Murphy – By August 2023, the Board of Commissioners should have a vision for what the next decade will look like in Cherokee County.
The board voted 4-1 on Dec. 5 to establish a new 10-member advisory group called a Needs and Solutions Advisory (NASA) Committee. As terms like “plan” and “planning” have become somewhat taboo when it comes to legislation in Cherokee County, both the NASA Committee and the resolution that created it steer clear of those words. Regardless of the terminology used, the purpose of the committee is largely the same.
The resolution passed by the board states that by Aug. 1, 2023, the new committee will present “5-year and 10-year written and prioritized stratagems, respectively, that shall identify the needs of the county and propose specific solutions” to address them. The committee is instructed to update its two stratagems in August of each year.
“I think we’ll be able to address issues more cost effectively because sometimes, if you wait till something happens, it costs you more than if you can see a need and then give us an opportunity maybe, whatever that need might be,” said Cal Stiles, chairman of the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners. “I can’t say what that need might be, but it’s possibly something we could get grant money to help us with. I just think there’s a lot of value in trying to look and see what some of our needs are and what they’re perceived to be by this group of individuals who I think will be fairly knowledgeable of Cherokee County.”
The Cherokee County grant specialist will serve as ex-officio and will act as a non-voting member. The remaining nine members, who will serve two-year terms, will be appointed by the board of commissioners. Stiles believes the makeup of the board will be key to its success and he expects to install individuals with “a broad spectrum of opinions” within the county.
“Everything needs some representation,” Stiles said. “We need young people, we need middle-aged, we need people in various walks of life.
“We’ll strive to balance it out so we can pick up on their expertise and help pull this plan together. It’s not going to be worth anything if we don’t reach out and put the right people in place.”
The NASA Committee was established under N.C. General Statute 153A-77(a), which allows commissioners to establish such committees and other similar bodies composed of county residents. Newly elected District 3 Commissioner Ben Adams was quick to address concerns that the establishment of such a group could open the door to land zoning in Cherokee County.
“I oppose zoning, and this part (of the resolution) right here says, ‘And not under NCGS Chapter 160D,’ ” Adams said.
“That means this committee has nothing at all to do with zoning. This is a committee to help us see how we’re going to grow our county for the next few years, and hopefully something like this would have foresaw some of the problems like the crypto mine.”
Added county attorney Darryl Brown: “It is completely advisory. They won’t have any authority.”
Jan Griggs, the newly elected vice chair of the board of commissioners, tried on two previous occasions to establish some type of planning committee.
On July 18, the board voted 3-2 against a motion by Griggs to establish a separate nine-person planning committee that would have acted as a broader advisory group for the county. Then-chairman Dan Eichenbaum said at the time he was “absolutely against” such a planning committee.
“When you develop a planning board, a planning committee of this kind, you have established a permanent group of individuals who can then run around the county doing whatever they want to do, observing whatever they want, and coming back and deciding among themselves, what it is they want to start making plans for,” Eichenbaum said. “I think that is a dangerous precedent to have, and I’m not in favor of doing that. ... Obviously, they have no power to implement plans, but they still have the right to go around making plans.”
Stiles noted during the Dec. 5 meeting that Cherokee County previously had a plan that was never utilized. Nearly seven years earlier, the Cherokee County Tomorrow committee worked for two years on a long-term comprehensive county plan, which the board of commissioners addressed in January 2016. The board voted 4-1 at the time to accept the plan presented to them, but commissioners declined to provide any input or implement any of its suggestions.
Stiles called the plan a “good road map” at the time and said he wanted to hold a work session with the committee to discuss the contents of the plan. His motion died for lack of a second.
Instead, Eichenbaum made another motion in the form of a typed statement, one that thanked everyone for their hard work and simultaneously dissolved the committee. The motion also accepted the plan as a “research and reference tool only” and gave “no consent or approval in any way for the implementation of any portion of this plan, its goals or its objectives.”
This time, Eichenbaum joined Stiles, Griggs and Adams by voting in favor of the committee. Commissioner Randy Phillips, who asked to table the motion until January, was the lone vote in opposition.
The new NASA committee is instructed to meet no less than once every 60 calendar days but may meet more often as determined by the chair of the board of commissioners. Stiles said he expects to have “frequent reports” once the committee’s members have been seated. All meetings will be open to the public and will include a public forum.
“I think we need to have a vision of some type as to what we’re going to be when we grow up, so to speak,” Stiles said. “I’ve said that several times. As it is right now, we’re focusing on our daily problems and trying to handle things as best we can.”