TownTalk: Local Politics And Local Leadership Discussion And More

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Here in early January, resolutions may be top-of-mind for many. The noun “resolution” comes from the verb “resolve,” defined as settling or finding a solution to a problem, dispute or contentious matter.

Click Play just below and listen to Wednesday’s TownTalk segment to hear a discussion of several local issues that could be resolved in the coming months. Local government topics – from tax rates and budgets to new city management, to a new jail and ongoing litigation involving Vance County are just a few of the items on residents’ minds.

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TownTalk: Commissioners Begin Process To Fill District 3 Vacant Seat

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The Vance County Board of Commissioners handled several procedural items at the first scheduled meeting of 2025, including the steps to appoint a commissioner to replace Commissioner Sean Alston, who recently resigned to take a job as a magistrate in Warren County.

As County Attorney Jonathan Care’s explained, the board has 60 days from Jan. 1, 2025 to fill the seat vacated by Alston, who represented District 3.

“We’ve got to get this done by Mar. 1,” Care told commissioners. He indicated that the board most likely will have a called meeting in early February to discuss the nominations.

Individuals interested in being considered for the appointment need only be from the same political party and reside in the same district as Alston. Alston is a registered Democrat.

If a replacement isn’t made within the 60-day period, Care said the matter will go to the Clerk of Court, who will have 10 days to make an appointment.

The board will send a request for input to the local Democratic party. Care said he had drafted an application form for the commissioners to review and asked them for feedback before posting it by mid-January.

While the board should request input from the local Democratic party, Care said it “has no control over what this board does.” He added that the board has the right to receive and consider applications other than those proffered by the Democratic party.

Commissioner and newly elected Vice Chair Yolanda Feimster requested that the information be sent to media outlets – including local newspaper and radio – to let as many people as possible know about the appointment process.

TownTalk: Vance Commissioners Elect Vice Chair, Hold Public Hearing On 2025-26 Budget At Monday Meeting

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Update 10:25 p.m. on 1/6/25:

The Vance County Board of Commissioners elected Yolanda Feimster as its new vice chair at its meeting Monday evening.

The board also held the first of two public hearings to hear from residents about priorities for the 2025-26 budget during its first regular meeting of the year, and the first meeting with Carolyn Faines as chair. Faines was elected to lead the board during a special called meeting last week, following Sean Alston’s announcement that he was stepping down to take a job as a Warren County magistrate.

Several residents spoke during the public hearing, which lasted about 15 minutes, but their messages shared a common theme: reconsider the current tax rate and have a revenue neutral budget in place for FY 2025-26.

Laura Perkinson told commissioners she owns properties in both the city and the county, and she advocates a revenue neutral budget. During her four minutes of allotted time, Perkinson also said property owners should not be charged late fees when paying 2024 tax bills “so we all can catch up.”

The deadline to pay without incurring a 2 percent penalty was today, Jan. 6.

Caroline Burnette has spoken to commissioners during previous public comment periods and she reiterated her concerns about the current tax rate. Burnette asked the commissioners to reconsider the tax rate and said the board should be held accountable for raising the rate during the most recent budget process.

Lee Chandler said he wants to see budget cuts and next year’s budget be “below revenue neutral.”

When Commissioner Dan Brummitt stood up and moved away from his seat briefly, Angela Ryan paused her remarks to the board, stating that she would wait for Brummitt’s return.
“We need to be heard and I want to make sure that I am,” Ryan said.

In remarks following comments from the residents, Commissioner Leo Kelly said “We hear you.” Kelly said he’s lived in Vance County his entire life, and when he voted on the budget, it meant his taxes went up, too.

“I paid my taxes, (but) I paid them grudgingly,” he said.

Before the public hearing was closed, Brummitt thanked those who had approached the podium to address the board. He commented that in his close to two decades as a commissioner, Monday’s hearing was “only the second public hearing where people have spoken.”

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Update 2:15 p.m. on 1/6/25:

The Vance County Board of Commissioners is expected to elect a new vice chair at the first regular meeting of 2025 scheduled for this evening, following last week’s resignation of Commissioner Sean Alston, who stepped away from the board to accept a magistrate’s position in Warren County.

The board unanimously elected Carolyn Faines as chair of the board during a special called meeting on Monday, Dec. 30, but tabled a vote to elect vice chair.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. According to the agenda, selection of a new vice chair will be the first order of business, followed by several appointment and then a public hearing to collect comments from county residents as county leaders continue planning for the 2025-26 budget.

The public hearing on the budget is listed as Item 6 on the agenda. This public hearing is the first of two that are scheduled; the second is scheduled for June 2 – after the recommended budget has been submitted to commissioners for review.

Other items for discussion from County Manager C. Renee Perry’s report to the board include the fire marshal budget, amendments to the personnel policy, jail inspection reports from 2023 and 2024, sheriff legal fees, board work sessions and the EMS substation.

View the meeting at https://www.youtube.com/@VanceCountyNC/streams.

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Update 1/5/25:

Straight from the Vance County Commissioners meeting 1-6-25 agenda, the meeting will include within the first few items a fiscal year 2025-2026 pre-budget public hearing.

The public notice says, “The Vance County Board of Commissioners will conduct a FY 2025-26 Pre-Budget Public Hearing at 6:00 p.m., or shortly thereafter, on January 6, 2025 in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room at 122 Young Street, Henderson, NC.”

Before the Board of Commissioners begins work on next year’s budget, the board “is interested in receiving suggestions and priorities from residents to help them in the development of the budget.”

This is one of two required public hearings that will be held on the budget.

“The county manager will submit a recommended budget in May and a second public hearing will be held on the proposed budget on June 2, 2025,” the notice within the agenda states.

The budget is supposed to be adopted before July 1, 2024.

The agenda says, “This notice was published on December 24, 2024,” which in North Carolina means it was published in the newspaper.

TownTalk Broadcast 1-6-25 Prior to Meeting!

Granville County Emergency Communications Honored by North Carolina 911 Board

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In his role as North Central Regional Coordinator for the N. C.  911 board, Brian Short sees how counties cooperate to provide the very best coverage possible when it comes to handling emergencies.

No longer a boots-on-the-ground participant, Short nonetheless witnessed first-hand how counties not affected by Hurricane Helene came to the aid of those in western North Carolina who were hit by floods and mudslides as the remnants of the storms ripped through the state.

The Granville County 911 call center was recently recognized by the state’s 911 board for the mutual aid it provided to Mitchell County from late September to mid-October.

Short may be a familiar name to many in the area – he spent more than three decades in service to Vance County, about 27 of which were as emergency services director.

His retirement in May 2023 was short-lived, however, when he became one of four state coordinators. The North Central region includes 22 counties, including the four counties in the WIZS listening area.

“I happened to be on duty at the state operations emergency center at the height of Helene,” Short said on Tuesday’s TownTalk. As mountain counties reported losing connectivity, Short said he and others manning the phones and radios had to figure out what to do.

“As they started to drop, we knew we had to act quickly,” he said. “I had already been working on a list of potential places to reroute those calls,” and when Granville County was contacted, he said 911 Emergency Services Director Stacy Hicks didn’t hesitate. “Yes, send them our way – we’re ready,” Short recalled her saying. “And just like that, Granville started getting those calls.”

That was on Sept. 27. For the next 17 days, about a quarter of all calls fielded by Granville County 911 were calls originating from Mitchell County, Hicks stated in a press release from Granville County Public Information Officer Terry Hobgood.

“Our team handled a wide range of emergencies, including flood rescues, medical calls, welfare checks, and reports of individuals trapped in homes or vehicles due to mudslides, downed trees, and rising waters. I’m proud of the work we did to assist Mitchell County while they were in distress while also continuing to provide the same emergency services to Granville County residents,” Hicks said.

“Granville County served as a Public Safety Answering Point ‘friend’ to Mitchell County and provided tremendous assistance and dedication to the citizens of western North Carolina by answering 911 calls from miles away in response to Hurricane Helene,” Short said.

Thanks to technology, overall consistency of operations and training that county PSAP employees receive, counties can come to the aid of other counties in emergency situations.

The way Short explained it, because of the mutual aid that unaffected counties were able to give to those ravaged by Helene in the western part of the state, “we lost no

911 calls, even during the heart of the hurricane Helene impact.”

Given the widespread devastation and loss of power, internet and cell phone service, the counties providing mutual aid had to think outside the box to get information relayed quickly and accurately.

“A lot of times, these PSAPs had to think on their feet,” Short said. “It wasn’t as simple as (sending) an email,” he said. “What it really came down to at the PSAP level was knowledge, creativity at the ground level” that played a critical role in sending help where it was needed.

“Every call they took was a true emergency,” he said – life and death emergencies. “I’m very proud of every PSAP in my region, they stepped up and did what they had to do.”

 

TownTalk: County Commissioners Reorganize After Alston Resignation

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Vance County Board of Commissioners Chair Sean A. Alston, Sr. is resigning to become a magistrate in Warren County.

County Manager C. Renee Perry said last week that Alston had called for a special called meeting for 10 a.m. today with the purpose stated as reorganization. No details were given when the meeting was announced.

Alston said he will step away from the commission tomorrow and will be sworn in as a magistrate on Wednesday, Jan. 1.

“It was a pleasure to be on this board for two years – I don’t want to go,” he said during the meeting. In an interview after the meeting, Alston told WIZS News that he had applied for a job as a magistrate before he became a county commissioner; as someone who has been self-employed, he said the opportunity to have state benefits and retirement was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down.

Sean Alston while doing an interview at WIZS in 2020.

He said he had “to disconnect” himself from politics before taking the magistrate position.

The board nominated Commissioner Carolyn Faines to be the new board chair, and in her first act as chair she asked to table the election of a vice chair until the regular board meeting on Jan. 6.

Commissioner Tommy Hester, however, asked to make a nomination during the special called meeting. Hester nominated Leo Kelly to be vice-chair. Although properly moved and seconded, the full board couldn’t agree when to elect the vice chair. That’s when county attorney Jonathan Care said the two motions on the floor needed to be acted upon. Although not unanimous, the board voted to table the election of the vice chair until its Jan. 6 meeting by approving the second motion on the table.

The next step is to appoint a qualified individual to assume Alston’s seat on the commission. The new commissioner should be from the same political and the same district as Alston.

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Project-Based Learning Charter School Starting In Vance County; Sledge Institute

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Sledge Institute is a new charter school opening in Vance County in August 2025, with a focus on project-based learning that links students with the community to put into action what they’re learning in the classroom.

Chandra Sledge Mathias, Ed.D, founder and chief executive officer, said the enrollment period is open now through Feb. 28, 2025 for students who will be in kindergarten, first, second and sixth grades.

The school will have 125 students in the first year, but once all 13 grades are in place, the school could have a maximum enrollment of 800, Sledge Mathias said on Monday’s TownTalk.

Construction is underway now to get the former Dabney Elementary School ready for its new occupants, and school leaders are scheduling info sessions across the area to help parents decide whether Sledge Institute is a good fit for them and their children.

Sledge Mathias said the school is for students who live in the Kerr-Tar region, which includes the counties in the WIZS listening area.

“Our model is allowing students to use what they’re learning in schools, project-based, hands on activities,” Sledge Mathias said, “and work alongside professionals in the community.” The plan is to offer mentorships to students and involve the community in the school.

“We want communities to feel like they can be a part of the school and engage with the school,” she said. Each project will have a community partner associated with it.

As students are learning concepts, however, they’re also going to be learning so-called “soft skills” that future employers are looking for in employees.

“We also want them to learn habits so that they’re living their lives well,” she added. “We’re integrating both the academics and the social emotional learning” into school programming.

There are several successful charter schools in the area, Sledge Mathias said, but Sledge Institute will offer something a little bit different.

“We want to make sure that all students have an option that serves them well, Sledge Mathias said. “We’re bringing an option that currently doesn’t exist in the region.”

Board President Dr. Wykia Macon said the school’s core values – ECHO – are excellence, community, heart and opportunity. The board’s role is to ensure the school remains consistent to its mission as it moves closer to its 2025 opening.

In addition to supporting students learn who they are and where their passion and talent lies, Sledge Mathias said the school will emphasize the students as global citizens and members of the global community.

“We want them to know what’s happening in the world,” she said, and how to thrive in the global environment. The school is establishing partnerships with other education leaders in Scotland, Ghana, Japan and Chile to create a network to extend its network across continents.

“They’re ready to visit us, they’re opening their doors to our students to travel and visit them,” Sledge Mathias said.

“These opportunities are really exciting because it allows our student to not only work through project-based learning in their own communities but collaborate with their peers across oceans…and problem solve together.”

As its president, Macon said the board’s role is to make sure everyone has what they need – and right now, that focus is on enrollment and recruitment. Parents interested in learning more can come to an info session at Warren Memorial Library on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 5:30 p.m. Additional sessions are being planned in Granville County.

Visit sledgeinstitute.org/ to learn more, email info@sledgeinstitute.org or find the school on Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin.

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TownTalk: Around Old Granville – Downtown Henderson

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Towns like Henderson began popping up in the mid 1800’s as landowners gave land to railroad companies for their business ventures, conjuring up, no doubt, visions of economic prosperity – for themselves and for the local communities.

And Mark Pace attributes the general layout of downtown Henderson to the railroad. Pace and WIZS’s Bill Harris talked about the history of downtown Henderson on Thursday’s Around Old Granville segment of TownTalk, beginning with the physical layout of the major streets included in downtown Henderson. Garnett, Chestnut and William streets all run parallel to each other – and to the railroad tracks, which once carried freight and passenger trains through town.

Pace said Henderson was “built in a hurry,” between 1870 and 1890, with 1885 being a “game changing year” for the relatively new city, which was established in 1841.

Back then, all the buildings downtown were wooden structures, Pace said. And in 1885, a fire “basically destroyed” the downtown.

Those wooden buildings “were replaced with something nicer, something finer,” Pace said, and many of the lovely old brick and masonry building facades along Garnett Street have stood the test of time.

In fact, the Henderson Central Business District is on the National Register of Historic Places and includes not only Garnett Street but Chestnut Street and William Street as well, Pace said.

In addition to the iconic clock tower and fire department, Zollicoffer Law Office and former H. Leslie Perry Library buildings at one end of Garnett, there’s the Henry A. Dennis Building, the art nouveau style O’Neal Building and the building touted as the tallest in downtown – the five-story Vance Furniture Company.

As with many downtowns in cities small and large, Henderson’s downtown was a center of commerce from the 1870’s clear into the early 1970’s, Pace said. That’s when malls began to be popular.

In addition to the several movie theaters, downtown Henderson had several clothing stores – E.G. Davis, Roth-Stewart and Leggett – as well as hardware stores like Falkner Building Supply, Watkins Hardware and Rose Gin & Supply. There were shoe stores and jewelry stores, drug stores, barber shops and more – all downtown.

When P.H. Rose came to Henderson from Northampton County, he had already opened up a store in Littleton, Pace said, and in 1915, he opened the first store in Henderson.

He was an innovator, Pace said, and it was Rose who capitalized on the concept of customer self-service.

Business was booming for Rose’s stores. “They expanded so fast that at one point, he was opening a store a month,” Pace explained. In its heyday, Rose’s had 250 stores across the Southeast.

Listen to the complete interview at https://wizs.com/

 

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TownTalk: Dr. Alice Sallins Receives Order Of The Long Leaf Pine

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Longtime educator, community advocate and current Vance County Arts Council Director Dr. Alice Clark Sallins has joined the ranks of The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, becoming the latest local recipient during Sunday services at Holy Temple Church.

Sallins said she was “overjoyed” to learn that she was to receive the award, the highest civilian honor given in the state. Rep. Frank Sossamon presented the award to Sallins and in his written recommendation, called Sallins “a pillar of leadership and service for decades, demonstrating a selfless dedication to the people of Vance County and beyond.”

She said it was fitting to receive the honor at her church. “It was very special,” she said, “because church is the core of my existence.”

Sallins, herself a minister since 1995, said Sossamon – also a retired pastor – told the congregation that Sunday wouldn’t be long enough for him to list all her good works and accomplishments.

One of those good works was a group for young men called Royalty: Students Striving For Excellence. It began in 1988, when Sallins was a middle school teacher. The idea of Royalty was to support students and “get them to do better on tests, on Reading and Math EOGs,” Sallins recalled on Wednesday’s TownTalk.

But another goal was to keep the young men off the streets, out of trouble and headed for success.

She has a soft spot in her heart for youth and senior adults, and with the arts council she spends a good bit of time bringing arts activities for the young and the young-at-heart to enjoy.

“That was my life’s work – what I really like to focus on,” she said of her special connection with children and with senior citizens.

By week’s end, she will have visited several different schools and worked with more than 150 students, plus a free program at the Senior Center Thursday at 1 p.m.

She’s been involved with the Arts Council since the 1990’s, but added a leadership role to her crowded plate of activities back in 2004.

“As the first African American leader of the Vance County Arts Council, her leadership has been nothing short of transformative,” stated Sossamon in his letter of recommendation. “From producing Broadway-quality plays in the early 1990’s to ensuring that the Christmas Parade became a celebration of the entire community, Dr. Sallins has been a driving force for inclusivity and creativity.”

Thanks to the way her parents raised their children, Sallins has always been a giver and a doer.

There’s a lot of work to do in the community, she said. “Someone has to do it. My focus has always been to make the community better.”

Not one to seek the spotlight, she prefers to work behind the scenes to make changes for the better, whether it’s giving young people access to the arts or making sure the Henderson Christmas Parade goes off without a hitch each holiday season.

For Sallins, it’s simple: “Just let me do what I need to do to glorify God – that’s what I want to do.”

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TownTalk: Adopt From The Local Animal Shelter This Holiday Season

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The dogs and cats at the Vance County Animal Shelter are so stinkin’ cute, according to Director William Coker, that even he couldn’t resist the temptation.

Coker said he’d never been a cat owner – until he fell in love with a kitten at the shelter.

“I ended up adopting that kitten myself,” he told WIZS’s Scout Hughes on Tuesday’s TownTalk. “When I get up in the morning, that kitten is at the coffee pot with me,” he said.

The shelter is full – literally – of dogs and cats waiting to be adopted. There are 44 kennels for grown dogs – all occupied at the moment – as well as a puppy room and two cat rooms, one for adoptable felines and one for cats in quarantine for one reason or another.

The puppy room has eight beautiful puppies right now, Coker said. “I would love to have them adopted before Christmas,” he said.

Coker didn’t begin his job as director until January 2024, so he doesn’t know how Christmas-time adoptions went last year. But he said he hopes to see some folks come in and “adopt, don’t shop” at the shelter.

The application process is pretty simple, he explained. There’s a short form to fill out and the adoption fees are reasonable – $155 for dogs and $105 for cats. The cost includes the spay and neuter fee, as well as first shots and a one-year rabies shot.

And while Coker said the shelter staff is always hopeful to get animals adopted to good homes, they’re shifting their focus to educating the community about the need to spay and neuter pets. “I want to push spay and neuter in the community, to keep the animals from coming into the shelter” in the first place, he said.

Anyone interested in seeing the adoptable dogs and cats can visit the shelter during business hours. The shelter is located at 1243 Brodie Rd. and is open on Mondays from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesdays – Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., all day every other Friday and half days every other Saturday.

Coker hasn’t turned down many adoption applications. “If the dog seems to be a good fit for the family, I adopt him out,” he said.

It’s a win-win-win for the animal, the community and the adopter, he explained: You’re saving an animal, taking a stray out of the neighborhood, and gaining a member of the family.

“You just carry him home and start loving him,” Coker said.

To learn more, visit the shelter at https://www.vancecounty.org/departments/animal-control/or call 252.492.3136.

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Terrell Blackmon

Henderson City Manager Terrell Blackmon Resigns

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Henderson City Manager Terrell Blackmon has resigned.

In a special called meeting on Sunday, Dec. 15 at 2 p.m. called by Mayor Melissa Elliott, the city council entered into closed session to discuss a personnel matter.

The information available after the council returned to open session was scant, but in addition to the resignation, it included a decision by the council that the city would contact the League of Municipalities to ask for information about retired managers or others qualified to be interim manager.

Blackmon submitted his letter of resignation on Wednesday, Dec. 11 – two days after the regular monthly Council meeting. He didn’t elaborate on any reason for his decision to resign. Blackmon told WIZS that his last day as manager will be Jan. 10. He came to work as manager in 2020.

As part of the Sunday called meeting, the City Council voted 4-2 to contact the League of Municipalities. Council members Geraldine Champion, Garry Daeke, Lamont Noel and Sam Seifert voted in favor of contacting the N.C. League of Municipalities, a member-driven organization that provides support and guidance to cities and towns across the state.

Council members Ola Thorpe-Cooper and Michael Venable voted no; Council members Sara Coffey and Tami Walker were not present at the meeting.

Two people were in attendance at the Sunday meeting – a local newspaper reporter and one other person. That other person contacted WIZS Monday morning and said that shouting could be heard toward the end of the closed session, but none of the exact words could be understood.

Several key staff positions report to and work at the pleasure of the City Council – including the city attorney and the city manager – and Raleigh attorney Hassan Kingsberry was recently sworn in as interim city attorney, filling the position left vacant when D. Rix Edwards resigned. That job posting is currently on the city’s website; interested applicants have until Dec. 30 to apply.

The city has hired Salonia Saxton as its new public information officer. Saxton introduced herself at the December meeting.

Blackmon said he expected a press statement about the resignation to be issued by the city.

Other news gathering indicates the City Manager job will be posted on the City’s webpage as well.

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