Meeting recap: Commissioners present award, hear broadband update

The Johnston County Board of Commissioners on Monday:

• Presented the County’s second Cypress Legacy Award to retired U.S. Army Col. Rudy Baker, a Johnston County native whose military service took him to Korea, Vietnam and Iran. He later enjoyed an 18-year career in banking. Baker has served on the board of the Airborne & Special Operations Museum at Fort Bragg since its inception and is a former chairman of the Johnston County Veterans Service Advisory Board.
  
  
• Granted a request to rezone 51.75 acres at 2959 Cornwallis Road in the Cleveland community for industrial use. Longleaf Industrial plans four buildings there for warehousing and distribution operations. Neighbors opposed the request, saying it was incompatible with their homes. But a majority of Commissioners said they would rather see industry there instead of houses, which demand more in County services than they pay in taxes. Only Commissioner Bill Stovall voted against the request, fearing that Cornwallis Road couldn’t handle the volume of traffic that industrial use would create.
  
  
• Gave Parks and Open Space permission to use $330,000 in open space funds to help the Triangle Land Conservancy purchase 48 acres near Clayton. Parks and Open Space will use the land for a future segment of the Neuse River Trail. That segment will link the Flowers Plantation area to the Mountains-to-Sea Trail and the East Coast Greenway. Money in the open space fund comes from a fee developers pay when they opt not to include open space in their subdivisions.
  
  
• Heard an update from Brightspeed, the broadband company using public and private dollars to bring high-speed internet to 39,409 homes and businesses in Johnston County. To date, it has reached nearly three-fourths of those addresses. But a company spokesman told Commissioners that Brightspeed cannot guarantee it will complete its work by year’s end, which presents a quandary for County leaders. Johnston is supporting Brightspeed’s work with $500,000 in federal COVID-relief dollars, which Johnston must spend by Dec. 31 or forfeit. But the County’s agreement with Brightspeed says Johnston will only pay that $500,000 upon completion of all of the work. With a Dec. 31 completion date not guaranteed, Commissioners must decide whether to amend their agreement with Brightspeed to pay that $500,000 before year’s end. The Brightspeed spokesman told Commissioners that the company has already incurred expenses that qualify for reimbursement under its agreement.
  
  
• Proclaimed Sept. 12-26 as Fall Litter Sweep time in Johnston County. The proclamation calls on all Johnston residents “to take an active role in making their communities cleaner.”
  
  
• Made the following appointments: Patricia Chisholm-Jones, William W. Massengill Jr. and Jeff Parlier to the Hospital Authority Board of Commissioners; and Larry J. Pittman to a three-year term on the Veterans Services Advisory Board.
  
  
• Granted a Town of Smithfield request to appoint Kellie Youngblood to the Smithfield Planning Board. She will represent the Smithfield planning jurisdiction that lies outside the town limits, an area commonly known as the extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ.
  
  
• OK’d budget amendments for the Fire District Fund Tax, $46,380 in additional revenue; the Health Department, $167,633 from Medicaid; the Public Library of Johnston County and Smithfield, $27,804 from reserves to cover expenses, including office supplies, books for children and marketing; and the Sheriff’s Office, $2,807.13 in insurance proceeds.
  
  
• Proclaimed Sept. 6-12 as Firefighters Week in Johnston County. The proclamation notes that “firefighters make sacrifices to protect the lives and financial interests of the citizens of Johnston County,” and it calls on citizens to recognize the “duties and services that firefighters perform.”
  
  
• Proclaimed Sept. 20-26 as Child Passenger Safety Week and Sept. 26 as Seat Check Saturday in Johnston County. The proclamation reminds parents and caregivers that “children are best protected when they ride in a restraint appropriate for their age, size and developmental needs.”
  
  
• Took no action after a closed session on personnel and legal matters.

Page last updated on:  September 14, 2026