Sheldon Poplin Morley Mayor of Mount Gilead NC

06/19/2026

Today is Juneteenth.

On June 19, 1865, Union troops reached Galveston, Texas and finally enforced freedom for the people still enslaved there, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had supposedly settled the matter. Word traveled slow, and justice traveled slower. That gap between a promise made and a promise kept is worth sitting with.

Here in Mount Gilead, this day belongs to everyone. It’s a chance to remember neighbors whose families carried that history, to be honest about where we’ve been, and to keep showing up for one another the way that small towns are supposed to.

Wishing everyone a meaningful Juneteenth.

06/19/2026

Heads up, friends: out of an abundance of caution, Park Program will be canceled tomorrow. Stay safe and dry out there, everyone!

06/18/2026

Good news, Mount Gilead!

The Board has approved the proposed budget for FY 26/27, and I’m proud of where we landed. The total budget (General Fund plus Water and Sewer) comes in at $3,980,280, it’s fully balanced, and it’s built on careful, realistic projections.

Here’s the part that I want folks to hear loud and clear: there will be no increase to property taxes, no increase to water or sewer rates, and no changes to our fee schedules. We know that the economy is in a tricky place right now, and we had no interest in increasing the economic burden for our residents. Town staff and the Board worked hard to hold the line and still deliver the services you count on.

Holding the line doesn’t mean we’re standing still. A few things this budget puts to work:

* About $100,000 for street paving through Powell Bill funding so we can get priority roads done
* Improvements at our parks and public spaces, including upgrades to the pool
* A vehicle replacement and continued recruitment for our Police Department
* Equipment and operational support for our Fire Department
* Keeping our water and sewer system reliable and well maintained
* Our transition into the new Town Hall
* The Library is also back to its normal operating budget now that last year’s HVAC project is behind us.

Both the General Fund and the Water and Sewer Fund are in stable shape, and the Town is on track to meet every one of its obligations this year.

That’s the job you trusted us with: to be careful stewards of your money and to keep moving the Town forward without adding to anyone’s burden at home.

Thank you to Town Manager Barrett Brown, Finance Officer Lee Ann Haithcock, and everyone else at Town Hall for putting in the work to make this budget a reality. It’s hard work, and I appreciate them so much for making it happen.

If you have questions about anything in the budget, feel free to reach out here or send me and email at [email protected].

Thank you, Mount Gilead, for letting me serve you. ❤

06/18/2026

Hello, Mount Gilead.

Today I'd like to talk a little about budget hearings, transparency, and rolling with the punches.

The Town of Mount Gilead had a statutorily mandated budget hearing scheduled for June 16th at 7:00 PM. It was properly advertised in the Montgomery Herald, per statutory requirements. Just before the scheduled start time, the Board received news of a personnel emergency that made it impossible for the budget review portion of the hearing to proceed as planned.

Given how close we are to the June 30th submission deadline, we did not have the option of canceling and rescheduling the meeting. There are too many moving parts to this process, and fully rescheduling the hearing would have resulted in a late budget. Not an option on my watch.

After consulting with town counsel, we were advised to open the meeting, hold the Public Comment portion of the hearing, and then "move to adjourn the meeting to a future date," in this case June 18th at 6:00 PM. Which is what we did. We opened, did a moment of silence and the Pledge, adopted the agenda, and then opened the floor for Public Comment.

It should be noted, for transparency, that no residents signed up to speak that night, nor were any in attendance. After the Public Comment portion was complete, a motion was made in open meeting to adjourn to June 18th at 6:00 PM.

As a procedural note, a "motion to adjourn to X date" is treated as a recess, which means tonight's meeting is technically a continuation of Tuesday’s meeting. That let us honor our obligation to open the floor for Public Comment, and it gave us the chance to handle the Budget Review as part of that same meeting.

This post is a little more long-winded that I'd intended, but I want to be transparent about how we got to tonight's continuation. It was a genuinely unorthodox situation, and we did our best to move forward in a way that honored our statutory requirements, kept faith with our residents, and left enough time to approve the budget before the June 30th deadline. It's not ideal, but the continuation allowed us to do exactly that.

I appreciate everyone who reached out with concerns about this. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to me on Messenger or at [email protected].

Thanks, friends.

06/17/2026

I'm not sure who needs to hear this, but I'm going to put it out into the universe anyway:

Tomorrow will be a better day.

Sometimes, when I'm having a hard day, I take a moment to remind myself that hard days are temporary and that new days bring new opportunities, new growth, new smiles, and new chances to rewrite your story.

So if you're having a hard time, just remember, tomorrow will be a better day.

Good night, Mount Gilead. Love you guys.

06/17/2026

Good evening, Mount Gilead.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we were forced to postpone tonight's budget presentation and hearing. A motion was made to continue the hearing on June 18th at 6:00 PM.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

06/16/2026

06/16/2026

Mount Gilead, clear your Saturday. Atlantic Coast Wrestling is bringing Highland Heat to town on June 20th, live at the Highland Community Center!

Doors open at 6, bell time at 7. General admission is $10, kids get in for $5, and concessions will be available. The card is topped by a main event tag team title match with some incredible talent, so it promises to be a great show. It's an affordable night out for the whole family, and it's happening right here at home!

Come on out, bring the family, and let's pack the house for our local wrestlers!

This promises to be an exciting Main Event tag team match, featuring fan favorite Bobby Ballantyne alongside the Lethal Dragon James Turner, taking on the Savior Elliot Shock and Atlantic Coast Heavyweight Champion, the Child of the 8th day Saieve Al Sabah. Bobby Ballantyne James Turner

06/16/2026

Good news on the ordinance front!

Over the past couple of days, I’ve had several productive meetings about Mount Gilead’s scooter rules. I sat down with a number of residents who shared their concerns about how the ordinances are worded and how we plan to enforce them going forward. The general consensus is that the language is vague, out of date, and due for a revision.

With that in mind, I’ve also talked with our Town Manager and Chief Legrand about what those revisions might look like.

Right now we’re reviewing scooter and bike ordinances from other local municipalities to see how they handle them. I’ll also be reaching out to my friends at the NCLM and the UNC School of Government for guidance on best practices.

Once we’ve gathered a good sampling of examples, we’ll draft an amendment to the current ordinances and put it on the July agenda for the Board’s review. After a one-month review period, we’ll hold a vote.

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who engaged with us on this. I know things can get heated on Facebook — it’s one of the things I really dislike about this platform — but everybody we’ve talked to has been great. A group of passionate residents, motivated by a sincere desire to make Mount Gilead a nicer place to live, working with their local government to make it happen.

Thanks, everyone. Hope y’all have a wonderful day. ❤️

06/13/2026

I'd like to talk a little bit today about kindness.

Every person you pass in a day is carrying something you can't see. The neighbor who was short with you at the store. The voice on the phone that was already frustrated before you finished your sentence. Every one of them has a life going on that you'll never get a look at. Bills they're behind on, somebody at home they're worried about, a day that fell apart before they ever ran into you.

We don't see any of that. We get the one moment in front of us, and we decide who somebody is off of it. I'd ask all of us to slow that down a little. Myself included.

Giving a person the benefit of the doubt costs almost nothing. It's leaving room for them to have meant well. It's remembering that the person you're crossways with is still a person, with a family and people counting on them, getting through their day the best they can. Same as you.

Nobody gets through this life on their own. Most of us are where we are because somebody was patient with us back when we probably didn't deserve it. Seems to me we owe each other the same.

So that's our mission as we move into next week. Cut somebody some slack. Give them the better read when there's a choice between two. Go easy when you're not sure. I've never once regretted being kind, and half the time you'll never even know how much it mattered to the person on the other end.

We've always looked after each other in Mount Gilead. Let's keep that going, friends.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

(Bonus picture of my dog for the algorithm!)