Waynesville to remove two advisory board members appointed improperly
The Town of Waynesville has finally taken corrective action on the improper appointments of two ZBA members.
Town of Waynesville photo
The Waynesville Town Council will remove two members from the town’s Zoning Board of Adjustment after an investigation by The Smoky Mountain News last month revealed they’d each been appointed to a fourth term in violation of the town’s own term limits policy.
According to the consent agenda published in advance of the town’s Aug. 12 meeting, the most recent appointments of Henry Kidder and Joshua Morgan will be rescinded and two new applicants, Mary Ford and Jessi Stone, will be appointed in their place. Ford is a retired Air Force officer and longtime leader of the town’s civilian police academy, while Stone currently serves as the regional director of WNC health and economic opportunity at Pisgah Legal Services. Stone is also the former news editor of SMN.
Kidder was first appointed to the ZBA, a quasi-judicial board that hears appeals and variance requests related to land development standards, in 2015. He was reappointed to a fourth term on June 11, 2024, despite the town’s boards and commissions manual explicitly setting a three-term limit.
There is, however, an exception to the three-term rule — Town Council may reappoint members on most advisory boards to more than three terms “when they deem the circumstances of an individual’s service to the community to be of such notable importance as to warrant a continuation of service.” When that’s the case, any council member may nominate the individual to another term and “state that they believe special circumstance to warrant a continuation of service.”
That didn’t happen with Kidder’s fourth appointment, perhaps for good reason. During a 2024 ZBA meeting, Kidder admitted he was unaware of the affordable housing crisis that has plagued the region throughout his service, for a decade or more. Later in the meeting, Kidder also admitted he was unfamiliar with the existence of the town’s long-term comprehensive plan, which guides decision making on the ZBA.
The same thing happened with Morgan, the current ZBA chair who was first appointed to the ZBA in 2016. On March 4, 2025, Morgan filled out his application for reappointment to a fourth term in clear violation of the policies set forth in the manual that governs his board’s conduct and responsibilities.
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Morgan, who serves as head of school at Haywood County’s only taxpayer-funded public charter school, Shining Rock Classical Academy, was recently found responsible by a judge for the “improper use of governmental authority” in withholding public records from the parent of a student and from SMN.
Some had called for Morgan’s removal on that basis alone, but three Town Council members, most notably Chuck Dickson, offered a staunch defense of Morgan’s otherwise non-controversial service on the ZBA.
The town’s boards and commissions manual also states that Morgan should have notified the town clerk that his seat would soon become vacant, but because he was indeed nominated for a fourth term in violation of town policy, it doesn’t appear Morgan did so, or he was aware he had to.
On June 10, Town Council appointed Morgan to a fourth term, but did not include the mandatory statement as to why his service was “of such notable importance as to warrant a continuation of service.”
The removal of Kidder and Morgan, and the appointment of Ford and Stone, are still subject to approval by Town Council during the Aug. 12. Meeting.
