Dog park opening still TBA; White makes statement on love, grace and unity

Shelby Mayor Pro Tem David White (Ward 2) speaks to city council and those in attendance Monday night. City Council Member Violet Arth (Ward 4) listens.

Mayor Stan Anthony was absent from the City of Shelby City Council meeting Monday night. It was brief, going into a closed session in less than 30 minutes. A statement read by David White, Ward 2, mayor pro tem, closed the public portion of the meeting, leading to closed session before adjournment.

The main topics on the agenda revolved around an update on the city’s dog park and public comments on several topics.

An immediate grand opening date for the park has not been set, however a possible date for the opening is Oct.5. With 90% of the park completed they are working on finalizing a date for the grand opening.

In a related topic, during public comments, a resident of Shelby who will not be named by this media outlet for her well-being, spoke to city council regarding an issue with a neighbor's dog.

She explained that the dog scares residents in the neighborhood and claimed the owner does nothing to accommodate the neighbors’ concerns.

She claims to have called animal control at 8:40 am Monday and that animal control still had not responded as of the time of the meeting Monday evening at 6 p.m.

“I just don’t know where to go from here,” she said. “I don’t want anything terrible or drastic to happen… I need help.”

City of Shelby Manager Rick Howell said he would be happy to discuss this with her after the meeting to resolve the issue.  

“We pay the county a pretty nice sum a year…” he said regarding animal control, noting the issue would be looked into with the county.

Ernest McCluney, commander of the DAV in Cleveland County, mentioned their office building is in bad shape.

“We have talked to county commissioners and hope to get their help as well.  We serve veterans here in Cleveland County and we cannot distribute our money to anything but our veterans,” he said. McCluney continued by asking for help to repair their roof, stating he had an estimated cost if they would like to see. A total was not discussed out loud during the meeting.

In Howell's comments to the council, he mentioned the week of Oct. 6 will be bulky item pick up, which constitutes any items that cannot fit in your trash can.

“I advise everyone to go to the website to see what we can and cannot pick up as there are restrictions,” noted Howell.

The grant money contract for the restoration of the Historic Webbley House will expire June 30, 2026. Howell stated it is likely they will need an extension on that grant for the remodeling work that needs to be completed on the historic house. The work includes the demolition of the addition on the back of the house to preserve the original structure.

Fire hydrant flushing will soon be happening across the city. 1,400 hydrants will be flushed, according to Howell.

“You will likely get water complaints because there will be cloudy and / or muddy water” said Howell. “It’s just one of those things that has to be done.”

And while the city council met once again at The Don Gibson Theater, there is a date set for the council to return to their normal – yet new and improved chambers. Oct 20 is the target date for opening the council chambers in City Hall.

Howell said the bathrooms will be handicap accessible and a better audio and video system and mostly everything will be better than before.

Mayor Pro Tem David White took a moment to address the council and those in attendance with a strong statement in regards to recent events.

“I have something I want to read to you,” White said, as he addressed those in the room. “I want to share my thoughts.”

“We all need to get on our knees and pray to God he will bring peace and love to all people in this country and world.

This world is filled with hatred like nothing we’ve ever seen before. I have been on council for fourteen years, and in those fourteen years I have never heard our mayor, Stan Anthony, raise his voice to madness. I have never heard our city manager Rick Howell raise his voice in madness; I have never heard our staff raise their voices in madness; I have never heard our city council raise their voices to madness.

We the people should agree to disagree. We need to learn to all get along. We learned honor. We should learn to honor each person and their beliefs and their thoughts. We need to get along with each other.

There are two days I’ll never forget: September 11^th, the day our country changed forever. The other is September 10^th; and that was the untimely death of Charlie Kirk.

Only by the Grace of God do we learn to love and care for one another – only by the Grace of God.”

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Chuck Thompson is a reporter for The Shelby Independent.