Valdese council members bypass open meetings law with tax survey

In an apparent effort to sidestep North Carolina’s open meetings law, two Valdese Town Council members — Councilman Glenn Harvey and Councilwoman Heather Ward — used their personal email accounts to distribute unofficial town surveys regarding tax rates to approximately 60 residents, unbeknownst to the mayor.

Attached to a Jan. 29, 2025, email were highlights of the town’s finances along with a simple fill-in-the-blank questionnaire. Full public awareness of the emails surfaced during the council’s regularly scheduled February meeting Monday evening.

“Important! We need your input — right now, please,” reads the email in all capital letters. Recipients were given three choices: “Keep the same rate (41.5 cents), small increase okay, reduce below 41.5 cents.”

“If you ‘Reply to All’ — you will reach Heather and Glenn — We will share your vote with (Councilman) Gary (Ogle),” reads the email.

“NC’s open meetings rule prohibits the majority of council members (three) from discussing town business in the same email or meeting room, except in public meetings. Thus, this message is from two voting council members. One of us will share the results with Gary Ogle, the O in W-H-O,” reads a postscript at the end of the email.

Valdese Mayor Charlie Watts said the email was unauthorized and that he was unaware of it until the email was shared by a resident. Councilwomen Rexanna Lowman and Melinda Zimmerman were also excluded from circulation.

Speaking during the Public Comments segment at the beginning of the Monday meeting, Valdese resident Karen Caruso said she received a copy of the email. Her central concerns centered on the document’s reflection of council transparency and ethical practices, specifically the use of personal email accounts for official business.

Speaking clearly and concisely and reading from prepared notes, Caruso said she worried whether this email event, coupled with other internal and external town council communications will discourage town manager candidates.

“The troubling thing about these emails conducting town business is that they were sent from and copied to the personal email accounts of the two council members, not their official town accounts,” she said. “This is repeat behavior. … This isn’t transparency.”

“Could these ethical lapses make a manager candidate hesitant to accept your employment offer?” she said. “I hope that you will also ask yourselves if the apparent support for months on the end of the sidewalk grant and the pool cover only to be halted at the 11th hour, could have a negative impact on prospective managers. Could the disrespectful treatment of interim managers, department heads, vendors, business owners, and others standing where I am right now, also not cast council in the best light?”

“Do you think they are looking at the meeting videos, reading minutes, and newspaper articles?” Caruso said. “What might they see or read that would keep them from even applying for the manager position? Have you asked yourselves if you’re the visionary leaders (that) qualified executives would want to partner with to create a successful future for the town?”

Caruso recently retired from managing Valdese’s ABC operations. A search is underway for a new Valdese Town Manager to replace interim Town Manager Bo Weichel.

On Jan. 31, 2025, Harvey sent a second email, signed “Heather & Glenn” to an unknown number of recipients that was “just a friendly reminder requesting your opinion (on the tax rate) with one new option.” That option was, “Don’t care, or whatever the staff recommends.”

Harvey said after the meeting that it is not unusual for him to use his personal email address to send communications about town developments to friends and supporters.

“I correspond all the time to citizens,” he said. “It’s a simple way of reaching out to people.”

Of the survey, Harvey said he’s received about 30 replies, many with long comments. About half said to keep the tax rate the same, with others equally split between lowering rates or raising rates.

“This wasn’t a town survey,” he said. “It was just the two of us going back to the people that worked so hard to get elected.”