LAKE LURE, N.C. — Candidates for mayor and town council agreed at an Oct. 1 forum that replacing the town's 100-year-old dam and overhauling its sewer system must come first. They split over whether the leaders who guided the town through Hurricane Helene should stay in place, and over how much residents can see and say along the way.

Mayor Carol Pritchett said a replacement dam is "probably eight to ten years out" and said she hopes funding arrives sooner. Write-in mayoral candidate John Edmonds Kozma said in his opening remarks that the replacement is in design but construction funding has not been secured.

The forum also ended with a move that stood out in a nonpartisan race: council incumbent Jim Proctor used his closing remarks to urge voters to elect Pritchett, Dave Lusk and himself.

The forum at Bills Creek Community Center was organized by the Hickory Nut Gorge Chamber of Commerce. Three mayoral candidates and four council candidates answered timed questions, some written by the chamber and some submitted by the audience. Pritchett, mayor since 2019, faces write-in candidates Kathy Tanner and Kozma. The council candidates are incumbent Jim Proctor, Dave Lusk, Richard Sayles and Friedrich Jaeger-Faber. Election Day is Nov. 3.

The dam, the sewer and who pays

Pritchett defended her record by pointing to money. She said a tax increase created a dam capital reserve of about $1.6 million a year, which let the town make immediate repairs after the hurricane before state or federal funding arrived. She said the general fund grew from $4.4 million to $8.9 million between 2020 and 2024. She also said negotiations with state legislators and FEMA produced "over $185 million" to restore the lake, plus $27 million in other grants.

Pritchett named a new public safety building and at least four more firefighters as additional needs. She said the town has applied for a federal SAFER grant that would pay firefighter salaries on a declining scale over five years.

Kozma put the dam, water and sewer, and public safety first, and said 3,052 people live in the dam's flood zone. He urged officials to press funders for construction money now rather than under a multiyear plan.

An audience member asked whether the new dam should include hydroelectric generation. Pritchett said the design preserves the option and the decision can wait until the dam is built. Proctor warned that a federal license would put the lake level under federal control, and Sayles said he agreed that no one but the town should control the water. Lusk said he would like to see hydro return and recalled that the old small generator paid the town close to $60,000 a month. Jaeger-Faber said the choice should come down to the bids.

Public access to town government

The sharpest contrast on the stage was over how much residents can see. Pritchett said the town has become more transparent, noting open meetings, public budgets and advisory boards. On records, she said residents can ask for what they want and "you can request for the town to provide them for you, and they will." She said minutes cannot realistically be ready the day after a meeting.

Meetings are not currently recorded. Pritchett said that is because the town lost Town Hall and is meeting in temporary space at The Landings, and that video will resume once the town is back in Town Hall. Tanner said portable equipment could solve the problem now. Jaeger-Faber said a camera and a YouTube Live stream are affordable. Lusk and Sayles also said they want video back.

Tanner went further, calling for timely minutes from every board, a restored archive of historical town documents she said has disappeared from the town website, and regular state-of-the-town meetings. She also said a May 2023 council resolution bars residents from speaking to items on a meeting's agenda. Proctor said the practice is at least 20 years old, dating to his earlier years as mayor.

The May 9, 2023 minutes, included in the Town's June 13, 2023 council packet, show the council adopted Resolution 23-05-09 amending its Rules of Procedure as part of a consent agenda approved unanimously, with all five members present, Proctor among them. Rule 5 in that resolution says public comment "is generally reserved for items that are not on the Council's agenda," bars comment on any item "on which a public hearing has been set or held," and says written comments to the Town Clerk become part of the minutes. The same rule requires at least one public comment period a month. The packet copy does not show which sentences were new in 2023, so whether the practice is 20 years old, as Proctor said, depends on the underlined text on packet pages 41 and 42. The rules were first adopted April 10, 2001.

Kozma proposed a public dashboard showing the budget, spending, project milestones and upcoming decisions, agenda packets posted seven days ahead whenever practical, and one-page summaries of significant proposals before votes. Sayles pledged plain-language budget summaries and published votes.

Morse Park, downtown and housing

The chamber asked each candidate whether they could finish a master-plan design for Morse Park in 5 to 10 months, instead of the 5 to 10 years the town's comprehensive plan anticipates. Proctor said he would start the design process this year and expects a committee plan to reach the council within 10 months. Lusk said 6 to 12 months, with community review. Sayles declined to promise a date, saying he would back a funded design contract, monthly public progress reports and pressure on permitting, and adding: "I'd rather give you an honest 18 months than a dishonest 10." Pritchett said redesign work has begun and that finishing construction in that window would not be prudent. She also said all permits from the state Department of Environmental Quality have been obtained, while Sayles cited DEQ reviews that have already caused delays. Tanner said planning should have started alongside the dam and sewer work and urged the town to hire a professional team.

On the town center, Tanner and Sayles both questioned why the town beach is closed outside the summer concession season. Sayles said the center is not yet healthy and called for better walkability, working parking and coordinated marketing. Jaeger-Faber proposed a continuous sidewalk to Chimney Rock and an outdoor social district, with a share of cup sales going toward the sidewalk. Pritchett said the Ridgeline Company is investing millions in the Lake Lure Inn and Arcade buildings, and that the town has lobbied for a quarter-mile road linking the town center to Chimney Rock Park. She said a $20 million multimodal path planned between the two towns was reassigned to Saluda after the hurricane.

On housing, Proctor said the neighborhood commercial zone should allow residences. Sayles and Jaeger-Faber both backed a small amount of workforce housing, and Jaeger-Faber suggested an agreement with Polk County to build it across the border. Lusk said sewer capacity has to come first. Tanner said the town should replace its "government use" zoning with defined recreational, institutional and residential districts.

An endorsement from the stage

Proctor used his closing to urge voters to elect Pritchett, Lusk and himself. He said he has known every Lake Lure mayor for the past half century and called Pritchett "one of the best, if not the best mayors Lake Lure has ever had." He praised her outreach to other towns and said Lusk has attended "many more town meetings than the other candidates for council." No other candidate endorsed anyone from the stage.

The setting makes that conspicuous. Lake Lure's elections are nonpartisan, so no party label tells voters who stands with whom, and endorsements and alliances do that work instead. The organizers kept buttons and T-shirts out of the room, left campaign literature outside, and asked candidates to avoid personal attacks. Candidates in nonpartisan races do sometimes back one another, but doing it from the stage of a forum built to stay neutral is a visible choice. No polling shows how voters will react, so what follows is analysis, not a measurement.

It presents a ticket. Pritchett's pitch is continuity, and she closed by saying it is time to "continue on." Proctor's endorsement ties her campaign to two council campaigns and turns three separate races into one stay-the-course package against two write-in candidates running on change. Pritchett is the only mayoral candidate who does not need to be written in, so an organized slate adds to an advantage she already has.

It shapes the two-seat council race. Voters in a two-seat race generally get two votes. Asking them to vote for Proctor and Lusk asks them to use both, leaving none for Sayles or Jaeger-Faber, who got no help from the stage. Proctor's attendance comparison also sets Lusk against both of them, but it is hard to test: the minutes record attendance by council members, not by candidates sitting in the audience, and meetings are not currently recorded.

It raises the independence question. According to the town's 2023 minutes, the council is the mayor plus four commissioners, and under its rules the mayor votes only to break a tie. If Pritchett, Proctor and Lusk all win, they would hold the mayor's seat and two of the four commissioner votes. Supporters could call that a team that worked through Helene and can keep the dam and sewer projects moving. Critics could say it narrows the circle of decision-makers. Tanner told the forum that decisions should not be made by a small group of leaders and that the town needs to "go outside of that circle." Proctor also defended the public-comment limits Tanner criticized, which links the endorsement to the transparency fight.

It could cut either way with voters. For residents who want experience and stability while the dam and sewer projects are underway, a joint call from a former mayor who first ran for council in 1981 may reassure. For residents already unhappy about meeting video and public comment, it may confirm an impression of a closed group. Proctor spoke immediately after Sayles, who said other communities see Lake Lure as aloof, and his praise for Pritchett's outreach to neighboring towns can be heard as a reply to that.

Council hopefuls and closing arguments

Council candidates leaned on experience. Proctor, a former mayor with five years on the council, asked voters for four more years. Lusk, a commercial contractor and volunteer firefighter, said his construction background suits oversight of the dam and sewer projects. Sayles, who owns the Grafton Lodge Bed and Breakfast and chairs the local ABC board, closed by proposing a task force of representatives from surrounding communities, saying neighbors see Lake Lure as aloof. Jaeger-Faber, a former police officer with several local business ventures, argued for raises for police and firefighters and proposed seeking 7 to 10 percent of Chimney Rock State Park sales for a first-responder fund. He said Lake Lure police are the lowest paid in the county. Proctor replied that the town's police compensation includes insurance, so salary comparisons with other agencies are not apples to apples.

An audience member asked how many council meetings each candidate has attended in the past two years. Proctor said "more than 100," Pritchett said every one, Lusk said most of them, and Sayles said he and his wife have missed only one or two this year. Tanner said she attends sporadically. Kozma said he has been to two. Jaeger-Faber described attending a few before Helene and about a dozen since.

In her closing, Pritchett said: "I don't think it's time to stop the progress that we've already made." Tanner said the town needs trust, community involvement and regional partnerships. Kozma pressed for urgency in securing dam funding.

Sourcing note: Figures cited by candidates are their own and have not been independently verified.

Last updated: 2026-10-04