Jackson commissioners likely violated law by removing plaque
File photo
In response to a public records request made by The Smoky Mountain News, Jackson County Manager Kevin King revealed that commissioners not only failed to discuss in any official meeting removing plaques placed on the controversial “Sylva Sam” Confederate statue at the old courthouse in 2020, they also failed to document any deliberations — likely violating state sunshine laws.
“Without question, the Jackson County Board of Commissioners violated the public policy of North Carolina by having a ‘general discussion’ and coming to the consensus they identify,” said Mike Tadych, counsel to the North Carolina Press Association and partner at Raleigh-based Stevens Martin Vaughn & Tadych.
On Aug. 4, 2020, after the Town of Sylva passed a resolution asking the county to move the statue, county commissioners voted to keep it, but to contextualize it by placing informational plaques over a Confederate flag carved into the pedestal.
On April 8, passersby noticed the plaques had been removed from the statue. On April 16, King told SMN “There was no discussion in open or closed session about the statue. Each board member, individually, shared concerns regarding the plaque added to the historic statue at the old courthouse in 2020. After consulting with legal counsel, it was determined the plaque could be removed.”
Of course it could — but it’s not the removal that’s at issue here; it’s the way commissioners did it in secret, leaving no records of their discussions and leaving constituents completely in the dark.
On April 21, in response to the public records request, King told SMN “The County does not have any public records or other communications” between commissioners, county staff, law enforcement, county employees or contractors regarding the removal.
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Tadych cited NCGS 143-318.9, which states “Whereas the public bodies that administer the legislative, policy-making, quasi-judicial, administrative, and advisory functions of North Carolina and its political subdivisions exist solely to conduct the people’s business, it is the public policy of North Carolina that the hearings, deliberations and actions of these bodies be conducted openly.”
“If it took a vote of the Commissioners to modify the monuments,” Tadych told SMN, “then it should have taken a vote to undo what had been done in the past. Coming to a consensus outside of public view is antithetical to the established public policy set by the North Carolina General Assembly.”
John Kubis, Jr., Jackson County’s attorney, has yet to return an April 16 call from The Smoky Mountain News.
— Cory Vaillancourt, politics editor
