Thursday, October 1, 2026
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Cherryville, NC (WNN) - The City of Cherryville held its Regular City Council Meeting on September 14, 2026. The 6 PM meeting started with a brief update on successful city events, including the 9/11 Memorial service, which you can read about here, held at the Cherryville Fire Department. Mayor Wade Stroupe and the council thanked the Cherryville Ministerial Association, a sponsor of the service, and expressed their gratitude to the Cherryville Fire Department and all the first responders.
The first business item of note was Fire Chief Colby Heffner's continued findings on what releasing responsibility for fire inspections in the Cherryville ETJ would entail. He first spoke on G.S. 160D-202(b). This law shows that the city cannot impose a different pay structure in the ETJ than they use inside the city limits. This means that if they were to begin charging for this, a fee schedule would have to be implemented for every business in the city or ETJ.
He then discussed what the Gaston County fee schedule looks like. Most businesses are only required to pass an inspection once every three years. Exceptions to this are daycares and schools, which are checked annually. Buildings ranging from 0 to 2,499 sq ft would be charged $95.00 per inspection. Buildings from 2500-4999 sq ft would be charged $140.00 per inspection. There would also be separate fees for code violations and more required permits, depending on what services the company provides.
This only affects fire inspections, and Cherryville still will voluntarily provide emergency fire services within the Cherryville ETJ when possible. Because the county fee schedule seemed reasonable and there were relatively few changes to city involvement, the council voted unanimously to relinquish the ETJ. This means that if your business is within it, you will now be subject to the Gaston County fee schedule.
A private citizen had previously requested that a potential right-of-way on Vernon Street be closed. After investigating the issue, they determined this was not a right-of-way and that they did not have authorization to close the area. A lawsuit was filed against the city seeking to compel it to close the area. After a court appearance and mediation, they have decided to adopt a resolution. The city will pay $1,000 for an easement in the area, and the one who filed the suit will purchase the land privately from the neighboring property owner to resolve the issue and fulfill the resolution.
Previously, the City of Cherryville had considered allowing Perfect Pitch to turf the fields at Ballard Park and H.T. White Fields. This would have been at no cost to the city in exchange for the usage of the fields for travel ball. This deal never materialized, and the city looked at a new deal from Top Gun. Under this new deal, the city would receive $6,000.00 per weekend as a rental rate for a scheduled 35 weekends per year. Under this contract, only extreme weather and acts of God prevent the rental fee from being required. Both parties (the City and Top Gun) would have to agree on the conditions required for a game to be played without payment being waived. If no games are canceled, it will accrue $210,000.00 per year.
The difference is that the City of Cherryville would need to pay to have the fields turfed itself. They received several bids, with the lowest bid of $490,000.00 to upgrade the fields. This will be with Butler Outdoor Designs LLC out of Kings Mountain, NC. The field will include a 4” stone base for drainage with traditional green turf for the baseball fields and brown for softball. This bid includes a 15-year warranty. The other two bids included different specs and features. The $629,000.000 bid from GEO Surfaces would have included HDPE drains along the perimeter and a 5” stone base. This quote does not outline a warranty. The final quote for $789,400.00 comes from Mountain Elite Turf and also includes drainage installation, as well as making a Rip Rap Plunge Pool for this, if necessary. They mention in the quote that their warranty is for 8 years.
According to City Manager Brian Dalton, Top Gun would intend to bring 24 teams consisting of at least 10 players every weekend. In his estimate, he assumed both parents would attempt to make the games, meaning that roughly 720 extra people would be in town every game day. With this, he says a hotel may come to the city to support this weekly influx of potential customers. He also believes that it will bring more traffic to restaurants and local businesses. Despite Mayor Wade Stroupe asking for more time to decide on the contractors and Top Gun, the council ended up voting on two matters concerning the proposal. The first motion was to accept the material terms of the rental agreement with Top Gun, while the city attorney continues to work on making clearer language before the contract is finalized and signed. The council voted unanimously to approve this, which led to the second motion, to award the bid. They also voted unanimously to accept Bulter Outdoor Designs LLC’s bid of $490,000.
In a public information request to the City of Cherryville, WNN asked whether bidders received common written specifications, how the City evaluated differences among the proposals, and what cost estimate supported the bidding process.
Dalton said the project initially involved only two fields and expanded after Top Gun expressed interest in using all four.
“The companies were contacted and asked to bid on putting turf from cut to cut (infield only), that was the primary specification,” he stated.
Dalton said other technical choices were left to the installers.
“The other specifics, in my opinion, are not something we should be specifying; the company that puts turf down for a living needs to make decisions based on what they feel is best,” he stated.
His response did not include a written specification document, a four-field cost estimate, or records explaining how differences among the bids were evaluated.
North Carolina generally requires formal bidding for construction or repair work with an estimated public expenditure of $500,000 or more. Informal bidding generally applies to construction or repair contracts of $30,000 or more but less than $500,000. Such contracts must be awarded to the lowest responsible, responsive bidder, considering quality, performance, and the time specified for completing the work. The $490,000 award alone does not establish whether the City followed the appropriate process, as the applicable procedure depends on the City’s estimated expenditure for the entire project. N.C.G.S. § 143-129, 143-131.
Even if a vote had been held during the meeting to approve the lease contract as written, it might not have been valid anyway. Although the lease contract with Top Gun was voted on and approved in principle, it will likely require at least 30 days' public notice before it can be fully accepted and finalized. This is due to N.C.G.S. § 160A-272(a1) which states:
“Property may be rented or leased only pursuant to a resolution of the council authorizing the execution of the lease or rental agreement adopted at a regular council meeting upon 30 days' public notice. Notice shall be given by publication describing the property to be leased or rented, stating the annual rental or lease payments, and announcing the council's intent to authorize the lease or rental at its next regular meeting.”
The council then moved to budget amendments. This is due to the remaining fund balances in grants and bonds from the 2025-2026 budget year. The first was a carryover of the remaining funds for the HUD grant for the City Hall remodel. This is for $599,750, as the remainder of the original $810,000 provided has been paid out. In a similar situation, the remainder of last year's AIA grant is $19,975.00 for capital projects involving water, and $18073.00 for those involving wastewater. The funds from the Cleveland County Interconnect grant that are still available total $848,959.00. They hope to use this for the installation of a new water line on Highway 150. The Downtown Beautification Bond still has $382,190.00 to carry over, and about half of this is planned to be used on the City Hall renovations. The water/ sewer bond has $2,016,201.00 still available for use, and a portion of this will be used on a new oxidation ditch. The next item was a carryover from donations. This totals $70,666.00, and this will go into the General Fund Balance. The last increase was $4204.00 made by police asset forfeitures that went into the General Fund Balance.
Dalton then spoke about the water/wastewater infrastructure projects that have been completed or are about to begin. The Keystone Pump, Heavner Pump, Influent Bar Screen, and Influent Pump Station rehabilitations have all been completed, with a total reimbursement of $1,039,251.00 from the state. Ballard Pump Station has also been completed, and the city is waiting on the $299,000.00 reimbursement. A grit removal project will start in September, with a total cost of $115,000.00. Then the oxidation ditch project will also start this month and will cost around $720,000.00. Once completed, this will represent a complete overhaul of Cherryville’s wastewater system.
According to Dalton, the new Police Department building should begin operation this Friday. Some things, such as phone lines, must still be transferred, and there should be a ribbon-cutting for the station shortly. Renovations at City Hall are continuing and may be completed in November.
The city is also completing many of its paving projects. The streets currently being paved or that have been completed are as follows:
The city is almost ready to bid out the Highway 150 (West Church Street) water line project. Dalton warns that this will cause traffic disruptions for the length of the project.
Lastly, Dalton Pence, a Cherryville native who now plays for the Texas Rangers organization, has been named their Minor League starting pitcher of the year.
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