Updated as of 5:15 p.m. April 29 to reflect the version printed in The Pendulum on April 29, 2026.

The town of Elon and Elon university are mending relationships and working on more effective communication following a dispute that prompted Elon University to halt all payments to the town. The rollout of a new fire inspection process revealed code violations, which the university had not addressed.

One of these violations, written in citation by town of Elon fire marshal Brian Graves, stated that in January 2025, Elon University had “assured” Graves that the carbon monoxide monitors would be installed in Danieley dorms A, B, C and D. The town conducted a follow-up later in June, which revealed the university had not complied. 

The follow up said there were “missing carbon monoxide alarms in required locations.” According to the report, some of the installed alarms were reported “defective or inoperable,” with some containing batteries that had been dead since 2023, and others that had corroded parts in batteries and terminals. 

The citation described this as “willful neglect by the university to maintain critical life safety systems as required.” 

Patrick Noltemeyer, Elon University’s chief of staff to the board of trustees, said the decision to halt payments came as the university was adjusting to the shift in oversight and the new procedures. When Brian Graves was appointed fire marshal of the Town of Elon in 2024, fire inspection responsibilities for Elon University and businesses transferred from Alamance County to the town of Elon as a part of the town’s initiative to hire fire inspectors. The county had previously done the inspections at no cost. Now, the cost ranges from $75 to $1,000 dollars, according to the town of Elon fiscal year 2025-26 fee schedule.

“We were used to going to the county-level fire marshal for support, for building inspections and for building permits, site reviews and so on,” Noltemeyer said.

In a memo, Elon Town Manager Richard Roedner wrote that when the university cut these funds, the town had to implement new budget cuts. 

“Because the University is still withholding funds for the fire department, totaling approximately $423,524, with a commitment of releasing the funds ONLY IF we maintain a positive collaborative relationship with the University (a standard that was never articulated by the University in past, and which no other entity in Elon has the ability to place on our services), I am making the following budgetary cuts, effective immediately,” Roedner wrote in the memo. 

According to Noltemeyer and Elon Town Manager Richard Roedner, the payments to the town are “voluntary,” and carry no binding agreement, unlike PILOT payments, which are made in place of taxes. As a nonprofit institution, Elon University is exempt from paying property taxes. 

“We have a letter from the university saying they will give us this money on an annual basis,” Roedner said. 

Noltemeyer said the friction has been a part of the university adapting to working with a new authority since Graves became the town fire marshal in 2024. 

“Each fire marshal is responsible for the interpretation of the fire code and establishing a process for evaluating compliance with the fire code,” Noltemeyer wrote. “We needed to get up to speed with how the new fire marshal, who was now our authority figure, was going to implement supervision of the code, and what his interpretation was going to be.”

In an email to Elon News Network, Noltemeyer, wrote that the Danieley buildings were over 30 years old and had met previous fire codes, but not modern ones. He said once the problems were identified, the university installed temporary monitoring systems that were checked monthly to make sure they were operational. Since then, he said the university has begun switching out carbon monoxide detectors with modernized equipment that have back-up battery power. 

“Most detectors have now been updated, with the remaining units scheduled for replacement by Aug. 1.,” Noltemeyer wrote in the email. 

Roedner said the initial process of inspections was slow, but the town has since purchased software to speed up this process by allowing inspectors to document their findings online while on-site.

Communication breakdowns between the university and town also fueled the conflict. In one email, Roedner noted a concern over the HealthEU building process. 

Roedner wrote in an email about the “EU review process” that ongoing communication issues between review groups and the school have raised concerns about the Health EU project in recent months. 

He said there were also tensions between the on-the-ground inspectors and the higher-level administrators, who weren’t present during the inspection, which caused repeated escalations. By mandating that inspectors have written reports, the town has begun to alleviate this problem, according to Roedner. 

“There’s an inherent conflict between those different hierarchies,” Roedner said. “Everything’s gotten escalated. So everything has to be in writing now. No more, ‘Take care of that law.’”

Roedner said the relationship between the university and the town is complex. In terms of statistics, he said physically half of the town is the university, and a quarter of the town’s population is made up of students. 

“Based on that alone, they’re a huge user of municipal services,” Roedner said. “Whether it’s sewer and water, whether it’s fire, whether it’s fire inspections, whether it’s permitting, the university uses a lot of town resources.” 

More than this, Roedner said they have a working relationship when it comes to large projects, such as the sidewalk construction down South Williamson and building the plaza. 

Above all, the town and university have a financial relationship. 

“They’ve made contributions, we’ve taken on responsibility for matching those contributions to create something that we didn’t do before,” Roedner said. 

The university resumed its payments to the town in March, and members from both parties said they are working to maintain communication and their relationship. 

“We’re intertwined,” Roedner said. “There’s benefits to it, there’s detriments to it, and we both have to live with the good and the bad.”