Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good evening, and welcome to the October 13, 2026 work session of the Gaston County Board of Commissioners. My name is Chad Brown. I serve as chairman of the board, as well as the commissioner of the Riverbend Township. I would like to welcome our viewers and thank Spectrum Cable and AT&T for making it possible for our citizens. For our television and livestream audience, I would like to present your Gaston County Commission, beginning on my far right.

Good evening. Bob Hovis, Crowder's Mountain Township. And Tom Kieger, Gastonia Township.

The first item on the agenda is Proclamations, Commendations, Awards, and Certificate. I will now call on Commissioners Kieger and Cloninger for the commendation to recognize the Gaston County Museum of Art and History upon receiving the 2026 Southeastern Museum Conference SEMC Awards.

Good evening, everyone. Commissioner Cloninger and myself are here to present the Gaston Museum of Art and History, a very prestigious night for them tonight. But they had recently been awarded several awards. What's the word I'm looking for? Recognition. Well, you don't get awarded an award, do you? You do.

Anyhow, guys, come on up. Ms. Allie Pisa is the director and will accept, along with the staff and board members and I don't know how many. Whereas the Gaston County Museum of Art and History was recognized with three 2026 Southeastern Museum Conference Awards at the organization's 75th Annual Conference in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on September 30th, and whereas Museum Director Alexandria Pisa received the prestigious Museum Leadership Award in recognition for her vision, integrity, innovation, and commitment to the museum and to the community, and whereas the museum received the Gold Aw

If you guys would like to come in, I'd prefer to get a picture of the whole group. Thank you, sir.

Oh, Alex. I gave you one too many. The next proclamation Commissioner Keeger will be given is to proclaim October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. So if anyone is involved in the domestic violence sector of Gaston County, please step up with Commissioner Keeger. Commissioner Keeger.

TERRY JOINER, who's the director, and then our DA, Travis Page. Good to see you.

I'll get right to it. Whereas domestic violence affects individuals and families of every age and background, causing lasting physical harm while jeopardizing the safety and well-being of survivors and the community, and whereas domestic violence is a serious public safety and community concern that places significant and sustained demands on Gaston County's law enforcement, healthcare systems, the courts, the school's social services and housing resources. And whereas, without coordinated intervention, domestic violence can escalate to serious injury as well as homicide. And whereas, Gaston C

I will now call on Commissioner Hovis to do the Emergency Management Fire Service presentation of certificates of the Gasson County Volunteer Fire Department. Each year, the Board of Commissioners honors Gasson County volunteer firefighters and rescue squad members who have reached 10, 20, 30, and 40 years of service. Our dedicated volunteers undergo hours of rigorous training to provide these valuable services to our citizens. It is with great pleasure that we commend this year's recipients for achieving this impressive milestone. Commissioner Hovis.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If I could, could I have Matt Rinaldi please join me at the podium? And if he would, while he's coming, if the other gentleman, Mr. David Cunningham, would please come. Both of these gentlemen are coming up. They're part of the Dallas community. And between the two of them, they represent 80 years of service to citizens in Gaston County. I think that in itself deserves a round of applause. Matt, here's your certification, your certificate for 30 years of dedicated service. Thank you very much. And Mr. Cunningham, yours is, David, yours is for 50 years of service. Thank yo

It is with great pleasure for the Gasson County Commissioners to honor citizens who have unselfishly given of their time, talent, skills, and energies in service as an appointee to one of our many boards or commissions. This type of service is the foundation of citizen involvement in county government and is helping shape the future of our community. We gratefully acknowledge the work of the following individuals and certificate of appreciation has been forwarded to them. Randy Boyd, Equalization Review Board. William Keller, Gasson County Fire Commission. Ruth Murphy, Transportation Advisory

The next item on the agenda is presentations. The next presentation will be by Gasson County Schools. An update, Dr. Morgan Houchard, superintendent of Gasson County Schools. And I want to thank the chairman for being in attendance as well. Thank you. Dr. Houchard, take your time, sir. Don't worry. Sir? You're good.

And also continue to your dialogue with Mr. Roten as well as through this time. We know we're getting ready to come back into that budget season, so you guys will be meeting more often. But thank you so much for your time. Yes, sir. Thank you all. The next presentation is capital projects update. Mr. Brian Skiba, Deputy County Manager. Mr. Ray Maxwell, Executive Director of Office of Capital Improvements, will now give their presentation on the capital projects update. Mr. Skiba.

What if we've made the application, but what if we don't receive it?

Well, hypothetically, what if we don't receive the funds?

Mr. Maxwell, I believe those funds that you were talking about that were done at the state level is for these types of very complex projects that have certain things like these coatings and all that have to cure out before you can put water in there so you don't contaminate the system. So that was built in and engineered for that. That's the reason you feel so comfortable with the timeline, correct?

Yes, sir. One question for either you or the manager, since they're doing a study on it. Can they get us a study on any additional costs that's going to be with employee or whatever's going to happen inside of the pieces of that?

Seeing none, I would just like to add, can we get a hard copies piece for each one? Kind of like the survey we did before of maybe red, yellow, green, to how we look at the projects and the ones we like, and if we can get some kind of criteria from you guys and staff to just kind of put that together and then get it to each board member before we want to actually, where everybody can have it and have some dialogue with you guys as well. Thank you. Is that okay by the board?

Okay. The next item on the agenda is other matters. Do I hear any other matters? You can come before the board at this time.

Mr. Chairman, may I? I just want to thank Ray. That was a very detailed and to some might got a little antsy, but I just wanted to congratulate you on knowing your job as well as you do.

Seeing no other discussion, I will open the board up to board discussion over alleged ethics violations. I got questioned by several members today, so what I'll do, I'm just going to open it up to the board. I'm going to start on my far right. We'll just work our way down, and then we'll go from there.

Mr. Hovis. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My feelings are very similar to Commissioner Fraley's. I have had conversation with Kathy, and Kathy has shown consideration of remorse in some of the statements that were made. Some of that was taken somewhat out of context in some areas. Even the investigator told us that in his report. But at the same time, I don't think any action by Commissioner Cloninger was different than other people who have preceded her on this board or other people who are currently seated on this board in trying to control the actions of county personnel. There are three individuals

Mr. Keyes. Well, I'm not going to repeat the same points that Mr. Fraley and Mr. Hovis made. I'll just say this. As far as I'm concerned, once we leave this meeting, I'm through with it. And I think a majority of this board will agree with me when it's time to say it. But that's all I have to say. Kathy, I'm sorry this has happened. But maybe we'll all be better for it.

Mr. Chairman, I have the responsibility to make sure everybody on the commission has the opportunity to speak. Whether I want to express their views, whether I like it or not, everybody has the chance to state their position. I want to make sure that my role is nothing different than any other of the board members. I'm just here to conduct the meeting. That being said, I think maybe, I don't know if anybody talks to you more than I do on a daily basis. And especially since this happens another, Issue where you've shown remorse, you've said things to me, and we've talked, and I'm proud that you

Any other comments? Seeing none, we will move. This concludes our work session for tonight. Our next regular meeting is Tuesday, October 27, 2026, 6 p.m. here in the Harley B. Gasson Jr. Public Courtroom. Thank you for watching. If you have any questions, please make those comments to Donna S. Buff at 704-866-3196. Good night, Gaston.