A Jackson County native, newly appointed county commissioners’ chairman Brian McMahan was born in Sylva, grew up attending the local school system and went on to graduate from Western Carolina University with a degree in Political Science with a focus on state and local government and minor in history.

After graduation, McMahan went to work for Jackson County as an emergency services dispatcher. The job, he says, gave him experience dealing with high stress situations and allowed him to meet people across the county.

In 2002, McMahan received a phone call saying that commissioner Conrad Burrell just had announced he would not be running for re-election. The caller asked if McMahan would consider running. McMahan said no, that he would have to quit his county job in order to run.

Later that same week, McMahan was offered a job at Balsam Mountain Preserve as a security officer. One might say it all just came together. He filed to run on the Democratic ticket with a platform based largely on anti-zoning, quit his county job, and beat out challengers Frank Burrell and Maurice Moody in the primary.

“The rest is history I guess,” McMahan said.

Now, McMahan, 29, will serve as chairman alongside the man he replaced, as Conrad Burrell has been chosen to fill McMahan’s District 2 seat. His rise to power comes at a particularly tense time in Jackson County politics. Competing interests are waging war over growth and transportation planning, a suit has been filed against the county for improper conduct in investigating the Economic Development Commission and removing appointments from the Airport Authority, and the ultimate in personal property rights battles comes to a head at the first meeting McMahan presides over.

Smoky Mountain News sat down with McMahan for a one-on-one interview shortly after his appointment to hear what he has to say about the future of Jackson County.

Q: How do you think your ideals now align with the platform you ran on in 2002?

A: I think they’re identical. I don’t think my platform has changed any.

Q: Where are you on the Democratic spectrum?

A: Oh gosh. Where’s the pendulum at? I don’t know how to characterize myself. I guess I am a conservative Democrat. I don’t know, I guess that’s a hard question. I feel like I am a progressive. A lot of that I guess deals with a lot of ways different people view you, different generations. But I don’t know how to answer that, I don’t know how to describe where I’m at on that spectrum.

Q: What is your philosophy regarding Jackson County’s growth?

A: I think growth is inevitable and there’s no way that we can, nor should we try, to stop growth. But like you say, we have to deal with it and zoning is a tool. I’ve just, I’ve always been a strong advocate of property rights. And I think about people, property, and especially mountain people I guess, a lot of times that was all they had. They didn’t have any money, they didn’t have much of anything, but they did have a title to a piece of property. And I thought about my great-grandmother, she was a widow in her early 30s, had nine children, this was 1925, during the middle of the Depression and she fought so hard to keep her property and that was so important to her. And if you pay your taxes and own it you should be able to use your property to do what you want to .... I will go as far as I will agree to regulations that will protect people’s health and safety and that type of thing. I don’t want to get in to that position where in some counties they come out and the zoning police come out and they say, “Look your grass has not been mowed this week,” and they pull the tape measure out and two inches too high and they send the county boys out and they mow your yard and then they send you a bill. Or, “I’m sorry the doghouse needs to be painted another shade of green.” That’s too far.

Q: Is there any difference between the personal property owner and the business owner?

A: I think that, and that’s where if you had true zoning you have residential areas versus commercial areas and you have no option, you can’t build an asphalt plant in a residential area. But I’ve always hoped, and I guess maybe you can’t always think, that folks will do what’s right. That’s always the hope. But it seems like in the past that people have always been willing to work with their neighbors and try to compromise and try to be good neighbors and come to some kind of a solution, and I’m hoping that’s what’s going to happen with Tilley Creek. You know it seemed to me the other night that those folks with that shooting club were trying to bend over backwards to help be a good neighbor if they can build the shooting range. So I don’t know, you’ve got to find some middle ground somewhere. To a certain extent the property rights for a business versus the property rights for a private individual are the same, but then again if the business adversely affects those around it then it is a difference. So I guess it depends on what kind of business it is and maybe that’s why we can regulate some, like the industrial development ordinance, maybe we can say these are types of things that we consider as unwanteds and we want to put some rules out, setbacks and that kind of stuff.

Q: Referring to Tilley Creek, the 120 people who are members of the shooting club that wants to locate in the community do not live in the community where they want to be shooting. If it were their community, their houses that would surround the club, perhaps the situation would be different. If they wanted to buy a big chunk of land and all move in and create a development and put a shooting range right smack in the middle of it ...

A: And I think that’s part of the plan. From what they’ve told me they were going to develop part of the property and build houses around it. I don’t know who’s going to buy those houses. Are they going to live in them or how do you sell a house on a piece of property that has a shooting range? ... I don’t know, I really don’t know what’s going to happen. There’s so much bad information floating around right now that it’s hard to tell what the real truth is.

Q: How do you see transportation in Jackson County taking shape over the next several years?

A: I’m afraid that if we do nothing that we’re going to get caught in the position where we’re really going to be in a bind. I know that there’s been this move to have smarter roads, not new roads, and I agree that’s a great concept and in my mind it’s almost like a Band-Aid and it’s only going to be a temporary fix to a problem. I think if Lowe’s, which is pretty much a definite, is going to be building, there’s some rumors floating around that there’s some other stores possibly going to locate on 107, and I’m talking about big box stores and all that additional traffic. Western Carolina University’s enrollment is going up. With all that additional traffic it just gets to a point that the road gets — you can’t make it any smarter. There’s no way to make the road any more practical. You cannot force people to ride bicycles. You cannot force people to walk. And the concept of making people move into town — it’s all great ideas and on paper it looks wonderful, but in reality it doesn’t work. And I just feel like eventually we’re going to have to do something, if it means building a new road then that’s what we’re going to have to do.

Q: The 30-year planning process that was supposed to be a joint effort amongst towns, the local schools, the Smart Roads Alliance and the Department of Transportation is dead in the water.

A: And I don’t know why.

Q: Would the county commissioners have any interest in applying some pressure and getting the process moving along?

A: I think so, and I know that as a member of the Southwestern Planning Commission, and I am on the Rural Planning Organization, we’re looking at transportation not only in Jackson County but regionally. Yeah, I can’t understand. You know they started those meetings and then all of a sudden they just ended. So I would be interested in at least trying to start the planning process. I don’t know, it will be interesting to see when (Conrad Burrell, a recently appointed commissioner) gets on the board with his position on the DOT it might make it a little bit more ... the impact might be a little bit more.

Q: How do you see the commissioners working with Sylva, as relations have been a bit strained lately?

A: I really want to try to pull all the governments, the municipalities in the county together and have a good working relationship. That’s something that I feel like is crucial. And we’ve got to all work together.

Q: I know that one of the big issues has been having an open dialogue, the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.

A: And this Economic Development Commission and all this thing, that’s just a good example. We’re all involved in it, county, town. And we all should be sitting at the table together to resolve it. In my opinion it’s not just a county issue, and whether we choose to participate or not participate affects everybody. And so what my hope is in the next coming weeks, now that we’ve got this behind us — filling our board vacancies — is to sit down and formulate a plan of where we want to go. Then we’re going to call the municipalities and we’re going to sit down and work this out. And everybody’s going to have input. And when we get through this we’ll have some kind of decision that everybody can agree with.

Q: Particularly with the EDC?

A: Particularly the EDC.

Q: What do you think about how that was handled?

A: Hindsight is always 20/20. In looking back I agree that we needed to halt our participation. There’s so many questions unanswered. It appears to a lot of people that Mr. McClure is guilty of something and he’s not. As far as I know he’s never been guilty of anything. And never in my mind — from day one, from the time that I made the vote — did I ever think that he was guilty of any kind of illegal or unethical act. And I’m sad that that is what’s been portrayed and a lot of folks believe that he’s embezzled something or for some reason done something wrong. The only thing that I think that he’s guilty of, and just not him but the whole entire EDC, is probably just gross mismanagement. And so looking back I wish there had been some way we maybe could’ve not focused on him so much. And I guess as him being the chair of all those committees he sort of was the spokesperson for those committees and ultimately his name got caught up in the talk more than anybody’s. But I wish we could have been able in some way to address the group, rather than the individual. But it’s like sending the deputies to his office to get the documents, I mean they didn’t go and demand the documents, they didn’t go with a warrant, and in my mind they were the most logical choice, because I would have hated to ask another county employee to get caught up in something. Then also the deputies are always accustomed to going out and taking custody of evidence and the chain of command and bringing it back to the office. I didn’t see anything wrong with it, but I think it’s perceived in a bad way and it sent the wrong message, and in hindsight I guess maybe we should’ve done that a little differently.

Q: Do you think you were given enough information from the beginning in order to make your decision? Should there have been more research done before having to make a decision?

A: I wish there had been. I really do. I guess I was led to believe, and I think we all were under the impression, that there was the potential for foreclosure to happen at any moment by Triple S. And if that proceeding had started it would have been a domino effect and there would have been a whole lot of things happen and we would have been in a bad position and we felt like it was crucial that we act as soon as possible and that’s why we probably acted as quick as we did. Looking back now, it still hasn’t happened. Triple S hasn’t done a thing. But that’s a gamble we took.

Q: Do you see the commissioners bringing the EDC in house or revamping the one you have?

A: I would like to bring it in house. I would like to see a full-time, paid individual who works alongside the county manger to promote economic development, works with the Chamber of Commerce, works with the Travel and Tourism Authority, works with the municipalities. I don’t know maybe there could be some kind of joint agreement where they would also work with the municipalities in contracting out, I don’t know. I don’t know if they’re interested, that’s a discussion we’ve not had. But I definitely think as far as the county’s concerned I’m not interested in continuing the system that we’ve got. And I’m not saying anything against volunteers because I appreciate everything volunteers have done in this county, but we’re talking about a very crucial job — recruiting industry and jobs. Not so much industry, I think that’s a bad word any more to use, but recruiting jobs, promoting economic development. We need somebody who’s dedicated, who’s got the time to do it.

Q: What kinds of economic development would you like to see?

A: I guess, textiles and industry, as far as the plants, that type of stuff is not something that is going to be viable for Jackson County or Western North Carolina as far as I’m concerned. It’s a thing of the past, and to sit back and hope that we’re going to have an industry move in here and put a lot of people to work is not going to happen. It possibly could happen and I’m not saying it won’t, but if we sit back and that’s the only thing we’re trying to attract we’re wasting our time. Technology jobs are a big, but you know those jobs require special training and a lot of educational training, so it may not help right now in the short term for people who do not have that type of training. The one thing that I’m pleased about is that Lowe’s will provide some kind of employment opportunity for folks right now. I’m hoping that the biggest thing we can do is to promote and send the message to our young people to get an education, get some kind of degree, go beyond high school and get a college degree, get trained in some kind of field because that’s where the jobs are. If you can get those jobs and we can recruit some of those high tech jobs to come here, then you’ll be able to work here and we’ll be able to keep you in the county.

Q: How do you see yourself working with our other political representation, Rep. Phil Haire (D-Jackson), Sen. John Snow (D-Murphy) and Rep. Charles Taylor (R-Brevard)?

A: I feel like I will do my very best to work as well as I can with them. So far, I’ve known Phil the longest of any of them and I’ve always had a good working relationship with Phil, know him on a very personal basis, and it’s not a problem to pick the phone up and call him and sit down and discuss an issue. John Snow I’ve gotten to know during his campaign and seems to be a real good guy and I think he’s going to make a great senator. Been down to his office in Raleigh and had some discussions with him. Charles Taylor I have not had a lot of contact with. I’m glad that he has now got an office in Sylva, I know that’s a political thing that in the past for whatever reason people have always played politics and tried to keep Charles Taylor out, and he may be on the other side of the aisle from me politically, but he offers a lot of incentives to Jackson County by being here. He can offer a lot to his constituents and providing him a place where our people can go and get help locally without having to drive to Asheville or wherever is a benefit. And I know he has done a lot to help Henderson County and some other counties with restoration of their courthouse and stuff like that, and I’d like to see those things happen here also. I feel like we can work together.

Q: Is there anything that you know of right now that you would like to accomplish, that you have as a personal goal for the county?

A: I don’t think I have any specific goals at this point. I think my biggest goal, my assuming the chairman’s position was something I never expected to happen at this point. I had discussions with Stacy Buchanan over the last couple months. He had indicated to me that he was not going to run, and I had made some plans that I was going to seek the seat in 2006. So that was at some point in the future and he up and resigned and shocked us all and that thrust me into this position now. I had to go for it because that was something I wanted to do and I felt like I needed to take it now if I wanted it in 2006. So what I’ve shared with other board members is my goal is we’ve so many things on our plate right now — the EDC, the airport, we’re right in the middle of the budget — we’ve got a lot of projects on our plate and for the next year and a half I want to see that those things get accomplished. I want to see to it that we get some of those issues resolved and get our plate cleaned off before we think about anything else. We’ve got an election coming up too in 2006 and I want to get this stuff taken care of and get everything cleared out to where when we start over that we’ll be able to take on some new things and work from there.

Q: So what do you see happening with the airport?

A: That is a good question.

Q: Because it’s awfully hard to sue an authority that doesn’t exist.

A: Yep. That’s exactly right. And I don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s all going to depend on whether the state legislature will actually pass the legislation to create a regional. There’s so many unknowns right now that I don’t know what’s going to happen. I think it’s a good thing to promote a regional airport that has the capacity to service commercial jets because of its close proximity to our county, it’s a lot closer than driving to the Asheville Airport. It’s an advantage. And I look that if this thing goes through, not only Jackson and Macon being involved, but I believe the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians are going to come into play..., Even if we keep an airport in Jackson County, the benefit of having that large regional airport is going to help us all.

Q: Would the regional airport authority oversee the Jackson County airport?

A: The regional would oversee the Macon County, and Jackson County would still keep, I don’t want to ever give up, title to our airport. It will always remain in Jackson County’s possession, but it won’t become an asset of the regional.

Q: With Jackson County having just gotten out of a dispute with Macon County regarding the landfill, how do you feel relations have been affected and are you not at all cautious about going into another joint agreement so soon?

A: To say that we weren’t cautious would be not an accurate statement. Yeah I would be cautious. I think Macon County wanted out of the landfill agreement as much as we did. The dispute came about over was there anything owed. It wasn’t an issue of whether we wanted to be out of it, it was just finalizing the agreement to where we both walked away feeling like we were treated fair and each one got what they were supposed to get. In that case that’s where it is going to be important to sit down when we draft the bylaws and all the nuts and bolts and look at the fine details of this agreement where it will be worded so that both partners — that’ll be what it is, partners — will have some rights and both partners will have equal investment. They’re providing a lot and we’ll provide some capital and work together to promote a regional system. So yeah, we’ll have to be very careful on how we draft it.

But I know there’ll be a lot of people interested to know what the details are and I don’t want people to think that we’ll be sending a load of money to Macon County to fund an airport. From all indications I’ve got it’s not going to be a big cost. They’ve got a lot of grant money already coming in to be able to do the expansion. When you look at what it cost to help lengthen the runway and to do some improvements there, versus what it’s going to cost us to build a new terminal and new hangers and try to re-plane that slide at the Jackson Airport, it’s a big difference. You spend $300,000 or $150,000 in Macon County over the course of X amount of years, or do you spend one point some million dollars in Jackson County to try to reclaim two, three hundred feet of runway.

Q: Any comments in closing?

A: No. I had an individual ask me the other day, ‘why in this world do you want to take this job on, it seems like you’re stepping right into the middle of a lot of hot topics and won’t those topics and those issues define you?’ And I said well, not really, because it’s not the issues that will define you, it’s how you deal with those issues. And I think I’ve got the attitude that we’re going to work through this, and everything’s going to work out and we’ve got a good board and some good staff, good leadership and we’re going to put our thinking caps on and we’re going to get in there and we’re going to roll our sleeves up and we’re going to do a good job and it’s all going to work out.