Mount Olive Police Capt. John Duncan uses a handheld metal detector to check everyone who attended the Tuesday, July 11, town board meeting. Mayor Kenny Talton asked for the security measures after being told about concern for the public’s and board members’ safety. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
In response to unspecified safety concerns, anyone entering the Tuesday night, July 11, Mount Olive Town Board meeting had to pass through a police security checkpoint.
While it is not uncommon for Police Chief Jason Hughes or other officers to attend board meeting, the security checkpoint was out of the ordinary.
Police Capt. John Duncan stood at the entrance to the town hall courtroom where the meetings are held. Those entering had to empty their pockets, placing any items into a small basket before being checked by Duncan who used a handheld metal-detecting wand.
The security was implemented at the direction of Mayor Kenny Talton.
“We had some concerns voiced to my office, and those concerns regarded the public’s safety and health, of our citizens and our town board of commissioners,” Talton said.
“We felt that in order to address these concerns we needed to have a police presence to wand individuals in to make sure public safety is maintained.”
Hughes, who attended the meeting, said currently the police department has not been notified of a specific threat.However, the department is constantly monitoring any potential threats, he added.
The new security feature was not mentioned during the meeting.
When asked about it following the session, Talton did not provide any specific information as to what those concerns were.
The mayor confirmed that he had heard from a town commissioner about social media posts allegedly made by another board member.
Talton added that he had not yet confirmed what he had been told or which commissioner had allegedly made the posts.
The security was not the only unusual aspect of Tuesday’s meeting — the agenda lacked the traditional time set aside near the end of the session for comments by the town manager, commissioners and mayor.
Talton had that struck from the July 11 agenda.
“We had some behavior at our last meeting that was inappropriate,” he explained. “We had some inappropriate action take place at our last meeting. We had some members that were out of order. After consultation with the town attorney, I felt like it was best to talk to each individual member of the board, collectively or individually, to try to go over the rules of conduct when it comes to their position as an elected official with the town.
“I have not had the opportunity to speak to some of the board members about that behavior and not knowing what was going to be said tonight because we had not addressed those concerns by my office to the commissioners, I felt it was best to preserve those comments for a later commissioners’ meeting.”
The comments portion of the meetings will return, Talton asserted.
But he said he first needs to talk to each individual board member before that happens — something he plans to do within the next month.
“And then, hopefully, we are going to return to the regular scheme of things.”
While Talton did not cite what the inappropriate behavior was, it appeared to be a reference to a confrontation between District 2 Commissioner Delreese Simmons, District 4 Commissioner Tommy Brown and District 1 Commissioner Vicky Darden during the board’s June 13 session.
Simmons launched into a barrage of attacks on Brown and his wife after Brown confronted Simmons about owing more than $3,476 in delinquent town and Wayne County property taxes dating back to 2018.
Brown produced copies of Wayne County Tax Department records detailing the delinquent taxes owed by Simmons while Simmons offered no supporting evidence to back his allegations.
Prior to that exchange, Darden’s comments about people using social media to talk about Brown and former commissioner Harlie Carmichael also prompted a backlash from Simmons even though Darden did not mention his name.
Both confrontations came as commissioners delivered their closing comments prior to the end of the session.
Talton pounded his desktop with his gavel trying to calm the ruckus before turning to Town Attorney Carroll Turner about options to halt the exchange.
Turner advised Talton to rule Simmons out of order because he had repeatedly interrupted Brown and Darden as they gave their reports.
Any commissioner who does so should be called out of order, Turner added.
However, there was no vote declaring Simmons out of order and Talton was able to adjourn the meeting.
