bottom of the needs for the Senior Services Center. Continue moving forward with the Macon County Rec Park, of course the pay [scale], continue to identify buildings that are in need of repairs, the fire training facility, the armory building. The Highlands School soccer field if there’s ever a realistic path moving forward and also I think it was mentioned last year about the driver training facility at SCC.”
He said he would like to see Macon County have the capacity to conduct CDL training in-county without drivers having to go to Asheville. He added removing the county offices from the basement of the courthouse, including the Board of Elections offices and finding a place for Veterans Affairs.
Shields said he had met veterans who were concerned about the lack of security in the Veterans Affairs office.
Antoine said his priorities would be a new senior center, looking for ways to accelerate progress on the Rec Park project if possible to avoid having to wait so long for each phase to be completed. He said he was also interested in a new justice center.
Commissioner Barry Breeden echoed Antoine’s priorities of a new justice center, senior center and accelerating the park project. He added he would also like to see a plan for some indoor gym space and to see the covered pool already planned as part of the park project.
“I’ve had several calls about basketball practices or volleyball practices or whatever they are, there’s just not enough places for our youth to go … we should be trying to inspire the generation to do something besides go to jail and maybe having those places they can go after school and play basketball or pickleball or volleyball or whatever the sport is at the moment would be quite nice,” Breeden said. He also wants to find ways to fund the Capital Improvements Plan so the county can go ahead with projects.
Young said he would like to focus on maintenance of current facilities and the space needs analysis followed by attempting to complete multiple phases of the park plan and add and improve softball and baseball fields.
“You add the boys and the girls together, that’s 56 different teams that try to practice essentially Monday through Friday and I feel like we don’t have enough room at Parker Meadows,” Young said. He added with the closure of some baseball and softball fields in the county, it would be nice to make some improvements to other existing fields to give local kids more places to play.
On space needs, he said he would like to establish a committee to find buildings for some of the county’s needs.