Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Cherryville, NC (WNN) - After an invocation from Pastor Matt Thomas, the Cherryville City Council began its Regular City Council Meeting for June 8, 2026. Council member Jill Puett attended by phone due to illness. Mayor Wade Stroupe began the meeting with updates on events around Cherryville.
Stroupe first mentioned the public hearing on the consolidation of W.B. Beam Intermediate, held on June 11, 2026. This leads into the Gaston County School Board meeting, where the final determination on this will be made at 6 PM on June 15, 2026. Read about this meeting here. The Cherryville Little Theatre hosted “NerdVille” during its opening weekend for the play We Will Rock You, which will continue this weekend, June 19-21, 2026. The following weekend, on June 27, from 6-8 PM, Cherryville’s Juneteenth celebration will be held at Bill Edwards Park. This is all leading up to Cherryville's 250th celebration on June 2nd on Main Street. Cherryville will also host a short parade on the 4th at 9:30 AM, with an event at the Gazebo Mini Park at 10 AM.
Council member Gary Freeman mentioned the Dixie Youth Softball Tournament scheduled for the weekend of June 9, 2026. Jon Abernethy then spoke on his recent tour of the Rutherford Crossing Apartments, noting he enjoyed their appearance and residents seemed to enjoy the property. Janice Hovis then asked that everyone who is able attend the meetings regarding the closure of W.B. Beam Intermediate.
Hayley Lundy speaking to council about speeders in the city - Cherryville City Council Regular Meeting - June 8, 2026
Mason Beam (WNN)
After approving their minutes, the council moved to the public comment portion of the meeting, where one speaker spoke. Hayley Lundy spoke on speeders on Bates Ave. Between her and the neighbor, there are 7 children, 2 of whom are on the spectrum. She feels that speed bumps may help address the issue, as people are flying down the road faster than she can tell the children to move. She doesn’t think that bothering the police department will address the issue. Police in regular vehicles are easily spotted by speeders, so they will not be caught. She believes much of the issue stems from people avoiding the stoplight one road over, where signs are posted only in one direction. City Manager Brian Dalton suggested the radar sign be installed at the location. Lundy urges the council to attempt to prevent it before a child is hurt or worse.
With no other citizens speaking, the next item, a presentation from the Cherryville ABC Board, was led by Gail Jenkins. This was to present the City of Cherryville with funds from the ABC board. This check was for $30000, with another check expected in September. She noted that sales are up, potentially due to less stigma in the culture around visiting an ABC store, mentioning that many of the council and audience’s mothers would never have darkened the doors.
The Kings Mountain High School FFA is participating in the Agriculture Issues Forum. They have chosen to present on CAFOS (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations). This was to speak on the potential harm done when animals are not raised with proper space and access to the outdoors. The four students each spoke on different portions of the issue, with Sabrina Howell opening the presentation.
Arwen McNeilly spoke on the potential pros of these operations. The biggest is the profit for the farmers and savings for consumers. Free-range meats can cost $5-$18 a pound, while CAFO meat may cost as little as $3-$5 a pound. Prices in this range benefit those dealing with financial insecurity, which, according to McNeilly’s research, is around 10% of Americans. There is no health consequence to ingesting meat procured in this way. So the method brings in very cheap, high-quality food.
McNeilly led into the next speaker, Jaiden Earle, by noting that this practice needs to become more environmentally sustainable. Earle, speaking on the cons of CAFOs and being from Kings Mountain, began with runoff issues. In North Carolina, much of this is already covered by legislation, including a permanent moratorium on swine lagoons and the Swine Farm Siting Act. The lagoons are anaerobic and dispose of animal waste from CAFO operations. These are no longer allowed to be built, but existing ones can remain, assuming they are compliant. The Swine Farm Siting Act, however, addresses setbacks and buffer distances between CAFO operations and neighboring properties. Earle finished her portion of the presentation, speaking on deck animal feeding operation permits, which are the legislation surrounding waste removal and dumping.
Gavin Mayhue then stepped forth to summarize that while these are organized operations, they can be extremely productive when well-maintained. However, if not properly maintained, they can result in significant pollution and disrupt entire ecosystems. He also mentioned that the low price comes at a moral cost, as animal welfare is not the primary goal of a CAFO.
No additional changes have occurred; in summary, there will be a 3% increase in the electrical rate. Water and sewer will remain the same. The city will issue a 3% COLA to all employees and purchase various capital items for the departments. Paving will receive a total allotment of $525,000. The city insurance policy will be moved from Blue Cross Blue Shield to Cigna due to Cigna's 10.5% increase vs. BCBS’s 43%. This budget will show a decrease of $488,802 from the current cycle. According to Dalton, the fund balance sits at 47%. To read a more in-depth analysis, check here, or to see the full proposed budget, click here. Council then opened the public hearing after the city manager's report, during which no citizen spoke. After some commentary on the hard work of assembling the budget, the council voted unanimously to pass it. Mayor Stroupe did mention, however, that he has heard that citizens would appreciate earlier input on the budget. He hopes that, in the future, the council will hold a meeting for citizens to discuss budget allocations before the budget creation process begins.
The City of Cherryville says its proposed 2026-27 budget was presented to City Council at an April 28 work session and that a hard copy was made available in the clerk's office for public review. However, questions remain over whether the City published the specific notice required under N.C.G.S. § 159-12(a). That statute requires a statement to be published saying the proposed budget has been submitted to the governing board, is available for public inspection in the clerk's office, and giving the time and place of the budget hearing. WNN asked the City to identify where and when that required notice was published, but as of publication, the City had not provided records showing such a notice. The City has stated that the meetings were public and that it believes the budget process complied with state law. City Manager Brian Dalton stated, "These meetings were all public, and this complies with the statute of simply developing and adopting a budget." By failing to provide proper legal notice, the 2026-27 Budget could be challenged as invalid.
The council spoke on the existence of the audit committee. While it currently technically exists, it is defunct. Stroupe would like to see it either disbanded or returned to full operation. The current committee has faced death, people leaving, and retirement, so it no longer meets. City Manager Dalton claimed that in the past, no one wanted to join, leading to its current state. With this, Stroupe would like to see more narrative and line item explanations from departments before their budget sections. The committee would be pertinent to have, as Cherryville is now required to have a yearly audit, which was not the case at the committee's original inception.
This year's audit was completed by Butler and Stowe. The fee for the general audit is $50600, and the financial statement fee is $9200, totaling $59800.
Dalton began this portion of the meeting by speaking on the progress of renovations at City Hall. He expects it to be a mess for the next several months, but everything has already moved out from the back, with carpet removal commencing. They expect the full job to be completed by October.
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