County manager in hot seat after March 10th incident, county audit late

By Chuck Thompson | The Shelby Independent

The Cleveland County Administrative Building | Chuck Thompson

An alleged botched protocol after a bomb threat and a late county audit put County Manager David Cotton in the hot seat last Tuesday evening.  

The March Cleveland County Commissioners’ meeting was going as expected until during the public comments section, Angelica Haslam spoke to the commissioners about the prank bomb threat made to the county administration building, an event not made readily public, nor was protocol apparently followed. It was also made public that 911 wasn’t called and the deputy on duty was allegedly not on the property at the time of the incident.

The meeting began with special presentations by Will Marby, the executive director for Cleveland Vocational Industries; the America 250 Flag Challenge update by America 250 NC Committee member Emily Sisk. There was also a presentation in honor of Creek Week by Amanda Strickland, District Conservation Education Specialist, and National Agriculture Week was presented by County Extension Director & Agricultural Agent Greg Traywick.

But during the public comments, an unexpected plot twist ensued when resident Angelica Shaw Haslam spoke to the Cleveland County Board of Commissioners regarding a prank bomb threat to the county’s administrative building on March 10.

The call was received at the Register of Deeds Office, where Haslam expressed her criticism of how the incident was handled and shared her disappointment of how County Manager, David Cotton, handled the situation.

She addressed them as not only a concerned citizen but also a spouse of a county employee.

Haslam spoke, weary of possible retribution against her husband by the county, stating such at the beginning of her allotted three minutes to speak.

“…For fear of retribution and retaliation that could be made because he is employed by the very county that I am asking for help,” she said, as she began speaking about the incident on March 10.

Haslam noted, sternly, that while the county building was evacuated, “One specific department, the information technology department, was never notified.”

She continued, “An entire department was left sitting at their desk, unaware of the danger, while the rest of the building was being notified and cleared. This was not a simple clerical error. This was a leadership failure.”

Haslam alleged that two other departments across the hall from the I.T. department were notified by the County Manager Cotton and were evacuated from the building.

Shen then went on to note that protocol was apparently not followed. Haslam said that 911 was not notified about the bomb threat, criticizing the actions taken by the county manager and register of deeds office during the crisis.

“The first protocol for this significant type of threat is to call 911, instead the [Cleveland] County Register of Deeds [Betsy Harnage] called the secretary of the county manager first – and then called the administration building’s resource officer, who was offsite at the moment.”

Haslam continued by stating the startling revelation that due to the lack of calling 911 for the false bomb threat, it “Deprived the building of a professional and coordinated response,” and thus lacked a comprehensive sweep of the building, according to Haslam.

“We are incredibly fortunate that March 10 was a false alarm. Had there been an active device, the IT department would have been left in a dead zone, unnotified by leadership and uncleared by security,” she said to the board.

Haslam praised Cleveland County law enforcement and other first responders in their reaction to the prank active shooter call at Crest on the following Monday, March 16., and the day before the county commissioners’ meeting. She called the response at the high school, “The gold standard.”

“This incident [at Crest High School] proved that Cleveland County and its first responders know how to protect and serve this county’ a gold standard even,” she said. “So, why was it, this same standard of care, was abandoned in this building?”

Haslam asked the board of commissioners to launch an official investigation into the handling of the false bomb threat that was phoned into the register of deed’s office on March 10.

Haslam had three questions that she said the public has a right to know the answers to:

(Bomb threat and audit continued below...)

1.     Why was 911 not called?

2.     Why was the I.T. department not notified?

3.     How will they ensure public safety is a universal mandate and not a selective courtesy?

“I hope it is this board’s unanimous agreement that this county cannot afford the legal and moral liability to leave employees in harm’s way,” added Haslam. “It’s also my hope for each of you to lead by example, to show the next generation like my 15 year old daughter, that just because it’s scary doesn’t mean you can’t have a voice.”

The county then moved on, circling back to the topic in commissioner comments near the end of the meeting.

Commissioner Doug Bridges thanked law enforcement and other first responders for their rapid and professional response to the incident at Crest High, but he stopped short of making any comments at all about the March 10 bomb threat at the county admin building. Staying silent on the matter.

Commissioner Johnny Hutchins directed his question to County Manager Cotton, asking if he “Was on the edge of making a decision of how to respond next time we get a bomb threat in our building or any county building?”

 Cotton basically replied that a notification will be sent to every employee in the building or not directly to them, ‘discreetly.’

The Shelby Independent was able to speak with Angelica Haslam for a brief moment, where she again voiced her concern, stating, “Why was the public not notified? This was a public safety issue for them too. If they have such a vested interest in public safety then why wasn’t 911 notified?”

Cleveland County audit

As for the county audit, whether it is the fault of the county manager, the accounting firm, or the LGC remained unclear, as they both seemed to blame each other.

An annual audit is required by North Carolina General Statute 159-34, and each county is expected to submit their own audit to the Local Government Commission by Dec. 31. 

This December deadline was new for 2025, as in year’s past, all audits were due by October. However, even with the extended deadline, Cleveland County had not submitted their audit as of March 17 and as of March 24 there was no indication the audit has been submitted yet (by time of publication).

When Cleveland County missed the standard deadline, an extension was granted for Cleveland County Government from the original date of Dec. 31 to Feb 12 and yet, the audit, still, was not submitted by the county by that first extended grace deadline a month later by the time of the March 2026 public meeting.

Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners Kevin Gordon asked Cotton for an explanation. Cotton mumbled something and pointed to Alan Thompson, who was there on behalf of the accounting firm, Thompson, Price, Scott, Adams & Co, P.A.

Gordon, perturbed at the situation, added, “I understand it was already a 43-day extension, so we’re still late.”

“The firm claims they submitted their material but there were certain “tasks” completed ahead of time, supposedly by the county but that wasn’t made clear, as it seems nobody wanted to clarify.

Commissioner Hutchins pushed back on the LGC and also Thompson, Price, Scott, Adams & Co, P.A., placing the responsibility on their shoulders.

The LGC representative suggested not pointing the finger at this time. He also added that if material was received, they have it, but if not, they do not. Apparently, some information had been submitted but not everything.

Gordon asked if Cotton had anything to add to which he did not.

The next public county commissioners’ meeting will be held Tuesday April 21, 2026 in chambers.

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Chuck Thompson is a reporter and columnist for The Shelby Independent. 

The Shelby Independent.