Commissioners talk politics during public meeting, rebuke comments made by candidates
- Chuck Thompson
- 10 hours ago
- 6 min read
Chuck Thompson | The Shelby Independent
Is the school board political drama spilling over to the county commissioners race?
The Shelby Independent could not verify that political drama is contagious because the CDC could not be reached for comment for this question, but in a google search, and it must be noted was not verified by any qualified experts, stated, "The CDC has not classified 'political drama' as a contagious disease."
In the closing comments before adjournment, politics made an appearance regarding alleged comments made by county commissioner candidates on social media, which was brought up and criticized by two commissioners not currently up for reelection.
But first, two guest speakers took to the podium to make special presentations during the meeting Tuesday night.
Dayne Willis, president of operations for Ames Copper Group, talked about copper production and manufacturing in Cleveland County, he noted 10% of all copper production comes from Cleveland County. Most of their copper is scratch that is being refined and molded for reuse, “85% of the copper in serves is always in service, we keep molding it and its cleaner and we can reprocess it much fast.”
The commissioners thanked him for his presentation. Chairman Kevin Gordon also thanked him, adding, “We were impressed and there were things we learned that we didn’t know” Gordon said of his visit with other officials to the copper plant on old Boiling Springs Road.
Catawba Nation Foundation Executive Director, Kristine Urrutia, spoke to the commissioners Tuesday night, noting that while she’s only been a resident for seven months she already sits on the board of the Earl Scruggs Center, joined the board of the YMCA and through the CC Chamber they are members and is part of Leadership Cleveland County, and she is a member of the Lumbee Tribe.
Urrutia spoke a little about what the Catawba Foundation was about, noting it was founded in 2021 and is funded mainly by proceeds from the Catawba Two Kings Casino, in Kings Mountain.
The foundation funds the Catawba Nation, Cleveland County, and the eight tribes of North Carolina, by helping to provide educational advancement, cultural preservation, environmental conservation and economic development. To date, they have given away $800,000 towards these projects.
The board approved a minor request to rezone 132, 136, and 140 of Jim Patterson Road from General Business-Conditional Use (GB-CU) to General Business-Conditional Use (GB-CU) to Develop a Recreational Vehicle Park.
In the closing comments by the Board of Commissioners, comments were made on varied topics, such as Doug Bridges thanking first responders for their dedication during the winter storms.
But the plot twist came when Johnny Hutchins made a comment regarding candidates talking about property taxes on Facebook, claiming a few unspecified county commissioner candidates had made comments about cutting property taxes by four cents.
“I don’t think they realize how much money is four cents,” Hutchins said, also mentioning he talked to school board members and stating they claimed it wouldn’t be cut from the schools.
“If we choose to cut taxes, we would cut it overall, the same for every department… the same percentage cut for everyone, and they didn’t like it,” he said. “Most of the people talking about making 3 or 4 cent tax cuts – how much it would mean and what it would do to a department.”
Gordan also made comments about, “What candidates may or may not said,” he began, adding, he stated a law; state law 159-8, noting a county must operate under a balanced budget, continuing the alleged statements made by county commissioner candidates.
Chairman Gordon then instructed the County Manager David Cotton to make a comment to explain why talk of tax cuts isn’t possible as candidates have said.
Cotton basically said officials would be sent from Raleigh to supervise the county to balance their budget and observe them for seven years, adding a sense of fear of what could happen in the event taxes were cut by any yet-to-be-determined new county commissioners if elected and taxes were lowered.
Why this was brought up during a county commissioners’ meeting was unclear.
Gordon explained, in general, summarized due to length, that any cuts are impossible and against state law.
“I would like to see the following, Gordon said, speaking to County Manager Cotton, directing him to create a mock budget, “…I would like to see what the cost would be as far as reduction of services, and impact to the county if five percent were cut of the budget and I’d like to see a scenario if two and a half percent would be cut out…”
(County commissioners news story continued below)
Gordon then addressed the audience directly, stating “For those watching in the audience…” as he repeated the two hypothetical scenarios, making a statement, rebutting alleged comments made by candidates on Facebook.
He then addressed the audience again that he would like to see this put into writing and how cuts can’t be made in order to protect teacher supplements.
While The Shelby Independent couldn’t find exact comments made by candidates making tax cuts, in research, there was the notable “No New Taxes” slogan by candidate Wayne King, but not regarding any actual demands for cuts, although comments may exist on social media, made by any of the county commissioner candidates, they were not obviously visible during a search. The Shelby Independent did not have the available time to scour thousands of Facebook post from across Cleveland County or thousands of comments made under other posts by candidates or residents, to find such claims; although not to say they are, or are not out there. They were just not found by the writing time of this article.
As the county commissioners used their closing remarks during a public government meeting to draw up hypothetical scenarios and discuss what candidates may or may not said, Commissioner Tony Berry objected to the discussion during county meeting time.
“Mr. Chairman, I do have one question,” Berry asked calmly. “On our agenda tonight, I did not see any discussion that we would have about budget and taxes, therefore, I had not time to prepare for any of this or respond to the public in a way I would like to respond to the public. Why did this come up and it's not on the agenda?”
“I didn’t put this on the agenda,” Gordon quipped back. “You can ask me that if you want at any time.”
While Gordon did not bring the topic up for discussion, he did instruct the county manager to create the two hypothetical budget scenarios of the budget cuts they discussed that some candidates had talked about on Facebook to present to him at an unspecified date, during the discussion while in the public county meeting.
Hutchins responded, “I brought it up. It was brought up at the forum and highly talked about.”
“I wasn’t at the forum, so I don’t know,” interrupted Gordon.
Hutchins continued, “So I made up my mind, so I was going to bring it up to let the public know – hey ...”
Then the audio cut out for a few seconds and another few seconds on the video were unintelligible.
Gordon then made the motion to adjourn, and the video feed was cut.
Since candidates were mentioned during the public meeting and none were there to speak (or did not speak up) in response to what was said, it was only fair to get a comment from a candidate.
The Shelby Independent spoke to candidate for county commissioner, Wayne King, who watched the meeting online Tuesday night, commenting after the meeting. King felt that what was said was unacceptable during a governmental meeting, on the county’s time and dollar.
"Politics should not come up during a regular public meeting - that meeting should be to conduct county business not tearing down political opponents or political comments,” King said. “It shows the immaturity on this board by doubling down on increased tax bills being sent out on their watch.”
King continued, adding, “Coming March 3, on primary voting day, the citizens will have the opportunity to speak loud and clear against no new taxes and for real leadership to make Cleveland County affordable."
The next regularly scheduled county commissioner meeting is scheduled for March 17, 2026. Cleveland County residents are invited to attend the meeting.
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Chuck Thompson is a reporter and columnist for The Shelby Independent.
