The video below is set to begin where Commissioner Brower began speaking at last month’s meeting. Please click play and listen closely to her remarks, it will take less than two minutes.
At the August meeting, I came before the board and made a public comment in which I attempted to show these four commissioners that even though Tim Cranford had not resigned, they were within their rights to appoint an interim commissioner to fill his seat until such time as he could return to duty or his term expired. Ramseur is supposed to have five active commissioners making the important policy decisions this board makes.
They rejected my proposal. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed, but they made their decision and I accepted it and went on with my life. Only three of us filed to run for the three open seats this year, so I figure I’ll have plenty of opportunities to speak my mind on more important issues after the election.
At the September meeting, Commissioner Brower requested to amend the meeting agenda in order to make the comments you heard in the video above, in which she said, and I’m paraphrasing, that Mr. Cranford did not want to resign. That was a bald-faced lie and EVERYONE on that board knew it was when she said it.
I was in the audience that night and thought it odd and unnecessary when the commissioner made her remarks. As I said earlier, I had long since moved on from that subject but I wondered as I heard those words, what was the point of dragging that argument back up?
The next day I talked to Mayor Caudle about the meeting and I mentioned how unnecessary I thought it was for Commissioner Brower to do that; it seemed petty and childish. The mayor said something to the effect of, “I can tell you why, but it will make you angry.”
Again, that’s not a direct quote, but it’s close enough. My response was ‘Please do,’ and the Mayor proceeded to tell me that after the August meeting, she found a voicemail on her phone from Tim Cranford, asking her to call see him, and he told her he wanted to resign.
I asked the Mayor to send me a copy of that message and any responses she’d received from the commissioners. Those messages are public records that you and I have a statutory right to examine and review. Mayor Caudle has always been quick to respond to any information request I have made of her in her capacity as mayor or as a commissioner prior to that. The commissioners’ responses are shown below.
Commissioner Brower was the first one to respond, saying “I think Bob [Wilhoit] needs to be the one to get a resignation letter from Tim.” A month later she amended the meeting agenda at the last minute in order to sit up behind that desk and lie, not just to me but also to you and every other taxpaying citizen of this town.
Everyone else behind that desk – three commissioners, the mayor, attorney Wilhoit, and clerk Akers – all knew that what Commissioner Brower said that night was a bald-faced lie.
I don’t blame Bob or Carol for not speaking up then and calling her out for her blatant disregard for the truth. It was not their place to do so. I also don’t blame Mayor Caudle for not saying anything that night. Sometimes the best thing to do with liars, bullies, and gaslighters is to just let them run. The truth will eventually come out, and now it has.
Four commissioners sat behind that desk last month and participated in a lie; one of them told it and the others endorsed it by their silent acceptance; all of them knowing it was untrue when it was spoken, and if they’ll lie to you about this, what else are they willing to lie to you about?
It’s too bad they aren’t all on the ballot this year so we could replace them all for their unethical behavior over the last year.
This isn’t the only unethical behavior I’ve seen from this group in the last twelve months, but I chose not to write about it here in the hopes that maybe diplomacy wasn’t completely worthless. We’ll get around to those issues eventually.
You may not be able to vote them all out on November 7th, but please do come out and vote, and encourage your neighbors to do so as well. Send a message to your elected officials.
And if you’re on any of the local social media groups, please share this website with your network.
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[EDIT: 7:45 P.M., October 17, 2023 – I had planned to make a public comment to the board during tonight’s meeting but decided not to after I arrived. Commissioner Hatchett approached me after I sat down and we had a short conversation before the meeting came to order. I told her a short version of what I wrote above. All these people have been on the board for varying lengths of time, from almost four years to only a few months. Length of service doesn’t excuse anyone’s silent complicity in allowing false information to be spread, especially from a seat behind that desk. The three commissioners who’ve served the longest are the ones responsible for the other unethical behavior I alluded to above.]