In this Issue of Hey Cherokee County…

✅ Bodley on the Issues Cherokee County Can't Afford to Keep Ignoring

✅ Andrews Board Votes to Pursue Possible Moratorium on High-Impact Development

Cherokee County Events

October 22nd

October 22nd-31st

October 23rd

October 23rd-24th, 29th-31st

October 24th

October 31st

October 31st

November 6th

November 9th

November 21st

Publisher’s Note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series based on an interview with Judith Bodley, candidate for the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners District 3 seat.

About three weeks before this interview, Judith Bodley drove out past the golf course to check on the crypto mining facility — the one that was supposed to have gotten quieter after noise mitigation measures were put in place. She had told people in a previous interview that it had gotten better. Then a constituent called her.

“Girl, have you been out there lately?”

Bodley drove out and rolled down her window.

"They've moved in more computers, they've moved in more fans," she said. "I drove all the way down the road to one of the subdivisions that was removed from it — you could still hear it. It's a whir in the background. I don't know how you would hear any birds."

Since deciding to run for Cherokee County Commissioner in District 3, Bodley has spent months requesting sit-down meetings with every department head in the county. Some of those meetings have run for hours. She arrives with questions she will not leave without answering. She attends budget hearings. She drives past things herself to see what's actually true. She is not, she says, someone who can let a nagging question go unanswered.

Ask Bodley what Cherokee County has been putting off the longest and she answers without hesitation: the high-impact land use ordinance.

There was a moratorium in place prohibiting the construction of certain high-impact facilities, but after years of meetings, full of discussion and short on action — what Bodley calls "the paralysis of analysis" — it expired.  

"This needed to be done long ago," she said. "It has been put off and put off and put off."

It took a reshuffled board — two incumbents gone after losing their primaries — to finally get that ordinance drafted and into a county attorney's hands, where it sits today. Bodley wants it finished fast.

However, not every high-impact facility that has raised alarm in Cherokee County has turned out to be as bad as feared. For months, rumors have swirled claiming the AI data center in Marble is causing brownouts at the Andrews schools. So Bodley researched it.

"That is not true," she said. "They do not take any electricity. They paid dearly for their own grid. They recirculate their water. I think that AI has done a good job of trying to be a good neighbor."

The light pollution from the facility is real and unresolved, though, and she'd like to see it fixed. But she has made her peace with the facility itself. 

On the question of whether Cherokee County should welcome more large data centers in exchange for significant tax revenue, she is unambiguous.

"I'm not willing to trade money for our quality of life," she said.

Another Long Overdue

The land use ordinance isn't the only thing that has been waiting years for a real answer. Bodley has been listening to citizens complain about dangerous dogs since she first started attending commissioners meetings. She believes the missing piece has been financial accountability for the owners. 

"We've had deaths in our county due to vicious dogs. That's totally unacceptable," she said. “Money talks. If people have to pay financially for the actions of their animals, I think they're going to be a little more inclined to make certain that their animals are not a danger to other people or their property.”

Cameras at the Border

Bodley was on vacation out of state when the flock camera contract became public. She came home to her phone blowing up.

Bodley is from a generation that grew up with George Orwell's 1984 as required reading and the concept of Big Brother as a genuine cautionary tale rather than a punchline. Her instinct, when the cameras came up, was against them. So she called the sheriff. He gave her two hours and pulled up the contract on his computer.

"I was very relieved to find out that in the contract for Cherokee County, we'll only have a certain amount of cameras — not very many,” Bodley said. “They're going to be on the perimeters of the county, so where we have a border to Tennessee, where we have a border to Georgia, where we have a border to another county — that's the primary placement. The only one that's going to be placed closer to town is at the red light at the casino. There's some concern about illegal things happening, traffic happening up to the casino and back.”

It’s her understanding, Bodley said, that the cameras will exist for one primary reason: to account for what crosses Cherokee County's borders. That means suspected criminals, missing persons, abducted children, and cases where a license plate at a county line is the only thread investigators have left to pull. 

“From what I understand there's different contracts you can get,” she said. “The only thing that he can access is pictures of the rear end of the car and the license plate. That's it. No facial. The driver is never identified. The inside of the car is not identified.”

She came away satisfied. For now.

"If they start putting them up right here in downtown Murphy at every stoplight, I'm going to be leading the people who object to that,” Bodley said. “That's a promise."

Priced Out

Bodley's four-year goal, if elected, is this: more young families living in Cherokee County at the end of her term than at the beginning. Everything else — the schools, the housing, the economy — runs through that.

When asked whether Cherokee County is becoming a place where people who grew up here can no longer afford to stay, she didn't hedge.

"We are not becoming that," she said. "We are that. We have already gotten to the point where people who were born here cannot afford to stay here."

Families with deep roots in the county, she says, are being forced to sell land that has been in their names for generations — not because they want to, but because they can't cover the taxes. 

"I think we need to be looking at every way we can to cut the tax rate," she said, "so that people's taxes don't go up to a point that they can't afford to stay in a home and on land that's already been paid for."

Party vs. County

Bodley is a Democrat running in a county that has sent an all-Republican board to the commissioners’ table for years. When she first decided to run, she didn't think she had a chance.

"We have had some really intelligent, good people run on the Democratic ticket that were not elected because of the letter behind their name," she said. "When I first decided to run, I really felt strongly that I did not have a chance of winning at all."

What changed her read on that was the response she got once she was out there. People of all parties, she says, have come out to support her; some publicly, some quietly.

"I am so blown away by Cherokee County, North Carolina, and the people in it — of all parties — that have let me know that they support the things I'm running for and they're going to vote for me,” she said. “I never dreamed in a million years that would happen."

She spent most of her adult life as an unaffiliated voter. She does not vote party line and says she never has. Her appeal to Republican voters is a simple one: in a county race, you can actually get to know the person on the ballot. You can look at their history. You can look at what they've contributed — or haven't. Party label, she says, is the wrong filter for that.

“I am here to serve the county, the citizens, and the future of the county,” Bodley said. “I don't care what affiliation you are."

Asked what the future looks like for her beyond four years in office if elected, Bodley brought up her opponent.

"I'm not using this as a stepping stone to go to a higher office,” she said. “My opposition has stated publicly…that he would like to go on to state office. And that's fine if that's what he wants to do. He's younger than my children, so he has time and he has energy. But I'm focusing on Cherokee County, North Carolina. This is where my passion is. This is where I'm going to put these years of my life." 

She also takes issue with what she believes is his stated approach to the job.

"He has said that he wants to be the person making the decisions,” Bodley said. “None of us are the person making the decisions. We are a board. We are working together. And if we're not willing to go in there with the mindset that we're going to listen to the others, and learn from them, and contribute what we have to contribute — and then we might have to reach some compromises here and there to get to the best result — we've got some good minds. I think I'm one of them. Let's put our good minds together to solve those problems." 

Paid for by Judith Bodley, candidate for the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners District 3 seat. Hey Cherokee County accepts paid political advertising. Candidates and campaigns may contact us for rates and availability.

The Andrews Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to begin the process of considering a temporary moratorium on high-impact developments including artificial intelligence facilities and data-mining operations.

"This is not about being against business, technology, or bringing new opportunities to Andrews," Mayor James Reid said at the October 14 meeting. "It is about being proactive instead of reactive."

Reid acknowledged that the town's zoning board did not plan to recommend a pause on data centers and similar developments but argued that the Board of Aldermen should seek answers to some basic questions first — among them: What would a large-scale data center mean for Andrews' water and electricity supply? What about traffic and noise? Where would such a facility even be appropriate? And do the town's existing regulations adequately cover any of it? 

"We may find that the rules we already have are enough. We may find that some changes are needed," Reid said. "The point is that we should figure that out before we are faced with making a decision, not after."

Alderman James McLean made a motion directing the town attorney, in coordination with the town manager, town clerk, and planning staff, to prepare three things for the November meeting:

1. A proposed resolution to initiate consideration of a temporary development moratorium covering high-impact uses, including data-mining and AI facilities

2. A proposed ordinance establishing the moratorium, including its scope, duration, termination date, findings, and the actions the town would undertake during the moratorium period

3. The documents needed to schedule a legally required public hearing

The Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion.

Cherokee County has been wrestling with similar questions as part of a broader conversation about how AI computing infrastructure affects local communities. Water use, power consumption, noise, and environmental impact have all been part of that discussion.

The county is developing its own high-impact land use ordinance for areas under its jurisdiction. Andrews' action is separate, focused specifically on what may be needed within town limits.

"Andrews has always welcomed opportunity,” Reid said. “We just need to make sure we are prepared when new opportunities come our way.”

GOT A STORY? GOT A BUSINESS? We want to hear about it. Story ideas, businesses you'd like to see featured, community events, announcements — send them our way. If it's happening in Cherokee County, it belongs here. Use this form to reach out to us.

CORRECTIONS Notice something inaccurate? We want to get it right. Use this form to tell us what needs to be corrected and we'll address it promptly.