BAKERSVILLE – The Mitchell County Board of Commissioners has requested for County Manager Tim Greene to send a resolution to Gov. Roy Cooper asking him to allow individual counties to be responsible for reopening local businesses.
Near the end of its regular session Monday, May 4, Commissioner Danny Burleson expressed his concern for small businesses and requested a motion to have the county manager send the resolution.
“We’ve got to get these things open,” Burleson said. “All these counties are not like Wake and Mecklenburg. It’s never been fair as far as fair goes. A lot of these that they say are essential, it seems to me, that they’ve picked some people that can be open and others not. If it had been fair everything would’ve been shut down except maybe grocery stores and pharmacies.”
Commissioner Jeff Harding agreed with Burleson but said he believes people need to stay vigilant to keep citizens safe.
“I see both sides of the thing and I still think we need to, from a safety standpoint, err on the side of caution, but I do think that it should be up to each county,” Harding said. “But, if small businesses have to stay closed to the end of May or the end of June, some of them aren’t going open back up.”
Board chair Jacob Willis agreed, adding, “In a county like ours, we can’t afford it.”
Matthew “Vern” Grindstaff added to the discussion and commended the hard work of local departments and emergency and healthcare staff.
“Everybody has worked extremely hard,” Grindstaff said. “I know this is not over and I know this board is really concerned about the businesses and business owners. Just, thank you to everyone who has stepped up to the plate.”