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Residents urge support for Gaston Station Museum and decorum; council questions tie to anonymous records requests
Summary
Public commenters asked the Stanley council for assistance to keep the Gaston Station Museum open and urged improved decorum among elected officials. Council members also questioned whether anonymous public records requests were connected to a council member; the member denied filing requests since taking office.
Multiple residents used the public comment period at the June 1 Stanley Town Council meeting to press for local concerns and changes in council conduct.
Ronnie Lineberger, president of the Gaston Station Museum, described the museum’s financial distress after COVID-19 closures, a rent increase following a property sale, and a slowdown in donations, and asked the council for financial assistance to prevent loss of the museum’s historical collections. Town Manager Steven Denton confirmed the museum was not included in the proposed FY 2026–27 budget; councilors discussed modest postage line savings as a potential internal source but expressed reluctance to favor one nonprofit over others. The council encouraged non‑monetary support such as letters to state representatives and encouraging donations.
Betsy Pendergraft urged the council to enforce standards of professionalism and integrity among elected officials, saying public attacks on colleagues via social media damage trust and discourage civic involvement.
Council Member Corey Kelly raised concerns about a pattern in anonymous public records requests and said the formatting and timing led him to find the circumstantial evidence notable; he stopped short of a formal accusation. Council Member Brendan Sweeney said he had filed public records requests before his election and, to his knowledge, had not filed or directed such requests since taking office. Manager Denton read an IT consultant’s finding that a forwarding rule had been set to forward certain public‑records emails to Council Member Sweeney’s personal Gmail account; the consultant characterized that configuration as not a security compromise but said forwarding rules to outside accounts can indicate a compromised account and verified that Sweeney had configured the forwarding rule.
The tenor of public comment and council discussion prompted multiple references to decorum and to the council’s relationship with state officials; residents urged respectful dialogue and staff urged separation of partisan politics from town business.
