Winston-Salem council urges citizens to express outrage to state lawmakers on guns in parks

People stand to express opposition to a state law denying municipalities authority to regulate concealed guns in parks.

Winston-Salem City Council voted to update its local ordinances to reflect legislative changes by the NC General Assembly to expand the areas in city parks that citizens can carry concealed firearms to playgrounds, greenways, and biking and walking trails, but under protest.

The vote gave people on both sides of the gun-control debate an opportunity to vent their feelings.

City Attorney Angela Carmon said that under the state law passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly this year, the only areas that cities may prohibit concealed firearms are playing fields, and then only under certain circumstances such as when games are scheduled. She said that if the city failed to make the update, the entire ordinance could become unenforceable.

"This issue is not about the Second Amendment, which all of us up here support," said Councilman Dan Besse, a Democrat who represents the Southwest Ward. "It's not about the right to own guns to protect yourself in your home and your family. It's not even about the right to have a concealed-carry permit. This is about forcing concealed guns on the rest of the community in our parks and greenways and public spaces."

Besse called the state legislation "wrong-headed and dangerous." Councilwoman Molly Leight, a Democrat who represents the South Ward, piled on by saying it was "ignoble" and "goes against any logic."

Council approved the amendment to the ordinance by a vote of 7 to 1, with Councilwoman Derwin Montgomery, a Democrat representing the East Ward in dissent. Councilman James Taylor Jr., a Democrat representing the Southeast Ward, said he wished he could abstain, but his vote counted as a yes.

A dozen or so supporters of gun-owner rights, including Pat Kleinmaier, a Republican candidate for the North Ward seat on council, gathered outside City Hall before the meeting. Some wore stickers stating "Guns save lives." A security officer Lankford Protective Services told them they could not carry signs into council chamber, and some citizens voluntarily surrendered their poster-board props to him. The meeting drew both gun rights supporters and gun-control advocates, who filled council chamber and a committee room set up with a live video feed to accommodate overflow. Police said about 85 people showed up for the meeting.

Brian Reese of Kernersville, who said he spends time in Winston-Salem doing business, was one of the few gun-rights supporters who spoke during the public comment period.

"I see it as an individual's right to life," he said. "I as an individual want to make sure I stand a fighting chance to survive any encounter that I come across. So it's not the Second Amendment trumping property rights. To me, it's an individual's right to life.... It's that .38 revolver that gives a four-foot, 90-pound woman a fighting chance against a guy my size. It's a great equalizer."

The city council also passed a resolution expressing opposition to the state law. Council members note that the city's greenway system is composed of easements granted by private property owners, and City Manager Lee Garrity said the law is silent on whether the property owners retroactively ceded their right to prohibit concealed firearms on their property when they granted easements to the city.

The resolution reads, in part: "It is extremely imperative that citizens and members of the North Carolina General Assembly understand that Session Law 2013-369 not only arrogates control of municipalities over their own parks but it creates potential conflict between private property owners and greenway users wishing to carry concealed weapons."

Garrity added that the city parks are supported by city funds paid by city taxpayers, and that the city is liable if anyone is injured in a fall.

Councilwoman Wanda Merschel, a Democrat who represents the Northwest Ward, apologized to constituents who conveyed easements without knowing that they were potentially allowing greenway users to bring firearms on their property.

The resolution goes on to urge citizens who have expressed outrage over the city's inability to prohibit concealed handguns in its parks to share their concerns with state lawmakers.

Republican state lawmakers from Forsyth County, including Reps. Debra Conrad and Donny Lambeth, pledged to clarify the legislation as it affected greenways during a joint meeting with council members earlier this year, but stopped short of saying they would restore the city's authority to regulate guns in its park system.

Mayor Pro Tem Vivian Burke, a Democrat who represents the Northeast Ward, expressed scorn for the Republican-controlled legislature, stating, "It's an embarrassment to say you're from the state of North Carolina because of the behavior of some of these people in Raleigh," but then went on to vote against the resolution. She joined Councilwoman Denise D. Adams, a Democrat who represents the North Ward, and Councilman Robert Clark, a Republican who represents the West Ward.

Clark, like many of his colleagues, said he objected to the state legislature seizing authority from local government, but explained his objection to the resolution as tactical.

"Charlotte picked a fight with Raleigh, and they no longer control their airport," he said. "Asheville picked a fight with Raleigh, and they no longer control their water system. If we pick a fight against Raleigh, we could end up losing control of our parks. I just think the old adage applies that you don't bring a knife to a gunfight."

City council also approved $4 million in incentives to Wake Forest University Health Sciences for expansion of the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter on the eastern flank of downtown. Specifically, the funds will be used by Wexford Equities LLC to develop a 230,000 sf lab and office facility and parking deck at the northeast corner of East 5th and Vine streets in the space formerly occupied by Reynolds Tobacco's Building 90 South.

Under the deal, the city would provide payments equal to 65 percent of the net taxes paid by the owner over an 18-year period. Deputy City Manager Derwick Paige said the incentives would be paid annually and only after the tax payments were received. The non-profit owner also agrees to keep the property on the tax rolls for an additional 20 years after the initial 18-year period. Mayor Allen Joines said that combining $2.3 million in tax revenue in the first 18 years and $7 million in the next 20-year period, the city would gain an almost $10 million in the deal.

Taylor said the deal would not have happened without incentives from the city.

In other action, city council approved a plan to move forward with the creation of three district police stations, although Merschel noted that the resolution does not commit any city funds to the initiative. The resolution also identified the Lucia building as the facility to house the district station in the southeast part of the city.

The council also voted to rename Civic Plaza — bounded by 3rd, Street, 4th Street, Town Run Lane and the Strollway — in honor of Merschel, who is retiring from council at the end of this year.

The resolution cited Merschel for being the first woman appointed to chair the city council's finance committee, helping the city garner recognition for maintaining the lowest combined tax and fee structure of any major city in North Carolina, along with supporting downtown initiatives such as "Restaurant Row," BB&T Ballpark and the downtown business improvement district.

Merschel wiped away tears as the resolutions was read.

"I've gone through 16 of the most difficult budgets in this city's history and never cried," Merschel said. "But I am honored and I am humbled. I can think of no greater honor than to have a green space in our community's living room that will bear my family's name."

City council hears report on discontent in sanitation department

Council members pose for a photo to commemorate the city's centennial.

Winston-Salem City Council met in closed session for about 50 minutes on Monday night to hear a report from top administrators on the findings from an investigation into allegations of misconduct in the sanitation department.

"We do take these issues very seriously, and that's why we have asked for this investigation," Mayor Allen Joines said after council adjourned in public following the closed session. The mayor added that he was limiting his statement to avoid preempting a formal statement to be drafted by City Manager Lee Garrity and City Attorney Angela Carmon on behalf of the city council and released in the coming weeks.

Former and current sanitation employees have raised several issues of concern about the department, including allegations of sexual harassment, unsafe working conditions and disrespectful treatment by citizens who are customers of the department's public services. Most troubling perhaps is an allegation by a sanitation laborer captured on an audio recording that a supervisor forged his signature on a statement.

The supervisor, Darrell Moody, can also be heard on a recording obtained by YES! Weekly, pressuring the laborer, Victor Bethea, to change his statement and threatening to write his own statement in substitution. Both incidents took place during an administrative investigation that ultimately led to the dismissal of a driver named Angelia Byrd who was involved with a confrontation with a resident over whether the resident should be receiving special backyard trash pickup.

The allegations were detailed in an investigative report published by YES! Weekly earlier this month. Garrity, Assistant City Manager Greg Turner and Sanitation Director Johnnie Taylor, along with Carmon, met in closed session with council to answer members' questions.

Joines said the city will have to strike a balance in its statement between providing adequate detail to maintain public confidence and protecting the privacy rights of employees.

"It's a very difficult position that the city is in," he said. "We have to be careful in how that's worded to protect the rights of employees, but we do want to reassure the public that the department is being managed appropriately." 

Addressing council during the public speakers portion of the meeting before council went into closed session, Byrd reminded council members that she had come before them last month with allegations of sexual harassment, forgery and wrongful termination. She asked Joines and the other council members what came of the investigation and whether anything had been done about it.

Joines responded that council would be unable to publicly address many of the allegations because of restrictions on the release of personnel information.

Byrd said after the meeting that she expects to meet with Garrity to receive a report on the findings of the city's internal investigation. 

Related to the personnel problems in the sanitation department, employees have raised questions about possibly abuses in the city's curbside garbage pickup program, which allows residents to receive backyard service simply by filing an application that attests that no one in the household is capable of moving trash to the curb. About 5 percent of households in Winston-Salem receive backyard service in Winston-Salem, compared to about 1 percent in other cities across the state. A citizens budget review committee has recommended that the city require residents to obtain a doctor's note to continue to receive backyard service -- a change that would save taxpayers an estimated $114,000.

"I've been a bit concerned about the large number of exemptions," Joines said on Monday. "I've felt for some time that we should maybe take a look at that issue and perhaps adopt a more formal policy and require more detail in the applications."

He added that he expects staff to make a detailed report to the city council's public works committee on the matter in coming months.

Councilman Dan Besse, who represents the Southwest Ward, has said he supports the current policy, arguing that requiring the elderly and people with disabilities to obtain a doctor's note would subject them to indignity and unwarranted inconvenience.

"Thus far a majority of the Winston-Salem council has come down on the side of the elderly, frail and disabled," he said earlier this month. "That's my vote, and I'm sticking to it."

In other news, the council unanimously approved a resolution in support of legislation filed by NC Rep. Ed Hanes Jr. that would allow county commissions to set aside the most recent tax reappraisal. Constituents in predominantly black neighborhoods on the east side of Winston-Salem have sought relief from the recent round of revaluations, which they contend have artificially diminished the value of their properties.

Council also delayed a vote on change orders to Blythe Construction and HDR Engineering for work on stormwater management and new streets at the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter on the eastern flank of downtown.

Councilwoman Wanda Merschel, who represents the Northwest Ward, said she opposed the change orders because of escalating costs due to unforeseen environmental contamination.

"At some point someone's going to have to explain to me what could have been done to avoid $5.2 million in change orders," she said.

Turner, the assistant city manager, said fly ash and fuel oil were discovered that were likely created by a physical plant and incinerator operated by the city. He said state would require the city to clean up the mess one way or another.

"This is our fly ash and our fuel oil poured on top of it," said Councilman Robert Clark, who represents the West Ward, "and we have to clean it up."

Merschel replied, "This one is hard.... This one just looks bad for taxpayers."

Before council could take a vote, Councilman James Taylor Jr., who represents the Southeast Ward, made a motion for no consideration. The parliamentary procedure results in the matter being placed on the agenda for the next meeting in April. After listening to objections from Merschel, along with Mayor Pro Tem Vivian Burke and Councilwoman Denise D. Adams, Taylor said he found himself on the fence and surmised that he might be in a position to cast the swing vote on the contract.