Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call the meeting to order for May 12, our work session initially. I'd like to thank everyone for being here and being a part of what we do and how we try to do business. We have two things. We have our regular work session tonight. We have the special meeting of the Board of County Commissioners to talk about the budget. I am Bob Hobas. I'm the Vice Chair of the Board. I also serve as representative for the Crowders Mountain Township. I would like for to welcome our viewers and thank those of you who are present and also thank Spectrum Cable and AT and T for making this broadcast possible in the homes of our citizens. I would also like to present to you your county commissioners beginning on my far right.

Alan Fraley, Cherryville Township.

Good evening, Scott Sheehan, Gastonia Township.

Jim Bailey, South Point Township.

Kathy Conker, Dallas Township.

Good evening, Tom Kiger, Gastonia Township.

If you all would, if you will please rise with me. Jonathan Marr, who is associated with the Methodist Conference, will lead us in prayer for our meeting. And after that, we'll follow with mister commissioner Freiley for our pledge of allegiance. John? Let's bow our heads.

Dear heavenly father, we thank you for the opportunity to come together tonight as brothers and sisters in Christ. We ask that you just watch over us today, keep our minds open, keep our perspective open, keep us filled with compassion and humanity, lord. Bless us in all we do in our endeavors tonight as we bring forth our business. And watch over us and protect us. In Christ's name, amen.

Amen. Amen. Thank you, folks. Our first item is proclamations, commendations, awards, and certificates. The first item that we have is commissioners Kloninger and Sheehan to proclaim the month of May for our lateral sclerosis ALS awareness month in Gaston County.

Good evening. Where has Amy miss Molly? Would

you like

to come up, please?

Please.

Whereas amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive, fatal, neurodegenerative disease in which a person's brain loses connection with their muscles, slowly reducing a person's ability to walk, talk, eat, and eventually breathe. And whereas thousands of new amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases are reported every year, and estimates show that every ninety minutes someone is diagnosed with ALS and someone passes away from ALS. And whereas on average, patients diagnosed with ALS survive only two to five years from the time of diagnosis. And whereas the exact causes of ALS are unknown and there is no known cure for ALS, and whereas people who have served in the military are more likely to develop ALS and die from the disease than those with no history of military service, and whereas securing access to new therapies, durable medical equipment, and communication technologies is of vital importance to people living with ALS, and whereas clinical trials play a pivotal role in evaluating new treatments, enhancing quality of life, and fostering assistive technologies for those living with ALS, and whereas the ALS Association is the largest philanthropic funder of ALS research globally and has committed more than $154,000,000 to support more than five fifty projects across The United States and 18 other countries.

And whereas the ALS Association is committed to make ALS livable and cure it for everyone everywhere. And whereas amyotrophic lateral sclerosis awareness month provides an opportunity to increase public awareness of the dire circumstances of people living with ALS, acknowledge the terrible impact this disease has on those individuals and their families and support research to eradicate this disease. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Gaston County Board of Commissioners hereby proclaims the month of May 2026 as ALS Awareness Month and calls upon the Gaston County citizens to join in supporting ALS research, advocating for increased funding and standing in solidarity with those affected by this relentless disease to be adopted the May 2026.

I want

just a quick note, Good evening, commissioners. On behalf of every person Gaston County who's been impacted by this disease, I thank you for recognizing their struggle and heartbreak. My mom's name was Mickey,

and she died nine years ago next week. Every year, my son and I go out and do an intentional act of kindness to celebrate her life. We do something that we hope will make the world better. I would be remiss if this year we didn't focus on our students and our schools as so many people here are tonight. My mom was a teacher.

She worked in both preschools and elementary schools, and she treasured children above all else. She is the reason I give time to our little school and the reason I won't give up on our education system. On behalf of people like my mom who choose to see every child as God's child, equal and deserving of a meaningful education and a safe place to grow, a bright future, I thank you all tonight for the changes I know this board of leadership will ensure. Please let Gaston County be known as the district that took action and made things right. Thank you for your recognition, for the importance of this, and to those with ALS for your commitment to your constituents.

I truly thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Kloninger Kloninger, if you just stay, I'll let you go ahead and go next. Do you have yours with you? No. Can't. I'll bring it.

I would like to call Karen Creech, adult care supervisor, to come present. Whereas, Gaston County has a growing number of older Americans who contribute their strength, wisdom, and experience to enhance and improve our community. And whereas our citizens benefit when people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds are welcomed, included, and supported, and whereas Gaston County recognizes its need to support and sustain a community that provides services and champions older Americans need to thrive and live independently for as long as possible, and whereas Gaston County will continue its work to build an even better community for its older residents by planning programs that encourage independence, ensuring activities are responsible to individual needs, provide positive mental and physical engagement, and increase access to services that support aging in place, and whereas the 2026 national theme for Older Americans Month is Champion Your Health, which focuses on prevention, wellness, and personal responsibility as cornerstones of healthy aging, and encourages older Americans to take an active role in managing their health, advocating for themselves, assessing preventive care, and making informed decisions that support independence. Now, therefore, it be resolved that the Gaston County Board of Commissioners does hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as Older Americans Month in Gaston County and urge every resident to recognize the contributions of our older citizens and strive to create an inclusive society that supports our older Americans' choices about how they age in their communities to be adopted the May 2026.

And I'd like to take a moment before Karen speaks is to say that I think that the adult daycare that's located at the orthopedic hospital truly makes a difference with the women and the men who attend those classes, and I've enjoyed going to visit as well. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. Chairman, commissioners, and guests, thank you for this proclamation recognizing Older Americans Month and this year's theme, Champion Your Health. I'm Karen Creech, and I'm the program supervisor for the Center in Daylight. We provide adult day services for individuals who are medically fragile and those with Alzheimer's and dementia. This theme reminds us of the importance of maintaining our health, staying connected, and supporting one another across generations.

The services provided through adult and aging services help older adults champion health, well-being by delivering meals through our Meals on Wheels program, encouraging social connection through our adult day services, and conducting individuals with resources and support through our social workers. Adult Protective Services also plays an important role in helping protect vulnerable adults from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. At the center, we celebrate Older Americans Month with our annual senior prom, and this year's theme was dancing with the stars. There was lots of dancing, lots of laughter, and lots of fellowship. I can't say that the refreshments fully supported the champion your heart theme, but we did well on the social and the physical.

On behalf of adult and aging services, we appreciate your support and your continued commitment to honoring and serving older adults throughout our county. And, also, I do wanna thank you for visiting and volunteering at the center and donating items. Next,

we'll hear from commissioner Keeger. He'll be declaring May the month for foster care awareness. If someone's here from the foster care group, if you'd like to please on queue. Very good. Thank you. Anyone else? She left her.

As

the vice chairman said, this is to recognize foster care awareness month, and I'll just get to it. Whereas the foster care system has approximately 10,600 kids in foster care in North Carolina, 327 here in Gaston County today who depend on foster parents, family members, volunteers, mentors, policymakers, and other community members to help them find permanent homes and con connections. And whereas foster care is an exceptional resource for keeping children safe in temporary circumstances and providing stability, direction, and comfort to one of our community's most vulnerable populations. Excuse me. And whereas there are numerous individuals, communities, and public and private organizations working to increase public awareness of the needs of children both in foster care and exiting foster care and of the enduring and valuable contributions made by foster and kinship families.

And whereas our communities all across all aspects of faith based nonprofit corporate businesses and professional organizations volunteer their time, energy, and talents on behalf of children in foster care and support individuals and families who have chosen to be foster parents. And whereas dedicated children welfare professionals and community partners work to achieve permanency for children through reunification with the birth parents, kinship care, adoption, or legal guardianship. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Gaston County Board Of Commissioners hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as foster care awareness month and extends its grateful appreciation to all foster parents, past, present, and future, and this will be adopted, on the May 26. Ladies, if somebody wants to say something.

Good evening, Mr. Vice Chairman, Commissioners, and Mr. Roden. My name is Allison Courier, and I'm a permanent planning social worker with the Gaston County Department of Health and Human Services across the street. With me tonight is my supervisor, Jennifer Helms.

We are deeply honored to accept this proclamation recognizing foster care awareness on behalf of the dedicated staff and families who open their homes and their hearts to children in need. As of the end of April, we have over 300 children in foster care and 30 youth in our eighteen to twenty one program. Of these 360 so children, 229 are placed outside of Gaston County. Right now, we have 74 foster homes licensed through Gaston County Department of Health and Human Services, and 71% of those homes are already full. Simply put, we desperately need more homes.

When a child enters foster care, it is through no fault of their own. They have already lost their home, their routine, and often their sense of state safety and security. When they are placed outside of Gaston County, they may also lose friends, their church, their school, medical providers they're used to seeing, and the familiar faces that help them feel secure. For siblings who cannot be placed together, the loss is even deeper. For every move, every separation, it only adds more trauma to an already difficult situation.

Stability is life changing for them. Children who experience multiple placements are more likely to struggle with attachment, behavior, and trust. What they need most is someone to care for them consistently, someone to give them a home that feels safe and permanent. Tonight, we are asking for our community to step forward. We need stable foster homes here in Gaston County, especially for teens, sibling groups, and children with special needs. Every new home is an opportunity to keep a child close to family, friends, their school, and their community. Every new home is a chance to heal. We want to express our deepest gratitude to the foster parents and kinship caregivers who already give so much to these children. We also honor the workers who advocate tirelessly for them. Your compassion changes lives.

Finally, we thank the board and our community partners for supporting foster care and helping us share this urgent need. On behalf of the children and the families that we serve, thank you for helping us give them the recognition that they deserve.

Thank you. I believe mister Keeger has another one. Which one is it you have, Tom?

Treatment Court Month. Okay. Chief Holder. Adrian. Oh, a lot of Adrians.

Good evening. Okay. Well, again, this is to proclaim the month of May as treatment court month here in Gaston County, and I'll get right to it again. According to AllRise, treatment courts are the most successful justice system intervention in our nation's history for reducing crime by addressing substance substance abuse and mental health disorders, and whereas treatment courts save an average of more than $6,000 for every individual they serve, and whereas treatment courts provide a range of economic benefits to a community such as reduced courts in court and prison expenditures, increased tax revenues, lower foster care expenses, and decreased costs related to victimization. And whereas treatment courts annually refer more than 150,000 people to life saving treatment and recovery support services.

And whereas according to AllRise, treatment courts significantly improve substance abuse and mental health disorder treatment outcomes and prevent fatal overdoses. And whereas treatment courts facilitate community wide partnerships bringing together public safety and public health, and whereas now there are more than 4,000 treatment courts nationwide, and whereas also treatment courts demonstrate that when one person rises, we all rise. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Gaston County Board Of Commissioners proclaims the month of May 2026 as treatment court month, and that'll get adopted on the twenty sixth also. I'll present that to

you and give you the podium. Well,

good evening. Thank you for the recognition of treatment courts. I am privileged to serve as the coordinator for our local program, the Gaston County Recovery Court, and to be with you today representing our multidisciplinary team, which includes treatment and the prosecutor or the district attorney's office with the prosecutor and treatment provider in attendance tonight. Judge Justin Davis presides over this court, and he senses regrets for not being able to be here. Our team works diligently and with passion to provide opportunities, services, and accountability so we can reduce recidivism and improve public health.

It is the program participants, however, who do the hard work every minute of every day to live changed lives, and I'm honored that several of them are here with us this evening to show that treatment courts are a much needed resource in our community and truly do make an impact. It takes approximately eighteen months to successfully complete recovery court. And since we started two years ago, we have had nine graduates, and we fully expect that number to continually rise with the support of Gaston County because when one rises, we all rise. Thank you.

And the next proclamation is to recognize law enforcement week and peace officers Memorial Day in Gaston County during this week, actually. And I think chief Holder and some of law enforcement folks, feel free to come up. When before I start, when is the memorial service at the cemetery?

This morning. It is

tomorrow at 10AM.

10AM. AM.

Is the sheriff here?

I just spoke

to you ten minutes. Okay. Whereas it's important for the people of Gaston County and its municipalities to know and understand the problems, duties, and responsibilities of our law enforcement officers and the agencies. We applaud the members of those agencies for recognizing their duty to serve the people by safeguarding life and property, by protecting people against violence and disorder, and by protecting the innocent against deception and the weak against oppression or intimidation. And whereas in 1962, president Kennedy proclaimed May 15 as National Peace Officer Memorial Day and the calendar week in which May 15 falls as National Police Week to honor America's law enforcement community, and whereas our nation more than ever depends upon local law enforcement as our first line of defense.

The men and women of these agencies give of themselves day in and day out to preserve our homeland security. And whereas in 2025, one hundred and fifteen peace officers across the nation and two from North Carolina alone died in the line of duty. Whereas the members of law enforcement agencies of Gaston County and its municipalities play a vital role in safeguarding the rights and freedom of our local citizens, and whereas we join law enforcement officers nationwide in honoring their fallen comrades and urge Gaston County citizens to commemorate law enforcement officers past and present. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Gaston County Board of Commissioners recognizes law enforcement week and peace officer Memorial Day, and this too will be adopted on the twenty sixth. And I will present one to the police and sheriff's office.

Good evening, chairman, commissioners. On behalf of the Gaston County Police Department, all of our law enforcement partners in Gaston County, appreciate you taking the time to recognize those that serve our wonderful Gaston County communities on a daily basis as well as, honoring those that unfortunately and tragically died in the line of duty. Thank you for recognizing their sacrifice. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Next is commissioner Fraley, who will proclaim the week of the seventeenth and twenty third of May as emergency medical services week.

Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. McConnell and any gyms, people that wanna go? I'm trying to decide whether I can do it with my glasses on or off. Just about right.

Getting to that age. K. Whereas emergency medical service is essential public safety service, whereas emergency medical services system consists of physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, firefighters, law enforcement officers, telecommunicators, and others. And whereas the members of emergency medical services teams are ready to provide life saving care to those in need twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, and whereas access to quality emergency medical care dramatically improves survival and recovery rate of those who experience sudden illness or injury, and whereas emergency medical service personnel engage in countless hours of specialized training and continuing education to enhance their life saving skills, and whereas the Gaston County Emergency Medical Services System is a leader in EMS in North Carolina, and whereas the residents and visitors of Gaston County benefit daily from the knowledge and skills of these highly trained individuals, and whereas it is appropriate to recognize the value and accomplishments of emergency medical services providers, perhaps now more than ever, by designating Emergency Medical Services Week. Now therefore, be it resolved that Gaston County Board of Commissioners hereby proclaims the week of May 2026 as emergency medical services week in Gaston County and call upon all of our citizens to observe this period with appropriate programs, events, and activities to be adopted the May 2026.

Thank you, sir.

Mister vice chairman, commissioners, thank you for recognizing EMS Week. The theme of this year's National EMS Week is improving outcomes together. As I reflect on that theme, I would be remiss if I didn't recognize that, as the proclamation stated, EMS is truly a team effort with a a lot of community partners from telecommunicators, law enforcement, fire, our hospital system, public health. It truly is a a team effort, and we wouldn't be able to provide the service we do without all of our community partners. Our providers serve this community with professionalism, compassion, and dedication every day performing difficult work, and sometimes it feels that they they feel like they're unrecognized.

So this recognition is truly appreciated. On behalf of chief Lanfear and all of us at Gaston County EMS, thank you.

Before you Before we step away, I'd like to recognize an activity that I saw last week. I was at a local barbershop on the West Side Of Gastonia, and there was a young lady who was propping herself up on a trash can outside this this barbershop. And she was nodding on and off. And several times, she almost went to the asphalt. I spoke to her, and she did not acknowledge my presence.

I was concerned. This woman was having some type of a drug issue or some kind of needed some intervention or an attempt at an intervention. I immediately called Vincent Wong, our coordinator who is embedded with the EMS. And I said, if you could, could you get a unit out here to assist this young lady? Because I did not wanna see her bust her head wide open on the asphalt. And immediately, within seven minutes, a unit responded. I think it may be I don't I don't see the person, but was it you, sir? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

I I thought I recognized you right behind him. But, no, it was I want you to know there's things that we cannot do in the in the EMS world, in the police world, but we can be there for someone who wants to submit themselves for assistance. These two gentlemen were part of our community paramedics that's funded by the opioid monies that come to Gaston County. They were there immediately to offer assistance in whatever area she needed it. And although she didn't accept it, I think it was what we should do.

All of us, when we see something, we need to do something. And that was a we have those services available countywide, and they provide a valued service because you never know that when you may be there and keep someone from having an overdose or losing their life. And all of us need to do that. And these people face this every day with every call they go to. And I just wanna stand and thank you again for what you do. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you.

And I think that ends our proclamations and stuff. We do have one certificate of appreciation for public service that's being sent to Robert Buckles. He is a member of the Quality of Natural Resources Committee, and that will be sent to him at the Board's with the Board's thanks for his service in that area. Next is our citizen recognition area item. A portion of the board's agenda is set aside for the purpose of allowing citizens an opportunity to offer comments and suggestions.

This comment period is not intended to require the commission or staff to answer questions or provide a response. Questions requiring response shall be answered as soon as possible through the county manager's Office. Citizen recognition will be limited to one hour. Comments will be limited to three minutes. And as I call your name, if you please step to the podium and state your name and address for the record. And the first citizen to speak is Stephanie Hartman. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Stephanie Hartman, and I live at 1223 Oakwood Avenue. At the last meeting, I told you I wasn't from around here, but I didn't tell you where I'm from. I grew up in a once small town outside Tampa Bay called Newport Richey, Florida. And much like Gastonia, the people who live there know it's a place that's better than its reputation.

If you ask what the challenges they face, you'll hear about rapid growth, development, crime, substance abuse, homelessness. Sound familiar? This past Friday, I spent an evening at the Ghost Peppers game. Most of my childhood was spent just a couple towns over watching the Dunedin Blue Jays play. Commissioner Brown and I didn't know it at the time, but we were as close as neighbors then as we are now.

There's a really good chance that I saw him play my summers as a kid. Like my son today, I attended a performing arts magnet school. We had a beautiful state of the art theater, and neighboring schools came to host their productions. So you can imagine my surprise as a member of the PTO at Pinewood School for the Performing Arts when we're running fundraisers just to cover the basics, rights

to

the annual play, costumes, the difference is funding. The district I grew up in, Pasco County Schools, spends $2,300,000,000 on education. Even when you adjust for student population, it's still nearly double what we spend here. And back in that same once small town, I'm proud to say my cousin started a nonprofit focused on transitional housing, job training, recovery support. They're investing in education.

They're investing in addressing substance abuse and homelessness. It's not perfect, but there are bright spots. I heard this body say that you don't want to be compared to Mecklenburg or Native American counties, and I understand that, but we do need to look outward to communities like ours that are finding solutions. I'm not standing here claiming to have all the answers, but I am asking you to look harder. The $0.25 sales tax revenue is a great start, but it's still getting you to bare bones.

We need to invest in prevention, education, transitional housing, substance abuse treatment, mental health, so that we're not spending a quarter of our budget reacting on the back end. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Sorry, I can't state a nut. I'm going to write in a fundraiser for Gaston County Schools.

Thank you. Charles Bow.

Hello commissioners. Thank you for your time this evening. As a father,

I felt felt. To speak.

My son attends elementary school. And as the husband and the teacher, I felt compelled to speak as well. I come today with a

simple question.

Why not us?

We can do better in how we fund our children's education I've seen the reports in the news

on social media about

the challenges facing Gaston County, future layoffs, support staff reductions, and a lack of basic supplies. More importantly, I've heard my wife Holly's firsthand experiences as a teacher in this county. Frankly, they're

a fault. Charles, if I can interrupt you, there's a mic issue. Just we're gonna pause it right there. Sorry. You may want to pull that up just a tad. Perfect. Thank you. Sorry for interrupting you.

That's okay. Holly spoke to this body in late April about what she's seen, the lack of support for teachers and more troubling, the lack of basic safety. She described real deficiencies in our system. For example, when funding is so low that teachers worry whether the copy machine will run out of paper, that should concern all of us. Other counties seem to understand the big picture.

Why not us? In preparing for tonight, I compared Gaston County's education funding to similar counties across North Carolina. What I found was telling. Counties like Davidson, which closely mirrors Gaston demographics and population, consistently fund their schools at a higher per pupil rate and dedicate roughly a third of their county budget to education. Counties like Johnston have leveraged economic growth into sustained education investment.

Gaston, based on publicly available 2025 through 2026 data, spends less per pupil and allocates only about a quarter of its budget to education. The fact that it took a funding emergency and a last minute $10,000,000 infusion just to prevent layoffs this year is deeply upsetting. Again, other counties have figured this out. Why not us? Without serious change in how this county prioritizes education funding, people will vote not just at the ballot box, but with their feet and leave. Our children deserve better. Our teachers deserve better, And parents across Gaston County deserve better. The potential is already here. So I ask you once more, why not us? Thank you.

Thanks, sir.

Jessica Moreno?

Hello. Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Jessica Moreno, and I'm here because I wanna talk about the history. We can't ignore history. We have to face it honestly. Honor the truth of it and learn from it. I know a lot of people are here for the schools and a lot of people are here for the monument. It has been a topic of discussion for a long time. The Confederacy was built to uphold a system that depended on the labor and suffering of enslaved people. That's

not

an opinion. That's history. And here in Gaston County, there are descendants of enslaved people still living with the generational impacts of that history today. We cannot build unity on denial. We build unity through truth. As a Christian woman, I have to ask this commission, what side are you on? Are you on the side of a god of love or a god of hate? The god of courage or the god of fear? The god of truth or the god of deception? The god of justice or the comfort of silence?

Because faith without action means nothing. Honoring history does not mean glorifying every part of it. It means acknowledging both the good and the painful so that we do not repeat it. Because when communities ignore history, people suffer again. I want Gaston County to be a place where every family can thrive, where seniors can age with dignity, where working families can afford a home, where children have opportunities, where people with disabilities are supported, where roles, public health, emergency services, and schools, teachers have a living wage, housing, and economic opportunity invested fairly for all communities.

That is the responsibility of leadership. Every day, I work with communities often felt that feel invisible. About two years ago, I worked in a mobile home community three mobile home communities in Gaston County. Maybe y'all remember they came to speak. City council and county commission. I organized that community because they were being taken advantage of. That was the first time that this commission has ever used interpretation services. And so we need to bridge a gap here. Gassett County is diverse, and there are many voices that have not been heard for far too long. But those voices are rising, and we're organizing, and we are voting, and we will be heard at the polls.

And I'll be there too. Thank you all so much for the work that you do.

Thank you. Thank you. Lorena Philpott.

Good evening. My name is Naria Philpott. Address, 246 North New Hope Road, Gastonia. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. The condition of our education system and the reality of institutionalized racism did not happen overnight.

These issues come from decades of decisions, policies, silence, and repeated leadership patterns that have gone unchallenged for far too long. We could not continue voting the same people into positions of power and expect different outcomes for our communities. Leadership and accountability are inseparable. True leadership is not about titles, power, or position. It's about responsibility.

A real leader does not avoid difficult conversations or ignore the people they serve. A real leader understands that public trust requires transparency, honesty, and follow through. The people of Gaston County are paying attention. They remember the commitments made in 2020 regarding the Confederate Monument outside this courthouse. Whether people agree or disagree, leadership requires consistency and accountability.

Leadership means owning decisions. It means listening even when it's uncomfortable. It means serving people with integrity, not political convenience. Holding yourself accountable requires humility, acknowledging mistakes, delays, and being honest about the next steps. This county deserves leaders who act with courage instead of avoidance.

Accountability is not an attack. It is the foundation of public trust. History will remember whether this board chose silence or action, comfort or courage, avoidance or integrity. I stand here not out of disrespect, but with conviction because leadership demands accountability, and accountability is what the community deserves. Thank you.

Thank you. Tatiana Preston.

Good evening, commissioners. My name is doctor Tasha Prieto. I live at 1136 North Alexander Street.

I was born in North Carolina, I'm currently a property owner in

this county. My family history in North Carolina goes back to the seventeen hundreds. I'm here again to voice my discontent regarding that Confederate statue glorifying racism outside. One of the arguments recently made in support of it is that it's really for all Confederate veterans, some of whom they claimed were black volunteers. I'd like to push back on that argument by going back to the original record.

In November 1912, the Gastonia Gazette reported on the unveiling of that statue. One paragraph said this, quote, it was the most inspiring sight to see the 1,200 or more white schoolchildren of all the city schools, together with their teachers, assemble in one company to witness the unveiling, end quote. So if this statue was for all Gaston County residents, why were only white children in attendance? There were black schoolchildren in the county at that time. 23 of the population was black.

For some reason, they weren't invited to the statue party. Surely, if there were any black volunteer soldiers on the side of the Confederacy, they would have had relatives who were schoolchildren when the statue was unveiled. Maybe, just maybe, even back then, this statue was not really intended for all, but intended just for the white people. The available evidence seems to indicate that. So that argument doesn't hold up to historical scrutiny. Why then has this body not acted to correct the wrong? I've been thinking about that a lot lately. Maybe your families are like mine. If you're white and from the South, you no doubt have at least a few racists in your family. I have broken bread with multiple lifelong racists and a few actual members of the KKK.

Why? Because they were family. I saw them at family gatherings, at churches, and at Sunday dinners. My only excuse for not running screaming from the table back then was that they were always one or two generations older than me. I figured the problem would eventually die out, literally. Now I know better. Racism can be handed down just like grandma's cobbler recipe, but it doesn't have to be continued just because it is a family tradition. To members of the board, if you feel that you somehow need to honor the racists in your family by continuing to support their views, I'm here to say no. No, you don't. You can do better.

You can be better. You can grow beyond your roots and choose to do what is right. Remove that statue to a symbol of a bygone racist era to a museum or a graveyard. It doesn't belong here. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Doctor doctor Brenda Eskridge.

Good evening, commissioners. Doctor Brenda Eskridge, Stow Creek Lane, Mount Holly, excuse me. Let's talk public health, population health for a moment. Public education is one of the most important professions in this country. Education is not just a budget line item expense, it is an investment in our communities.

The data is clear, there is a direct correlation between education and a life expectancy. Communities with stronger schools, higher graduation rates, literacy skills, and greater access to higher education and workforce training live longer, healthier lives. This is not my opinion, this is evidence based. Research from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development shows that adults with higher levels of education experience lower rates of chronic illness, lower rates of smoking, fewer preventable deaths, and lower rates of poverty. Research from Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation found major differences in life expectancy based on educational attainment across counties in The United States.

This is because education influences nearly every social determinant of health. Income and economic stability, health care access, nutrition, health literacy, incarceration, mental health, exposure to violence, incarceration. Education is not just connected to opportunity, it is connected to our survival. In Gaston County, less than half of our students read and do math proficiently. Less than half of them are career and work ready.

Enrollment in college and trade schools and workforce training programs is below the average for North Carolina. Meanwhile, there are districts across our region that have shown us what happens when they make education a priority by proper funding. Look at Mooresville, which became nationally recognized because they intentionally invested in innovation and teacher support. Look at Union, look at Cabarrus, look right next door at Fort Mill. Families move there because of the quality of the schools. Businesses pay attention to education quality. Economic growth follows educational investment. Communities with strong school systems attract stability, opportunity, and long term growth. These communities understand that schools are economic engines. They're public safety strategies.

They're workforce development hubs. They are public health infrastructure. The highest performing school districts are heavily investing in teachers, counselors, nurses, social workers, tutors, mentors, early childhood education, and mentorship. And here's the uncomfortable truth: you can either pay now, or, and we can invest in paying teachers up front for necessary services, or we can pay later through higher health care costs, increased incarceration, workforce shortages, hiring freezes, untreated mental health, more poverty, more crime, and the reality is, at some point, we have to stop normalizing mediocrity. We're in last place, ladies and gentlemen.

It's time to demand excellence, and that starts right here with the board, pay the professionals who unlock the door to our children's future, and turn, by default, you will then contribute to the quality of life for the Gaston County communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Doctor. Ann Doss Helms, please.

Good evening. Ann Doss Helms, 316 Gaither Road. I do have thoughts on the budget, but I want to focus tonight on the big picture, and that is the status quo is not working for Gaston County. For years, we've underfunded public schools, underpaid our teachers, and watched our students underperform their counterparts across the state and around this region. The mindset seems to be that as long as taxes stay low, it's good enough for Gaston County.

We're here to say that in 2026, the bottom of the barrel is not acceptable. For more than a century, a monument that was openly dedicated to the cause of white supremacy has stood outside our courthouse. And the mindset seems to be that if you don't like it, people like you don't matter. We're here to say that it's time to put our legacy of racism in a museum, not in a place of honor. For quite some time, we've had a general assembly and a school board and a board of county commissioners who share responsibility for the well-being of this county.

Those bodies sometimes seem more interested in pointing fingers at each other than working together and listening to the people they represent. And we usually have a chairman of this board who acts as if people who disagree with him are unwelcome guests in his house. We're here to say, this is our house. And we need you all to get serious about addressing our problems. Lobby the general assembly to pass a budget and meet their responsibilities.

Use your leverage over the school board to demand better financial systems and more transparency. Now here's part of the status quo that honestly is on us. For years, we've had people fighting for racial justice and better treatment of the disadvantaged and homeless, and they haven't had a room full of white people standing with them. I'm here to say that needs to change too. Let's unite to say that we won't have dignity and opportunity for our own families until we have it for all families.

My hope for tonight is that the powerful, thoughtful public statements over these last few weeks lead you all to pass a budget that significantly increases public funding for schools funding for public schools, even though, yes, that is difficult. And I hope to hear you announce a timetable for relocation of the Confederate Monument. My expectation for tonight is that we won't get any of that, which is why I say to all of you in the audience or watching on video, we may not win tonight, but we only lose if we give up. So stay engaged, stay informed, do your part to help, take breaks when you need to, and then jump back in. And above all, research the candidates and vote in November.

You have a chance to shape the composition of our county commission, school board, and general assembly. If we don't show up, we'll get more of the status quo, and that is not good enough for Gaston County. Thank you. Ms.

Charlotte Brown?

Charlotte Brown, 1118 Dumbarton Road. I just have two questions, and I have asked several people, and I can't find answers anywhere. I left my email address with the sign in person, so if somebody can make note of my questions and then contact me, I'd be glad for you to. One, we're having I live over near the Schill Museum. We're having a problem with where our mailboxes are supposed to be.

We don't know if it's the city, the county, the postal department tells us where we're supposed to have our mailboxes. We're finding out some are supposed to be at the street, a lot of them are on the houses, And I don't know. So I'd like to know that. And also, when land is cleared for development,

for

housing developments, for apartments, for warehouses. Who takes care of relocating the animals that are on that property, the wild animals? I've been told, well, they can migrate, but they keep migrating, and then they run out of migrating space. So I don't know who's in charge of taking care of that wildlife animals. I would like to know that. I haven't been able to find that anywhere. So I would appreciate it. Thank you.

We'll have somebody here with you. Thank you. Our next Sean Bates.

Sean Bates, 201 West Franklin. I'm president Gastonia NAACP, Branch 5394 B. As always, the mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination. So what that means is we we are we're for everybody. Now I'm sure you guys are tired of hearing people beg to be heard.

I'm not gonna beg anymore. Right now, we're gonna let you know where where we're at. We'll start off with 6,500 people. 6,500 black people were lynched in this country. Over 12,000,000 black people were slaves, yet we got this monument outside. You uphold this and tell us it can't be moved because it's historical. However, this neighborhood was black and historical. You moved the people with no problem. That monument was someplace else. You moved it with no problem.

So it's not historical. You want us to know where our place is. As of right now, we are no longer accepting this. We will vote everybody out until we get the things that we need. We have watched black people get killed by police.

We don't hear anything from you. We hear nothing of concern when it comes to the people that aren't the priority. So I'm not gonna be up here very long tonight. I do wanna let you know we wish to be on the agenda to discuss what to do about that monument. Now as I proposed last time, we can put up another monument next to it, and they can represent all the people that were lynched and all the people that were enslaved. And you guys can make sure to cut the ribbon for that next to it. That is all. Thanks, sir.

Miss Donna Graham?

201 West Franklin. My name is Deanna Graham, vice president of the NAACP Gastonia branch fifty three ninety four b. I rise tonight to address two critical issues facing our community. First, it's imperative that the county commissioners adequately fund the Gaston County school system. Parents and taxpayers should not have to repeatedly come before this body to fight and plead for proper funding.

Parents, I encourage you to closely look at the leadership seated before you enact. Who has consistently failed to make our children and our schools a priority? And if our elected officials continue refusing to fully invest in our children, then we must do what democracy allows us to do. We must remove them from office and elect leaders who will make education a priority. Remember this outrage that brought you here tonight.

Remember it in November when you vote. Second, I know you guys are tired of me accent and talking about that monument, because I'm tired of talking about it. But I'm gonna say, if justice is truly blind, why does a confederate monument stand at the entrance of our courthouse? It saddens me that a place that citizens come seeking justice, fairness, that they are first greeted by a symbol that many associate with slavery, racism, and inequality. For black people, history is remembered to honor and pay respect for our ancestors, ancestors, who carried an insurmountable burden.

We stand on their shoulders. They paid the ultimate price, so future generations would not have to endure what they endured. We remember slavery and the Jim Crow era, not because we want to relive it, oh, no, because we never want to return to it again. And I cannot help but wonder why you have such a determination to preserve a monument that's tied to a time when black people had no voice, no vote, and legally was considered three fifths of a person. Is it?

Is the placement of the monument meant to send a message to us? So I asked plainly, do you want us to go back to that time? Do you want us to go back to that time? Because we're not going. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.

Scottie Reed.

Good evening to everyone here tonight. I'm a try to keep it short and brief. My name is Scottie Reed. I live at 1521 Old Highway 27 in the historic Rankin Town. I'm also the manager and editor of Gaston County Community Talk, a very popular Facebook social media page that talks about local issues. Tonight, I wanna talk about history. That's always my been my favorite subject. Shout out to my high school history teacher, mister Smith, if he's still around. It's still my favorite subject. I wanna talk about a name that's carved into that stone idol, the white supremacy.

Let's talk tonight about the United Daughters of the Confederacy. They were not founded during the civil war. They were founded in 1894 in Nashville, Tennessee during the rise of Jim Crow. That matters because the UDC was not simply preserving history, they were rewriting it. They promoted the lost cause myth, influenced school textbooks, and helped teach generations of children a fake version of history that whitewashed slavery and glorified the Confederacy and justified white supremacy.

And Tennessee matters too. The United Daughters of the Confederacy was founded in Tennessee. The Ku Klux Klan was founded founded in Tennessee, and today, sons of confederate veterans show up in Gaston County wearing patches that say ride with force, invoking Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first grand wizard of the clan. So let's let's stop pretending this is just local heritage. This is a mythology rooted in Confederate defeat, clan terror, Jim Crow propaganda, and white resistance to black rights and citizenship.

And we do not have to guess what the stone idol to white supremacy means. At his dedication here in Gaston County, speakers praise the Anglo Saxon race that is in the historical record. So when people say this monument is about heritage, ask whose heritage? Because the organization behind it helped sanitize slavery and elevate white supremacy, and today, that idol to white supremacy is not in a museum. It is not explained.

It stands at the center of county government power. This is not neutral. That is a message. We had a Republican party founded by abolitionists who fought a civil war that ended chattel slavery, but today, now we have Republican officials who say racism doesn't exist while maintaining a monument to white supremacy put up during Jim Crow. That's not history. That's a glaring contradiction. Thank you.

Yes, sir.

That concludes citizen recognition. Item three is other matters. Are there other matters that need to come before the Board at this time? Hearing none, we'll move on to the adjournment of the work session. This concludes our work session for this evening. The special meeting will convene immediately. Thank you for watching. If you have any questions or comments related to tonight's activities, please contact or telephone our cart, Donna S. Buff, at (704) 866-3196, and we'll begin the special meeting on the budget. Okay.

We'll begin the special meeting in reference to the budget. Tonight, we're holding the public hearing for the proposed 2026 combined Gaston County budget. Following the hearing, the Board will consider adoption of the budget. The first item on the agenda before we begin, let me outline the rules and procedures for the hearing. Citizens wishing to speak and comment will be recognized by the chair and then requested to step up to microphone for their comments.

We ask that you please state your name and address for the official record of this activity. Comments will be limited to three minutes. All questions shall be directed to the chair for response. Any the chair will rule on any points of order during this hearing. Do I have a motion from the board to move into public hearing? Have a motion from Mr. Sheehan, seconded from Mr. Keeger. All those in favor, please signify by raising your hand and holding them, please. Thank you. It's unanimous. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, everyone. We will start the public hearing. I will ask the county manager for any comments he would like to make prior to taking citizens' comments. Mr. Roden.

Thank you. I'll just say that, again, I appreciate your participation in this process, appreciate the public participation, and happy to answer any questions from the Board this evening.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Manager. Any other questions for Mr. Roden? Okay. Anyone in the city any of the citizens who would like to speak? We have a sign up list. I'll start with that. If I could wrong list. Excuse me. Britney

Elkin.

Hi.

Brittany Elkin, thirty twelve High Ridge Court. In March, I realized that Gaston County Schools was standing at the edge of a financial cliff when our teachers started to sound the alarm. So I started digging, and what I found left me absolutely appalled, not just at the state of education funding, but at the way our kids are being treated like pawns in a political game. We should all be able to agree that funding our public schools should be a top priority in this county. I've heard some of you say that the schools should have planned ahead better, but when I reviewed five years of budget documents, it became clear that Gaston County Schools and the Board of Education have been warning you for years that they were approaching this cliff.

They told you repeatedly. So this is the reality. Either those warnings were ignored or the budget documents were never seriously reviewed. It took one brave teacher speak speaking publicly to get the attention of every parent in this room and hundreds more across the county who are now paying attention. We elected all of you to represent us, not your political party, not your political future, us.

That means being willing to speak up when the state legislature is playing games instead of passing a budget. That means being more concerned about the people that you represent than your chances of reelection, and that means being less concerned about playing puppet master with the board of education and more concerned with listening when they tell you what our schools need. From where many of us are standing, your behavior suggests either you do not care, or worse, you are afraid that the political game will turn against you if you speak against someone who is supposedly on your side. But here's the thing, our kids do not care about political affiliation. They care about their favorite specials teacher.

They care about their counselors, and they care about walking past their kindergarten teacher's room for one more hug. And when that kindergarten teacher has to leave the school that became her community because her salary is too low to support her own family, our children are the ones who suffer. In 2024 budget documents, Gaston County Schools stated that COVID funding would be ending and that another funding source would be necessary. In 2025, they outlined that Gaston County sat well below peer counties in per pupil funding. And in both 2024 and 2025, they requested roughly 60,000,000 each year, and they only received 54,000,000 or less.

We keep hearing there's no money, yet somehow there is always money when the priorities are elsewhere, and that tells parents everything we need to know about your priorities. So tonight, I'm asking you, how much farther do our schools need to fall before they become a true priority? Asking for other budget options was a start, but it is only the first step. We deserve a clear plan on how we get from the bottom of the list in education funding to the top, because our children cannot wait for better politics, they cannot wait for another election cycle, they need leadership right now.

Samantha Esters. My name is Samantha Easters. I'm at 205 Red Oak Court. Good evening. Tonight, I wanna focus that this is not simply a funding problem, it's a priority problem.

Gaston County Schools is the second largest employer in Gaston County, only high only behind Caremont Health. The district has approximately 3,800 employees, including nearly 2,000 teachers. Yet education falls behind multiple other categories in county spending. At the same time, the county budgets over multiple year years continue to reflect millions of dollars in increased spending in other areas, including personnel increases, health care costs, and salary adjustments for their estimated 1,500 employees, while education repeatedly is asked to do more with less. That says something very clearly to the public.

Education is not a priority. At the last meeting, discussion centered around the need for more tax revenue and attracting higher value development, including million dollar homes. But we also need to ask an honest question. Why would families able to afford million dollar homes choose to move to a county where education is not a leading investment priority? Families look to relocate, pay attention to school rankings, teacher retention, class size, student supports, and county investment.

Those decisions directly influence where people choose to buy homes, raise children, and build businesses. Strong schools mean long term economic stability. Growing counties understand that schools are not a budget line item. Education is always funded as a priority from the start. Schools are economic infrastructure. Education is economic development. Research consistently shows that communities investing in education see stronger workforce outcomes, higher earnings, lower poverty rates, and lower crime rates over time. Workforce development does not begin when somebody applies for a job. It begins in classrooms. It begins with retaining teachers and support staff that help schools function every single day.

It begins with giving students the support that they need before they fall behind, instead of waiting until problems become larger and more expensive to address later on. And it begins with making education a visible priority in our budget decisions, because every budget tells a story. And right now, the story that this budget tells is that Gaston County is willing to continue expanding spending in other areas while schools are asked to stretch already limited resources even further. It's clear that children and education are not valued and not being prioritized. So does our budget truly reflect the future we say that we want for Gaston County?

If you truly want growth, revitalization, stronger businesses, and long term economic success, then education cannot continue to be treated as an operational expense, but should be seen as an economic investment. Thank you.

Taylor Sanders.

Hello. My name is Taylor Sanders, and I live at 523 Lakeview Drive in McCattenville. I'm a parent of three students within Gaston County. I'm speaking today for many reasons, but mainly after hearing the comment last week or last meeting of excuse me, that we weren't being ignored, that our commissioner was just looking up numbers during a meeting. To myself and I'm sure others, it only proves we are being ignored.

Parents, teachers, and staff shared facts, feelings, reality, all unpaid and many sacrificing things just to be here. You all knew we were coming. You weren't prepared. I'm going to share one major reality within our school system, things that happen in my own kids' schools. We have children being picked up over an hour early for school and leaving as thirty minutes thirty minutes to an excuse me, I'm sorry.

We have children being picked up over an hour early, and arriving thirty minutes to an hour late to school every single day. My son's middle school begins dismissal for their buses at 3PM. School ends at 03:30. My students have or my sons have core classes up until 03:30. And some buses don't even leave until an hour afterwards, all while being filled to absolute capacity.

We have teachers, coaches, staff, and even principals driving a bus route, with students still arriving and leaving early and late. While that absolutely shows dedication from the Gaston County school staff, it also exposes a massive staffing problem. Their dedication should not be used to normalize dysfunction, but their dedication continually shows and should be taken seriously. The comment suggesting that the school board that what the school board does with the money is their own problem is unacceptable. We should be asking more questions, demanding accountability, and treating public education like the priority that it is, not distancing ourselves from when concerns are raised.

A teacher stated in the last meeting, come see where the money is going. Come watch them teach. I I suggest every one of you do that. Go into a school. Go see what they do every day, or go ride a bus and see how that is. That is the bare minimum. And also, there should be no conversation without any kind of communication on why that statue is so important and to have on the front of our courthouse. We should have answers. We don't have to win every fight to win the war. And when they go low, we go higher, and we'll be proving that in November. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Summer Nunn. Hello. My name is Summer Nunn. I live at 1304 Fairfield Drive in Gastonia. I have children at East Gaston High, Stanley Middle, and McKenville Elementary.

I was at the elementary school this morning as a parent volunteer, ready to assist in proctoring one of our state end of grade tests. I was assigned to fourth grade, a classroom filled with the eager nervous faces of 30 students. Because our elementary school is one of the smallest in the county enrollment wise, we were only allotted one fourth grade teacher and one fifth grade teacher for this school year. What once were in compartmentalized teams consisting of a teacher focused on ELA and social studies curriculum and the other math and science, our allotment has been reduced to one teacher for each grade. What that decision meant for these two teachers is that instead of teaching as a compartmentalized team like they once did, they became the ELA and math instructors for over 60 students, 30 some in fourth grade and 30 some in fifth grade.

I shared that to share this. As I waited for testing to begin, Mrs. Hurst came into the room. She began to tell the students how proud of them she was for their hard work this year. She reminded them of all they accomplished last year in achieving 100% proficiency on their math EOG, and that they were fully capable of doing the same today.

She told them she had been thinking about them all morning and even listened to some hype music on the way to school in their honor. And then she began to call their names. She locked eyes with each student in that room, stating, you've got this, and even speaking belief to certain students and ability over some of their insecurities. As I witnessed this, tears began to well up in my eyes. This is not someone who was just brought in to administer a test or even someone sharing a pep talk before a big assessment.

This is an individual who knows these kids. She's been with each one of them every day, rejoicing with them in the moments when they get it and working through problems with them when they don't. She's seen them on their best days and walked alongside them on days when they weren't ready to have to learn. She has spoken life into them all year so that they would know that they could achieve this goal today, and she did it with all 60 something of her students. Why do I share this with you today?

Well, you're hearing from a lot of teachers, supplemental staff, parents, and others who are burdened over the current circumstances surrounding public education. The failure of our state's legislature to pass a state budget and a failure to plan ahead by our local government following the loss of funds over the last few years have resulted in insufficient funding, reductions in already short staffing, lack of needed supplies, etcetera, for public schools. While these are significant causes of concern for those of us who support, rely on, and believe in our county's public school system, I am not here to talk numbers. I am here to shine a light on what makes our public schools worth the investment. Teachers who are speaking words of belief into the lives of students who might not otherwise hear them.

Counselors who are offering boys and girls valuable skills to cope as they struggle to make it through the school day. Media specialists who are inviting kids into worlds that might frankly be better than the ones they live in by opening a book. Social workers who ensure students are given a fair opportunity to learn and are in a place where they can do so safely when they're at school. Nurses who take the time to address health concerns so other staff can continue fulfilling their valuable roles. I could go on and on, but my point is this.

Without these individuals being there on a regular basis, our schools are not whole. I was reminded today of the power of intentionality in speaking life into others. I'm grateful to know that there are hundreds more like missus Hearst pouring into our children every day in schools across our county. It seems that some may have an intent to vilify public education right now at all levels, but I stand here today to share quite the opposite with you. There is so much good going on in our schools right now. If only we will take the time to see, applaud, and invest in it. Our teachers, students, families, and county deserve it. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Ms. Dunn.

Teresa Dottermello? I probably butchered that. I apologize.

My name is Teresa DiBartomello. I live at 204 Margaret Avenue. I am a one on one nurse that goes to school with developmentally challenged children. I have been all over Charlotte Metro and primarily now Gaston County. So I'm gonna tell you what I see.

There are classrooms anywhere from 20 to 27 kids with one teacher. I can tell you that I can point out the kids. There's about twenty five percent in every room that are behavioral or are they're either one step away from an IEP or CPS. So I did not know about tears until I got to Gaston County. So this has nothing to do with skin color as much as it has to do with the economy.

So when you have kids that you're saying you're gonna cut back on librarians, No counseling. You don't have teacher aids in there with these 27 kids in a classroom. You got a teacher that asks 11 kids a simple math problem in fourth grade, and not one can answer it. So 25% need some kind of help. You got 50% that can't do math. Okay? So then they grow up. So at five years old, your personality is formed. Your brain is growing faster when you're small. Their brains are not developing properly.

The left part of the brain is math and cognitive. The right side is well, I got it left. The right I'm intelligent. The right side is imagination and creativity. You stick a Chromebook in their face to be a babysitter at home. You get to school. It's the same thing. They need to see words. They need to write words. The brain is not going to develop properly. It's very important. So why am I saying all this? Because now these kids are gonna age out. They're gonna be depressed, delinquent, criminal. That's what you're gonna get.

25 to 50%. And it's already showing. Drugs, outlet, escape. So are you gonna attract business? No. People brought up the million dollar homes. Who wants to live here? Right? So if you keep doing the same thing over and over again, it's just gonna the snowball is going to get bigger. Thank you. Thank you.

Andrew Andrew Reichel. And his wife Lisa is behind him. That's fine. Behind every good man is a good one.

Yeah. It's true.

Thank you, sir.

So Andrew Reichel, 3336 Hawthorne Lane in Belmont, North Carolina. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you guys tonight. I'll need you to use your imagination as I'm reading the statement on behalf of a current Gaston County Gaston County Schools teacher who has chosen to remain anonymous due to concerns about professional repercussions. I expect this to go over the three minute limit, so my wife Lisa, who is scheduled to speak next, will finish it. I am a teacher within Gaston County Schools.

I have proudly taught multiple elementary grade levels at two wonderful elementary schools in the district and have worked alongside many talented educators within those rules. Teaching has never simply been a job for me. It has been a calling. I have poured my time, energy, and heart into serving students and families in this community because I believe deeply in public education and the potential of every child who walks through our school doors. Tonight, however, I share my statement with you as one of many educators who has made the difficult decision to leave Gaston County Schools.

This decision was not made lightly. My own children attend school in this district, and I had hoped they would continue their education here. I also hope to continue building my career in the county where I have dedicated time, money, and hard work. However, after years of watching ongoing challenges grow worse, I can no longer ignore what is happening within our schools. Beyond the staff who are currently being unfairly cut, we are also losing many employees by choice, people who are essential to the daily success of our schools and students.

We are losing wonderful custodians who care deeply for our buildings and students. We are losing highly needed guidance counselors who support children emotionally at a time in history where anxiety in children is at its peak. We are losing teacher assistants who help classrooms function and provide critical support for students. We are losing specials teachers and librarians who bring creativity, movement, and enrichment into our schools. Many of these individuals are seeking opportunities in neighboring counties, private schools, and charter schools, and I don't blame them one bit.

We have families to consider. We cannot continue basing our own children's futures on a system that feels increasingly disorganized, unstable, and uncertain. Gaston County Schools has failed to adequately support its educators, and that failure ultimately harms students. When educators are overworked, undervalued, and unsupported, they cannot effectively nurture, teach, and lead children the way they desire to and the way the children deserve. Supporting educators is not separate from supporting students.

It is directly connected. Our district is struggling with leadership decisions that leave employees feeling unheard and unsupported. Funding concerns continue to impact classroom staffing and resources. And perhaps most concerning, experienced and highly qualified educators are leaving at an alarming rate, taking with them years of knowledge, mentorship, and stability that cannot easily be replaced. We currently have well respected schools losing nearly half of their employees.

When strong educators and staff members leave, students feel that loss. When families begin looking elsewhere for educational opportunities, that should concern all of us. And when school employees no longer feel confident placing their own children in the district where they work, that has to serve as a serious wake up call. And I will give way to my better half.

Thank you. They go on to say, I am leaving for a new opportunity that I believe will provide both a healthier work environment for me and ultimately a stronger educational setting for my children. While I am hopeful about this next chapter for my family, I am deeply saddened that it comes to this. Gaston County has incredible students, dedicated educators, and families who deeply care about their schools. They deserve county leadership that listens, plans responsibly, and prioritizes creating safe, stable, and highly quality learning environments.

The truth is I could quietly move on. I could focus solely on what's best for my own family and no longer concern myself with what happens next in Gaston County. Many people would understand that choice. But education is worth fighting for. These children are worth fighting for.

The families who rely on strong public education are worth fighting for. And the educators who continue showing up every day despite feeling exhausted and unsupported are worth fighting for. I may be leaving this district, but I refuse to stay silent while I watch a public school system that deserves thousands of children continue to be weakened by poor decisions and inadequate funding. The decisions made by this board directly impact the future of public education in our community. If meaningful action is not taken to properly fund and support our schools, more educators will leave, more families will lose trust in the system, and more students will pay the price.

The children of Gaston County are watching adults make decisions that will shape their futures, and they deserve better. Please do not wait until the damage is irreversible to act. Thank you. And I first wanna thank them for their words. It makes me tear up because my children have had wonderful teachers in Gaston County, but they've been voicing that they're about to be at their limit.

And there are teachers are rule abiding citizens. You don't see them here for a reason because they want to listen to leadership. But what I'm hearing is that they are applying like crazy outside of the district. And so much so that a Lincoln County teaching position had 30 applications from Gaston County teachers for one position. So I want to say that I'm a person that fights for the least of these, and when someone said earlier that you've got to keep showing up, you know, I respected that.

But I have to tell you that no one comes before my children. I wouldn't be here. I hate public speaking. Me standing up here says that. So what I want you to know is that this this is the alarm bell, but all of my friends in Belmont and Cramerton and McCaddenville, they are not going to stick around.

You are not going to get their tax money because our children deserve good schools, and we're not gonna let their education go down with this ship. So I respectfully ask that you fund a budget that can keep the 174 positions and give the teachers the confidence that they need to stick around, to let them know that we can right this ship, to say, No, thank you. I don't want that job in the other district. So thank you.

Ms. Rodgers. If you will officially, for the record, state your name. We have your husband's address. We assume you live together. But if you state your name officially for the record.

Sure. Lisa Reichel.

Thank you.

And Robert Reichel's here too. Oh. He's nine. Good. And his friend Zane. Thank you.

That concludes everyone who showed up to speak under the public hearing, and we appreciate your efforts, your comments. There's a lot of things that we want to see, but there's things that we do not have control of at the same time. I appreciate your comments. We are getting ready to get back on point. I will make a comment, if I can.

The funding for Gaston County Schools for the year twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six, and this was just given to us today from the Gaston County School System. I haven't had a chance to delve into it, but I'd like to share this with the audience that's at home and the audience that's here tonight. For the last school year that's ending fairly quickly, like two weeks, the funding sources total $498,073,715.89. Of that, 231,900,000 came from the state, 68.2 came from Gaston County local funds. The federal chipped in 29,000,000.1.

Other sources were 40 24,000,000.9. The capital outlay to support the educational process was 119,000,000.9, and school nutrition was 24.3. Just this is information that was just given, and I was that's the first time I've seen a total all encompassing dollar amount. And I appreciate doctor Houchard for providing that for us, tonight. As far as, any other comments from anyone here? Any comments from the Board for the budget? Yes, sir. Mr. Bailey?

All right. I appreciate everybody coming tonight.

This is under public hearing. This is Board discussion. It's public hearing.

This is public hearing? I'll wait till the board

Okay. I just wanted to make sure you understood that because if we had anybody had any questions for doctor Houchard or anyone else, we can I'm sure he doesn't wanna be bombarded. Mister Bailey has a question, I think, for Doctor. Houchard or for the manager.

Yes, sir, Mr. Chair. Doctor. Houchard, would you mind stepping up briefly, please? Thank you, sir.

Because after we get out of public hearing,

the conversation will be before the Board.

Thank you.

How are you, sir?

I'm good. Hope you are.

Good. Yes, sir. Just a couple of things. Number one, I was curious, is the outside firm JLL, I think the name of it was, are they still involved helping you go through things currently?

Yes, sir. HIL.

HIL. I'm sorry.

They are.

Can you give us an update as to kind of what they're finding, what they're saying, what they're proposing? Because I'd just I'd like to know where we stand on that, please.

Sure. So each time they're here, I get a report. They've they've physically been here three or four times, and we discuss what they're finding. Their purpose is multifold, but right now, it's to to do some investigative findings, report what they're finding for us in the budget for this year. We're trying to close out this year.

And every time we sit and talk, the number one priority they have for an accounting process in the school system is a conversion to Oracle and the company we have called CherryRoad to make our payments, our payroll and accounts payable and receivable work. And our folks still, five years later, after modernization, are not getting reports that are accurate. For a 300,000,000 I will say, a $360,000,000 budget, we take out the bond money. We have to go through each month and payroll and work it out by hand. So the first priority they always list to us is we're not getting accurate data and reports in a timely manner.

We're having to do it by hand, which is absurd in this day and age in modernization. They continue to find things such as the Oracle system with that we adopted five years ago forgot to take out or forgot to build the state of North Carolina x amount of dollars for two months for ten month employees who work twelve months. I mean, who who have to have twelve months worth of deductions for health, the tune of $800,000. So they continue to find these errors that you don't really catch until after the fact, the forensic side. So that's their biggest priority is we do not have an accounting system, and we are the only one in the state of North Carolina that uses Oracle through Cherry Road.

So every time we have an issue, we have to call. They have to fix the issue, charge us, by the way, pay them about a million dollars a year, to get solutions. And they generally cause more problems than they solve. Whereas if I were with other companies that did that, for example, or others in the state, they have 30 or 40 LEAs that share that experience, that learned accounting process in this modernization. So I'm saying all that to say they say the number one thing is we're not getting accurate numbers, and we haven't for five years, which is absurd.

Any anticipation as to how much longer they will be involved in this process?

So what I've asked them to do is I've asked them the first contract is to work with us through closing this year out and also help us develop the budget that I presented to you all today for the board budget, help us work move forward in in working through next year's budget. And remember, I'm without still a chief financial officer. I've had that job advertised for since February. It's a tough job to fill. I'm not the only one without a CFO in the state of North Carolina.

Out of 115 LEAs, last month, 32 without a were without a CFO because folks that can run millions of dollars in a company choose to go to work elsewhere, not public schools, because we just don't pay. So they're gonna stay with me until and walk with me through that process until I can find a candidate and offer a job.

Any idea as to what you're speculating, how long that will be? I'm just trying to get some kind of a gauge here.

I mean, it's it's hard to say. I I every time I get an applicant that's qualified, I interview. I've made several offers, and several have said no, and others are still thinking about it. So I do not know, sir. They will be with us through June, year end June 30 June 30. And if I need them past June 30, I'm sure they will stay.

What I would like to see, and, you know, this I'm not speaking for the Board, just for myself, when that does wrap up and conclude, if you could get some kind of synopsis of those findings those recommendations to the county manager and staff. I'd like to see that information in a simple nice form so we can kind of go through that and really get a good understanding of kind of the process, where it's gone, what they're proposing to do to avoid these issues in the future. So if you could coordinate that with

I can. And I could actually submit the reports. I will say every every time they end it, it's underfunding from all sources. Is is they always close with that. The the the funding sources are needed more.

Okay. That's great. I appreciate that. Just if you could get that to us once that does conclude.

I will. And they are willing also to come and to present. Of course, they will present to my Board. They would also present to Board as well. They would welcome that opportunity. They work with they're working with 14 or 15 other LEAs at this time.

I understand. And much like Vice Chair Hovas said, we just received this several hours ago. If there is any way moving forward, if we could get this information prior to the date of the meeting, that would be very beneficial just so we have time to go through it.

Right. So the legislation is I have to have that to you by May 15. We had it set up, and things were changed, and it just takes time to find an $8,000,000 change. And that's what took me took us a long time to figure out how where are we gonna find $8,000,000 to get it to what we presented to you today. So

Yeah. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Commissioner Sheehan. And I will share this with you. In my earlier conversations, and there have been a few with Doctor. Houchard, we have asked for that executive summary of the total findings so we can understand what the problems are and what rocks they're under. Some, course, could be us, some could not be. And that's why we want to understand the depth and breadth of this creek. But thank you so much. Great. Any other questions for Doctor. Houchard while he's at the podium? I'll

be having

to come back.

Okay. Okay. That's fine. Thank you. Thank you, sir. That if there's no other comments from the public or board Are

you are you gonna open it

up for additional folks who just didn't get

their assignment? Because I I do have a statement.

Yes, ma'am. You can come up and speak. Thank you. I'll let you. We're here to hear. Well, that's what the purpose of this is. We don't wanna exclude anybody. Please your name and address for the record, please. But you've already spoken once, but we we weren't supposed to double up. That's okay.

This is actually my first time

here. Excuse

me. My name is Allison Carpenter. I live at 515 Dogwood Lane in Belmont. And the Gaston County School budget is extremely important to me as a parent of a local elementary school student. My family moved here in 2018, and we chose Belmont because it's quaint, walkable, decent schools, affordable housing, amenities like parks and lake access.

We've been happy with the local schools and recognize that despite some apparent ongoing under resourcing, the school system has done its best to serve the community with its primary asset being staff who care and are invested in our student success. As parents, our utmost priority for our child is to thrive academically, emotionally, mentally, and physically. My husband worked remotely and we could have moved anywhere in the region, but we chose Gaston County. We like it here, but it's important to us that the school system is high quality and well resourced beyond just functional. We want a good education for our daughter with enrichment activities, mental emotional sport, arts, theater, sports, and we don't want to drive thirty minutes to a charter school or a private school.

We love our local neighborhood schools where our teachers are parents and grandparents of our child's playmates who we commune with at birthday parties and sports events who care about our community and our kids. Our daughter happens to have a health condition that results in low blood sugar, so it's extremely important to us to have support staff like school nurses, counselors, social workers, who help students like her with critical health needs. So far, daughter's school nurse, the last three years, has been shared between two schools. And for my daughter and others like her, this means that if a nurse is not present, other staff must be available to step in and support her in the management of her condition. For kids like mine, fewer school support staff could lead to a crisis.

Okay? I look around me tonight, up here, and I wonder how many of you have children or grandchildren in the local school system now, and how much of a priority our schools are to you. Because the level of funding is not keeping up with the needs, nor is it keeping up with inflation, nor is it equivalent to the investment the nearby peer communities make in their schools, and I find myself wondering why. I see that Gaston County is giving pay raises to non school county staff and has invested an expensive expensive baseball stadium among other local projects. And while I support these types of amenities, my number one priority as a resident and a parent is my child.

I've never been to a local baseball game, but in her k through 12 career, my daughter will spend a hundred ninety days a year for thirteen years in a local public school if we choose to stay in Gaston County. I see a lot of families moving here for the exact same reasons that we did. One thing I know from life experience is that families will not move or stay here if the school system is broken. If school quality declines, housing prices will decline alongside it and there goes the local tax base. You can simply pick up any real estate app and verify that trend.

On a more hopeful note, I believe that our children and the public education are the most important investments that we can make as a community. They are our future. They will be our economic drivers in the decades to come and they will be holding up Gaston County and this entire region and our country as the next generation of leaders. We need to invest in them if we want to have hope in our own futures. So even if you are not personally invested in the local school system, I'm certain that you can see the benefit to everyone of prioritizing quality local schools.

And it means finding that extra 10,000,000 that I heard you all commit to at the last meeting was voted on here, that the county manager was gonna go back and do some homework on an extra 10,000,000 to bump that up from 58 to 68,000,000. I'm hoping that you'll be able to fund those 174 staff positions that were cut along with supplies and maintenance in addition to working with your counterparts in our state government to pay staff a living wage. As elected leaders and county staff with significant experience in local government budgeting and funding, I'm hopeful that you can find a way to do the right thing by residents and our children and prioritize resources for our local schools today today. I see it on the agenda that there's a vote today for the 58,000,000 without that extra 10,000,000 that we talked about that you all talked about at the last meeting. And if that's not possible, if the county is in such a fiscal crisis that it's not possible, I think we residents deserve to know why and have a serious conversation about what else to trim out of the budget in order to prioritize our local schools.

So I appreciate your efforts to right this ship. We have faith in you, and our kids do, too. Okay? Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Did you wanna speak? You can't. I don't wanna exclude anybody. We're we're here to hear this conversation.

So

I am very nervous as my dear friend Lisa stated as well. But I had a wonderful dance teacher when I was growing up who told me that the butterflies mean that you care. And that care developed into me becoming a nurse as an adult, and expanding that care out into the world, and to the community at large. So I'm going to state one thing, first off my name, Kathleen Finch, 3731 South New Hope Road, Gastonia, North Carolina, and then I guess three things. The second thing that I'll state is that I have a lot of concern because of that care, that part of the reason for underfunding is that you want a less educated you want a less educated group of people in the future.

And and that that concern develops into, you know, a less educated group of people voting aren't going to pay attention to how money is spent, which, you know, means it can be basically a free for all in the future, and that concerns me. So we'll start with that. But secondly, there was a period of time that I worked as a school nurse. It was one of the most rewarding periods of time in my life. It was phenomenal. It was such a huge blessing. It was during the time when there was one nurse at every school. Every school had that COVID funding. We were able to care for children who had juvenile diabetes. I don't know if you all understand the magnitude, you know?

I mean, part of being a nurse is having very real, serious conversations, and the magnitude of this is children can die if they don't have proper care. So if there's not sufficient staff that's trained at the school, if there's not a nurse at every school, this is a very serious and dire situation. This isn't a joke. It's not funny. So there's that.

But also, working as a school nurse, I worked with an entire village of people that were supporting these kids. It was really awesome. Like, we had, you know, the guidance counselors, we had people working with the children for speech, things like that. We had all this great supportive staff, you know, counselors, and we were all there to make sure that these children, you know, were not only getting a good education, but they were getting the care and love necessary to grow up into people that will go out in the community and do good things, that will care, that will care. We would identify situations of sexual abuse, physical abuse, help diagnose kids for the very first time with learning disabilities, mental health diagnoses, and had these children not been diagnosed at an early enough point in their lives, they could have fallen to all kinds of terrible things, you know?

And and so having that community, having that village to support our children, it's it shouldn't even be an option. Why are we even talking about this? Why are we even arguing about this? Let's be real here, people, and care. Let's just care.

So that's all I have to say.

Name and address. Thank you.

My name is Hannah Sani, and I live at 1451 Wiggins Drive. Side note, I would like to state that it's super weird and kind of power grabby and antiquated to have to say my address, but okay. You all have heard statistics, you've heard from teachers and other school personnel, you know why we're mad, and I'm here to tell you how mad. I'm a graduate of Ashbrook, go green wife, and my oldest has gone to Sherwood, Robinson, and now Hawk's Nest. All that to say, I know the disparity across the districts, and we are so spoiled and privileged at Hawk's Nest, and yet I'm still standing here today.

I'd much rather be at home, playing in my backyard, digging up bugs and riding scooters with my three boys, but instead I'm here. I would much rather not know any of your names or any budget lines, but I can't because I keep hearing week after week ways y'all are doing a disservice to us and our kids. And you don't know me, but I'm someone who gives the benefit of the doubt more than I should, And Hope Springs Eternal is my middle name, but I skip all that when it comes to my kids. I was put on this earth to usher them into their futures and I'll be damned if I sit at home in willful ignorance because the people I entrusted to protect and support them aren't doing their job. You better believe if my baby's IEP is not being honored, somebody's gonna hear from me.

So it wasn't an option to stay quiet and stay at home when this entire elected council can't figure out how to keep the wheels moving. I can it can be done, and we will gladly go home and stay home when it is. I'm a trauma therapist. There are not many situations I can't use reason and compassion to understand why people did the things that they did because there's almost always a reason. And for what it's worth, we can acknowledge y'all were dealt a bad hand.

There are other people not doing what they should be doing. But we didn't just elect you for the good days or for just when this role is easy. Figure it out or we'll figure it we'll find someone who will. Get creative, be innovative, think outside the box. We don't pretend to know how to fix it all.

We just know it's broken, that's your job to fix it. Be revolutionary, make us write posts on our social media platforms about some awesome and new way y'all figured out how to get our kids what they need. I would love nothing more. I understand that local government, sometimes margins are tight, decisions are hard, and things are often a lot more complicated than they seem, but I also know that when someone in power is really passionate about something and willing to get creative, things start moving, goals are met, and lives are impacted. There is a path forward here.

There is a way this can be fixed. One of you just needs to be brave enough to figure it out and to share it. Do your jobs so I can go back up to being home doing mine. And also, for what it's worth, in my wildest imagination, I cannot fathom one good reason that statue is out there, and every argument boils down to racism, and it's embarrassing and wild, and please do something. Thank you all.

There's no one else. Correct? Okay. That concludes the public hearing. The motion to close the public hearing for the board. Motion by Mr. Bailey, seconded by Mr. Sheehan. Any other discussion? We will close the public hearing.

All those in favor.

Oh, all those in favor, please signify by saying raising your hand and holding it up so the clerk can get an accurate count, please. I don't want her to have to guess. Okay. Thank you. It's unanimous.

Our next item is the adoption adopt a resolution to approve the FY 2627 order of levy to collect adverium tax for the Gaston County Unified Fire Protection Service District and set the 26, 27 rates for the Long Shoal and the South Gastonia Fire Protection Districts to zero. Do I hear a motion?

So moved.

So moved by Mr. Keeger, seconded by Commissioner Fraley. Any other discussion? All those in favor, please signify by saying aye and holding your right hand up. Yes. It's item B. Item B. Okay. Now, go back. We have a motion from Mr. Keeger, a second from Mr. Fraley. All those in favor signify by raising your right hand. All those opposed, same sign. Mister Bailey is the dissenting vote.

The fire district tax is passed. To adopt the 20 the next item is item c, to adopt the 2026, '27 county budget ordinance. Do I hear we don't do the budget ordinance yet. Do we, Donna? I'm sorry? Oh, yeah, for discussion. Sorry.

I'm sorry. I'll make the motion.

We have a motion by Mr. Keeger for discussion to approve the resolution of the budget as the manager has presented to us. Is there a second? Was it Mr. Bailey will second that. All those and this is for discussion because in order for us to discuss anything, there has to be a motion and a second on the floor, and this is for discussion. And I'd like for the Board anyone on the Board that would like to start, I'd like to start with Mr. Fraley. Mr. Fraley?

Yes, sir, Mr. Vice Chair. I'd like to start by saying my wife was an assistant teacher for twenty years at Cherryville Elementary until she had to leave early to take care of her dad that was battling Parkinson's who's no longer with us. My sister-in-law, 30 teacher at Cherryville Elementary. My daughter's a teacher at Gaston Day now, and I used to drive one of those crowded school buses back a long time ago, whoever brought that up, and so I can deal with that a little bit.

And I do go by our elementary school on a regular basis, taking backpacks to the school from our church, delivering a backpack ministry. I do that on a regular basis. So with that being said, just to tell you, do have a little personal insight about what's going on, and I do visit the school. But I would like to start by saying that it's my understanding if we vote to pass the manager's recommended budget tonight, Gaston County Schools will be cutting approximately another 185 positions. And if I'm getting any of this wrong, somebody correct me.

I may not be exactly on the numbers. There's already been 83 cut. That'll bring a total to 268. These include central office assistant principals, teachers, media specialists, counselors, nurses, social workers, custodial, clerical, all the ones that people have brought up so far. According to Morgan Horschard that I met with this week, a flat budget which we are set to vote on tonight will critically impair the public schools of Gaston County.

And critically is a pretty strong word. And and and people, there's a lot of things that, you know, and I've heard these some folks speak about this tonight, you know, we're we're losing great local homegrown teachers that love Gaston County. And that that for whatever reason, a lot of it are the things we've talked about tonight, do not see a future here. And and that's just, you know, it's the shame, it's a shame regardless of whatever the reasons are. Do I wanna pay more property tax?

No. I don't think anybody in this room if they were to answer that question honestly, they'd probably say no. But I think throwing money after every problem is gonna fix it. No, I don't think that's the case either. But I'm not ready myself to pass a budget that will result in the act and these actions taken place that we're talking about.

Closing schools and firing teachers is a very negative signal that that go out to potential businesses and people looking to to relocate here or some that are leaving because of those reasons. We have recruited world class businesses in the Gaston County with more on the way. What kind of sign, what kind of signal we send to them. We have these issues and it's headline news, articles, local articles, state articles, national articles, who knows where do we end up if we continue down this path. Where do we go from here?

Maybe we can find some middle ground. I hope so that we can all agree on. Maybe this will work if we all contact our state representative to help us get this sales tax on the ballot. That would create another 10 or $11,000,000, but we can't just depend on that. And and we do have a reval coming up next year, and whatever we decide on this budget, we can make decisions along with meeting with the board of education and and all the people that have a stake in this to try to make the right decisions.

But, you know, in some way, shape or form, and I don't know how we're going to accomplish because things are tight, and there's just not a bunch of money laying around out there to give that much more to the schools. But if we work together, if we talk about it, if we collaborate, we can find a way because we're all Gaston County. Our board is, the board of education is, the citizens, the teachers, so we need to strive for that. And I'll leave it at that for right now. Let discussion continue, and then we'll see where we go from there. But thank you, Mr. Vice Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Fraley. Mr. Sheehan?

Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Much like Commissioner Freyley, I come from a family of educators myself, my mom, sister, brother-in-law, two cousins, aunt. So I understand. These problems are not new. They've been around a long time. I actually have an education degree myself from Appalachian. So I do feel greatly for what is going on to our teachers and our students. It's vitally important that we do protect our educational system. And that is the reason why we did come to assistance previously with the give that was needed.

And we had no problem doing that because we saw the need there. When Mr. Fraley, at the last meeting, had mentioned, gave direction to county staff to go look at options for increased funding. I want our citizens to know that we did that. He did his due diligence. And he sent us options, options that ranged all the way from looking at all non mandated services of where we could cut from to pull additional money. Also gave us scenarios of increasing the tax rate. I, for one, I can't support a tax increase. Not because I don't want to increase funding, our citizens are burdened enough. And I think most of us feel the same way.

But there is hope to this situation, and that's what I want everybody to understand. Much like Mr. Fraley mentioned, 'twenty seven is our next reval of our property. On the last reval in '23, I'll be the one to say it, our schedule of value was incorrect on commercial and industrial properties in this county, which caused a decrease in revenue on our tax base. This Board is committed to fix that next year.

We're going to get that value correct. We're going to recapture that loss in revenue, which roughly Mr. Manager, if I'm incorrect, please tell me, equate to about $15,000,000 a year. Is that correct? So if we can get to that point, we should not have these kind of issues moving forward. It doesn't immediately correct the problem we're in now, but it gives us a plan moving forward. That's all I have for now, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Sighin. Mr. Batalla?

Yes. I would like to thank everybody here for coming tonight. I've heard a few people, teachers and parents talk about my numbers that I do all the time while I'm

up here.

I do listen and I write down numbers. And that's clearly a lot of the notes that I took from last time. I wanted to do my homework, okay? This is one of the things that I've found. I compared ourselves to four other counties in Gaston County with similar makeup and everything.

Gaston County spends approximately 19% on the schools. The other four average 33.5%, okay? That's the numbers I found out. And that's one of the reasons why I do listen. And the one teacher I can't remember who spoke I think it was you that spoke last week or somebody that had red shirts on, I think.

I thought it was you, but maybe not. They said it turned out how much money you put into your school system equals grades and proficiency. Those four schools that I was talking about average with math, reading and science 15% higher on average for proficiency level than Gaston County. I think one of the teachers said tonight that we're you know, our reading level is below 40 below 50%. Currently, it's right at 45%, proficiency in Gaston County, which is unheard of.

You look at a lot of things, you know, one of the they said, you know, it's our responsibility. Some of it is, okay? Teachers are state employees. They're not county employees. I heard on the way here that the state legislative just approved or just agreed to approve a new state budget, which is going to, you know, greatly increase teacher salaries much more than, you know, what was there last year, what they proposed. Does that take some of the responsibility off of us for school teacher supplements? No, it doesn't, okay? My daughter is a teacher. She's our first teacher. I was a school director for the state of North Carolina through criminal justice.

I wasn't an educator in the school system. I worked mainly through the college system. But some of the responses that I've got when I've talked to some of the commissioners was, you know, well, let's stick with what the manager recommends and let's stick to traditions, okay? I'm a new guy. I've been here for a little over a year and a half.

And one of the reasons why I think I was voted in the office was because there was such neglect in the school systems. If it's such a tradition and me and the county manager talked about this when I first got started, he his statement to me was he works at the direction of the county commissioners. So we're supposed to direct him. We're not supposed to work at traditions. We're supposed to direct him what to do.

And I will get to that here in just a little bit about what my plans are on that. We should pay teachers more money. I totally agree with supplements. We're way behind a lot of other counties. And I would like to direct the county manager.

It may not happen this year, and I hate to say that. But I'd like him I would like to direct the county manager to reduce the size of our government. We have a lot of people that work at this county. We briefly talked about this the other day. We have a lot when you look at comparison with these other counties that I was talking about, they're they bring in less revenue, and there are a couple of the counties are bigger than ours.

Their tax rates, every one of them is lower than ours. And these same counties are averaging 33.5% for their school systems. So yes, you're exactly right. Some of it is our fault, okay? Our school administrators, you know, have did fall behind on some of their some of the issues that they did with the state funding during COVID issue.

And, you know, that hurt everybody. That's where we had to come up with that $10,000,000 That $10,000,000 was not just something that we they were just short on. It was kind of a misappropriation of funds through the years. So and it just come to a head. So we had to come up with that.

Did we want to do that? No, we didn't want to do that, okay? But, you know, you look at a lot of the things that what our responsibilities are, it's it doesn't make sense where we're at. And not even 20% of our funding going to schools. So I just feel like in Gaston County, we have way too many people getting paid for jobs that maybe we need to look at, okay, or reduce the size of government.

You know, look at our I mean, my main goal in Gaston County is to take care of the schools and public safety, okay? And that's it. Everything else, I feel, can be cut. And that's all I have to say.

Thank you, Mr. Bennett. Ms. Clogger?

First, would like to make comments and then also I would like to ask our superintendent a question, as well as I would like to ask our manager a few questions. To our teachers and school personnel staff, thank you for sharing your concerns for the work you do every day for our students. Your dedication to Gaston County's children does not go unnoticed. It is clear that our school system is facing operational and staffing challenges. I understand the uncertainty and the frustrations many of you are feeling.

I want you to know that I hear your concerns. The situation at hand seems to be multifaceted. Gaston County does have limited revenue resources. Most property owners don't want additional tax increases, some will and some will object. There's a shortage of funding for Gaston County's operational expenses.

Legally, we are not allowed to tell Gaston County Schools where to direct the funding, And in my opinion, we do not have a clear picture, which really concerns me. Supporting education is not about maintaining the status quo, but about finding responsibility, forward thinking solutions that strengthen our schools and support both employees and students. And I don't know what that answer is, but I think that we are all open to solutions because at the end of the day, we all have to work together for the better of our community. While I strongly support our teachers and our school staff, I don't approve I don't feel comfortable right now approving additional funding without a clear direction on how these funds will be spent. And what I would like to know, and I don't know if you're able to provide that now, but can you give me a list of how these funds will be directed?

Will it support teacher and school staff salaries or is it classroom operations or is it basic operational expenses because it's really, we just need to, I just need to understand from my point of view what the clear picture is.

Okay. Ms. Clunger, if I can, I have a few thoughts on a flat budget, and that might answer some of the questions that you have? So Gasson County Schools has had a flat budget since the twenty twenty one-twenty twenty two school year for operations. Now we have seen $2,500,000 come from you all in increased revenue, but every penny of that's gone to teacher supplements.

Thank you for that. We need our teachers need that. We're still behind. So when I say we've had a flat budget from 2021 to 2022 to present, that has a cumulative effect. That cumulative effect is measured under the CPI, Consumer Price Index.

And inflation in 2023 was 8% by CPI. Inflation in 2024 was 4%. Inflation in 2025 was 3%. Inflation in '26 was 2.4%. And we talked about that cumulative effect each year if you get that amount over five years, it adds up, which would have meant $11,000,000 from our local budget for this for last year.

So a flat budget does not recognize inflation or the cost of living increases for this year. I did notice it's in for the county, 3% along with longevity. A flat budget means another year we cannot replace five year old Chromebooks for our students in our replacement cycle. By holding our budget flat and not honoring the Board of Education budget of $60,000,000 means additional 75 positions to cut beyond the two sixty two million we already have had to make. And then the $1,200,000 of capital needs is actually a reduction.

Last year, was $2,270,000 And the industry means we are given $0.24 per square foot to manage our 40 plus year old buildings on average. The industry standard is $1.35 per square foot. So flat budget is certainly not what's best for the children. And I think and I can provide all this for you. I can show you the cumulative effect. I can show you where we said we needed it. It's just it's come to a head. And for years, we got by with because we could cover with COVID money. So I would love to provide a detailed report for you on what additional funding will will provide for us. You know, I use an example of assistant principals.

If and we know the value. If you spent ten minutes in a in a classroom I mean, in a school, you know the value of an assistant principal. And if we only had what the state provided for us, only one elementary school would have a full time assistant principal. Only one middle school would have a full time assistant principal. And three of our high schools would not even have principal because we're funded on 32 positions.

We have 56 schools. That's just one example. I can I can roll that out for you for media assistance? I can roll it out for you for school counselors, for nurses, you name the position. And what what traditionally happens in North Carolina education is, you have state allotment, you have federal positions, and then local funding helps support and supplement more that's needed.

Assistant principals are an example, counselors. And what COVID did for us is it it it gave us the means to hire those those professionals to meet the social and emotional needs of our children, which are not gone, but the support for them is now because that COVID money is gone. And and I know COVID, we lost COVID several years ago. And and quite frankly, we should have been making cuts more than we did each year. Last year, and I've got those number for you, we cut 86 positions last year.

It should have been 186, and it wasn't. And that's part of the reason why I had to come to you all. We know we knew it in September, we talked in November, and it came to a head in March. It's those services that local dollars help support. Because we do everything in schools. We get them there, feed them, we do their laundry for some students, we brush their teeth, we worry about their social emotional well-being. And then we gotta do ABCs and one two threes. And we take them to athletic events. We do everything for them. And there's a cost to that.

Miss Conder, I don't know if that answered your question, but that kinda got me to where we are with a flat budget is not what's best for Gask County Schools. I have prepared the personnel we had last year and have shown all the cuts. Know Vice Chair Hope, Mr. Hovas has asked me for that, so I have the difference between what we had last year, what we have this year. I've also prepared what we're gonna have

to do if we get

a flat budget again for the sixth year in a

Well, our manager has provided like, you know, the other commissioner, I think Bailey mentioned about, you know, different options and so the options that we have are very limited, so to speak. Right. And so, I mean, it just makes it difficult in trying to figure out the best option for everybody involved. And I know that we have provided money out of fund balance, and I know that fund balance is not the answer, but at this point to me, it would be better to pull from fund balance once there was a better analysis of the cost and that type of thing than in lieu of raising taxes, and that is just, that's just where I am with this. But I do think that we need to work together and we all need to work together for the common good of all in trying to figure out something that is going to be sustainable and workable with the school board and with the commission and with and with their citizens because they have made very vocal and concerned and realistic situations of the reality of what is happening in the school.

I know that, I mean I received an email from someone saying that report cards will have to be picked up instead of I mean, right, is that correct?

Yes ma'am, it costs us $30,000 to mail report cards and what I see, that's a custodial position or that's a teacher assistant. So we have determined parents can go online and get it real time, which they do all the time. They can come and pick it up. We can send it home with a child or they can come get it anytime during the summer. But $30,000 in this budget matters.

Right. Right. You know, but, you know, I'm I'm sure it's every day that there I mean, I heard before I came here other comments that I'm just not gonna, you know, get into, but it's just really affecting it affects our community as a whole, it affects everything and we just need to really try to work deep down to see what we can do.

Can I share one more thing with you? It's just an overview. So of the $54,800,000 we get, the three largest bills we pay come right off the top. So of that $54,000,000 $6,800,000 goes to charter schools, 9,000,000 goes to teacher supplement, and $5,500,000 to $6,000,000 goes to pay the utility bills. So from the start, our real money is really less than $33,000,000 So there's those big bills that we forget about, running 5,100,000 square feet costs

Well, I think that's important to be able to explain because of we all have we all have those checking accounts, and we all have to have those checks and balances like we have to make those checks and balances here as commissioners as well, and there's those expenses that none of us ever see.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

I have a few more comments.

Did you have a question? Okay.

Okay. That's as county commissioners, we have a responsibility to consider the needs of the county as a whole and be mindful of the impact our decisions have on our taxpayers and also our county services. And I feel that this is honestly, in my opinion, put us in a catch 22 because I do believe that transparency is very important, as well as responsibility and accountability, and I remain committed to listening and asking questions and working towards solutions that move our schools and community by working together. But I do have before I finish, I'm sorry, I have a couple of questions I would like to ask our manager. So I think that it just needs to be explained again, these questions is, you know, what has contributed to Gaston County School finances being not able to cover their obligations and needs?

I don't want to speak for Morgan, but my understanding of that situation was, while they may have had some information regarding the loss of low wealth funding, they didn't know the significance or the amount of that. And so as it led into the fall of last year, when they realized obviously there was a deficiency, as well as the loss of what Morgan mentioned is Esser funds or COVID relief dollars. And that's hard on everybody, right? Like we got those funds. Every county, most cities in the state got that, as well as school systems, is that money was flowing in and you really had to be really diligent about where it was going, how it was being allocated, not for reoccurring purposes, especially personnel, or things along those nature.

I can't speak for him. He mentioned their financial system, their payroll system, and how they weren't getting adequate reporting. Obviously, that would be very detrimental if we weren't getting that. And so if you don't know where you're at or where you're going to end up, it's hard to plan for the future. And I think all those things just kind of unfortunately caught up at one time. Okay.

Then another question. In the state budget, what is the percentage increase for teacher salaries?

So the state has yet to pass the biannual budget. They had obviously long session last year, which intent was to pass a budget, biannual budget. They did not, they failed to do so. They're in the short session currently. I think it was mentioned previously the percent being thrown around right now for the two year period is an 8% increase for teachers. Obviously that hasn't passed. It's out there. Hopeful that it would and that would be very beneficial but we won't know until a budget passes.

That's all my questions.

Thank you, Commissioner Kloninger. Commissioner Keeger?

I'm not gonna be redundant, so many things have been said already.

I'm going to wait and see what the how the wording of the adoption of the budget goes.

It may have some things to say there, but I was, I got a notice that, and I'm

sure most of you heard

this, that the general assembly will take

a vote on giving teachers

an 8% increase. So hopefully that will be tomorrow. Teacher here in Gaston County in the '70s. I was actually, memory serves me right, it was 'seventy seven or 'eight, they started the state certification program. And I was in the first class to be state certified.

I didn't teach very long. I just couldn't take it mentally. Kids are driving me crazy. But God bless you all for being in the classroom.

But as I said,

I'm gonna hold back any other questions or comments.

So let's try here what the motion is for the adoption of this year's budget.

Mr. Baty, you got a question? Certainly.

Just a question from Doctor. Richard. And this is a negative or a positive. It's just a general question. I've heard over the past couple of weeks about COVID money. Yeah. And, you know, you're having to lay people off because the COVID money is no longer there. What did we do before COVID money?

Well, we didn't need the services that we had during COVID. If you remember, we half population was at schools and we had all kinds of medical, all kind of mental health. We we needed those services. And when when when COVID started to wane, we then used our low wealth money, which was about $8,000,000 and mister Roton mister Roton, mentioned that. And then when we started this year and here's the real root of the $10,000,000 When we started this year, we were told there's no in absence of a budget, state funding remains the same.

Right? What they forgot to say except for two funds, and one of them is low wealth. They changed that funding, but they did in the nine or 10 other major fundings we had. So that's what put us in a bind. We were using that low wealth money, as all districts do, to support those positions. So we didn't need the the and the COVID creep, I'm calling it the COVID creep. We crept up there and had 100 more employees than we had previously. And I said, two years ago, we cut 86 and it should have been 186. But I do want to mention those services and those professionals are still needed in our schools more than we can now.

Well, the one thing I did notice over the past, I think it was five years that the student population for the schools have dropped about 2,000 people.

Yeah. So for next year, we have 400 students less. And when I meet with we we have a group, it's the 12 largest superintendents who meet online. Wake, think Wake, Charlotte, because we have 60% of the students in the state just in the in the 12 districts. And all of us are having this issue. And 440 students means about $4,000,000 less we're going to get from state. It means less money from federal, such as EC funding and those types of things. So there's a lot of dirt being turned, but we're seeing declining populations in our schools everywhere, not just here.

Thank you, Mr. Bailey. Any other comments? I have a few. Doctor Houchard, have you received from the Department of Public Instruction what your low wealth money will be for the new school year 2026, 2027? We have. Would you share that number with the public?

Three it's so we have vacillated until last year 3,000,000 to 5,000,000. It will go back to up to right at 3,000,000. Don't hold me to that because I haven't seen it, but it's part of our budget planning. It's three three point two is what I'm

The one that I saw was basically what it was immediately before the ten, it was four. I've seen it on a DPI

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

So that conversation about reval creating the chasm, that that math doesn't work. I'm just I'm not pointing blame. I'm just saying, you know, everybody's saying that we should've we should've recognized that we're creating this chasm. That going from 10,000,000 to to 998,000.

It's a formula.

It it it's something. It's Yeah, it's a not all reval. Because we haven't done anything since last year. We should still be at the same number, but we're back at four.

So if you'd like for me to briefly so so the way the low wealth works is you have you have a value that that's appraised in the county, and it's put up against the rest of the of the counties. The state says, for example, if a county doesn't have the ability to tax because of their small homes or whatever, the the the state under low wealth equalizes that. So what the state looks at is when you raise the value of your homes in a county and this doesn't follow, the tax rate doesn't follow, the state looks at it as an obligation to fund with local funds. Now I'm simplifying it.

To move funding around disparagingly. That's right. Not scientifically.

Well, from local funds. And then what happens is other people catch up. So between the time we had the re eval and now, I'm going to say 35 other counties have had a re eval. So now their value in the county has gone up, which helps us.

Yes, sir. I understand. I understand it. But I'm just saying the formula that's being used, we don't create that formula. We don't claim to understand all of it. But at the same time, you're taking discrete data. If you're a statistician, discrete data is data that can replicate it. You can you can you have measurement system error and all that. But you're taking attribute data and treating it as discrete, which statistically does not work. Right.

Just sharing with everybody else because I I never could figure out. And then when I saw those new numbers, it didn't make sense to share that point, okay? In reference to my conversation or my comments, I fully understand the value of public education Gaston County. I am a product of that, good, bad or indifferent, whichever you want to judge me as. All four of my grandchildren are involved in public education in Gaston County.

Some are in charter, some are in Gaston County schools. I'm I'm very fortunate to say that my impact, to my knowledge, has been much less than some of the comments that have been made by other parents here today, and I certainly understand your concern and your frustration. At the same time, what we have done in terms of managing these funds and reacting, what has come to us, I feel like, is kind of a lot late and slow in reacting in terms of finding out where we are in terms of this predicament. This board quickly and unanimously agreed to fund Gaston County Schools out of the fact that we can add two and two and get four, and we had money in the fund balance, a $10,000,000 check to get Gaston County Schools through the end of this school year so they would be able to meet payroll and not end up basically shutting down schools. This board did that unanimously, and they obviously shows that we care.

This board also repurposed old bond monies that were stuck in accounts that weren't used for years from bond debt to operational funds. Meant I think that of that dollar amount you lost, it basically covered about $3,700,000 in additional money that I don't know that anybody's talked about, but that makes the the the till on the county's checkbook to be almost $14,000,000.

Yes, sir. It's my understanding that was county that was school money that was capital that was converted over That's correct.

But it had to be but it had to be or it had to be approved by this board.

Yes, sir.

That's what I'm saying. We we did that. I mean, we could have said you're gonna keep paying capital. We didn't do that. We allowed that. We had the ability to repurpose those funds. Not unlike what we're asking the state legislature to do in the quarter cent sales tax that we have in our back pocket that's supposed to be targeted to transportation. We're not gonna do counties don't do transportation. The reason the five largest counties in the state got a 1¢, 1% transportation tax is because they're gonna do mass transit, Charlotte with their light rail and those other things. That that's not on we're not our population, it's not dense enough for Gaston County to get in there.

But it's a perfect fit to repurpose that like we did the sales tax for the bond debt because that didn't go against property tax, and that allowed us to float the largest bond issue that's ever been issued for Gaston County Public Schools, $250,000,000 because you gotta have a building in order to have teachers, and that's what we were trying to do. We know we're way behind eight mile in some of our capital improvements. So there there definitely is concern here. What my opinion is, because we're getting we just got this other information, is great information that you provided us today, and there's other questions, we don't have to fully solve that question tonight with the budget. We can act just like we did in terms of the $10,000,000 check if this board so desires down the road.

If we all get together and we come up with our numbers and we decide to right size the ship and decide what our complement of labor force truly should be and what is sustainable. Because it's not just doing it today. When we add these positions back, they're gonna be there next year and the next year and the next year. They're reoccurring costs. So we can't treat it like a onetime emergency.

We need to be able to have a funding stream that does that. And it may be additional monies from property tax ongoing in years to the future. I don't know what that number is. But I would like, if the board would so allow me to do, to amend my motion to approve the manager's budget as submitted, to add a caveat to that, that we amend that we approve the manager's budget as submitted, and that we, Gaston County, and our staff, and Gaston County Schools and their financial staff get together and come up with what we see the future state being in terms of staffing, to come up with a master plan of what would be sustainable and what could allow us to have a projected avenue to get to where we need to be to meet these needs, both of the students and also the financial concerns of all parties involved. We have never done that.

There's never been an opportunity for the two entities to sit down like that. I would like for our chair, upon his return, to appoint two commissioners to work in conjunction with two or three school board members and our staffs to come up with this master effort, to come up with this master plan. And once we've identified that, if those needs are 5,000,000, if they're 6,000,000, if they're 7,000,000, whatever they are, then we can turn around initially. Short term, we can fund it out of fund balance until we correct and rightsize the ship in terms of property tax to fund that ongoing, not just stop gap, not just one time, but that requires a lot of analytical information and understanding so that we're not just knee jerk reacting. I think that's a prudent way to analyze where we are and create a road map for the future so that we can find that.

And still, it behooves us to pressure our legislature to approve the repurposing of that sales tax that we've been authorized to let the voters, you the voters, vote on, allow us to send that to the Gaston County voters, their constituents, and allow them to approve it. And that that money was sustained and put us in the midpoint. And I said previously, that would put us in the midpoint of teacher supplements. So then we're handling operational costs. We're doing all that.

This is a master plan that looks at all of those things that can take Gaston County schools for the next ten years without having hiccups and burps, belches, whatever else takes place to to fund properly our needs for our educational system. That is imperative. It's our responsibility as elected officials to do that. I don't think there's a single person on here because they all voted unanimously to write that check. We were not gonna let Gaston County Schools fail, but we need to collectively come together.

And maybe doctor Houchard agrees or does doesn't agree with my my consensus of how we put this together going forward. And we don't have to do it within the confines of a budget because we've got a date that we have to do a budget. Certain budget concerns have other effects on other revenues that come to the county. And by being able to do it in this method, a controlled analytical method and knowing what we're doing, we're not going up with property tax and back down with property tax. We're creating a stable situation, and we can predict our expenses and help with the county's expenses.

And this board, four people on this board can vote to dip back into our fund balance if it takes $3.05, $68,000,000, pull another chunk of money out to get us through this time for this year once we know that this is a true viable plan. We know that we've we've turned over every rock. We don't have any, oops, I gotchas. You've got your information from the accounting firm that's getting you rightsized to know where your buckets are, and then we can move forward. I think that's approved.

And that's just this is just my recommendation to the to the board. The board wishes to allow me to amend my motion. I'll I'd like to amend my motion to include that caveat of that development of the master plan to show staffing going forward, and then we can turn around and deal with this in a controlled environment.

I'll second the your amended motion.

K. I think, actually, it was already seconded by who was it? Donna?

We had to amend it,

No. But what hold on second. Whoever seconded it has to agree to the to the amendment amendment. Correct?

Commissioner

Bailey. Commissioner Bailey. Commissioner Bailey, do you agree to the okay.

Madam Clerk is correct on that.

Anybody can second my amendment? Or is this

person can make a motion to amend the motion on the floor, which is to adopt the manager's budget. I'll make that.

Okay. So mister Keeger has made the second. Alright. Any other discussion from the board? Any clarifications? Everybody understand what I've tried to lay out? I'm not trying to pull fast one. I just wanna make sure the boards understand it.

So you're going to put separately the schools on a separate lookout. Right?

We're gonna collectively go together and do and commissioners and and board of education people alike to deal to delve into the pie and figure out whether what's got basil, what's got tomato, what's got oregano, all those pieces of the puzzle and figure out where we're at. Mister Manisher, do you think that's a prudent discussion? I'm I'm at want your opinion.

Yes. We're happy to do that.

We work very well with them, so we're happy

to dig into that with them and figure out and help them identify where those needs truly are so they can bring a report back to this board about what that looks like.

And I know the board had previously asked the manager to come back with some other, and I'm I'm not saying this in his defense, this is the true statement, to come back with some options. The reason the manager did not present other options is because our budget is so tight under its current constraints. Our budget that we're looking at passing tonight does not have is not sustainable long term. We're gonna have to do a few other things in in our own house to have a sustainable budget out in the out years. Correct, mister manager?

That is correct. I mean, our budget in total, the whole budget is up 2% over two year period. So 1% annual average increase.

It's not gonna get it.

Yeah.

Okay. With that okay. We have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? I don't wanna cut anybody off. Okay. All those in favor, please raise your hand and held it right hold it raised to approve the motion. K. All those opposed? Mister Bailey is the one descending a vote. And we'll doctor Houchard will work on putting that together.

Yeah. We need the motion.

Does that sound amenable to you? I don't wanna paint you in a corner. Are you asking me? I thought yes, sir. I thought that's what I did. I said k.

I think I think the board of education sent a solid plan to you with the $60,000,000 ask, though. I certainly wanna share anything we need to share. You are our funding source. I mean, I have to. I say please and thank you.

Do you understand we're we're motion.

I do, but I but I also know that I I wanna do what's best for children, and what's best for children is funding them so I could support them with adults and services.

Yes, sir. We

need a motion now to approve that. We just

Okay. We we we voted on the substitute motion. Now we need a motion to approve the budget resolution as amended. Motion by commissioner Keeger, seconded by commissioner Sheehan. Any other discussion? All those in favor, please signify by raising your hand and please hold them. Opposed? Mister Bailey's is the same vote. Madam Clerk. Any questions?

That's correct. We need a motion to adopt the budget ordinance that includes all the stuff with the fire commission and what we've just done here with the regular budget ordinance. All those in favor all a motion by commissioner Keeger, seconded by commissioner Fraley. Any other discussion? All those in favor, please hold your hand, please. All those opposed? Mister Bailey's the descending vote. I think that concludes our action items unless someone else has something else. Well, we really it's a special meeting. We can only identify those things that were on the agenda.

But this concludes our meeting for tonight. Our next regular meeting is May 26 on at 6PM here in the Harley B Gaston Junior Public Forum at the courthouse. Thank you for watching, and thank you, if you have any questions or comments, please contact our clerk, Donna s Buff, at (704) 866-3196. Thank you. We stand adjourned.