This campaign is about:
1. Bringing Government to the People
with regular town halls, more plain-language summaries of county decisions, & support for citizen advisory groups
2. Affordability
through stronger programs related to: public transit, property tax relief, healthcare including mental healthcare, energy savings, local agriculture, workforce development, and childcare
3. Sustainable Growth
by coordinating infrastructure with development, supporting our local planning department, pursuing more grant funding, protecting our land’s character (from data centers and more), & increasing transparency
4. Advocating for Every Generation
with opportunities for young people to stay here and investments in public spaces
My first days in office will look like...
Bringing Government to You
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Expand Beyond Courthouse Meetings: Build on our existing public meeting format by bringing regular board listening sessions directly into local fire stations, library branches, and community centers in Fines Creek, Canton, Maggie Valley, Bethel, and Jonathan Creek.
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Modernize Public Access: Complement traditional meeting notices with multi-channel text/social updates and enhanced digital access, ensuring shift workers, busy parents, and rural residents can easily follow board decisions and share input.
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Broaden Citizen Representation: Proactively recruit working parents, young adults, and rural residents to fill vacancies on our dozens of county advisory boards, ensuring a variety of community voices guide county policy.
Championing Sustainability
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Strengthen Farmland Preservation: Support and expand the vital work of our Soil & Water Conservation District and Voluntary Agricultural Districts, securing additional funds to keep working family farms productive.
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Align Infrastructure with Smart Growth: Work alongside our town leaders to guide higher-density development toward areas with existing water and sewer lines, protecting our steep ridges, floodplains, and rural watersheds.
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Invest in Long-Term Disaster Resilience: Continue prioritizing stream bank restoration and natural flood mitigation along the Pigeon River basin to protect homes, businesses, and farmland from future severe weather.
Protecting Household Budgets
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Maximize Property Tax Relief: Partner with our Tax Assessor and Department of Social Services to amplify direct outreach for North Carolina’s existing Elderly/Disabled Homestead Exclusion and Circuit Breaker programs, ensuring every eligible senior and veteran actually gets the tax relief on the books.
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Activate County Assets for Local Housing: Build on current partnerships by conducting a formal inventory of surplus county-owned land, identifying viable parcels to dedicate for workforce housing for our teachers, paramedics, deputies, and local workers.
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Aggressively Pursue Grant Funding: Support our finance and management teams in establishing dedicated matching funds to draw down state, federal, and philanthropic grants and stretch taxpayer dollars further.
Standing Up for Everyone
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Elevate Child Care as Economic Infrastructure: Partner with local early childhood coalitions and our public library system to expand early literacy and support child care capacity for working families.
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Strengthen Lifelines for Older Adults: Protect and expand county support for our Senior Centers, Meals on Wheels, and rural EMS coverage so aging neighbors in every township can live safely and with dignity.
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Ensure Transparency in Settlement Funds: Work collaboratively with public health leadership to ensure our Opioid Settlement allocations remain transparent, measurable, and directly responsive to community-identified gaps in recovery and prevention.