HOPE MILLS – Some residents out this way still are upset with Mayor Pro Tem Kenjuana McCray, Bryan Marley and Joanne Scarola, the three town commissioners who voted on July 7 to amend the town charter from two-year terms to four-year staggered terms for commissioners and the mayor.
Cindy Hamilton is one of those perturbed and flustered residents.
“Your article concerning the 4-year staggered terms hit the nail on the head,” Hamilton, 74, writes in an email about my Aug. 3 column referencing the vote of the three commissioners. “This is a huge disappointment to many of us that really believed that the board of commissioners were here to listen to the citizens.”
Hamilton isn’t giving a free pass to Mayor Jessie Bellflowers, either.
“I attended the meetings that Mayor Bellflowers previously had and addressed him about several issues,” Hamilton wrote. “My first comment to him was, ‘I have personally spoken to you about issues in which you agreed with me, then turned around and did the complete opposite.’ Looks like I was right. Even though the mayor ‘took notes’ during the public hearing (about proposing 4-year staggered terms), I really don’t believe he was listening.”
Hamilton also doesn’t believe that McCray, Marley and Scarola were listening to residents opposed to rewriting term lengths for the town’s elected officials.
“I also believe this was already decided on,” Hamilton wrote, “prior to anyone voicing their concerns.”
Commissioner Elyse Craver’s impassioned plea for McCray, Marley and Scarola to place staggered four-year terms on the Nov. 4 general election ballot couldn’t even dissuade the minds of her three fellow commissioners.
“I really wish that y’all would reconsider and to approve this to go on the ballot in November and let us show our citizens that we are listening to them,” Craver begged before the July 7 vote. “They [Hope Mills registered voters] voted against it in ‘18. That does not mean that they will vote against it in this election. I do beg you and plead with you that you will not pass this tonight, but to place it on the agenda on the ballot for November.”
Commissioner Jerry Legge voted with Craver against four-year staggered terms, but McCray, Marley and Scarola saw the matter differently, all believing that extended terms are paramount to town projects and long-term planning for a growing Hope Mills.
No argument from Bellflowers, who has said Hope Mills is not the same town as it was in 2018, when residents voted against extending commissioners’ terms by more than 600 votes.
But residents made that choice, not commissioners,
So, what you have as the result of the 3-2 vote on July 7 is staggered four-year terms now a part of the town charter, and some none-to-happy residents to include Sally Bailey, Carlene Bailey, Nora Armstrong, Kelly Sykes, Ron Gosciniak, Amanda Ingram, Richard Luetgenau, Lisa Tremmel, Ron Starling, Rod MacLean, Mike Smith. Stephanie Johnson, Mark Hess, Todd Henderson, Lisa Waring and former Hope Mills commissioners Pat Hall and Meg Larson among others.
‘About preserving democracy’
Larson has gone so far as to send a July 23 email to Sen. Val Applewhite, Sen. Tom McInnis, Rep. Diane Wheatley, Rep. Charles Smith, Rep. Frances Jackson and Rep. Mike Colvin of the Cumberland County legislative delegation in Raleigh asking them to overturn the July 7 decision.
She sent another email to the delegation on Aug. 7 after an effort to place the four-year staggered terms on the November ballot failed to generate enough signatures from residents.
“As you are aware, I sent you a previous correspondence stating some of the factors making it difficult to collect 10% of all registered voters to have the 4-year staggered terms placed on the upcoming November ballot in Hope Mills,” Larson wrote. “To meet that goal, we needed 1,165 signatures collected in 30 days because we have 11,650 registered voters.
“I wanted to provide you with some recent past election totals for Hope Mills. In 2017, 1,084 people came out to vote in Hope Mills. In 2019, 1,411 people came out to vote. In 2021, 1,438 people came out to vote and then in 2023, 1,442 people voted in Hope Mills.
“As a former commissioner from 2017 until 2019 in Hope Mills, who did not sign back up to run again for office, the board I served on felt it was important to place the possible change in our charter to 4-year staggered terms on the ballot for citizen input in 2018. We consciously made an effort to get it on a presidential election ballot in 2018 to ensure that we received the best representation of how Hope Mills citizens wanted their government to operate. As stated in my previous email, the referendum failed with 2,591 citizens voting against the change, and 1,955 people voting for it.
“As you can clearly see, even with such a small number of 367 signatures and all the obstacles we faced, 367 far exceeds 10% of how many voters actually come out during a municipal election in Hope Mills.
“This not a Democratic or a Republican issue, nor is it about race as some people have tried to imply. This is solely about preserving democracy and allowing people the opportunity to have their voices heard when it comes to how their government operates.
“I know you may be facing your own obstacles in helping the town of Hope Mills,” Larson wrote, “but I hope that in the future you will, as our representatives, look to make any item that involves a change to a town charter require a mandatory ballot referendum so the citizens of that community have the final say in how they want their government to operate.”
Call it a reasonable suggestion on the part of Larson.
“I do not know a single person who supports four-year staggered terms,” Larson said Thursday. “Some people were more angry with the method by which the board pushed it through than the actual four-year staggered terms, but they still did not support the four-year terms.”
As it stands now, three commissioners spoke for Hope Mills residents — Mayor Pro Tem Kenjuana McCray, Bryan Marley and Joanne Scarola. And there will be no referendum on the November ballot.
“My understanding is that the 30-day window for collecting the petition signatures expired,” Linda Devore, chair of the Cumberland County Board of Elections, said Tuesday, “with very few signatures submitted to the BOE.”
‘As stakeholders, we are watching’
Fayetteville City Councilman Derrick Thompson tried this four-year staggered term idea in 2023, and the then-freshman councilman and his fellow council members got an earful from city residents at a public hearing.
“If two terms is good enough for the president of the United States, who do ya’ll think you are?” Fayetteville resident Bobby Grantham asked. “I guess the real question is how do ya’ll have the audacity and the gall to stranglehold democracy?”
And Bobby Burgess really let the council have it.
“The people of this city are not ignorant,” Burgess told the council. “Far from it. … It is very clearly a power grab, and everybody in this room can see it.”
She told the council that to vote for four-year staggered terms, sans a ballot referendum, would be “slimy, unethical and just simply not professional.”
And Burgess left the council with one last reminder.
“So, I need to remind you all, council members, that as stakeholders, we are watching,” Burgess said. “As stakeholders, we are taking notes and as stakeholders we will use our voice to express our displeasure should this matter be passed behind closed doors. Some of you might be losing your seat in this upcoming election.”
Not what was done, but how it was done
Cindy Hamilton is beside herself with disappointment in the three commissioners for overriding the voice of Hope Mills residents, who opposed four-year staggered terms for commissioners and the town mayor, and Hamilton is doing her part to give back the voice of residents.
“I am currently running for commissioner in Hope Mills with the hopes of helping to turn this community around, stop the unnecessary spending and take care of the citizens.” Hamilton wrote. “This is not the Hope Mills that I decided to make my home in 2014.”
Other Hope Mills commissioners’ candidates out of 10 who have filed, according to the Cumberland County Board of Elections, include Mark Hess, Lisa Tremmel, Ron Starling, who all are against four-year staggered terms, and Todd Henderson, who is challenging Bellflowers for mayor. Henderson filed one day after McCray, Marley and Scarola’s voted to change the town charter, and he said Wednesday his decision to bid for the mayoral gavel was “100%” because of the July 7 decision.
“To clarify, my objection is not to staggered terms themselves but to the process by which the town charter was amended,” said Henderson, a 45-year-old Army veteran, who spent 19 of his 20 military years stationed on Fort Bragg. “While two things can be true at the same time, when discussing this issue with other residents, including those who opposed staggered terms outright, we unanimously agreed that this change warranted a town-wide vote, as was done during the 2018 referendum.
“Instead, the proposal was introduced and approved in less than a month, with no residents speaking in favor during the public hearings. The hearings seemed to be a mere formality, allowing supporters to claim public input had been sought while assuming the supporters of this measure in town hall would simply endure the backlash.
“Rushing the vote and doubting the town’s ability to make the right decision reveals how little supporters within town hall regard the citizens of Hope Mills,” said Henderson, who has lived in Hope Mills since 2008. “Just because something is permissible does not mean it is the right course of action. If the proponents of this change truly believed in their decision, they would have taken the time to address the issue thoroughly rather than forcing it through in this manner and not right before a midterm election. This approach is appalling, and now town hall is being held accountable. Town hall is here for the citizens, not for town hall itself.”
Epilogue
Only a political fool turns a blind eye, a deaf ear and his or her back on the people who in the first place put them in elected government leadership. You never take away the voice of the people.
Never, insightful politicos will caution. Ever.
Perhaps, July 7 will just be a faded memory for Jessie Bellflowers, Bryan Marley and Joanne Scarola when the votes are tabulated on Nov. 4. Commissioner Kenjuana McCray did not file for reelection. Or perhaps they will rue July 7 and find themselves on Election Day haunted by Commissioner Elyse Craver’s words:
“I really wish that y’all would reconsider and to approve this to go on the ballot in November and let us show our citizens that we are listening to them. I do beg you and plead with you that you will not pass this tonight, but to place it on the agenda on the ballot for November.”
Hope Mills residents on Nov. 4 will tell us who was right and who was wrong in the old mill town where politics is never boring and fraught with some kind of drama for sure.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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