Jackson commissioner violated state law by skipping ethics training
Commissioner John Smith was elected in 2022.
Jackson County government photo
Unlike the other four members of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, John W. Smith did not take the basic ethics training within 12 months of election as required by state law, The Smoky Mountain News has learned.
General Statute 160A-87 states that “All members of governing boards of cities, counties, local boards of education, unified governments, sanitary districts and consolidated city‑counties shall receive a minimum of two clock hours of ethics education within 12 months after initial election or appointment to the office and again within 12 months after each subsequent election or appointment to the office.”
The training covers laws and guiding principles around conflicts of interest and ethical standards for local government officials, whether elected or appointed. Statute goes on to say that the training “may be provided by the North Carolina League of Municipalities, North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, North Carolina School Boards Association, the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, or other qualified sources at the choice of the governing board.”
Documents provided to SMN by Jackson County show that commissioners Michael Jennings and Jenny Hooper, each elected Nov. 5, 2024, completed their training sessions well within the statutory limit, both logging 10.5 hours of course contact on “essentials of county government” that includes the required ethics training. Jennings and Hooper took the training on Feb. 19, 2025, barely three months into their terms.
Chairman Mark Letson, elected Nov. 8, 2022, wasted little time in taking his mandated training, completing 10 hours of essentials of county government training less than six weeks after his election.
Commissioner Todd Bryson, elected the same day as Letson and Smith, took 11.5 hours of essentials of county government training on Jan. 18, 2023, just over two months after his election.
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The four all took their training with the School of Government Services, Inc., an arm of the UNC School of Government.
When SMN filed the public records request with Jackson County on July 2, board clerk Angie Winchester promptly delivered proof that the four were in compliance with state law. But for Smith, there was a problem.
“John Smith has taken the course and we are working to verify with the SOG,” Winchester said by email July 10. “I will forward it to you when I receive it.”
Statute requires the governing board’s clerk to maintain a record verifying receipt of the ethics education by each member of the governing board.
On July 16, Winchester provided a “verification of attendance” certificate purportedly issued by the UNC School of Government signed and dated by Smith on July 15, well after the 12-month period dictated in statute had passed.
The certificate provided by Smith looks nothing like the certificates provided by other commissioners and says he took only two hours of ethics training — far less than the 10 or so hours of essentials of county government training taken by his colleagues. Subsequent clarification by Winchester indicated that Smith took the two-hour ethics training on July 10, the same day she delivered certificates from the other four commissioners and told SMN she was still searching for Smith’s.
“His previous certificate could not be found, so he just took the class again on July 10,” Winchester said July 16.
Asked about whether Smith told her he’d previously taken the training, Winchester said, “Yes, that was his recollection.” Winchester then reiterated that “we could not find the certificate, so he decided to just take the course again.”
Searching for proof that Smith had indeed taken the training prior to July 10, 2025, and within the 12-month statutory period that for Smith would have ended on or about Nov. 8, 2023, SMN reached out to the agencies mentioned in statute as approved vendors of the training.
Personnel from the North Carolina League of Municipalities and the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners said they had nothing to provide.
Kristin Milam, director of strategic communications and member engagement at the North Carolina League of Municipalities, told SMN that typically NCLM only trains municipal officials — from cities, towns or villages but not counties — and that it would be “very uncommon” for a county commissioner to take the training from the NCLM, although NCLM probably wouldn’t turn anyone away. A search of the NCLM database, Milam said, produced no mention of Smith taking the training with NCLM.
Jodie Lanning, senior communications specialist with the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners said that the NCACC does not keep records of who attends its training sessions.
“The county clerk (and in this case, Jackson County Clerk to the Board of County Commissioners) would be the most definitive source for this information, as they maintain the attendance verification forms that their county participants receive and complete upon finishing the training,” Lanning said July 21.
A public records request to the final vendor, the UNC SOG, was fulfilled July 29 but contained no proof Smith had completed the mandated training in during the period specified in statute — instead, the document provided by UNC only created more questions.
The request, filed July 21, asked for all records since Nov. 8, 2022, showing any proof that Jackson County Commissioner John William Smith “registered for or has completed the required ethics training stipulated in GS 160a-87(a).”
The only record produced by UNC, from School of Government Services, Inc., shows two hours of “ethics for local elected officials on-demand” but under the heading of “date” for the training, it reads, “11/01/2025,” a date that has not yet passed.
The public record produced by the SOG mentions nothing about the training Smith was said to have taken on July 10 of this year — during the SMN investigation into his compliance — casting doubt on the authenticity of the form he provided to Winchester.
The UNC SOG didn’t produce any other evidence that Smith had completed any other training, like the 10 or so hours of essentials of county government training each of the four other board members received.
Since taking office, Smith has been lambasted by constituents for a number of controversial decisions, including when commissioners violated the law by not holding public deliberations over the removal of interpretive plaques placed on a Confederate monument in Sylva as well as his vote to leave the Fontana Regional Library System in June.
Public records requests also show Smith sent a Jan. 16 email to FRL board member Bill McGaha pushing for more “conservative Christian” representatives on the FRL board, angering those who reject religious influence on public policy. Religion played a major role in the library dispute, with a number of pastors promoting their own ideologies while denouncing the library for supposedly pushing LGBTQ+ ideology.
According both to statute and to the UNC SOG’s Coates’ Canons blog, the statute imposes a clear training mandate, but not a clear punishment.
There are no formal penalties — no fines, criminal sanctions or removal from office — for elected officials who fail to complete mandatory ethics training under North Carolina General Statutes.
Still, public officials who skip the training may face political fallout. Failing to complete the requirement can raise questions about an official’s commitment to transparency and good governance. That, in turn, can erode public trust.
Boards do have the option to adopt codes of ethics and may issue a public censure for perceived ethical lapses, including a refusal to attend training. But under current law, such actions are symbolic.
On July 31, Bryson, Hooper, Jennings and Letson were asked via email if they planned to censure Smith for failing to take the ethics training within the stipulated time period. Not one responded.
Smith did not respond to multiple emails sent by SMN on July 16 and July 31 asking for proof from the NCLM, the NCBSA, the NCACC, the UNC SOG or any other qualified source that he had taken the training.
The next meeting of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 5 in the Jackson County Justice & Administration Building, 401 Grindstaff Road, in Sylva.
