Hamlet leaders push back on Smart, vow to ‘stand up for citizens’

HAMLET — The Hamlet City Council expressed disappointment with comments made Monday by Jeff Smart, the new chair of the Richmond County Board of Commissioners and former mayor of Hamlet, in which Smart condemned the lawsuit Hamlet has joined in against the county.

On Friday, Hamlet, Dobbins Heights and two couples whose property is adjacent to the site on Marks Creek Church Road where International Tie Disposal is seeking to build a biochar production site, filed a complaint in Superior Court seeking to have the rezoning of this site to Heavy Industrial deemed invalid.

Smart said that “the lawsuits” — apparently referring to both this recent complaint and the ongoing mediation between the county and Rockingham and Hamlet over alleged breach of contract — needs to stop. He added that lawsuits are “not the way to make progress” and said referred to “punches” being thrown between the two governing bodies.

“This type of leadership is not welcome in Richmond County, and if you’re a part of this leadership style then maybe you should think about doing something else,” Smart said Monday.

Mayor Pro Tem Jesse McQueen, speaking at the end of the Hamlet’s monthly meeting on Tuesday, said that the change in leadership at the county level — there are four new commissioners — that this “would have been a good time to come together rather than push apart.”

“Until the city and citizens of Hamlet are represented fairly by the elected county leadership I hope that everyone here will keep their foot on the gas pedal and go forward with the actions that we’ve taken because we have to stand up for our citizens,” McQueen said. “That’s the most important thing. I’m very disappointed with some of the comments that were made at the county meeting last night. … Some comments came out of that meeting that were not needed.

“There could be talk between the two boards without grandstanding and trying to throw our city council, and other city councils in the county, under the bus,” McQueen continued.

Mayor Bill Bayless followed McQueen’s comments expressing similar notes of disappointment.

“I had hoped when this county commission changed that lines of communication were going to open up a whole lot better and we were going to be able to discuss things and maybe get things out in the open,” Bayless said, “but based on some of the things I’ve heard in the last couple days it appears that’s not going to happen and that’s unfortunate.”

Hamlet City Manager Matthew Christian, who was not present at the meeting Tuesday because he is quarantining, said in an email Tuesday morning that the city “remains open to working with Richmond County, now and in the future.”

“Legal action is a way to resolve specific issues and is always a last resort,” Christian said. “Right now, I count two pending legal issues. This leaves plenty of other things for us to work together on, and we look forward to those opportunities.”

Monday’s meeting was Smart’s first as a county commissioner, and he was promptly elected chair.

The complaint against the county focuses on — in addition to the potential harm to the health and livelihoods of the nearby residents and communities — two points about the manner in which the rezoning in October was conducted. The plaintiffs argue that the county failed to comply with North Carolina General Statute 153A-341(b) which requires that the Board of Commissioners describe why the rezoning is or is not consistent with the county’s land use plan and explain why it’s in the public interest before they approve or reject a rezoning request.

Additionally, it argues that the county only had in mind International Tie Disposal making use of the site, and therefore failed to consider all of the uses allowed under the Heavy Industrial zoning, which is required under state law. The county has 30 days to reply, though they can ask for an extension.

This latest flaring of tensions comes after months of back and forth the mostly stemmed from the county’s vote in April to change from a per capita sales tax distribution method to ad valorem, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars being reallocated away from the municipalities and into the county’s coffers, without prior notice. These losses will continue to be felt annually, according to Ken Anderson, who conducts the cities’ audits.