RFP Staff
♦ On Monday the Rowan County Planning Board met at 7 p.m. at the County Administration Building at 130 W. Innes in Salisbury, N.C. Planning Board members present were Chairman Rip Kersey, Vice Chairman Larry Jones, Joe Coladarci, Darlene Blount, Blake Jarman, Steve Poteat, Joe Teeter, Reid Walters, and Larry Wright.
The Planning Board voted 9 to 0 to recommend forwarding an amendment to the county ordinances to the County Commissioners. The Amendment would allow both county employees and the public, possessing concealed-carry permits, to bring handguns into county buildings and parks.
A second vote went 9 to 0 against a two-year time-frame created earlier by County Manager Gary Page and a group of county department heads. Their previously proposed time-frame would permit concealed-carry immediately in public parks, yet would hold off allowing concealed carry weapons in buildings and other properties until liability and safety issues were resolved. The departmental time-frame will still be presented to the County commissioners, but it won’t have the Planning Board’s support.
The Planning Board’s proposed amendment is formulated to bring Rowan County into compliance with North Carolina laws written to ensure uniform rules for concealed-carry permit holders. State concealed carry laws (House Bill 937/Session Law 2013-369) currently allow permit holders to bring their weapons to parks and recreation facilities. At the moment a lack of clarity exists about concealed-carry in county and municipal buildings. Boards, such as the County Commissioners, are able to adopt ordinances to prohibit carrying a concealed handgun into county buildings and their accompanying premises.
In March the County Planning Board voted to go forward with changes in the county’s concealed-carry ordinances only have the issue returned to them when county department heads resisted the County Planning Board’s changes, by raising “what if” questions about not only the public carrying firearms, but also county employees. “What if an irate parent came to social services with a handgun? Or a recently terminated employee, with concealed-carry, showed up angry?”
After the department heads resisted the planning board’s changes, a committee was formed including County Social Services Director Donna Fayco, County Planning Director Ed Muir, and Sheriff Kevin Auten. After putting their heads together they recommended hiring a law firm to advise them on liability issues and create a policy. The approach, included various trainings in threat recognition and workplace violence as well as having law enforcement officers present for termination and disciplinary hearings, would delay handguns appearing in county buildings. Further metal detectors were proposed for all county buildings. These expensive recommendations did not fly with the County Planning Board.
