The Henderson City Council voted Monday to accept the resignation of City Manager/Attorney Hassan T. Kingsberry – effective immediately – and appointed Paylor Spruill as interim city manager.
The Council also voted 6-1 to censure Council Member Geraldine Champion for violation of the city’s social media policy.
The regular monthly meeting had gone on for about two hours before Council voted to go into closed session to discuss a personnel matter.
Upon returning to open session, Henderson Mayor Melissa Elliott announced that the Council had voted unanimously to accept the resignation of the city manager/city attorney, which originally was submitted at the August meeting and then rescinded at a subsequent special called meeting.
Elliott also said that the city would seek guidance from the N.C. League of Municipalities with regard to the city attorney position.
The vote to censure Champion was 6-1, with Council Member Michael Venable casting the dissenting vote. Champion recused herself from the vote.
Champion appeared in Vance County Superior Court at 9:30 Tuesday morning regarding a no-contact order filed by Charles J. Turrentine, Jr. on Aug. 21. That case was continued until Oct. 2, according to information from Turrentine to WIZS News, and the judge recused himself.
In speaking to Council members Monday, Turrentine asked for a formal censure as well as assurances that he and his family be protected from future encounters – verbal or otherwise – from Champion.
Council Member Sam Seifert made the motion to publicly censure Champion, which was seconded by Council Member Lamont Noel.
Referring to the city’s policy about social media postings by elected officials, Seifert reminded the Council that adoption of that policy some months ago was “as a result of an action of our colleague, Ms. Champion.”
Seifert said he’d reviewed the policy, Turrentine’s letter to Kingsberry and to City Clerk Tracey Kimbrell and said he was satisfied that there was a violation of “some of the conduct standards that we, this body, set.
“I’ve seen enough. I don’t need to see the video itself – I think these comments, we’ve got quotes on them – that’s enough for me to publicly censure Council Woman Champion,” Seifert said before making the motion.
Other action from the Council on Monday included:
- Approval of a rezoning request for the former fairgrounds property on Andrews Avenue. The property had been rezoned to multi-family last year, but Arpan Makam with the Raleigh development group making the request said the residential mixed-use zoning included in the city’s updated UDO plan would be a better fit for future development of the property. Plans would “reorient” the potential development and would blend housing with locally focused businesses. He painted a picture that includes greenspace, a dog park, walking areas and pickle ball court. “It brings new life to that part of town – we’re not trying to change the character of the area; we’re trying to strengthen it. Council Member Michael Venable made a motion to approve, with a second by Council Member Ola Thorpe-Cooper and the motion passed unanimously.
- Downtown Director Tracy Madigan asked Council’s approval to apply for grant funding to make improvements downtown, including purchase of new Christmas banners, five new trash cans and solar lights for the trunks of some of the trees located in the downtown district. The banners and the brackets needed to hang them will cost about $7,000, the trash receptacles – which will match the ones already placed downtown – will cost about $4,250 and the solar lights have a price tag of about $3,700. The request or funding will be made to the N.C. Community Foundation’s Frances Abbot Burton Powers fund, which was established in 2012 to support programs that benefit the city of Henderson.
Click play to hear our audio from September 9th, 2025 after the Henderson City Council Meeting!
Click Play to hear our audio from September 8th, 2025 before the Henderson City Council Meeting!
