After 23 years on Dillsboro board, Moody elects not to run this term

By Rose Hooper

Wade Wilson, mayor for 26 years, has decided not to run this term, and neither will Vice Mayor Reg Moody after 23 years in office.

Also, board member Dot Dishman is not expected to run again, due to health reasons. Moody, who has worked as Wilson's right hand, partner and vice mayor, decided 23 years on the board is enough for him.

"I think it's time to give someone else a chance to take over," he said. "At my age I want more free time. In March, I stopped working full time at the funeral home, and I'm gradually pulling out of most of my civic responsibilities. Now I'm spending my time doing what I want to do when I want to do it. It's the greatest feeling."

Still chairman of the WestCare foundation board, Moody just rotated off the board at Southwestern Community College. He's been on the Western Carolina University foundation board since 1972 and on the board of directors of First Union Bank since 1968. He's also a trustee at Sylva First United Methodist Church and past president of the Sylva Rotary Club.

"Dillsboro has really grown since I've been on town council," Moody said Monday as he walked through the crowd in town for Thomas the Tank Engine, a promotional event put on by Great Smoky Mountain Railroad. "We used to have just a few shops. Judy (his wife) and I opened Enloe Market Place in 1985."

"I remember back when the merchants' association bellyached that we didn't have enough people coming into town. Then the train came," he said. "Suddenly Dillsboro was filled with people.

"Then some of the merchants bellyached about having too many people," he continued. "Other merchants bellyached that they had no room to park. I told them, 'My goodness, you want business and then when you get it, you gripe about it. You better figure out what you want.'"

Achieving that balance between small-town charm and a viable economy has been Wilson and Moody's charge for more than 20 years.

"I feel good about how we've protected Dillsboro over the years," Moody said. "We've got ordinances in place that protect unregulated growth. A lot of other municipalities have asked us how we've been able to do that and do it without much fuss. I think one of the reasons is because we are proactive.

"Take our ordinances regulating sexually-oriented businesses and cell towers," he said. "We took action even before there was a hint either was interested in Dillsboro."

Although the board has controlled much "undesirable" development, Moody said one thing he would like to still see accomplished is "some control over structures in town. I'd like to see some control over shape and color to preserve our downtown charm."

Vice mayor for the past 12 years, Moody said, "For a little town, we do well financially."

Perhaps the biggest problems he and Wilson faced while in office were "when people wanted us to do things that as a town we aren't able to do."

Moody is quick to point out that the Dillsboro board "is a real working board. We go see about falling trees and stopped up drains."

The board's strength, he feels, "lies in its cohesiveness. We all have the same vision for the town. There's not a one of us who ever came on the board with his own agenda. We've always worked for the collective good of Dillsboro."

Moody's history with the town goes way back to his great grandfather, Capt. William Alfred Enloe, who moved to Dillsboro in 1885. The town was incorporated in 1889.

"I'm the last Enloe descendant living in Dillsboro," said Moody, who was taught "if you live in a community and make it your home, you need to do your part in giving back to the community." Sitting on the bench next to Enloe Market Place and chatting with passersby, Moody said, "I can't think of a better place to live than Dillsboro. Where else can you hear a train whistle and a church bell from your own house?"

As an outspoken man on all fronts, Moody has never been shy about expressing his opinion or standing up for something he believes in.

"Oh, I might have made some people mad along the way, even though that wasn't my intention... and some people have made me mad, but I'm not vindictive and I don't hold a grudge.

"I think in this life you only have to be accountable to two people ­ yourself and God ­ and I feel pretty well satisfied on both counts," he said.

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