At a May 19 Swain County commissioners meeting, IT Specialist Michael Lyons revealed that he’d deleted contested May 5 footage under the direction of former County Manager Lottie Barker. 

The admission occurred after Lyons was questioned by Commissioner David Loftis.

“What do you … what’s your job title?” Loftis asked.

“IT,” Lyons responded.

“Do you edit? Do you do any editing on what we do here?” asked Loftis.

“We can delete. We can delete,” Lyons answered before explaining the situation.

However, May 5 meeting minutes recall a version of events that differs from Lyons’.

“The live stream on YouTube was stopped at the direction of the County Manager by Micheal Lyons a Swain County IT employee and then started back when the meeting resumed,” the document reads, insinuating that the footage had never existed at all.

To get more clarity on the incident, The Smoky Mountain News on May 20 requested the “unedited video.” 

On June 30, the inquiry was fulfilled by Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Director Amy Seay. She included a one-sentence summary — “No record exists that is responsive to this request” — and a longer explanation.

“Swain County does not create or maintain audio or video recordings as part of its official meetings, and to the best of my knowledge, has never done so. The only ‘video’ recordings associated with Swain County’s public meetings is the livestream provided through YouTube as a service and courtesy to County residents to allow them to observe meetings remotely. The livestream generally remains available for viewing on YouTube after the meeting has concluded … Swain County’s official record remains the written minutes prepared by the Clerk to the Board and approved by the Board of Commissioners in accordance with North Carolina law,” she wrote.

Nowhere in the response does Seay deny that an unedited record ever existed.

In an attached May 5 text message thread between Lyons and Barker, sent in response to another part of SMN’s request, the IT Specialist at 5:57 p.m. wrote, “Video is deleted.”

“Thank you,” Barker responded. Lyons thumbs-up reacted to her response.

NC Press Association lawyer Mike Tadych put the situation in simple terms.

“I agree [with Seay] that they’re not required to have video, but if they do, it’s a public record,” he said. “This happened at a county commissioner meeting that had been called to order. It is a public record, no question about it in mind.”

Furthermore, he told SMN, public records like the video in question must adhere to the retention schedule implemented by the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.  

“I do not think a county manager’s request to delete something recorded by the county during a county meeting that was deleted before it ended meets any of the criteria for preservation and protection of public records under North Carolina’s public records law,” Tadych explained.

Unauthorized disposal of public records is considered a Class 3 misdemeanor in the state of North Carolina.