City Council - Regular Meeting

to rise for the invocation followed by I mean the rise for the yeah for the invocation followed by the pledge of allegiance to the flag. Good evening everyone. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you so much for this day and thank you for the many blessings that you've provided for us. I pray for everyone who is planning to speak tonight that you would give them wisdom. And I pray for our council members and our mayor, some of this who are this would be their last full meeting, that you would give them wisdom for making decisions that affect our community. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [snorts] Please be seated.

The only the only change we made to the consent agenda is we moved item B to the regular agenda. [clears throat] I think other than that the agenda remains intact at this time if I'm correct about that. Is there a motion to adopt the agenda as amended? So moved. Second. All in favor please say I. I.

Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much. Code of ethics and front and center strategic plan are behind item five. Call that to everyone's attention. Um and I have one presentation to make tonight and that is a recognation recognition of child grief day and national hospice month. All right, y'all. Okay, come on. Sounds good. All right. Uh, this is a proclamation recognizing child grief awareness day and national hospice and palative care month November 2025. Whereas [cough and clears throat] November is recognized across the United States as National Hospice and Paliotative Care Month. Time to honor the compassionate professionals and volunteers who provide comfort, dignity, and support to individuals and families facing serious illness or the end of life. And whereas HPCIC has served our community for more than four decades, ensuring that every person receives expert medical care, emotional support, and spiritual comfort regardless of their ability to pay. And whereas hospice care affirms life and regards dying as a natural process, helping patients live their remaining days with peace while providing families with vital guidance and understanding. And whereas November also includes ch National Children's Grief Awareness Day [cough] observed [clears throat] on the

Thursday before Thanksgiving, a day dedicated to recognizing the millions of children who experience the death of a loved one each year. And whereas through Rainbow Kids, HPCIC provides free grief counseling and support to children, offering school-based groups, individual sessions, and special programs that help children express their feelings, find hope, and heal together. Whereas both hospice and children's bereavement services reflect the same mission of compassion, helping individuals and families navigate loss with love, dignity, and strength. And whereas the dedication of HPCIC's staff, volunteers, and supporters strengthens our entire community, ensuring that no child or family faces illness or grief alone. Now therefore, I, Constantine HQ, mayor of the city of Statesville, do for the final time proclaim November 2025 as National Hospice and Palative Care Month and National Children's Grief Awareness Day and encourage all residents to support the mission of hospice and pallet of care of Ardo County and the Rainbow Kids program. Congratulations, folks, AND THANK YOU.

[applause]

I DON'T KNOW if microphone will go down for low enough. I think it will. I think I'm loud enough. It won't matter. Thank we want to thank um the city of Statesville, our community, all our volunteers, our staff, and especially Mayor Cout. We're so grateful for your support. Thank you for this recognition and for all who support us in this community. Charlie, you can Why don't you Why don't you introduce the team that you

Yeah. So, next to me, I have Maria Ramon, who is one of our amazing Rainbow Kids counselors. Nicole Wise, who helps run the office in Statesville, Charles Ash, we lovingly call him Charlie, who's our chief administrative, chief officer, does it all pretty much. and then Katie Katie Saunders who is our market marketing coordinator at hospice. So it's great to be here with the team and we just need to pause and get a picture. All right, [laughter] I failed to get y'all before the meeting. So let's let's go out front. We'll have our picture taken and thank you all very much. Let's give it a hand. [applause]

[applause]

Okay, this is our public comment period meeting. Uh, it appears that the people have signed up to speak on three different topics and I'm going to try to consolidate everybody on one topic. So, if I think I've gotten to the end of people that came to speak on a particular topic and I overlooked you, please let me know and we'll put you in with that group. First, it appears that Deborah Rollers came to speak about Troutman and if she would like to come forward, we'll hear from her. Or is that is that part of Hill Haven?

Huh? Can you go last? Okay. All right. Then then we have a number of people that came to speak about the historic marker which is a matter that's on the agenda for tonight. The first one that signed up is Marlene Scott. So as you and um next is Mrs. Elamine and then Mr. Elamine after that. So if you'll be in the queue and be ready to speak when the person finishes. Huh? Yeah. But what I'm saying is uh Marlene is first if you'd like to [clears throat] be part of my

Okay. So, we'll All right. Good. Okay. No, you're not going to You just came. Well, she doesn't need it. She's part of the the presentation. So, that's all right. This is getting better and better. [laughter] And is that you two or Okay,

Darthy, you the same boat.

Todd, same boat. All right. So I think that okay then then we're uh Hill Haven Kathy Yudi followed by Anita Udi but my recollection is one speaks and it yields the time to the other. So yeah go ahead.

Um I'm Kathy Udy. I live at 422 Wall Springs Road. You y'all know me by now. Um, and I'm sure you wished I would stop coming, but um, u, the only thing I have to talk about now is I I asked that the annexation be um, denied because of the topography of the area. It's much more suited to custom home building with basement and and crawl spaces instead of a a um cluster subdivision. Um they the I've got some handouts if you want to send them around. That one is the the topo map and the other is just the septic tanks that are in the area. But um um the the way this this uh is sloped is uh the the highest portions of it are over 900 ft and then the lowest portions all the way down to Shelton Avenue are 800 ft. And there's gullies and there's there's uh everybody get one.

Everybody's present. Everybody got David's got it now. Everybody's got it now.

Um the that topo map shows the the differences in the um where they're they're going to build. There's going to have to be extensive landscaping for them to take away all the gullies and all the hills, make it flat enough for slab homes. Um we're also concerned about the the um lakes and stuff that are already there um that are natural part of it and the um just the lay of the land. It's it's uh more suited to uh putting a basement home that there's a home out there that belongs to one of the owners. She's on the far hill and she's on a flat part and she's got a slope down [clears throat] into the ditch and then she comes back up. Her driveway slopes down and that's the type of home that would be more suited to this. So, I'm asking that you deny their annexation and then if the developers want to come back with a different plan that utilizes custom homes instead of the cookie cutter tracked homes on on uh slabs maybe would be uh more amendable to that. But I'm asking one last time that the the annexation be denied um and leave it R20 in the county. Um that's the main other thing was that septic tanks there. There's not not all the septic tanks are on there because ours is not on there um on that map. So it was put in in 1965. So I guess it's not on there. But we're worried about when you dig up a septic tank, what happens to to the the quality of of the

groundwater and and all of that um when you start digging up septic systems. But um but that's the main main uh area there is just a topography. It is not suited for slab homes. And that's why we're asking that you not annex this and just leave it in the county. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you. [clears throat]

The Edel Brocks are next. Good evening again. I'd like to start with last council's meeting. Just before I spoke, the mayor told us in the audience that we could not speak about any zoning topics. This act actually exceeds his power as the mayor and demonstrated a quasi judicial decision which is actually illegal. It's above his given power and stifles our first amendment rights. This also can be interpreted by the public that minds were already made up in the decision that they would be making based on the pre-aggenda meeting that was held before the council meeting. We as a community have provided at least a thousand signatures asking that the project not proceed as presented as elected officials that represent the [clears throat] citizens of Statesville. We know that you're not trying to push your own agenda. So, we're asking that this project be tabled to allow time to review any new evidence brought forward tonight. [snorts] In last month's meeting of the Troutman Town Council, members referenced Statesville is approaching Prestige Homes regarding the annexation into the city of Statesville for the Berium SP Springs project. This project, according to the Irale Free News, is estimated to bring 2,800 homes, which equates to approximately 7,000 people. How will this affect our police, our fire, our schools, our sewer capacity? The Larkin community already has members complaining of lack of services and lack of response times. If Statesville was to annexerium Springs away from Troutman, would that violate the 2023 boundary agreement? Would that

open the door for Troutman to be to sue Statesville? According to the Irredell Free News, the Tropman Town Council meeting on September 10th and and again on the 25th, the topic of sewer capacity was discussed. Dropman does not have enough sewer capacity for Barry Springs project at this time. In the November 13th meeting during the elected officials comments, members of the council expressed great concern for wastewater and excessive building at such a fast pace. They also mentioned builders and developers not completing projects for and for length of time the projects take in the different studies becoming out of date. Studies like the traffic impact we've asked for population influx infrastructure and city services. As a community, we're asking that the Hill Haven project be voted down or at least tabled until next month to allow sufficient time for you to review these comments made by the town council of Troutman. Um, and for any other evidence that's brought forward tonight, there's a city council member from the town of Troutman that would come and speak to this um, and to Statesville approaching the Barry Springs project. So, we're asking that tonight be tabled or even voted down and left in the county until things could be made public. Thank you.

Good evening, council members. Again, sorry. Um, I just wanted to to share with you guys, God has bestowed a great responsibility on you guys. You are tasked with making decisions that will greatly affect our community. You can choose to annex the property, allowing highdensity housing to be brought in, which would obviously raise uh which would obviously increase the tax revenue for Statesville. We're very aware of that. But at what cost? I am here and we are here to represent what that cost is. That cost is a greatly diminished quality of life for us. We um unfortunately that cost is not something that you would visibly see today, tomorrow, or even 6 months from now. However, three years from now, five years from now, when all of these developments that have been approved are occupied and the community mirrors the congestion and traffic um that you see in downtown Morsville, that's when you will see how your decision today will affect our quality of life. The issue that myself, the others that you've heard speak, the others that you will hear speak, the main issue that we have is the density of this project. They are asking for R8. All of the developments that are around us, True Homes, the Wallis Springs, those are all R15, R10 maybe at the lowest at the highest rather high density. We are asking that you guys keep in line with those projects and require the developer to either come back with the new design with an R15 um zoning or just say no to this project altogether because that high density is density is going to set a precedent for every other farm, every other group of land that is around us. There are obviously we came six months ago I think

to speak about a development that was on Buffalo Scholes and uh Ary Road and it was the same thing. It was R8 and you guys agreed with us then. You saw the concern we had with the density of that development. This is the same situation and so we're asking and hoping that you guys can see what our concern is with the density. It's not that we don't want the developments to come. It's the density of these developments. So, I'm asking that you guys please remember that meeting and keep in line with what is around us. Thank you. Thank you. [clears throat] Uh, Angela Matthews.

Angela Matthews, 210 Southview Drive. For an annexation, NC Statute 168 demands that a property meet two requirements. Certain characteristics of urbanization must exist and the annexing city is prepared to provide all areas to be annexed with the facilities and services that are provided within the existing city limits. How can this council justify that the characteristics of urbanization exist in this area? Urban is defined as in relating to or characteristic of a town or city as opposed to the countryside or to a village. This area is the countryside, not a town or city. Second, the city is prepared to provide the annexed area with all, not some, of the services provided within the existing city limits. Over and over in this room, we have heard that these annexed areas share fire and policing services with Troutman and the sheriff's department. But that is not what the annexation law requires. The annexed areas pay city of Statesville taxes and should be serviced by city of Statesville. When will the annex developments on Wallis Springs and Hill Haven begin to be policed by the city? And are you prepared to scrape and de ice Hill Haven during snow and ice storms because the law requires it? Many of the residents in this area have spoken here in this room. We have provided evidence to you regarding traffic safety, crime, and the need for services. Statute 168-582 states that if the annex petition meets all of the standards set out in 168-581B and the public health and safety and welfare of the inhabitants of the area will be best served by the annexation, you may adopt the petition. Notice the word and. And means that it is required to be in the best interest of the residents. Why do you continue to annex in our countryside when you cannot even clean up the inside of the city? So many areas of the inner city need to be improved. This is irresponsible governing. Each of you were supposed to sign an oath of office when you were sworn in, and that oath of office is supposed to be on file with the clerk of court. On Friday, I went to the courthouse to pull your oaths and they are not there. The city clerk provided a

few of the oaths that she had, four valid oaths, two expired oaths, and no oaths for three members of this council. The oath talks about trivial things like supporting the constitution and following the law. Each of you were elected to speak for the people of the city. One city council member has publicly claimed they were elected not to do the will of the people, but to decide what is best as an individual for the people. That is not what representation is. I've listened to hundreds of people speak in this room and looked at thousands with an S at the end of people who have signed petitions against the same scenario we are discussing right now. Please think long and hard before you cast your vote on the Hill Haven project. Are you following the law? Is the project in the best interest of the people? Remember your oath. I will ask you again to look at the spreadsheet provided by staff and the city manager at the last meeting. Please explain to me why Hillaven and Macintosh Farms are listed on the capacity numbers when they have not been approved by this council. Why are the other 10 approved projects not listed there? These questions should give you more than enough doubt. So, I brought the receipts with me because everything that I say is factual and I want to give it to you. So, I put the statutes in here. I put the spreadsheet in here and I put the projects that are missing off of it. Thank you. Um Karen Gunther was next. Rollers, it's your turn.

For having me, Deborah Rollers. I have a business in Troutman and so this will affect my business. So the more I think about it, the more I learned. Over the last couple of years, I've learned a few things. One of them is your oaths. Most of you don't have there's three of you don't have an oath, and none of you have an oath at the clerk of court's office. That is illegal and unlawful. So, I want to make sure that your constituents know and understand this. There's also a little thing called a foyer request that most of you may or may not know about. If you want to know what I'm talking about, you have every information to ask them for a copy of their oath. When you're looking at some of their oaths, what you'll see is some of them were signed, especially the mayor himself. The last one that was signed on file was 2017. That's illegal and unlawful, too. I also want to talk about shity bonds. If you none of y'all know what a shy bond is, a shy bond is where there when you take an oath of office and you are an elected official, you have to have a shy bond. Most of them are are the city pays for it, but a shy bond is an insurance policy for we the people. We the people tell you as constituents what we want you to do. I know you had over a thousand signatures on this. You had people publicly speaking on what they wanted and it seems like some of you didn't want to listen. So a charity bond is you go you get a copy of it of their insurance company and this insurance company has three three people parts to it. So that way it's not just you, the insurance company and them that they paid for the insurance company. Your third person is the person that is like a mediator between the two of you so that we the people have a voice when council people, congressmen, senators aren't doing what the people ask of them. We go after their shy bonds. I can promise you it works because I've done it in some of the school boards and and I implore any of y'all that are not happy with this, the people that are not listening to you and their and their

constituents. You guys think long and hard. you don't have your O's. And every single one of you, it's illegal that you don't have your O. And when you don't have your O, some of the things that can happen, it's a class one misdemeanor or a $500 penalty or you can be removed from office. So, even those of you that this is your last thing, you can still be given a class one misdemeanor or up to a $500 in penalty. So, I ask that y'all think about that and the rest of you constituents also understand what your rights are. Thank you.

Thank you. I don't think anybody else signed up to speak. Is that correct? Close the public comment period and go into the regular agenda. Unless Leah, you have any comments about any of these uh illegality allegations that have been made. If not, it's okay. But

the only thing that I would say is that the um reading the statute related to the oath, it's not kept on file at the courthouse. It actually says it's kept on file with the city clerk. um and shall be filed with the city clerk and that's general statute 168-61. So, and that's the exact language that's highlighted in the copy that was handed. There is a difference between the clerk of courthouse and the clerk um for our city clerk here.

I'm just reading statues as ma'am. All right. Thank you all. [clears throat] We'll go into the consent agenda. Items that are considered to be routine and enacted with one motion. No separate discussion unless a council member requests that these be removed from the consent agenda and considered with the other items listed in the regular agenda. Item A is to consider the approving the October 2nd, 2025 pre-aggenda meeting minutes and the October 6th regular meeting minutes. B was moved to the regular agenda. C is to consider granting permission to the Statesville Fire Department, I mean police department, I'm sorry, to accept a grant in the amount of $23,819. no city match required and to approve budget amendment 2026-10. D is to consider authorizing the city manager or his designate to dispose of items declared as surplus in accordance with the North Carolina General Statutes. Item E is to consider appointing Daniel Leatherman to the Statesville Convention and Visitors Bureau. Any council member like any of the other items removed from the consent agenda? If not, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

So moved. Second. All right. Any uh all in favor, please say I. I. Or any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. First item on the regular agenda is item B from the consent agenda, which is to consider approving bulk water and fire protection rates. Dr. Vaugh.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members, and fond do to those of y'all departing tonight. It's been a pleasure working with y'all as we've had gone through the issues over my last six years here. Um, this is for the bulk water rates as you can remember. Let's see how he ah both quarter rates good. Uh as background earlier in the year we went through the uh financial plan capital improvement analysis was done by McGill back in se from September of 25 it was finalized but you may remember that we used that plan to build our our our fee schedule for the next year the 9% this year 12% 999 so we went through the early part of it but included in that there has been she was included in that there has been the part about bulk order rates uh we have some prim primary bulk order customers are water is one we have two points with them uh Salisbury we have an interconnect with them and now energy united has come to us and is desiring to to establish some bulk order agreements so in lie of paying the inside or outside rate we went through the financial analysis that's part two of this study which has now been finalized bulk order rates or service rates apply to utilities municipal and other high volume users it will apply to say if an industry comes in here and is a high volume user, the bulk rate can also apply to them. In the past, Macaro would have been a good example of a bulk user. Statesville's utility rates are according to the North Carolina School of Government comparable to all rates within the state, 13% below the median reported on their dashboard. So we have very inexpensive water here where

surface water costs us a little bit more to treat that water because we are take from an empoundment versus a well-based system like say Idaho water is but in overall we're 13% below the middle of the road for water services in the state. These are the proposed bulk rates. Uh there will be three classes. Right now our water is $461 per thousand gallons. your 200,000 to a half a million a day. We would use 85% of the inside rate, half a million to a million gallons per day, 78% and then anything above that would be at a 68%. Annual agreements would be established with each of the people or entities that would do that and they will be periodically audited by our shop to make sure that they conform to those rates and what they're pay at the same time because of some uh changes in the area I will say water area we are providing fire protection or could provide fire protection service to an area for a customer for whom we do not supply domestic water. Normally included in your bill that get your water bill at home is your fire protection. So we had to come up because of that the mediated agreement in this particular case some residential rates commercial industrial that would be a one-time charge a year for fire protection services. What that means is if you're an art customer and they don't provide fire supply and the city line is out there for fire supply then we would charge you at your home $32 a year for fire protection. Sure, your insurance company will be glad to know that you have that. So, what we're asking for tonight is to midyear amend the fee schedule that's in this year's approved budget so that we can start negotiations and fill out agreements with our right now to our primary bulk user agreements. In this case, it would be Ireland Water Energy United and Salsbury.

Any other customers that happen to come along? Thank you, sir. Are there any questions for Bill? Uh they're asking our approval of the bulk water and fire protection rates. Is there a motion to do that? So moved. Second. Any discussion? Just want to make sure it's been a concern of mine ever since we've been here. Mr. bond. These rates established will allow us to cover capital initial capital cost over time and provide us a profit margin sufficient to maintain these lines going well into the future.

Yes, sir. That's in our annual operating budget. So the basic rate is covered. It's your sunk cost. It's your staff. It's your facilities. It's the capital you already have invested. So in this case, it's the old adage about more volume is is more profit. So we can reduce the what we're charging for the water and still be able to make some profit on that and not lose. Thank you. Are there other questions or comments? If you're ready to vote, all in favor of approving the bulk water and fire protection rates, please say I. I.

Or any opposed? Carly. Thank you, sir. Next is to consider passing second reading of an ordinance to annex AX25-10 Hill Haven subdivision for parcels located at the intersection of Hill Haven Road and Shelton Avenue. Mr. Kirkindall. Yes. Staff has nothing more to present. Uh okay. This is on a on on for second reading because of the split vote at the first reading. Is there a motion regarding the second reading?

Make a motion to support the annexation of Hill Haven. Second. Motion and second. Um discussion.

I've I've had some misgivings about this thing particularly in regard to the weight potential annexation of weight field. I would like to see how that's going to impact [sighs and gasps] our ability to deliver sewer services to this area. We don't have that information yet because we don't know the complexity or the density of that. So, uh, I would support a motion to delay this thing until we get that information, but I'm hesitant to move forward at this time. Is there a that that's a that takes precedence, right? A motion to postpone and you have to give a date certain. Is that correct? [clears throat]

I would I would move to I would move to postpone to December 15th. I'll second his motion. Wait a minute. We've already got a motion in the second. We got a No, but that but if I'm not second that that takes precedence over that motion postpone motion to postpone takes precedence. Yeah. Okay. There is a motion and a second. Any discussion?

Just I guess my concern is that we have new council coming in. He's going for a date of December the 15th and I think it would not be fair for them not to have all the information. So I guess my question is would they be they be will all the information be available to them? That's my [clears throat] only concern because now we're pushing it on to somebody else who you know I mean a lot of them pay attention but some of them don't. I would not recommend doing a postponing to the 15th. I would recommend I second that schedule is not going to be defined, right?

You can you can postpone it to the first regularly scheduled meeting. Um it just needs to be very clear that it would be the first regularly scheduled meeting of January. What is it has to be the first? Well, it can be it can be postponed again. Postponed to this. Oh, sorry. I think there's only one meeting in January typically. Um but it just needs to be very clearly defined either the first meeting of whatever month or the the last regularly scheduled meeting of whatever month. So then next question is put your I apologize. So then the next question is the item of concern. Are you referring to Wakefield with their

I mean what that's my primary concern. So would we even have that information by then? And isn't that up to the state legislators? Well, potentially. But if the state legislator legislative actions takes place and we do have the ability and we choose to annex it, then I I think at a minimum, we need at least an estimate of what the sewer consumption's going to be. I just I just don't understand how we could tie every decision that we're going to make based off of what the state legislators are going to do or not do. I need some

I'm suggesting we do every decision just this one. I mean 2,800 homes.

I need some understanding because when we voted to pass this and it was just to give the developers an opportunity to go ahead and apply their information to the state. And once the state says and I I want I want some clarity. And once the state say yay or nay then they can come back and discuss if they are not going to apply with the with the uh uh restrictions or regulations that was required then we have to come back to us and then we make those decisions what you're talking about. Now I may be wrong but it seemed like we're jumping if we're jumping the gun we don't really know what's going to happen. Now, am I um I I might be off off base, but if I am, I apologize. But I do think that we need some clarity on the reasons why and the purpose and and the direction that we need to go.

Well, I think that's what Steve And I mean, that's what I'm I'm think that's what Steve's motion is. Uh that's what my argument is. But I'm just saying I just want to make clarity that I'm understanding. I guess I guess I guess the opposing argument could be that we don't know any I mean we we knew that what has been misinterpreted by some of the speakers was might happen that that that they were having trouble in troutman and they may need some assistance but that was not initiated anyway by the city of St. So, we know as much now as we knew then, but we we don't have a we don't have a conclusion as to how that matter will take place. But as far as sewer capacity, we've got no obligation to serve that property one way or the other.

Right. But we also staff gave a presentation that we had the capacity to serve it. I can provide a little clarity. Um and the information that Miss Matthews gave to you all. If you turn to page to Wakefield is shown on that list as and and what we do as we did with Hill Haven, wherever Dr. Vaughn is it we we start accounting for sewer capacity at the very beginning of projects. It's not set in stone until there's an FTSSE letter.

Exactly. But Bill does a great job of of listening to what developers say just because we don't want to get caught with not having capacity. So therefore, because there have been conversations with Wakefield and we have not approached them. Those have all been the developer approaching us, we put it on the list. So you do have about a million bill about a million gallons a day potentially uh for Wakefield. So just just a point of clarification. Okay. So is the is it to was the motion to extend it to the first meeting in January to postpone?

But but I I don't understand why we're extending it because the staff has already provided information that's been validated through the state with the sewer capacity. Well, my my concern is that this that Wakefield is not I make this motion in the context that Wakefield is not the only subdivision that could be approved in the next 6 to 8 months. I mean, we could have se the way we've been approving subdivisions that could be several. then I think that a future board would be in a better position at at some point when they see all of the potential. I mean, it's nobody's fault because we had such a turnover here. We didn't have a fall planning session. So, I think you need to wait till after the first of the year. Let the new council take it up and have a winter planning session so you can see estimates on what future sewer capacity is going to be cuz there's a lot of potential of the subdivision sitting out there waiting to be approved and annexed.

All right, further discussion? No, I called a question on it. Let's vote.

All right. Uh the motion is to postpone until the first meeting in January um the second reading of the ordinance to NX AX25-10. There obviously will be a division. All in favor of that, please raise your hand. Post. Um, I'm going to vote to approve second reading. I don't think we have any I don't think we have any capacity problems. The topography issues don't belong to the city council. I think they belong to the developers. And if the developer finds out what Miss Judy said, then they'll have to change their format. But I think uh I think it qualifies. I think we can provide the services and we will provide the services in that area if the project develops further. Next thing on our agenda is to approve a resolution in support of a marker describing the lynching of Charles Campbell. Mr. Johnson, [clears throat]

Mr. Mayor, if I could just clarify really quick quickly as a as a point of order. Um Oh, I'm sorry. You voted to I'm sorry. I I break the tie on the vote to deny the motion. So I guess we need another motion. So now you need to consider the main motion that was on the table because I think that that motion is still up for consideration and the annexation has to now be voted on as well. So now now the motion goes back to Mr. Jones's motion that we approve I make a motion to approve Hill Haven subdivision annexation. It it's already been the motion's made. It doesn't need to be remade. It just now needs a vote. So if if there are arguments that want to be reiterated, then um now would be the time. Correct.

Uh any is there is there any further discussion? No. And nothing based on what you've heard uh from us tonight. Is there anything else you would add to it, Mr. Kirkindall? I would just ask the attorney what impacts it would have because the second reading of the resoning has already been approved. The reasonzoning was approved contingent upon the annexation. So the reasoning would be ineffective.

All right. Nothing further. Nobody wants to be heard. Um all right. Probably the same division. All in favor of the motion to approve second reading, please raise your hand. Those opposed. And I I I I support this motion and pass the motion 4 to three. All right. Now, Mr. Johnson, the uh marker describing the lynching of Charles Campbell.

You ready?

Yes, sir. Thank you, Cost. [clears throat] There's something special about Statesville, North Carolina. What we are today stems from that specialness which has identified us since 1789. I'm Frank Johnson representing the Ireland Community Remembrance Project which was formed three years ago. We are a subcommittee of the Statesville NAACP and we meet monthly. The first thing I want to emphasize or we want to emphasize is that our town is an extremely unique place. It has been for a long time and remains so today. Our very positive exceptionalism is sometimes forgotten. And this marker that we are asking you to approve will strongly speak to that very positive facet of the character of Statesville. I'll begin by acknowledging the political and racial tensions in postreonstruction North Carolina. I'll tell you the horrors of what happened in similarsized town. Then I'll delve into the events leading to the lynching, the volatile week in Statesville, the people who were here and what actually happened based on newspaper accounts. Finally, we will present the historical consequences of this event and why we're here today. And I'll use three succinct points to do that. Just last Thursday, you all received a note from a person in Statesville who experienced expressed her concern by stating wounds are not heated healed by picking at the scab by scraping till the blood is drawn just for perceived impact of attention and in and intention. I disagree with her statement. I will explicitly address her concerns as our marker is not intended to be negative but to extol the virtue upon which our community exists. We're not picking scabs, but we're removing a shroud of hushed history and force forgetting that

covered up a moment when our citizens came together showing courageous colors. The post-reonstruction era in North Carolina was marked by complex racial dynamics and challenges to law enforcement and justice. Understanding this environment is key to appreciating the circumstances in which lynching occurred. After the Civil War, the Republican Party rose to power in North Carolina. Many former Confederates were prohibited from voting. At the same time, newly infranchised African-Americans and whites who had sympathized with the Union flocked to the Republican Party, which was still viewed as the party of Abraham Lincoln and emancipation. As former Confederates began to come back into the political process, they formed the Conservative Party, which opposed reconstruction policies. The Conservatives would later change the name changed their name to the Democratic Party. They took control of the North Carolina General Assembly in 1870 and began to reverse reconstruction. In 1876, popular Civil War Governor Zebulun Vance, who had left Raleigh to live in Statesville, returned to the state's highest office in the governor's mansion. Now, I'm going to tell you a little bit about Ellington, South Carolina. Around [clears throat] the same time period, there's a massacre in Elton, South Carolina, which had a population of about 3,000, same as Statesville at the time. Political and racial tensions had grown to a head. Ellington is the place where over 100 black men, women, and children were annihilated by guns, axes, and fire. Because Ellington had no leadership or the will to come together. There's no opportunity for healing or harmony. The memory of this event is an example of force forgetting, which has gone on for way too long. The truth has been obscured. The fears

in Ellington were the same as existed in Statesville. But there was no leadership there. That town and its name no longer exist. The remembrance of Ellington today is almost too foggy to put together. The place where did exist is now a radiation dump. This is what can happen when cowardly indifference becomes acceptable. I'm going to tell you what's happened in Stville. In Staceville, in October 1883, the Sales Brothers Circus was was here for a few days, tripling the population. Two posters of that very circus from that very year hanging the Statesville historical collection just down the street. The 6,000 visitors from outside the town were wild, crazy, and mostly drunk. Guns were being shot and I've heard from our historians that up to five people were critically injured by violence that week here in Statesville. There were exotic animals from different continents. Pretty girls, foreign acrobats, trick riding, and daredevils. Crowds of wagons were parked in almost every empty space in town and around the circus site. There were children, babies, mothers with picnic baskets. There were teenagers feeling their oats looking for the action and amazement that the circus promised in their advertisements. There were old men with stories and two young men with grudges. In a nutshell, the events the events went like this. There was a skirmish between a white guy, John Redmond, and a black guy, Charles Campbell, at a court session in Taylor'sville the month before. The two met a few weeks later in Statesville at the circus. They ran into each other in the parking lot renewed their argument in a scuffle involving a big stick and a gun, resulting in the white guy getting killed. Later that night, a masked mob from outside the city of Staceville overtook the jail, putting a noose around the black man's neck and dragged him to the hanging lot near where the

Garden of Bangal Boulevard is today. He was left dead hanging from a tree. His body was later removed and a picture was staged for a postcard with him hanging it again from the Elm Street Bridge with some of the remaining circus crowd lined up on top of the bridge. Both the black and white citizens of states were scared to death. They were terrified. This is not what we're here to memorialize. We're here to commemorate how our town reacted. This positive response will be the subject and contest of the narrative marker. We have been working as a committee of the Statesville branch in M NAACP whose membership has agreed to vigorously highlight this moment in history when black and white citizens of Statesville came together as a community and averted disaster. Our committee is facilitated by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, the NC DOT, and the Equal Justice Initiative, the EJI from Montgomery, Alabama. Briefly, I want to explain three reasons why we are here, what purpose it serves, and how it will help our city. It will help our city. First is centered around truth. The Confederate statue is here, and by court ruling, it stands. It appears to define our place, our brand, and our character in a way that misleads those who walk down State Highway 115, which is our main street. This is not us. The statue is preponderantly visible. It is the largest, if not the only statue in our city. It was placed there in 1906, the height of the Jim Crow era. The text on the base reads, "Our cause, though lost, is still just." The opice of the erection of the statue was to honor our conscripted and volunteer confederate dead who gave their lives for what was considered just cause.

Certainly, just cause is not slavery. Just cause is not lynching. The centennial footstone placed in 2006 on county property reemphasizes Confederate motto devinci, which means we are defended by God. In no way does my God or yours defend the practice of slavery or lynching. Enslavement was a totally evil abomination that was used to put money into the pockets of those who made the choice to participate. It was a contagion which passed from rich to poor at the time. Lynching is a degradation of human beings pure and simple. Today we know better and we can show it despite the statues continuing presence. Some of you may think that this has passed and does not need to be memorialized. After all, this is an old story. We have had a black president. There are equal rights now and we don't need to be reminding people of past unpleasantness. Once again, the marker is to highlight the way statesville comes together in a crisis. Your approval will carry that that forward. This counterpose of to the statue is appropriate and necessary to show the statesville is still a rightthinking place. We know who you are today and we can be proud of it. The second point is reconciliation. Our group is called remembrance for a reason. The event in 1883 cannot remain as hush history or forgetfulness. The documentation of the event is now available to all as collected on our website. All the details of the lynching incident are there, but most importantly, it states what we did at the time, how we communicated, and why our town still stands. The fact is in 1883, the mayor and other leaders of our city

courageously came together to resolve the situation quickly, but not without both black and white opposition in order to tell the story of the good they did. The underlying reason lynching cannot be left out of the lynching cannot be left out in the marker. The story of our courageousness should be out there commemorating what the newspapers of the day called a meeting of rightthinking black and white leaders. The resolution they all approved at that meeting in 1883 is on our site. The situation could have been in other Wilmington, Tulsa, or maybe even Ellington in all of its horror. Some of the names on that petition were Mayor JF Vanpelt, lawyer Allison, Reverend As Billingsley, Mr. Gillespie, Mr. JP Caldwell, Mr. Griffins, Reverend JA Gosling, Reverend Richardson, Reverend Jordan Chambers, and Professor C. Dillard and others. The third point is healing and harmony. I'm looking at the right thinking leaders in Statesville today. looking at you guys and girls in Statesville, not it is statesful, not Ireland County, which is primarily identified with the Confederate statue. Our county commissioners, when voting in favor of removing the statue, confirmed that Ayardell is not that. By approving the installation of this marker, you can confirm that Statesville is not that. The proposed marker is similar to the roadside markers you see all over the state of North Carolina. Usually the process is directed by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources in conjunction with the DOT. However, the process in North Carolina for any marker relating to or having anything to do with lynching is by rule directed to the Equal Justice Initiative folks in Montgomery, Alabama. I originally spoke with Lesie Leonard at the NCDNR, who is a person in charge of roadside markers to be sure we were on

the right track. Her statement this past month is that what we had that it was that we had no further obstacles in our path except to get the city council to direct the city traffic department to coordinate with the DOT to be sure there were no maintenance or safety issues concerning the monument concerning the marker. That's all we need from you actually to proceed with placing the marker. There's zero cost to the city. It would be placed in the planning area across the street from the Statesville historical collection close to the statue of the Confederate soldier. The ask first, we simply ask you to direct the city street department to coordinate with the North Carolina DOT to make sure there are no safety or maintenance issues related to the proposed marker. It's pretty simple ask. But then you also have a resolution in your hand which I'd like for you to consider. We uh you've got it in your hands. if you allow. Well, I think it'll be published in the city minutes or something. I don't have to read it aloud here. The marker will serve as a constant. And you know what? Do you have can I read the part that the resolution was uh that they stated and it's only like three lines long. Do you do you have a copy of that, Steve? Do you have a copy of that I sent you here? Okay, I'll read this. Okay, it says this is what they wrote in 1883. It says, "Resolve that is the sense of this meeting that we have assembled with malice to no man but to humbly petition the solicister and officers of justice to investigate and bring to justice the violators of the law of decency and of the peace and well-being of the state of North Carolina. We ask it in the name of justice, in the name of common decency, and in the name of God. We call upon the

white citizens of Statesville to witness the fact that as a race, we have been a law-abiding people. And we we appeal to you as honorable men as as representatives of the proud Anglo-Saxon race to glory in the fact that you have given mankind trial by jury to vindicate the good name and standing of our community. Thank you, Marley. Fact is, nothing ever happened after if they proposed his resolution. The good thing is that they did propose a resolution. Nobody was murdered in Statesville after that. No homes or businesses were burned and our our community went on to thrive as it is today. The marker will serve as a constant permanent reminder of how our citizens came together and did not let our town fall apart. your approval tonight to make this dramatic, intelligent, and just action of our leaders in 1883 an important part of our collective memory and it's high time to do this. Uh the resolution we have provided and proposed to you to to is to ask you the leaders of Stationville to once again demonstrate that we were and we are a welcoming and a special community. I'd love for the vote to be unanimous. In conjunction with the installation of the marker, we are working with Ireland County, North Carolina, USA 250 project this year to award three $750 scholarship uh cash prizes for s cash prizes for essay art and digital presentation funded by the uh community remembrance project. Marlene Scott, who's right here, will explain the project and how it relates to our truth, healing, and recon reconciliation and harmony going forward. We're not through. We want to continue. This Marlene is going to tell you partly how. Thank you.

Mayor, city councilman, thank you for having us here tonight. There are special exhibits, festivals, programs, community events. They're happening all across our nation, all across our state, and even right here in Ardell County in celebration and commemoration of America and 250 years of history. A wealth of information, websites, events, and programs have been planned to celebrate North Korea 250. These celebratory activities have centered around three main themes developed by the US Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. I'd like to share those things with you. The first one is visions of freedom. The second one is gathering voices and the third is common ground. The first thing visions of freedom seeking true freedom. This theme is a good place to identify political, military, or social leaders from the revolutionary era who took bold steps to resist British rule. Also, visions of freedom highlight movements that pushed us closer to a better vision of our state and nation. The civil rights movement movement, women's suffrage, even scientific and industrial developments have all shaped who and what we are as Americans, North Carolinians, and as citizens of Ardell County and Statesville, striving for the promise of 1776. The second theme is gathering voices. Many voices inspire future generations to create and lead. No single lived experience or voice can capture this commemorative experience. Gathering voices is a way to take both historic and modern-day voices and stories that serve to inspire others to take

innovative steps toward a more perfect union and to ensure all voices are heard. Voices from our present, our past, voices that can be heard, that can make change, and voices that bring us all together. The third theme is common ground. Our places carry our stories of struggle, creation, and connection to one another. We must recognize that we are all students. We're all witnesses. We're makers of history. We must recognize that we hold these physical spaces of struggle, creation, and connection as reverence. These battlegrounds, these monuments, these historical markers, these museums, and our natural elements, all of these hold happiness, violence, and painful memories, evidence of our struggles, our rebirth, and our growth. This honors and cultivates and fosters our creativity, our connecting us in a meaningful way and meaningful relationships. Today we invite you to celebrate the vision of freedom, the gathering of voices and support common ground and truthtelling, healing and reconciliation and harmony by allowing the resurrection of the historic remark marker of John Campbell. This event history aligns with all three themes of America 250 and our North Carolina 250 themes. The story of what occurred that day with Mr. Campbell depicts the struggle for freedom of trial by jury, not lynching. The story of gathering voices, the voice of the family of John Campbell, the voice of the news media, the voices of the

community lynch mom, the voices of those black and white citizens who decided to come together on that night in harmony and reconciliation after such a heinous lynching of Mr. John Campbell. The historical mark marker represents common ground, a marker of history, a story of violence and painful memories that occurred that night. It represents rebirth, growth, building relationships, and coming together, making our city and county the place it is today. We What a great way for us to celebrate Ardale 250 by holding a commemorative celebration of this historical marker that honors the three themes of America 250, the things developed by our own United States. In partnership with Ardell 250, the ICRP will award three first place winners with a prize of $500 and three second place winners with an award of $250 to a winning contestant. Additionally, students can choose an essay contest, a digital media project, or an art project. Part of the prompt is focused on information related to the historical marker. We have more information available here for you if you're interested. Thank you for your time. Please vote yes to allow this historical marker to be placed in the planting area across the street from the statue of the Confederate soldier. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Other other speakers or we'll we'll ask the council for questions but that's okay. Thank you for the presentation. Uh are there questions for Mr. Johnson or Miss Scott about the request. What will the monument actually say? What What will the monument actually say? It's not It's not a monument or It's not It's not a monument. It's a marker. Okay.

And And the uh the marker will be very similar to the markers you've already seen. You know, you've got one about Zebulun Vance and you've got one the Jewish marker that's just been put up a couple of years ago and it's very typical of that. However, the EJI reserved through the right to do the full narrative of the marker. We have changed them from a not changed them, we persuaded them to a full on head thing about lynching to expressing the good qualities of what actually happened in states for that time. That was not necessarily an easy thing to do to get them to switch sides like that. There are 80 some of these markers throughout the south right now. The there's one in Salsbury I think is the closest one to us. Uh some in Graham County and Alabama, not in Alamance, but some other counties in North Carolina as well. Uh but the narrative is something we intend to put together. We tend to emphasize the good part, but we cannot help but mention the lynching because that's what precipitated the whole event. Joe,

but you you don't know exactly what it's going to say. No, I do not. But we've got a good idea. Well, my And it's not going to condemn anybody. It's not going to condemn the Confederacy. It's not going to condemn the statue. It's going to talk primarily about the good thing that happened in Statesville in 1883 and events around that circus. And I understand that and I applaud your your what you're trying to do. It takes a lot of work to do this. And you got to have a lot of

That's something worthwhile. You got to have correct, but it's to approve something that I don't know exactly what it's going to say. It's sort of like me giving somebody a blank check on my bank account and say, "I'm going to sign it. I sure hope you don't spend too much." You know, and it for me that's not quite that's a rub from me. It would

I'm I'm sorry, Joe, but that's the way they put it to us. And I can't I can't change that here. But I will tell you from the bottom of my heart that we're doing everything I can to make sure that that is the emphasis and the primary context of that marker. And it's not to say that Staceville is a bunch of rednecks to go around lynching black people. That's not what we intend to say there. Not even close to it. It's to enhance the image of Statesville. When somebody walks down that street and sees that Confederate statue standing there and that what do you think they think about Staceville when they see that? They think what kind of town is this? What am I moving to? Do I want to put my business here? Hell no. It's a place where we all know the quality of Statesville and how it works and who we are. And because of few words that may or may not appear in that marker, I I pray plea with you not to vote against this because of just a couple of words that might be said or not said. We are working our hardest to make sure it says the right thing. each other.

I'd like to say, can I add to this? Sure. I really want to. Uh, we talk about

diversity. We talk about love. We talk about Jesus. We talk about all these things. But let me give you a little bit of history that many of you may not know. We didn't understand what was going on when I went to school, what that statue meant. But we did understand when our grandparents talked about how they grandparents were slaves and what happened to them. Now we want to make history right, then let's do it right because we have a choice with the words that was put up on the statue right in front of the courthouse. So we cannot look at this as a one race issue. We got to look at this as history. And what we're doing in 1883 it was 142 years. Now we talking about uh 177 uh 1776 and this no I'm sorry 17 uh

89 1789 it's almost like 142 years right

so what I'm saying to you and the people of statesville we have children we have grandchildren we are biracial we go to church together we laugh only thing that this statue is doing is putting the pieces together of history it's telling the story about the good bad and the ugly And what happened to that? Let's go back a little bit. We could have had a riot, but it did not happen. There was many racial issues that was installed that did not happen. And it could have a white child was baby was killed by two, three black men. They didn't understand it. That was a racial. We had discrimination at states for high. We had those issues. We have dealt with diversity for so long. And then we are here. What are we telling our young generation? It's not a one-sided history here. It's not because of your religion or you think whatever. It's true facts. If you going to deal with something, you deal with the facts. And if we today in city council, we're doing it for the right reason because we are more about love. We are more about transitioning. And we want our future to know and the future generation that whatever happened, we have overcame and there's a part for everybody. So I'm saying tonight I'm not putting my personal issue in. I'm putting the reality of history. We cannot escape history and all the things that we've done statesful. This is the marker that we need to put up to show that we have moved forward that we take the challenge that we're here for the greater good of the people and that we united. We're states for love and we're states for strong. And if we do that we set it for the generation to come. So that is my input on this session. Whether we know or don't know, don't let that be a thorn in your mind and say what it's going to say because it's going to tell the truth. It's going to be in a way that's going to validate our

city for who we really are today. And that's the city that will go through trials and tribulations, but we a city that will stand strong. We a city that will abide by the law regardless of who it is. And we'll transition into a new future for the generation to come. That is my say.

Miss Allison, you mentioned the youth and I wanted to share with you uh one of the prompts and what this whole goal is for the contest. Tell the story of this lynching and the details that surrounded it and what happened as a result. Identify and discuss the landmark area where the lynching occurred. Discuss the EJI initiative and how the organization carries the stories of struggle, creation, and connection to create common ground. One of the North Carina 250 themes. How can citizens of Ardo County create common ground in sharing this lynching story to build relationships to heal broken hearts, reconcile, foster harmonious coexistence in our community. That's what the essay contest is and the digital media that they have to to do. So, we're trying to push for the students to understand this is about coming together.

Thank you,

Mr. Mayor. I got two questions and just a brief comment. Number one, I I support the sign that recognizes uh the event and how our community came together to avert chaos and further violence. I do also fully recognize words matter and most of these signs are limited to like two or three sentences. Uh and I think for a council to sign a resolution without having clarity on what those words are, is there a time period of when you think you'll have the verbiage? David,

I asked those Uh David, I asked the the uh EJI folks that exact same question and they this no we do that we do that. I said can we have local input? She said yes. And I said well here's what we want to emphasize. And she said we will consider that. I mean it's tough talking to the lot of these folks but that's what the state of North Carolina makes us do. The state of North Carolina is entrusted the EJI to put forth the right context and these markers in Salsbury. The the markers up there, there were a lot of lynchings in Salsbury. The Confederate camp was there. There are a lot of people who died uh in Salsbury during the Civil War and after the Civil War. And the marker that they put up there was not uh it just say stated the history of the situation. There were four lynchings in Statesville, not just one. We didn't mention any of those other three lynchings. Be we only concentrated on one. We're not bringing up the fact that there were four people lynched in Statesville or in Ireland County. That's uh we you want to know we're trying to make this happen as some sort of context to what that statue brings to our community. Not to raise people, not to get people mad, not to have beardos out there running the streets, you know, complaining about everything. It's it's it's something that's supposed to bring some heart and soul to our community community like Mr. Allison mentioned. And what was your second question, David?

Second question was I I when we first were presented this, it wasn't defined where the sign was going to be located in the in the information that we have now. We're saying that it's going to be in front of the we we've always said we would want we want to put it right in that statue so it provides context in the counterpost to what that statue stands for. Did the have the has the county has has the county

county has nothing to do with it? The county has absolutely nothing to do with it. DOT is the is the entity that that owns that road out there. And like I said in my talk, all we're really asking from you is to allow the DOT to your street department to work the DOT. Make sure they don't break any water lines or electrical lines and and that it's safe and maintainable. That's what we need from you, you know, to get this going. We propose this resolution because we felt like as this outgoing council might want to have a legacy that they bought harmony, reconciliation to Statesville as it as that sign will represent.

My last concern on it is is is truly the verbiage. Uh, like I said, I I support the the sign that recognizes the event of a community coming together to avert mass chaos and violence, but I do have some reservation on what

Can I ask you what you think they're going to say? Because I have no clue what you're talking about. Well, I just I just I don't know how you're going to describe that event in terms say there's a lynching in Statesville. And when that lynching happened, the uh the comm community leaders of Statesville came together because of their fears of terror in this town. And because of that fear of terror and that meeting that occurred led by JP Caldwell who went on to publish the Charlott Observer who Codwell Park is named after because of uh lawyer Allison whose family is Allison's Woods because of Mayor Van Pelt who sat in that well not this seat in 1883 but he sat there uh leading this council. This community came together and did something that was very very good. Now I can't imagine what you think we might put there that would be offensive to the city of Statesville. Seriously, what is it that you think that that that might be offensive? [clears throat]

So, let Hold on, Mr. Johnson. I feel you getting a little, you know, my heart is sitting here about to jump out of my chest. [clears throat] Um, anybody who knows me, and there's a few people in this this meeting have known me since I was a child, and know that I love history. So, let me say this. um the project that I'm working on uh establishing the black historical district in statesville. Thank you all who supported it. Not against not against the project at all, but I have had some conversations. I've done my own research as well as met with them as well. So, I guess and I hopefully not speaking out of turn with most of the council members, but I'm going speak from my what I what I've been dealt with in my community in the phone calls that I've gotten. It's almost like that the community was not informed.

Okay. Exactly. But you have to understand a lot of the us and I say us meaning the African-American community. We don't watch city council meetings on YouTube, you know, but we want the NAACP and whoever else to reach out to us within our communities, whether it be through churches, whatever, and let us know what's going on. So the phone calls that I've got were we didn't know what's going on. Honestly, I kind of got a heads up just from word of mouth in the street. We've already talked about that. Secondly, I now that I have been educated and a mother of black sons, I I understand. But like I said, education of the community is key. And I think the concern with like I told you in the meeting, the concern with most of the council members is number one, the placement and the environment that we are currently somewhat experiencing. So, I've done my research on the violence that some of these signs that are placed, the shootings of the signs, the graffiti. I guess some of that is my concern and the overall perception of how the community is going to feel about it. Now, let me say this and correct me if I'm wrong, but when I we were in a meeting, I was told that it wasn't kind of publicly put out there just for that type of fear. Correct me if I'm wrong. Were we in the same room when we had the conver the meeting and it was said well and I I think I asked the question Ron and Costi well why wasn't this information presented prior to because there is some type of concern about how the community is going to perceive it not let me finish I understand you're and I love your passion love your passion okay so

let me say this [clears throat] I'm not against it but like I say and like I said in that day My concern is number one I have an issue with like I said I know there were four lynchings that are on record. The man that was lynched number one he's not from Ardell County. Sorry but if I live in Ard County I support Ardell County. I I just have a problem with us recognizing somebody who what got hung. I mean I'm sorry that happened but yeah I got a problem with it. Okay I said it. So that's my first concern. My second concern is yeah, I'm I understand it's a state eGI whatever issue. What's the sign gonna say? But guess what? At the end of the day, we're going to have to suffer the repercussions of that. So then my next question to you guys is how are you going to get the correct information out to the community you know to educate them and say hey because a lot of the community is not aware ex yeah they know now and I'm getting flooded with phone calls and I do answer my phone and and it is important for us to know but it's it's a lot of moving pieces with this. Okay. So, I'm just putting it out there like it like I see it. And I'm a huge history advocate, don't get me wrong. And I know when I leave here tonight, I'm my phones and I'm welcome to the phone calls.

But like I said, when we do stuff like this as a community, and I think that's the part of Statesville that we've lost. We have to make it inclusive. No, everybody's not on social media. No, everybody doesn't look at city council meetings, but it has to be a little bit more better presented.

Okay. So, you asked me that the last time when I mentioned this at the uh uh pre-agenda meeting back in September. Uh what we have done since then, what we did before then was to spread the word as best we possibly could. Uh Marlene just told you how we intend to continue spreading the word through the US North Carolina 250 project. She went to great detail about how this going to go on. You said how how are the people going to know this is how they're going to know.

How are you getting I understand how are you getting it to the public? Like I said a lot of people I've done a speech at churches. I've done a speech at uh uh the on the courthouse steps. Uh I've done presentations to civic clubs on this. We've had lots of discussion about it throughout the community. Uh it was on the city council minutes. It's been in the newspaper. We have our website and we tell everybody we know about it. We've had badges since uh back in the spring. We have bulletins we passed out. We tried our best to get this thing out. We have a limited budget. We cannot put ads in idle free news every day about this. But we tried our best to contact the folks of this community, let them know this was going on. We hosted um the NAACP um annual uh freedom fund banquet. Over 300 plus individuals were were at that banquet. This information has been put out and I know firsthand from uh all the committee things that I do. Um, we can put things out every day, social media, Facebook, and then we hosted an event just the other day, really mass put information about out and I think maybe 20 people from our, uh, black community showed up. So, I hear you 100% uh, Miss Councilwoman, but some of our folks don't take the initiative, uh, to to learn things. They don't go to those events to learn things. And at the same time, uh, if they hear about it, it's something they don't hear about it, they'll make a ruckus about it. And at the same time, if it's not something that they've kind of spearheaded or were in charge of, then they tend to have an issue with it. So, I'm going to bring that up to let you know that uh those are the folks that likely didn't come to the Freedom Fund bank or if they did, this was there and they didn't bother to

read it. The second thing is I remember when in Alamance Salsbury um they were trying to take down the Confederate statue. I remember when we had conversation about taking down the Confederate statue here in Statesville. Do you remember that? Um my question to you would be where were all those African-Ameans who are calling you on the phone? Where were they when we were out there on the street um talking about what we'd like to do? But then we had people coming out with guns. We had people spitting at at black people. We had people saying all kind of racist things. You know, where were those African-Americans then? Where were they standing beside us to help get that statue down? So, if they're complaining about uh uh this particular statue that we're trying to bring folks together because that definitely wasn't uh where they were trying to work with us at all. We're trying to bring folks together. So if if your own people are calling you saying that, then my question would be for you to turn that around and say, "Well, where were you when we were trying to do this?" When is the time when we're going to be able to celebrate and honor our history and have something that we can be proud of? I would turn that conversation around. And at the same time, Todd and our our numbers are on speed doubt dial. Todd's is 704500 9375 and mine's 7042533188 and we put it out there all the time. So any of those people who called you, you got our numbers. They could have called us.

And once again, don't want it to be conflict. I feel conflict. I'm feeling tension in the room. So I'm going to dismiss myself. So with that being said, like I said, I just want to make sure that the education gets out to the committee. That's it. I'm done. Okay.

Okay. Before anybody say anything else, I'm going to say this. You bring up stuff and then you expect for everybody to sit here and just look at it and not get some get not get upset or whatever. But let me say this, the city of Staceful. I am so proud of you all. I am so proud of coming together. I'm so proud of the fact if anything happened that we had a a mayor, we had a city manager, we had staff that dealt with the issue. They dealt with it. This could have this town could have been burnt to the ground. And every time that we open up our mouth for something to come up for us, our black people, you black people, our black people, whoever black people, every time there's something's important, you stay home. You don't like something, then you go get two or three people and then you want to talk about it. You know what I say to him? I said, "Y'all want to You really want to know what you can do?" I said, "You're talking against the white and the black." But let me tell you something. When the freedom was uh uh uh was done, there was black and whites that was on that bus. White people were being beaten, but they stuck with us. Selma, they walked with us. the you when they went to Washington DC, it was people of color walking. And when we go back to slavery, they taught the uh the whites taught the blacks how to read and write. They had a heart and compassion. And that heart and compassion is right here in Staceville. So when we look at each other in this room and everybody around here that's watching this, it comes down to truth and facts. And if we put that stat, we put the statute, the little marker right beside that, people can see the balance. Nobody wants balance. But I tell you what, your children want balance. Your grandchildren want balance. We got biracial children in our

home. I got all kind in my house. I'm a rainbow. But you know what? Love is the number one factor. And for the people of Staceville, if I'm out of term, I'm not standing here and acting because I'm a black woman and then I'm going to act like, "Okay, whatever." No, that's not Darus Allison. Darus Allison deal with facts. Darus Allison loved people. The lynching happened. We've been through hell, but we came out of it. And I credit the fact that people that sit around this table years ago understood the right and the wrong. And I'm asking council members, whatever you afraid of, we've been afraid for over hundreds of years. But the truth will set us free. Religious people, where's your love? So now, whether you Christians or not, I really don't care. What I do care about is you making a solid decision for the greater good for the future generation of the people. And that's what I'm asking this council. And that's why I want everybody in this room, if you don't, if I don't leave you with nothing else, let me tell you this. I love you. Not for the color of your skin, not because you live in a different area of me. Whether we agree or disagree, I love you. And that's why I serve so hard. These are the people that we need more of that we can continue to let grow in the manner that it is. My children, your children. I don't have nothing around here with none of these, none of them. Everybody, I say what I say and I mean what I say, but I take everything you say to heart. And right now, my heart is hurting. But whichever way you vote, that's you because it's coming up and it's going to happen. Thank you. Let me say this. It's not I It's not that I'm not I don't support it. I do support it. My concern is um like I said, what it's going to say and my issue with it being an Alexander County resident. But guess what? I'm not and I think I've said that, but guess

what? If that's not something that's in your control, I understand. So, please understand. It's not that I don't disappoint it. I just have some concerns. Thank you very much.

Uh Lisa and David, let we pulled up a picture of a of a marker that's in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. And I'll read the first few lines of it. Somebody's got their hands on it. You can't read the whole thing. It says, "Terror lynching in Tuscaloosa County went unressed for decades, devastating the African-American community. In December 1889, Bud Wilson was taken by from police by a white mob who hung and fatally shot him after he was alleged to have entered the house of a white woman. The lynching followed that was of Andy Burke who was taken from the Tuscaloosa jail and killed at mob in 1884. Char Charles Mckllen and John Johnson were removed from police custody and hanged from a tree in Ramulus on February the 11th. on July 12th over somebody the hands in the way was hung and fatally shot uh a black man named John Durant denounced it just says the facts of what happened it doesn't go on and extrapolate into opinions and feelings that just says the history of what went on and and nothing else and we asked them to put in the part about how the good of statesville came together and resolved this situation and kept bad things from happening and I implore you to consider that Is is the support of the resolution on page 113? Is that the verbiage that we are stating?

Page 113. Steve, can you show him page 113? Yeah, I got it right here. Actually, uh, if I'm not mistaken, David, the 83, be it resolved is on 110. I got some more. Leah, can I read the rest? The one I gave you earlier nine, isn't it? Well, on on mine, it says be it resolved on top of 110.

I'll read to you all that the resolution says. It says a resolution from the Ireland community. remembrance project to erect a commemorate and to erect a marker commemorating the events of October 1883, including the lynching of Charles Campbell and the positive reaction of our city to that event. Whereas a circus was held in Statesville in the middle of October 1883 when the population of the town was said to have tripled because of the event. Whereas up to five people, none being citizens of Staceville, were killed that week through violent means, including the lynching of Charles Campbell after he shot John Redmond dead in the area where wagons of some of the thousands of visitors were parked. Whereas the city was steeped in fear and a meeting was called by some black citizens of Statesville, including the names I've already read to you and the white community, the names there. Whereas due to rumors of blacks torching the city and white massacre of blacks, a group came up with a resolution that same week in 1883 which stated resolve which I've read this resolution to you earlier that was read in in 1883. Whereas peace prevailed following that meeting leading to improvement of community spirit and cooperation among the citizens into the future. Whereas these events came to light through research into the lynching of Charles Campbell prompted by the Equal Justice Initiative Group in Alabama. Whereas that a forementioned group has studied our situation approved a marker commemorating these events as directed by the NCDN NCR assuming all costs including manufacturing the marker inserting it into the planter space on South Center Street across from the station historical collection and in front of the property on which the old jail was located from which Charles Campbell had a rope put around his neck and was led off led off to be hung. Be it resolved that the city council on the recommendation of the Ireland Community Remembrance Project and its commitment to truth, healing, reconciliation, and harmony do approve the installation of this marker to commemorate the events of October 1883, including the legend of Charles Campbell and the positive

reaction of our city to that event. That's the resolution. I think everybody uh probably that wants to speak has spoken. Does anybody else have any other comments?

I'll just say one thing. I have not questioned anybody's intention. I think everybody in the room is is well intentioned, but we can say what happened in Tuscaloosa. But I I have some skepticism about this equal justice initiative. If you'll look if you do research, look who funds them. And that I think if you you be honest that will create skepticism. I don't think that I can sit here and vote for a marker without knowing what the marker says because the e one of the primary funders of the equal justice initiative is the open society foundation. Well, who is that? That's George Soros. [snorts] That ought to give anybody reason to be skeptical about the Equal Justice Initiative. So you you can talk about a resolution and this what it's going to show you. Show me what the marker is going to say and then I'll vote. But until you do that, I'm not going to vote for something I don't know it's going to say. Well, I I want to entertain a motion of whatever anybody wants to make at this point, and we'll see how it goes.

I make a motion that we approve passing the marker. All right. There's a motion to approve passing the resolution as presented by Mr. Johnson and Miss Scott. Is there a second to the motion? A second. Second by Miss Pearson. Any further discussion? If not, obviously there'll be a I'm just asking the the Dar and Lisa amend the motion to to see and I support honestly from what I support

from what from what I'm my understanding of it I think it really doesn't matter. We don't have a hand in that anyway. That's right. So I don't think it's going to matter. Okay. to be honest with you. Thank you.

All right. So, there's a motion to approve the resolution as requested and a second. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor of that, please raise your hand. Those opposed. I'm going to support those that uh I'm going to support the motion and approve that. [applause] Um, well, thank you for getting me in the action tonight. I really appreciate that. [laughter] Been feeling lonely up here. Um, all right. Um, oh, I want to say a couple things. Uh, first, congratulations. Se several of our elected folks are here. Doug Hendrickx will be the mayor. Uh, Trey, I saw Trey Robertson will be at large. Um, oh, Christie is here or was here. Yeah. And of course, Doris was reelected to another term. So, congratulations each of you. Uh, David and Amy and Lisa will continue. The rest of us, I've told and Kim and David, Joe and Steve that if they would like to have comments for the council next time, we'd give them an opportunity to do that. We'll transition at that time. There's still some political signs that are out on the countryside and uh they need to they need to be removed. They should have been removed a long time ago. I've actually had a number of people who are said they're going to vote for the particular candidates that remove their signs the quickest after the election. So, so some of you are going to be elected for no better reason than that you're good sign mover. So, congratulations to all of you. Um happy Thanksgiving to all. And if there's nothing further, no no reports from you tonight. No updates. All right. Is there a motion to

So moved? Second. We are journ