Criticism over the emergency management plan at the Macon County Board of Commissioners meeting led to an audience member ejected for verbally lashing out after a commissioner chided their public comment.
During public comment at the Oct. 8 meeting, four speakers spoke about the lack of transparency from Emergency Management during Tropical Storm Helene. Heather Johnson from Otto challenged the county to produce an emergency management plan and said fewer regulations would make the county more resilient.
Local business owner Rick Tarleton talked about how many people used the WiFi at his downtown gym and complimented the people’s response to the storm and their needs. Tarleton also wanted to see more robust and transparent policies, and consideration of opening shelters, saying a lot of people were left wondering when help would arrive.
Sarah Johnson from Coweeta said many lives were saved due to the actions of linemen, first responders, guardsmen, and others. Johnson also asked the commissioners to abandon the plan to allow a certain amount of outside fill dirt in the floodplain, saying this area funnels water to the hollers and causes flash floods. Johnson also called for updating the county’s topography and floodplain maps. Betsy Baste agreed with what Johnson said and asked the commissioners to keep the floodplain ordinances in place.
After Baste’s public comment, Commissioner John Shearl defended emergency services.
“You have to look at these people and say, ‘job well done,’” Shearl said, before saying that instead of criticism, people should give a positive response to first responders.
At this, Heather Johnson yelled at Shearl, accusing him of misconstruing their arguments. Board Chair Gary Shields then asked the sheriff to eject Johnson. Right before leaving, Johnson yelled a phrase containing a clear expletive at Shearl. After which, Shearl said they needed to talk to Emergency Services first and give them a pat on the back.
Shields then told the sheriff that Johnson was banned from all future meetings, saying that kind of language belongs in the streets.
Typically, board members are discouraged from responding directly to public comments, and many local governments have that written in their ordinances.
Later in the meeting, Emergency Services Director Warren Cabe acknowledged they could improve and will have an open dialogue.
Shields thanked Cabe for having him in Emergency Services every day during the storm and complimented the team for the work they do.
Cabe gave a full update to the board about the damage. There were between 10 and 15 inches of rain in Macon County. Cabe said since the county was in a severe drought, there was more space for holding water compared to places like Hendersonville and Asheville which had much more damage. Peak winds were around 50 mph on the Highlands plateau.
In total, 57 structures were damaged. Of which, 27 are damaged extensively, “on the edge of unrepairable.” Cabe said there could be more once second homeowners check on their residences.
There were nine water rescues, with six adults and four kids displaced. Downtown Door, operated by the nonprofit No Wrong Door, was open Thursday and Friday nights, housing 19 people on Sept. 26 and 12 people on Sept. 27.
There were six known slope movements, none that caused structural damage. There was one small dam failure, but with minimal impacts and checked out. The height of power outages was around 10,000 in Macon County, including all 3,300 people in Highlands, but Cabe said those were cut down pretty rapidly.
There was one death, Macon County Sheriff’s Deputy Jim Lau, but no other known injuries.
Cabe said there were 150 pallets of food and 30 pallets of water distributed. Cabe said the Unmet Needs Committee is working to point people affected to the right agencies.
Communication was the major issue, due to both fiber systems running into Macon County being cut. Cabe said both run through different areas and should never be affected concurrently. Cabe said AT&T doesn’t know how both were affected, which impacted all WNC counties.
Cabe said the Viper Radio System worked, which he admitted he would have been wrong about when they first bought the radios. “We tried every way in the world to break it,” Cabe said of the system.
He said it would have been nearly impossible to communicate with first responders using their legacy system.
Overall, Cabe said sometimes it takes bad events for a community to come together and complimented how WNC is stepping up.