Murphy – The first meeting of an advisory committee that aims to identify and solve challenges in Cherokee County met for the first time with an organizational meeting March 16.
Eight of nine appointees made the first meeting of the Needs & Solutions Advisory Committee attended the meeting and selected Mark Kephart – a Cherokee County resident, military retiree and member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians – as board chair.
Kevin Carter, a Murphy resident and Cherokee County fire marshal, was picked to be vice chair, while Margaret Ackiss, a Murphy resident who works with AT&T in business development, was selected secretary. Silas Shields, a grant specialist for Cherokee County government, was named an ex officio member of the committee.
County attorney Darryl Brown helped guide the fledgling group through its paces at the inaugural meeting, advising members about the steps and appointments that are needed and the over all demeanor of the group.
“You can make this as official or informal as you want,” Brown said.
The committee is advisory in nature and has no governing authority, he said. Reports are due to the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners on Aug. 1 and, more importantly since it falls within the budget period, Feb. 1, 2023.
Members were asked to name their top priorities to address. At least during the initial meeting, the welfare and education of Cherokee County’s children was top-rated. Kephart said the committee should address school consolidation, which he described as the biggest controversy in five years.
“People are expecting us to look at it,” he said.
Committee member Phoebe Donahue, a Murphy resident who owns and operates license plate offices in Murphy and Franklin, said everybody wants something better than the existing school facilities, but the way that a recent school consolidation debate was handled left outlying communities without a voice.
Ackiss said the $50 million grant the state offered to build a new consolidated high school may seem like a lot, but not if the county has to spend an additional $30 million to complete the project.
Donahue added that medical marijuana, which is legal in many states and about to be rolled out by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians at a dispensary the tribe is developing, should be discussed early enough for the county to be ahead of the curve once North Carolina legalizes it. North Carolina has already decriminalized marijuana, but people who are caught selling or using marijuana can still face legal consequences.
Member Chastity Ledford, an Andrews resident who is a professional hairstylist and member of the Andrews ABC Board of Directors, said the committee needs to identify activities in the county that will keep people from spending their money elsewhere.
Philip St. John, a Murphy resident and founder and CEO of Genuity Group LLC, had a list prepared that included upgrading education, health care, infrastructure and services, as well as seeking community feedback.
The committee also addressed logistics such as when and where it would meet. They decided on 6:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month, with locations to be announced. The goal is to hold meetings at different locations around the county to encourage public participation.
Other than committee members and staff, there was just one non-member in attendance along with a reporter from the Cherokee Scout. The committee is hoping for better public engagement at future meetings.
The committee is required to meet once every 60 days, but members decided that once a month would be more effective to start. The next meetings will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 28, at the Cherokee County Courthouse, and 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 11, at the Cherokee County Indian Community Club, 300 Airport Road in Marble.