Valdese Town Council Quotebook

Valdese resident Eddie Perrou on the council’s accomplishments during public comment. 

“For me, I’m pleased with the direction, the trajectory the town is going on. In the words of the Rolling Stones: ‘You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find you’ll get what you need.’” 

Valdese resident Karen Caruso on 5% raises for town employees during the public budget hearing. 

“At the last council meeting, it was heartbreaking to hear that a citizen witnessed town employees receiving food assistance from area church ministries. Full employment is generally considered to be an unemployment rate of 5% or lower. Some economists questioned this and suggested that it should be 3%. Last month, the unemployment rate for Burke County was 3.1%, that's full employment by most economist standards.”

Caruso on voting yes for the pay increase. 

“I'm all for employee training and think it's a great idea but don't do it on the backs of employees by reducing their pay increase to fund it. The Strategic Plan mandates that you must do your part to retain our experienced dedicated employees who serve us so well. Please do not erode your employees' buying power further and continue to force them into seeking food assistance vote.”

Councilwoman Heather Ward on appreciation for everyone involved in the fiscal 2024-25 budget and “the elephant in the room.”

“I just want to say thanks to everyone who helped us with the budget and getting it ready … Specifically, I just want to say this is the elephant in the room— thank you Councilman Harvey for addressing things that I personally would have never thought to address. I appreciate you asking hard questions that make me even go, ‘What in the world is he asking again today?’ because we all get the emails…Those are the kinds of questions that we have to ask.”

Councilman Paul Mears on appreciation for council and staff. 

“This has been a lot of hard work, we put in a lot of hours and time in working out this year's budget and I compliment the Council on the hard work that they've done and also Bo and Bryan on their guidance, but I think it's been give and take. I really just wanted to compliment everyone on the hard work.”

Councilman Glenn Harvey on the approved agreement with Conterra Ultra Broadband, LLC, providing fiber optic cable along Morgan St. SE. for the new Catawba Valley Healthcare business. 

“This is the elephant question in the room… This huge multi-billion-dollar company that's been in Valdese for years and they have not torn up any streets that we remember. They're going to encroach 108 feet of our Earth to move to connect two fiber points.

“We are forcing them to spend the money for a $10,000 performance bond versus a startup company that has cut up 35 miles of our streets with no leverage whatsoever to ensure they finish them.” 

City of Morganton Mayor Ronnie Thompson’s resume as a realtor applying to sell town-owned properties. 

“He carried the Olympic Torch in 1996 … Has donated 102 GALLONS of blood and platelets to the Red Cross.”

                                                                                                                  — Compiled by Saydie Bean