The Mitchell County Board of Commissioners met last week to address a variety of county issues.
Tourism rebrand
Kelly Jones of the Mitchell County Tourism Development Authority gave an update on a recent rebrand for the county’s tourism industry, featuring the Fiddle Bear logo and the slogan “Real. Mtn. Folk.”
Regional library
Jennifer Sword, the new director of the Toe River Valley Regional Library, gave an update on services available at the county’s libraries. Sword noted that the regional office, previously occupying office space in Yancey County, has now moved to the Grassy Creek neighborhood.
In addition to previously-offered digital services, the libraries are also offering booths in which patrons can conduct noisier internet activities, such as telehealth appointments with distant doctors.
Freedom Life
Board Chair Jeff Harding and Commissioner Dale Blevins both spoke about the progress Freedom Life has made in setting up services for ex-convicts in Mitchell County. Harding and Blevins both serve on the Freedom Life board.
“Freedom of Life is an independent agency from Mitchell County that uses zero tax dollars — it is all totally grant funded — and what Freedom of Life does in a short nutshell is, for folks that are getting out of prison that live in Mitchell County only, not any other county … help them orient themselves through all of these (government services) agencies,” Blevins said.
Blevins noted that Freedom Life also helps those coming out of the prison system access mental health and substance-abuse services.
“All of this, as I said, is to bring help not only to the incarcerated person, but to help their families as well, reorient them back in with the person that’s just getting out in society again,” Blevins said.
Freedom Life is a recent addition to Mitchell County.
“This program started in McDowell County; it was in Avery and Yancey, and what the folks saw that were involved in going into the facilities where these folks were incarcerated, whether it was in prison or in jail, if you lived in McDowell, Avery, or Yancey, when you got out, you had a program,” Harding noted. “If they were from Mitchell County and they got released from McDowell County Jail … they received none of these services.”
Harding noted that the program tries to help the recently released deal with the stigma of having been imprisoned.
“The governor and his staff are completely behind this with funding,” Harding said. “Law enforcement’s behind this because they see this as a way not to deal with repeat folks — they get out, they get their life back together.”
Flood mitigation
The board voted unanimously to work with Blue Ridge Environmental Consulting to begin work on a number of flood mitigation and repair efforts.
Harding recused himself from the vote owing to a conflict of interest. Commissioner Steve Pitman was absent from the meeting.