WNC Surveillance Watch

Macon County

4 min read

Macon County is WNC’s proof that removal is winnable.

Timeline

  • July 14, 2026: commissioners vote 5–0 to de-Flock. The board barred the Sheriff’s Office from spending county funds on Flock and moved to terminate the contract “as soon as possible” (ahead of its October expiration), with over 100 residents packing the room. (Smoky Mountain News · the meeting video · How Cities Won · Getting Flock Out)
  • After the vote: access cut. MCSO lost access to all 16 cameras (“no one has access now”); the four school cameras entered limbo, deferred to school leaders who say neither MCSO nor Flock has contacted them.
  • By mid-August 2026: the removal is holding. No reinstatement effort, and no crime-spike claims. Sheriff Holbrooks says he “respects the decision” while still defending the tool.
  • November 2026: the election carries it forward. Commission candidate Dylan Castle (Republican, pastor, county GOP vice-chair) spoke against Flock on constitutional grounds and advanced to the November general (an MCSO captain lost the same primary). Macon may elect WNC’s first explicitly anti-ALPR commissioner.

Who decides here

Josh Young (chair) · John Shearl (made the motion; on the ballot) · Barry Breeden (seconded) · candidate Dylan Castle · Sheriff Brent Holbrooks (lost the vote, kept the job) · Bobby Coggins (the camera in the room).

The vote: how it happened

Motion by John Shearl, seconded by Barry Breeden (a former sheriff’s deputy who came in “50-50”), with Chair Josh Young, who had leaned toward his sheriff until he asked around town and found the residents who knew about the cameras “almost entirely against them” (the Smoky Mountain News’s paraphrase). Shearl, to the Flock rep sent to defend the product: “I don’t mean any disrespect, but you are like a car salesman” (NC Local, July 30, 2026).

The numbers that did it: 16 cameras (12 county, 4 schools), a $31,950 contract grown to ~$47,000/year, logging 1–3 million plates a month in a county of 37,000.

What’s happened since the vote

  • The four school cameras are still unresolved: commissioners deferred them to school leaders; the school system says neither MCSO nor Flock has contacted them about the cameras on their buildings. No school-board vote has ever been taken.
  • A cautionary note: the fight’s social-media spillover included false claims that Franklin had Flock cameras (it has none), escalating to threats against town officials, which handed officials a warning-about-the-opposition story. Getting facts wrong hands officials a weapon; see How Cities Won on what backfires.

After the vote: the paperwork that still applies

Removing the cameras did not remove the county from the network. “Macon County NC SO” remains on Henderson County’s published list of agencies granted access to Henderson’s plate reads (Aug 22, 2026); whether anyone in Franklin still logs in is a records question. Macon has no 287(g) agreement with ICE (ICE list, Aug 21, 2026), and its sheriff, like every sheriff in the state, now operates under HB 318’s mandatory ICE notification rules (What the Law Lets the County Do). The November commission fields are on Ballotpedia; a week after the vote, neighboring Haywood County’s chairman cited Macon by name as the example his county would not follow.

Watchdogs and video

Independent journalist Bobby Coggins / Macon Media films Franklin council (which has no official video) and county meetings; the county commissioners’ channel carries the official record, including the July 14 vote. Smoky Mountain News (Kyle Perrotti) has the deepest coverage.

Related: WNC and NC · How Cities Won · Getting Flock Out

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