Mooresville officials, GOP chairman talk ‘sanctuary town’ proposal

MOORESVILLE — The first two amendments in the U.S. Constitution protect American’s freedom of religion, speech, the press and the right to bear arms.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Mooresville Town Council, both amendments came up as topics of discussion, as councilman Shane Williams would like to make Mooresville a Sanctuary Town for both amendments.

Williams noted that he has had a lot of comments from members of the public.

“People are afraid of an overreaching (federal) government, especially in the areas of the First and Second Constitutional Amendments,” Williams said.

Williams then asked if there was something the town could do to uphold the Constitution.

“I agree, I’m obviously pro First and Second Amendment,” Town councilman Jeff Cook responded. “I don’t know what we can do.”

Mooresville Town Council President Tom Warthen expressed concern about declaring the town as a sanctuary for the Second Amendment — which protects the right to keep and bear arms.

“I do know that I don’t want to tie Chief (Kevin) Julian’s hands if he sees someone, or if it is determined that someone has a red flag on them in the event of, heaven forbid, a mental illness or domestic violence or something like that,” Warthen said. “If we say that we do not want our police to enforce anything other than the Second Amendment, we don’t want him to enforce Red Flag Laws on people that maybe should not have guns, I think we are doing a disservice to the law abiding citizens of the town.”

He later noted “that everyone should be able to lawfully own their guns.”

Town councilman Dustin Stanley said he supported the Constitution.

Stanley believes that any vote to make Mooresville a sanctuary for the First and Second Amendments would largely be symbolic.

He then brought Morgan County Republican Chairman Daniel Elliott up to the podium to discuss the effort.

“I do want to say, first off, that I support in principle exactly what has been spoken here today,” Elliott said. “Supporting the entirety of the Constitution, especially giving special emphasis on the First and Second Amendment.”

Elliott then brought up a sign ordinance that is part of the Mooresville’s Unified Development Ordinance.

Back in March 2020, during Williams’ tenure as town council president, he directed the town’s public works superintendent Dave Moore to remove signs that had been placed in town rights of way, based on that UDO.

Many of those signs were political signs due to that year’s primary election.

According to the UDO, a sign cannot be placed in public rights of way without authorization by the town council or its designee. It does not impact the ability of someone to place a sign on their personal property.

Elliott questioned the validity of the UDO in regard to signage on public rights of way.

“Freedom of speech, freedom of political speech, is a sacred right,” Elliott said. “And I think that we have to look at this and say, ‘What can we do to open up that opportunity for all people?’”

As the meeting progressed, Elliott and Williams debated the issues of signs and the UDO.

Williams said that the UDO bans all signs from public rights of way in the town of Mooresville — not just political signs.

Elliott noted that if Williams wants the town to be a sanctuary town for the First Amendment, it should allow political candidates to place signs on public rights of way — as has been done for decades prior, according to the GOP chairman.

Williams then responded that his campaign was told in 2019 that he could not place signs in public rights of way.

Beth Copeland, an attorney who was filling in for town legal counsel Chou-il Lee, eventually put a stop to the debate between Elliott and Williams.

“If the two of you would like to do this when you’re not on the record in a public hearing, then you certainly have that prerogative, but as legal counsel, I would prefer that this not occur,” Copeland said.

After a brief discussion between Elliott and Copeland, Williams asked why he was asked to stop debating while Copeland continued asking questions.

“I’m legal counsel,” Copeland said.

“I represent the people,” Williams responded.

“If you would like to, in this forum, certainly,” Copeland said. “My concern is that, this has been such a hot-button topic for over a year now, in this town, I’m waiting for the lawsuit. It is going to happen by somebody at some point, regardless of what position that you take. So I’m trying to minimize conversations up here.”

Elliott added that he did not want there to be a lawsuit.

“I would like us to all think about, and discuss, and come together and find something that is a middle ground where people can feel comfortable,” Elliott said. “Where no candidate would ever be turned away, but at the same time the opportunity to express, within reason — we don’t want to put big signs that block rights of way and block views. We want to be able to respectfully do those things that we have done for decades.”

~ Staff Report | Published April 23, 2021 in The Mooresville Times