Mayor Gary Caldwell announced the appointment of Interim Manager Page McCurry and Interim Manager Rick Howell. McCurry will take office on June 11 and serve until July 5. Howell will take office on July 6 and serve until Town Council appoints a town manager. 

 McCurry currently serves as the town’s human resources director and has an extensive background in public administration. 

Even ahead of calculating the budget, Swain County’s Fiscal Year 2026-2027 costs are likely to be higher, said County Manager Lottie Barker. 

“It’s across the board, different depending on what the department has asked for, as well as special appropriations.

I appreciate my colleague taking the time to explain his vote (“Why I voted to annex Queen’s Farm,” April 22 SMN) to annex Queen’s Farm. These are the kinds of decisions that deserve a full and open discussion. 

We agree on many of the challenges facing our community. Growth is happening. Affordable housing is scarce. And we have a responsibility to provide services without placing an unnecessary burden on taxpayers.

Where we differ is on what this decision represents. 

Canton has entered the growing statewide fight over property tax limits, with town officials adopting a resolution opposing legislation that would restrict how local governments fund the bulk of their operations. 

“I think it’s in line with what is happening across the state — the possibility of what the General Assembly will do and what effect that will have on our already strained budgets,” said Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers.

Brad Hoxit made history last month, but not in a way he’d ever have hoped.

Hoxit appeared in Graham County Superior Court from March 24-27 for a hearing to determine whether he would be permanently removed as sheriff of the small Western North Carolina county. Last week, Superior Court Judge William T. Stetzer did indeed bar Hoxit from returning to office, and now his attorneys say an appeal is imminent. 

There was no shortage of gray-haired attorneys in Graham County Superior Court last week. Some represented witnesses; others were just curious to watch a proceeding not seen in modern history. 

Maintaining faith in the justice system and protecting law enforcement were the themes of the four-day hearing held last week in Robbinsville to determine whether Graham County Sheriff Brad Hoxit — now suspended amid allegations of misconduct tied to an investigation of the ex-husband of his current wife — would be officially barred from returning to office.

A looming deadline on a critical wastewater agreement has exposed a growing divide between Canton officials and their private partner, with negotiations stalled over cost, oversight and the data needed to shape the town’s long-term infrastructure plans. 

Town leaders confirmed they do not yet have an extension in place for wastewater treatment services as the current agreement with mill site owner Eric Spirtas was set to expire at 5 p.m. March 31 — when The Smoky Mountain News went to print — leaving only days to resolve a dispute that has been building over months. 

At a Feb. 27 budget retreat, Waynesville aldermen confronted a familiar tension — how to keep municipal salaries competitive in a tightening labor market while staring down mounting infrastructure demands and lingering financial uncertainty tied to Hurricane Helene. 

Two presentations from Human Resources Director Page McCurry outlined the first steps in an overhaul of pay classifications, beginning with public works positions and moving next to police and fire. 

After last year’s property tax increase, Jackson County commissioners met Feb. 17 to begin planning next year’s budget, balancing fresh revenue growth against rising costs and lingering anxiety from property owners still absorbing the impact of escalating property values — just as a competitive Primary Election looms. 

Many counties around Western North Carolina are working to address a host of similar issues — rapidly growing populations, a housing stock that can’t keep up, aging infrastructure and struggles filling staffing vacancies. Macon County boasts the second-lowest property tax rate in the state, but with capital projects on the horizon and pay raises demanded for several county departments, tough choices will need to be made by whoever is elected to the board in November.