Two election related resolutions resulted in a heated back and forth between commissioners during the five-plus hour Macon County Board of Commissioners meeting on Nov. 14.
At-large commissioners approved
Board Chair Paul Higdon championed a resolution to change commissioner representation. Since 1978, Macon County has elected three representatives from District 2 (Iotla, Millshoal, North Franklin, East Franklin, South Franklin, Union and Smithbridge) and one representative each from District 3 (Burningtown, Cartoogechaye, Cowee and Nantahala) and District 1 (Ellijay, Flats, Highlands and Sugarfork).
Due to the staggered four-year terms, at least one District 2 seat is open every two years while the District 1 and 3 seats are open once every four years. In 2024, the District 2 seat of Young and the District 3 seat of Higdon are up for re-election. The District 2 seats of Antoine and Shields and the District 1 seat of Shearl would next be up in 2026.
Higdon’s proposed change would mean each of the three districts would have one representative and the other two seats would be at-large, meaning the representatives could be from anywhere in the county.
The resolution passed 3-2 with Higdon, joined by Commissioner John Shearl and Commissioner Danny Antoine in favor Commissioner Josh Young and Commissioner Gary Shields voted against it.
The resolution asks N.C. Rep. Karl Gillespie and/or N.C. Sen. Kevin Corbin to submit a local bill to the N.C. General Assembly to ask for those commissioner district changes, effective 2026.
Higdon said his proposal is the way the commissioners were elected before 1978 and that this way would be fair to all Macon County citizens so they can have a chance to run for commissioner every two years. Before 1978, the Macon County Commissioners had three members. Voters elected in 1976 to start the new 1-3-1 system with five board members in 1978.
Shields said he likes the current election system.
“The system we have now, Gary Shields feels comfortable with that, so he would vote ‘no’ on your recommendation,” Shields said to Higdon, who responded, “You’re in District 2, you can run every two years, I’m in District 3, I can only run every four years.”
Young said that while he agreed with the proposal being fair, his concern was that the Nantahala and Highlands district lines would have to move closer to Franklin to have equal populations.
“Potentially, you could have Highlands kiss the Franklin border because of population…and am I wrong in saying the same thing for Nantahala, it would just about come into town,” Young said.
Young also added that the first time he saw this resolution was on Friday when the agenda packet was publicly released, saying he felt like this needed to go to a public hearing. Higdon responded by saying it’s been “batted around” for years.
“I think right now is very unfair; yes, it affects District 2 because its three members and three members control this county,” Higdon said. “We’re living in an era of equity, and this is not equity.”
Antoine agreed with Young saying that there should be public input and that the system needs to change.
“The way it’s set up right now, it’s not fair,” Antoine said.
Shearl said the current election system is “very unfair,” saying his primary opponent can’t run again until 2026. Shearl also said the districts would have to be redrawn to equal populations by a professional.
Young responded to Shearl that the way the resolution was presented “contradicts what you said,” and if it was presented in the way Shearl described it, Young said he could support it.
“I’d like to hear from Highlands and Nantahala, I think it would hurt both of them,” Young said. “Highlands has the largest tax revenue in Macon County and I feel they need representation that is local to Highlands….the way you [Shearl] have it here, I would very likely represent Highlands.”
Shearl responded that this could be put to a referendum, which he said would cost a lot of money without state input. Shearl then said he’s questioned the legality of the current system. Shearl also said if the NCGA passed a local bill, it would come back to the county commissioners for final approval.
Both Corbin and Gillespie responded to requests for comment on the resolution.
“I am always open to my local, elected officials and local bills they would like for us to propose. I have had commissioners approach me about introducing such a local bill, and we will certainly consider it. In addition, I have had commissioners from other counties approach me about introducing local bills that would have commissioners run by district and other such measures,” Corbin said. “We are always happy to check out the legality of such proposals. Also, it is imperative before introducing any bill that I check with my members of the N.C. House of Representatives to make sure they support it and that it would have support in our respective chambers moving forward.”
“I have had discussions with commissioners about possible changes and other issues that would require legislative action or legislative support,” Gillespie stated. “As a member of the N.C. House of Representatives, it has been our practice to recognize requests from local elected officials in matters such as this. Our office will certainly look into this to determine how this should be handled legislatively.”
Partisan school board resolution tabled
Shearl’s request to make the Macon County Board of Education elections partisan starting in 2025 got halted amid discussions getting personal between board members.
Shearl said his issue was during the 2022 Election in the school board race when the Macon County Republican Party printed sample ballots with Republican candidates filled in as a guide for their voters.
Macon Board of Education races are nonpartisan on the ballot. Shearl said in one of the races, two Republicans were running a race for one seat. When people voted according to the GOP’s sample ballot and penciled in both the GOP’s recommended candidates for the one race, the voting machine rejected the ballot since voters were only supposed to vote for one candidate.
“It was kicking the ballots back out and the voter had a choice at that time to re-do their entire ballot or make their vote for that school board seat void, and most of the people chose not to re-do their ballot and cost their candidate a fair election,” Shearl said.
Macon County Board of Elections Director Melanie Thibault said Friday that approximately 90% of people who voted for two candidates in that race fixed their ballots.
While not stated, Shearl, a Republican (all five commissioners are Republican) was likely referring to the 2022 Election when Stephanie Hyder Laseter, a registered Democrat, won a four-person race for Macon County Board of Education District 2 by 187 votes over Danny Reitmeier, a registered Republican.
Shearl noted that approximately 50 school districts in North Carolina have parties on the ballot.
“I’ve had some emails saying the school system should not be considered a political arena, but I’m sorry, everything we encounter every day is driven by politics. I go to church, it’s politics in the church. This is not to change the face of the board or anything like that,” Shearl said. “I just feel that the school board should be partisan and they should be primaried.”
Shields said as a former school board member, he opposed making that board’s elections partisan.
“Politics is nasty…and they have a different responsibility since it’s education. When you put politics in there, it gets to be a little muddy,” Shields said, using Higdon’s previous comments about not having time to discuss things to say he hasn’t had time to discuss this with the school board and said they were blindsided. “To me, it’s unfair for them to not have a voice…We are two boards, we got to communicate with each other for this to be happening. For them to not have the input, I have a conscious problem with that.”
Antoine said personally, he feels the school board should be partisan, but recommended tabling the resolution until the commissioners talk to the school board.
“As a professional courtesy, we should have some discussion,” Antoine said.
Shearl responded, saying the GOP school board’s confusion in the 2022 Election was a “terrible event” and that he’s “trying to clear up a problem in the election process that shouldn’t have happened.”
Higdon said he has a problem with people “who are ashamed to put their party affiliation” on a ballot.
Young pointed out the first time he saw the proposed resolution was the Friday beforehand and bemoaned the lack of public discussion on this topic.
“We’re ruling with an iron first right here. We talk about government overreach; well, it happens on both sides. I mean, John talks about ‘will of the people’ Let’s put it out for the will of the people,” Young said. “I don’t like the government, I don’t like politicians, I don’t even like politics, I hate all of it, I don’t even know why I’m sitting here. I’m sitting here because I love Macon County and I signed up to make Macon County a better place and here we are making people label themselves before they come in. Who am I to make another board label themselves? Put it on a referendum.”
Young said he was fine making the budget and making big-ticket decisions on behalf of all Macon County citizens. Young picked up on Antoine’s early point about most of the school board not even being in town. The only school board member in attendance was Diedre Breeden.
“It’s got a very bad vibe to it, and it doesn’t pass the smell test to me,” Young said.
Shearl said the resolution doesn’t finalize anything, repeating the same process as before about the county commissioner districts and the resolution going to the NCGA members who would vote on it. Shearl said the commissioners would have the final say and that a public comment session isn’t required by law for that resolution.
After a back and forth between Shields and Shearl about the ballot, Young interjected and said it seemed more like an issue with a “basic understanding of how to read instructions,” saying the actual ballot said to choose one candidate.
A contentious end
In response, Shearl said to Young “Last November at Commissioner Antoine’s house before we were all sworn into office, we had many meetings about this very same thing, partisan school board, redistricting this county. What has changed? Nothing has changed with the conversations we’ve had.”
Young retorted that he felt like this conversation was “getting very personal” while Shearl claimed that Young supported these measures back then. Antoine then interjected asking the board to table the resolution. Young then said to Shearl “that he didn’t want him to put words in his mouth.”
“I didn’t say anything about that. We had discussions, we had a lot of discussions, there’s a lot of crazy conspiracy discussions passed out there too and I’m not supporting any of them either,” Young said to Shearl, who kept on trying to interject.
Higdon then called the question about a motion, to which Young said, “Well then it fails.”
After confirming that no motion was made, Young made a further point.
“Let me ask one more thing, when’s this board going to take on any issues that actually really matter to the people of Macon County,” Young said, looking at Shearl sitting a few feet away. “All we’re doing is playing in the weeds, and it’s under your direction,” Young said, turning his gaze at Higdon. “High School, schools, capital needs, we sit right here, and we’re going to play getting in the weeds right here, you talk about not spending money at the middle school but you want to go to Main Street and fixing Main Street. That has nothing to do with our actual tax dollars, that’s the DOT...and the Town of Franklin. We sit on this board and contradict ourselves every day and we’re going to start calling people out, let’s call a spade a spade. Let’s get rid of our pet projects and let’s worry about the county as a whole.”
Young added a point about Higdon and Shearl “sitting in meetings with the attorney” regarding their “pet projects” while Shearl tried to say that they talked about these in November 2022.
“You get hung up on a political issue that has to do with labeling other elected bodies. That’s national politics that you’re driving into this community to divide us,” Young said as Shearl responded, “I’m not dividing anybody.”
Higdon interjected to wrap the meeting up as Shearl started snipping at County Manager Derek Roland again and took issue with the way Roland was looking at him. This was two hours after Shearl demanded Roland’s resignation over the new retention pay policy.
As Shearl started packing up his materials, Young and Higdon briefly quarreled about the Nantahala School Sewer, which was discussed earlier in the meeting.
At 11:23 p.m., Young said, “We’ve been here too long, let’s go home,” and after hastily approving the consent agenda, the meeting adjourned.