Amanda Edwards declares for Buncombe commission chair. Newman, Whitesides, Sloan endorse
ASHEVILLE – Buncombe County Commissioner Amanda Edwards is the first candidate to openly announce a candidacy for chair of the Board of Commissioners. If Edwards wins, she will become the first woman chair of the Board.
The commission’s current chair, Brownie Newman, endorsed Edwards’ candidacy for the highest elected official in the county. Newman announced Oct. 12 that he will not run for reelection. He has held the position since 2016.
Edwards, 46, a Democrat, announced her candidacy in an Oct. 26 Facebook post. She was first elected to the Commission in 2018 and then re-elected in 2022. Edwards serves the third district of Buncombe County, which covers the county’s northwestern corner. If she wins the election, she will represent the entire county.
Edwards told the Citizen Times Nov. 1 that she is running so she can continue to “meaningfully improve how (the county) responds to people who are in need, people who are chronically underserved and people who are marginalized.”
Edwards said that it was difficult to predict the most pressing issue facing the county, pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. She spoke about public safety, education, affordable housing, emergency services and the local economy as the issues to focus on. Edwards currently lives in Weaverville with her husband, Derek Edwards, who is the principal of Asheville High School, their son and dog. She is the executive director of the Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College Foundation.
"She knows the county. She has the leadership ability that we need at this point in time. I think that's critical. We work together well as a team," Commissioner Al Whitesides, who also endorsed Edwards, told the Citizen Times Nov. 1. "With Brownie (Newman) stepping down, and we will all miss him, she will be a good replacement, and it will be a smooth transition."
Commissioner Parker Sloan also endorsed Edwards in a message to the Citizen Times.
Edwards' track record
Edwards said she has advocated to increase pay for Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office deputies and detention center officers. She also wants to make sure that there are enough paramedics and ambulances to respond to emergencies within the county and invest resources in the county’s 911 system. Edwards also wants to grow the community paramedics program, which works to combat addiction in the county.
Part of leading the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners means navigating edicts handed down from Raleigh that local elected officials don’t necessarily agree with. Edwards was involved in a consequential vote meant to address what many on the board considered a failing at the state capitol to increase teacher’s salaries. State employees received a 7% raise over two years, 4% in the 2024 fiscal year and 3% in the 2025 fiscal year. School bus drivers received an additional 2% raise. Local education leaders said that the raise could not keep pace with the price of inflation.
Edwards and other members of the Commission approved a 1-cent per $100 property tax increase, intended to supplement local school employee pay as part of the county’s 2024 budget. That increase and $1 million appropriated in prior budget provisions increased local school supplemental pay by 2%.
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This fell short of what school employees requested – a 7% increase in supplemental pay. Edwards told the Citizen Times that she would have considered a larger increase if the raise encompassed all school employees, not just the salaried employees who receive the supplement.
“I certainly would have entertained going higher to support all of our school employees,” Edwards said. “That’s everyone from our custodians to our school nutrition workers to our teachers to our base administrators. I think we have to broaden the conversation when we talk about K-12 pay to everyone who is employed by K-12.”
Edwards supported additional health care providers coming to Buncombe County, other than HCA Healthcare. Buncombe County is one of the plaintiffs in an antitrust lawsuit against HCA, which bought the Mission Health system in 2019 for $1.5 billion.
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“I think the residents of Buncombe County have spoken loud and clear that they are demanding additional opportunities to receive health care from other providers and I think it is important that we advocate and respond to residents across Buncombe County,” Edwards said.
Edwards signed a June 2022 letter to North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Certificate of Need Chief Michaela Mitchell, requesting that the state award certification to a provider other than HCA to run a 67-bed acute care hospital. The state eventually awarded the CON to AdventHealth. HCA has appealed the decision.
Asked about whether HCA should have control of the two freestanding emergency departments it applied for in West Asheville and Arden, Edwards said that she supports other health care providers coming into the area but wants relief for slammed Mission Hospital emergency department. She did not comment on whether HCA should have control of the pending facilities.
“I’ve been clear since the beginning about supporting any other health care provider coming into the Buncombe County. I have supported that. I will support that,” Edwards said. “As the wait times grow in the ED at Mission, I think it is important to ensure that our paramedics have other EDs to take folks to so that their emergencies can be addressed.”
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The Citizen Times reached out to Commissioners Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, Terri Wells and Martin Moore about whether they endorse Edwards’ candidacy.
The primary for the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners Chair election is March 5, 2024.
Mitchell Black covers Buncombe County and health care for the Citizen Times. Email him at mblack@citizentimes.com or follow him on Twitter @MitchABlack. Please help support local journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Amanda Edwards running for Buncombe County Commission chair
