Time for a Change? Not When Brevard Is Making Great Progress, Says Mayor Pro Tem
Mayor Pro Tem Mac Morrow, the only incumbent in the race for two open seats on Brevard City Council, touts his own accomplishments and pushes back against critics.
BREVARD — Mac Morrow says what you would expect from a long-time politician running for reelection:
At 75, he still enjoys working, both as general manager of advanced materials maker KEIR Manufacturing Inc. and as Brevard’s Mayor Pro Tem. A third-generation resident of Transylvania County, he loves his city and thinks it will benefit from his long experience.
But he’s also running for one of the two open Council seats, he wrote in a response to a NewsBeat questionnaire, “because I believe good government sometimes needs defending.”
In other words, he thinks the city is being unfairly attacked during what is actually the most productive period he’s seen in his total of nearly 30 years on Council.
“There has been a lack of respect for achievements and accomplishments in the past five years, especially during (the Covid-19 pandemic),” he said. “We’ve taken a lot of heat for why we haven’t done this and why we haven’t done that, and it’s mostly just about kicking up dust.”
So in an election featuring four candidates who generally agree on big issues — affordable housing, infrastructure improvement, economic development and building parks and trails — the voters’ main choice is between old and new, between candidates Aaron Baker and Bill Bailey, who promise a fresh approach, and those such as Kevin Jones and Morrow, the sole incumbent, who vow to stay the course.
Though Baker has declined to criticize Morrow by name, Council member Geraldine Dinkins was happy to do so.
“You can label me a critic. I am a critic. It’s time for a change. When you serve term after term after term on Council,” she said, referring to Morrow, “you run the risk, whether intentionally or accidentally, of dealing in access politics.”
Except, Morrow said, he is accessible not just to big shots but to anyone who reaches out. The same is true of other city elected officials and staffers, who have engaged in more public discussion of city business than ever since 2015, when Council created a committee system to tackle ongoing challenges.
So the city won’t gain transparency if he’s voted out of office, he said. It would lose the benefit of his decades of public and professional experience, and his commitment to “good government,” a bland-sounding phrase with special meaning to Morrow, he said, because it echoes advice he received from one of his mentors, former Council member David Thorne.
Morrow’s Mentors
Morrow’s record of public service dates back to 1968, when he was drafted into the U.S. Marine Corps, where he would remain on active or reserve duty for a total of 31 years before retiring as a Colonel.
After his first stint in the Marines, he attended Clemson University, graduating with a degree in forestry and resource management, credentials that allowed him to take a job as a Transylvania County department head, overseeing the restoration of the French Broad River.
He began his time on Council — and what he describes as a crash course in politics — in 1986, when he was appointed to office after the death of Brevard’s first woman mayor, Opal Hahn.
Thorne, who had recently lost his seat because of an unpopular push to relocate Brevard’s water treatment plant, sent him a note saying, “Always remember, good government needs defending.”
And it was Cornelius Hunt, the first African-American Council member and a long-time holder of the honorary title, Mayor Pro Tem, who both moderated Morrow’s early, cocksure manner and helped set his long-term priorities.
Unlike in the military, Hunt told him, goals in politics are accomplished by collaboration, not by issuing orders, said Morrow, who also said Hunt advised him: “ ‘Don’t ever forget that little old woman down the street who lives on Social Security,’ (Hunt) understood people and lived in a world of empathy.”
Working on Utilities, Seeing the Light on Affordable Housing
He had these words in mind nearly 30 years later when the city began what Morrow argued has been a fast and cost-efficient upgrade of its utility system.
In 2015, a previous city manager proposed taking on a $9 million loan to modernize the city’s sewage treatment plant. Because of the projected burden on city utility customers, Morrow said, “I not only said ‘no’ but ‘hell no,’ ”
He instead backed a plan to make upgrades that have been funded mostly by grants and low-interest loans from the state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
Baker has sharply criticized the city for its slow progress in what he says is an urgent need to address the effluent that flows into city streets after heavy rains and has contributed to sharp spikes in E. coli levels in the French Broad.
But Morrow said the city’s sewage system improvements are based on a plan written less than a decade ago. And since 2017, the city has replaced lines near Kings Creek, installed a pump station on Neely Road and built a 3.2-million-gallon storage tank. This work has greatly reduced runoff, which will be further controlled by the upcoming completion of the Gallimore Road Sewer Rehabilitation Project, he said.
“To throw rocks at that plan is hurtful,” he said, “because we’ve been working on it and I’ve been passionate about it in my mind as an environmentalist.”
These fixes have been key in addressing another city problem, the local economy’s over-reliance on low-paid service jobs, Morrow said. By offering a solid utility system, he wrote, “Brevard has attracted advanced manufacturing, breweries, (makers of) pharmaceutical and outdoor adventure accessories . . . all are hiring.”
Earlier this year, with the help of county property tax incentives, the Transylvania Economic Alliance helped ensure that Raybow PharmaScience expanded its operations in Brevard rather than relocating.
The city has the power to implement a similar program to attract companies offering high-tech jobs, said Alliance executive director Josh Hallingse, and “I think this is a valuable and essential tool.”
Morrow said the city has explored such pot-sweeteners in the past and he could favor implementing some of them as long as they don’t shift too much cost to ordinary residents.
That concern previously caused him to resist offering breaks on utility connection fees for developers of affordable and workforce housing.
“I can hear Cornelius Hunt whispering in my ear,” he said. “I understand that utility costs for the poor and underserved are one of the biggest expenses they have.”
But last week he voted to grant such a waiver to the developer of a small affordable housing project west of downtown, and said “I’ve come a long way” on the housing issue.
He credits this to talks with private developers such as Tore Borhaug, owner of Tore’s Home assisted living facilities and an advocate for accommodations that are within the price range of his employees. This is one of many examples showing that his personal connections help rather than harm the city, Morrow said. “What’s wrong with knowing people?”
He also agreed, last week, with a plan to schedule a workshop on affordable and workforce housing in October. The idea is to consider a wide range of strategies to promote reasonably priced housing, and he says he wants to hear these options before advocating any one of them.
But he agrees with Baker and another Jones that the city should change it’s land-use law to allow denser development with workforce or affordable components close to downtown.
“That’s a must,” he said.
The Need for Patience
He is not, however, in favor of boosting the city’s anemic Affordable Housing Trust Fund with proceeds from the city’s sale of a parcel to the developer of a downtown hotel.
The city originally bought that land to add off-street parking, so profits from its sale should help address that need.
“Keeping the downtown viable over the next 20 years is equally as important as housing,” he said.
Promoting viability also means building parks, trails and gathering places such the Mary C. Jenkins Community Center, which is now under construction in the city’s Rosenwald Community. It’s an example of a spate of such recent projects, including the Brevard Dog Park, the Depot Railroad Avenue Park and Tannery Skate Park.
But Morrow said he also has a long history of backing recreational assets, and he highlighted one of them, the Bracken Preserve, that demonstrates such work can take years to complete and lay the groundwork for future improvements.
Council approved the master plan for the 400-acre trailhead and preserve off West Probart Street in 2006, with the goal of securing the view of the mountains from downtown and connecting the city to Pisgah National Forest.
It then set about acquiring needed right-of-way and, later, building trails. The Preserve didn’t open until 2012, and didn’t become part of a cycling loop through the forest until a gap in Pisgah’s trail system was closed earlier this year.
“The dream was fulfilled when we got it all connected,” Morrow said, “and that was all part of the 2006 plan.”
Dinkins and Baker should remember the need for patience and planning when they bash the slow pace of construction on the city’s multi-use Estatoe Trail, Morrow said. The next-to-last section was finished 13 years ago, and a full year passed between the completion of the Depot and the short, nearby section of trail.
But the next stretch, leading to West Main Street, should be open later this fall, quickly followed by one reaching Mary C. Jenkins, Morrow said. The city is also close to reaching an agreement with DEQ that would allow the trail to continue though the polluted site of an old tannery and on towards Rosman Highway.
That’s the way to proceed, he said, not by passing over the tannery property and building a short stretch on the next parcel of city-owned land.
“I don’t agree with Geraldine, where we would skip ahead,” Morrow said. “Just be patient and don’t get in a huff and don’t be in a hurry, and let’s do this thing one step at a time and do it right.”
The Candidate:
Mac Morrow, 75
Website: macmorrow.net
Education: Clemson University, bachelor’s degree in Forestry, Recreation & Parks Administration, emphasis in Resource Management.
Politics: Brevard City Council, 1986-1995, 2001-present, Mayor Pro Tem since 2005
Career: general manager, KEIR manufacturing, formerly manager of public relations and personnel at Ecusta Mill. US Marines, 31 years active and reserve duty, retired Colonel
Public Service: vice-chairman, Transylvania County Library Foundation; member Land of Sky Transportation Rural Planning Organization; City Council representative, Transylvania County Tourism Board
Personal: Married to Veronica Morrow, father of adult daughter, Jennifer Morrow Christian
Brevard Connection: Third-generation Transylvania County resident
The Job:
Brevard City Council members are elected to four-year terms and receive an annual salary of $6,700.
Mac has been great, we need people of his caliber who is trying to keep Brevard great while not changing the small town into the next Gatlinburg Tennessee, where locals can not afford to live and raise a family.
I hope the council will consider making cyclist wear bright clothing like hunters are required. My reason is 276 south and wilson road have shade areas and prior to those are heavy sun light that makes it difficult to enter the shade area where bicyclist wear dark clothing and a number dont have lights to make them visible.