The Wake Forest Board of Commissioners held its latest Wake Forest board meeting on Tuesday, March 17 at Town Hall for a packed session that included two public hearings, four presentations, a consent agenda carrying roughly $10 million in park commitments, and a commissioners’ report that ended with a bipartisan condemnation of anonymous political attack letters being mailed into Wake Forest neighborhoods.
Here’s what happened, and what it means.
Board Meeting Rezoning: South Main Street Approved Unanimously
The Board voted unanimously to approve Legislative Case RZ-25-02, rezoning two parcels totaling 0.46 acres at 810 and 814 South Main Street from General Residential 3 to Neighborhood Business. The applicant, Tyler Davis, is a local dentist who purchased his practice at 814 S. Main from Dr. Fitz in 2012 and the neighboring duplex at 810 S. Main in 2017. He wants to expand his dental and sleep apnea practice into the duplex building, with no major exterior changes beyond ADA compliance upgrades.
Davis told the Board he expects the expansion to add roughly ten patients per day, four to five days a week, with no activity on nights or weekends. He said the existing duplex parking (four spaces) would produce a traffic pattern “similar to less” than the current residential use. No new entrances, exits, or signage are planned. He noted that he canvassed approximately 25 nearby property owners and received no objections, though his required neighborhood meeting on November 20, 2025, drew zero attendees.
Davis also addressed the elephant on the corridor. His property sits directly in the path of the S-Line high-speed rail project, and the Town’s own Comprehensive Transportation Plan calls for the realignment of West Holding Avenue through this area. Davis acknowledged that his lot is “supposedly affected by the DOT for the S-Line plan” but said he has never been contacted by NCDOT. He explained that when he restarted the rezoning process in October 2024 — after COVID and other delays shelved the effort that began in 2017 — he was told at his pre-application meeting that the upcoming Unified Development Ordinance would handle the zoning change automatically, making his application unnecessary. When the UDO was delayed past July, he decided to move forward on his own.
No one spoke during the public hearing portion of the board meeting. The Board approved the rezoning with a consistency statement finding it aligned with the Community Plan.
Wake Forest Board Meeting: Fire Station 6 Public Hearing
The Board opened and closed a public hearing on the proposed installment financing for Fire Station 6, an $18.5 million facility planned for Wait Avenue. Only one resident spoke.
Resident David Blackwelder challenged the scope and cost, arguing that smaller substations in different locations could achieve the same response-time improvements at a fraction of the price. He questioned the need for an on-site training facility when the department already trains at Jordan Lake and warned that the bond-financed project would inevitably raise property taxes at a time when residents are struggling with the cost of living. “People almost were in tears because they can’t afford — it’s hard to live now,” Blackwelder said, referencing public comments from a prior meeting.
Tuesday’s public hearing was the statutory prerequisite for the installment financing; the Town plans to file with the Joint Legislative Committee on March 20, accept financial proposals by March 27, and seek Local Government Commission approval at its May 5 meeting, with the loan closing in the second half of May if all proceeds on schedule.
Board Meeting Public Comment: Spending, Vehicles, and More
During the public comment portion of the Wake Forest board meeting, two of the three signed-up speakers addressed the Board, and one walk-up speaker joined them. Together, they covered more ground in twelve minutes than the Board itself addressed during its formal deliberations on several agenda items. Under Board rules, commissioners do not respond during public comment, but the remarks enter the official record and can shape staff priorities and future agendas.
David Griffin, Minister of Wake Forest Christian Church, used his three minutes to invite the Board and the public to a free workshop called “Resetting the Table,” designed to help communities navigate toxic political divides. Griffin described a program that has brought 96,000 people together nationwide to “talk about how to communicate in non-toxic ways, to cross divides, to understand our legacy, our psychological impact, and how we can change life perspectives.” He emphasized that the workshop carries no political agenda. Two sessions are scheduled at the church: Friday, April 24 from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday, April 25 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Each session is limited to 40 participants, and registration is available through the church’s website. The church is covering the full cost.
Griffin’s remarks took on additional resonance later in the meeting when Commissioner Cross raised the issue of anonymous political attack letters being mailed into Wake Forest neighborhoods — and Mayor Clapsaddle explicitly cited Griffin’s comments as context for how corrosive that kind of anonymous hostility has become.
David Blackwelder, who had already spoken during the Fire Station 6 public hearing, returned to challenge the $1.4 million vehicle fleet purchase on the consent agenda. His specific target: nine Chevrolet Tahoes for the police department. “Does it have to be a Tahoe? Does it have to be an SUV?” Blackwelder asked. “Does it have to be a 2026? Can it not be a cheaper version available?” He invoked his own law enforcement background — “I drove a Crown Victoria for years, for almost ten years” — and pressed on whether the Town solicited competitive bids from Ford, Dodge, or other manufacturers, or simply purchased through a government contract. “We need to be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars,” he said. “People can’t take it anymore.”
It’s a fair question. The Town’s Finance Department did solicit competitive proposals for the financing itself — four institutions bid on the installment purchase agreement, and Truist Bank’s 3.73% fixed rate beat the highest bid by nearly two full percentage points. But whether the vehicle specifications were competitively bid across manufacturers is a question the agenda packet doesn’t answer; law enforcement vehicle procurement typically follows state contract pricing schedules that limit the field. The larger point Blackwelder raises — whether the Town is doing enough to minimize costs during a period of acute affordability pressure — deserves a substantive public answer, not just a silent nod from the dais.
Margaret Watkins came to the podium to object to the on-call engineering services contracts on the consent agenda. Watkins said she was “not comfortable” with outside consulting firms reviewing traffic impact analyses and development plans, work she believes should remain with the Town’s in-house engineers. “The citizens have been in contact with our engineers. We’re comfortable with them. We trust them. I don’t know who these consultant folks are,” she said. She drew a distinction between supplemental project work — “if they need help, like with a sidewalk or something, fine, great” — and the core regulatory review functions that directly affect development outcomes in Wake Forest. The item passed on the consent agenda without being pulled for separate discussion.
Board Meeting Update: Sustainability Plan Baseline Data
In another major item at the Wake Forest board meeting, Cisco Tomasino of Blue Strike Environmental, the consulting firm the Town engaged last summer, presented the first substantive findings from Wake Forest’s sustainability planning process. The data confirmed what most residents probably suspected — and quantified what they couldn’t.
On greenhouse gas emissions: The community-wide inventory found that transportation is the single largest source of emissions in Wake Forest, followed by residential, non-residential, and industrial energy use from buildings. Waste is the smallest sector. The local government operations inventory — covering Town-owned facilities, fleet vehicles, and streetlights — mirrors that pattern, with fleet vehicles producing the majority of municipal emissions. But Tomasino emphasized the scale difference: municipal operations account for only one to two percent of Wake Forest’s total emissions. The implication is clear. The Town has direct control over a tiny fraction of the problem. Reducing community-wide emissions will require education, incentives, and policy tools that influence how residents and businesses use energy and move around.
On climate risk: The team assessed four priority hazards — extreme heat, flooding, drought, and ecosystem health and habitat loss — selected through a combination of expert analysis and public input. Natural areas and open space emerged as the most vulnerable community system. Tomasino walked through the data on extreme heat specifically, showing that the number of prolonged heat events (10+ consecutive days above 90 degrees) has increased markedly in the last decade-plus, and multi-model temperature projections for Wake County point consistently upward regardless of emissions scenario.
On peer benchmarking: Blue Strike compared Wake Forest’s position against Cary, Chapel Hill, and Morrisville — communities with existing climate action or sustainability plans — as well as Wake County and the state. Tomasino cautioned that every community operates within different financial and policy constraints, and peer targets aren’t one-size-fits-all, but said the comparison helped identify pathways worth exploring.
On what residents want: Engagement across focus groups, open houses, and an online survey surfaced four recurring themes: protecting natural lands and the tree canopy, improving walkability with an emphasis on shade and safety, improving energy efficiency in homes and Town buildings, and expanding renewable energy — with upfront cost identified as the single biggest barrier.
Later in the Wake Forest board meeting, Commissioner Wright asked about expanding the food waste composting pilot to include local restaurants, noting that the program’s three drop-off locations (by the Farmer’s Market, the Depot parking lot, and Joiner Park) are getting regular use. Kari Grace from the planning department said the idea came up in the local business focus group as well and could be incorporated into the plan. The Board also asked whether the Town would set a specific emissions reduction target. Grace said that decision would ultimately rest with the commissioners — whether to pursue net-zero by 2050 in line with state goals, set a different numeric target, or simply commit to directional improvement.
What comes next: Blue Strike will now develop evaluation and prioritization criteria — the framework that will determine what strategies make it into the final plan and in what order. Draft criteria shown at the meeting included adaptation and resilience impact, cost, greenhouse gas reduction potential, community support, and staff capacity. Goals, strategies, and actions will follow, culminating in a plan presented to the Board by late fall.
Board Meeting Highlight: Age Friendly Community and Pedestrian Safety
In another Wake Forest board meeting agenda item, Ann Welton delivered an update on the Town’s Age Friendly Community initiative, now in year two of a five-year process through the AARP network. The program, accepted in June 2024, has moved from data collection into action planning.
Welton reported that the community survey conducted last year received more than three times the responses of any other Town survey in Wake Forest history. The committee is now working through the eight AARP domains of livability — one per month since September — and expects to present a prioritized action plan to the Board later this spring.
The most tangible near-term outcomes involve pedestrian safety. Using two AARP grants, the committee conducted pedestrian and bicycle audits at 11 locations around town. The findings confirmed what most residents already know: Wake Forest is not bike-friendly. But Welton said there are achievable pedestrian safety improvements, and the Town has applied for an $18,000 AARP/Toyota grant to improve crosswalks on South Main Street. Public works has committed to implementing the improvements if the grant is awarded. A decision is expected in May.
Welton also described newer lines of work: joining a local coalition reframing “affordable housing” as “meaningful housing,” visiting an intergenerational center in Winston-Salem, and learning from a brain health program in Hillsborough that serves people with dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Commissioner Wright pressed on three practical questions. First, whether other towns have seen significant cost increases after joining the program. Welton said the AARP model deliberately encourages communities to pick just two achievable priorities rather than trying to do everything at once, and that the scope of investment is entirely up to each town. Second, what success looks like. Welton acknowledged the committee is still defining its vision and guiding principles — that item is first on the agenda for their meeting the next morning. Third, whether the initiative duplicates existing Town plans. Welton credited Kari Grace in particular for flagging overlap at committee meetings, and said the goal is to identify gaps that haven’t been addressed elsewhere.
Mayor Clapsaddle raised what may be the most important question of the evening on this topic: whether anyone under 30 serves on the committee. Welton said no, noting the committee meets during weekday work hours, though teenagers and young families were well represented in the surveys and focus groups. The mayor pushed gently, suggesting the Town should have some form of official youth advisory voice. Welton agreed and offered to explore ways to incorporate young people through separate meetings or adjusted scheduling. It was a small but meaningful exchange — a reminder that a program designed to serve all ages should visibly include all ages in its governance.
Board Meeting Honors: Two Officers Recognized
The Wake Forest board meeting also included recognition of two departing members of the Wake Forest Police Department with formal resolutions of appreciation.
Officer Michael Lawson, an auxiliary police officer since January 2003, served as the department’s chaplain for his entire 23-year tenure and spent 22 years on the SWAT team — all while serving as Director of Campus Security at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. His separation date is April 1. Mayor Clapsaddle presented him and his wife with a coin of excellence, handing the coin specifically to Mrs. Lawson “for everything that you did for our town.” Lawson kept his remarks brief, thanking the community and encouraging continued support for the officers coming up behind him.
Captain Matt Perkinson, whose law enforcement career began with the Norlina Police Department in December 1994, joined Wake Forest PD in January 2005 and rose from patrol officer through drug investigator, canine officer, and impact lieutenant to captain overseeing the Special Operations Division. He earned the Advanced Law Enforcement Certificate, the FBI-LEEDA Trilogy Award, and a canine award from Crime Stoppers. Perkinson retires April 1 after more than 30 years in law enforcement. He told the Board: “You’ve got a great group of folks coming up behind me and I just ask you continue to support them and let them do the job, because they’re going to do it right.”
The Board also approved the surplus of both officers’ badges and service weapons on the consent agenda — a statutory requirement that allows the Town to present the items as keepsakes.
Board Meeting Proclamation: Women Veterans Month
Mayor Clapsaddle opened the Wake Forest board meeting by reading a proclamation declaring March 2026 as Women Veterans Month in Wake Forest. The proclamation recognized that more than 3 million women have served in the U.S. armed forces, including over 90,000 women veterans in North Carolina, representing nearly 11 percent of the state’s total veteran population. It specifically honored the American Legion Auxiliary Post 1807 for its March 1 “Salute to Service Women” event. Debora Godfrey, accepting on behalf of the American Legion Post 187 Auxiliary, noted that women veterans often “downplay their service — so many have served and you never know it.”
Board Meeting Action: Grant Policy Overhaul Since 2011
The Board unanimously approved the Town’s first major revision to its grant policy and procedures in 15 years. Jack Cassidy, the newly created Grants Program Manager hired in October, presented the changes.
The core finding from Cassidy’s internal review — interviews with nearly every department director from October through December — was that grants were being managed effectively but inconsistently. Each department had its own process, which created downstream friction for finance and budgeting when it came time to account for the funds, prepare for audits, and file reports. With more than $20 million in active grant funding as of December 31, 2025, the informal system was reaching its limits.
The updated policy makes five key changes: formalizing the Grants Program Manager position, requiring each department to designate a project manager for every grant, establishing clear responsibilities for all parties, creating a step-by-step award cycle, and mandating quarterly updates to the Board on all grant activity.
Cassidy noted the collaborative model is already being workshopped on several active and upcoming applications: $120,000 for the Renaissance Center, $20,000 for organizational performance, a $200,000 application being prepared for Flaherty Park, and a US House Community Project Funding request.
A commissioner asked about a $50,000 threshold for Board approval that appeared in an earlier draft. Cassidy said the final version removed the numeric threshold, reasoning that most large grants — especially federal ones — already require Board approval at the application stage, and the quarterly updates would serve as a backstop for everything else. Commissioner Fatmi followed up on audit oversight, confirming that external audit compliance would fall to the finance department and would be included in the quarterly Board updates. Town Manager Padgett added that the Town’s annual single audit — required whenever the municipality receives federal funding — provides an additional layer of accountability already presented to the Board each year.
For a town staring down $532 million in identified capital needs over five years, with roughly a third dependent on a future bond referendum, maximizing grant capture isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a fiscal imperative. This policy gives the machinery teeth.
Board Meeting Consent Agenda: $10 Million for the Ailey Young House
Nine items passed in a single vote at this Wake Forest board meeting, with no items pulled for separate discussion. Several deserve attention.
The Ailey Young House and Northeast Gateway Park Vision Plan (Item 5.H) received the Board’s formal endorsement. Backed by roughly $10.3 million in combined CIP funding — $4.73 million for the heritage site and $5.55 million for broader park improvements, with $4.04 million coming from the 2022 GO Bond — the plan envisions one of the most culturally significant public spaces in Wake Forest’s history. The design features wireframe art installations marking the footprints of demolished Simmons Row structures, an interactive Legacy Tree, interpretive story cubes, an elevated boardwalk, and preserved mature trees protecting potential archaeological resources. It passed without discussion.
Budget Amendment #4 (Item 5.B) recognized $1,590,775 in mid-year revenue, driven primarily by sales tax collections running well ahead of the Town’s conservative projections — roughly $490,000 in extra Local Option Sales Tax and approximately $719,000 in excess Articles 40, 42, and 44 revenue. The surplus, along with a $357,075 drawdown from the Appropriated Fund Balance, was channeled into capital outlays including facilities equipment, fire department vehicles, and engineering projects.
The 203 N. Brooks Street acquisition (Item 5.G) authorized the purchase of a portion of property adjacent to the Town Hall campus for $116,000. The parcel is currently owned by Hidden Jewel Ventures LTD, whose registered agent is Chris Jorgensen, owner of Norse Brewing. Long-range planning documents have proposed expanding the municipal civic campus in this area for over two decades.
On-call engineering services (Item 5.C) locked in master service agreements with eight major consulting firms for a three-year base term. As noted above, resident Margaret Watkins objected to this item during public comment, but no commissioner requested it be pulled for separate discussion.
Commissioners’ Report: Anonymous Letters, EMS Changes, CALEA, and a Certificate of Need Briefing
The most substantive exchange of the evening came during the Commissioners’ Report, when Commissioner Cross raised the issue of anonymous political attack letters being sent to Wake Forest neighborhoods.
Cross said she had distributed copies of the letters to each commissioner and the mayor. She described them as targeted attacks on residents for how they voted, characterized the language as hateful, and noted the letters were anonymous — not addressed to specific individuals, but distributed in bulk across multiple neighborhoods. The return addresses indicated they originated from outside Wake Forest.
“While people do have the right to express anything they want — we have free speech — I do think I want to make it very clear that that type of language, that type of targeted verbal attack on people, this is not okay,” Cross said. She asked residents receiving similar letters to contact the Board.
Mayor Clapsaddle echoed her, connecting the issue to David Griffin’s earlier public comment inviting the community to a “Resetting the Table” workshop on bridging political divides. “We take it to an extreme and we’re hidden behind anonymous letters like this, or in emails to each other that’s anonymous,” the mayor said. “It belittles us as human beings.”
It was a defining moment of the Wake Forest board meeting — a Democratic mayor and a Republican commissioner speaking from the same podium about the same thing: that anonymous political intimidation has no place in Wake Forest.
Other commissioner highlights:
Commissioner Adam Wright had nothing to report. Mayor Pro Tem Keith Shackleford likewise had no report for the evening, though he was active during the meeting — he made the motion to approve the amended grant policy.
Commissioner Cross reported attending the NC League of Municipalities Advanced Leadership course at the UNC School of Government — the reason she missed the previous meeting — and called it highly worthwhile. She said 25 elected officials from across the area attended the week-long program. She volunteered with Meals on Wheels at the Center for Active Aging, which serves 100 meals per week, attended the Community Schools Art Showcase at the Renaissance Center, and forwarded a Duke Energy grant opportunity to the Wake Forest Conservation Foundation, which applied for $25,000 to restore and maintain the 9.5-acre Joiner Park Butterfly Meadow and Piedmont Prairie.
Commissioner Fatmi expanded on the March 9 EMS county update, noting that Wake County is absorbing 66 new residents per day — “one Wendell per year” — and that the county’s new triage-based dispatch system has generated community concern. He stressed that everyone who calls for an ambulance still receives one, and encouraged residents to share their experiences, positive or negative, with both the county and the Board.
Commissioner Sliwinski, newly named liaison to the Human Relations Council, announced a vacancy with a March 22 application deadline.
Town Manager Kip Padgett reported that the Wake Forest Police Department received its CALEA re-accreditation over the weekend in Arizona — the national accreditation that ensures departmental policies and procedures meet the highest professional standards. After the Board returned from closed session, Padgett added an item he’d forgotten: he, the mayor, and Commissioner Cross were invited by Representative Schietzelt to meet with DHHS attorneys about the certificate of need process via Zoom. The meeting provided insight into how UNC’s applications are evaluated relative to competitors, and DHHS agreed to share documentation showing the comparative analysis. Commissioner Cross described the process as “extremely structured” and said a document showing all Wake County applications, approvals, and denials was “quite interesting.” The Board agreed to share the documentation with all commissioners.
Mayor Clapsaddle closed by praising a resident who showed up at the vandalized Dunn Creek Greenway Phase 3 with white paint to cover offensive graffiti while a TV crew was filming, and thanked the volunteer groups who have been picking up roadside litter on weekends. He wished the community a happy Easter, noted Town Hall will be closed on Good Friday, announced a flag-raising ceremony at Centennial Plaza on April 6 at 11:00 a.m., and offered wishes for Eid al-Fitr.
The Wake Forest board meeting concluded as the Board entered closed session under N.C.G.S. 143-318.11(5) and adjourned.
Wake Forest Board Meeting Takeaway
Tuesday’s meeting moved real money and made real decisions. The Board authorized up to $18 million in debt for a fire station, approved a commercial rezoning on a corridor slated for $68 million in public infrastructure investment, endorsed a $10 million-plus park vision plan honoring one of the town’s most important African American heritage sites, and overhauled the grant infrastructure that will determine how aggressively Wake Forest competes for state and federal funding.
Most of those decisions passed without discussion or dissent. That’s not inherently a problem — not every vote requires a floor fight. But several of the questions worth asking before the meeting went unasked during it. The S-Line implications of the South Main rezoning. The long-term staffing costs behind Fire Station 6. The specific emissions targets that will anchor the sustainability plan. The construction timeline for the Ailey Young park.
The anonymous letter discussion was the exception — a moment where elected officials spoke plainly about a real threat to civic life, without scripted talking points or partisan hedging. More of that, on more of these topics, would serve the community well.
The next Wake Forest board meeting is April 7, 2026 (work session) and April 21 (regular meeting). The full agenda packet and archived video from Tuesday’s meeting are available on the Town of Wake Forest Public Meetings Portal.
Wake Forest Matters covers local government for the residents of Wake Forest. We believe transparency and civic engagement aren’t partisan ideas — they’re the foundation of a healthy community. If you found this recap useful, share it with a neighbor.
Tom Baker IV is the publisher of Wake Forest Matters, Wake Forest’s only independent local newsroom. A Wake Forest native, Navy veteran, and intelligence professional, Tom launched Wake Forest Matters to bring serious accountability journalism to his hometown. Tips and story ideas: publisher@wakeforestmatters.com
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