Candidates for Davidson County Board of Commissioners focus on future needs of the community during forum

Candidates running for the Davidson County Board of Commissioners answered a variety of questions during a candidates' forum on Monday at Davidson-Davie Community College.

The eleven candidates who participated included Don Deal, Chris Elliott (incumbent); Tripp Kester, Mandy Ellis Kiser; Fred Lankford, Jr., Tonya Lanier, Robert Miller, Matt Mizell, Steve Shell (incumbent); Don Truell (incumbent) and Karen Watford (incumbent). Candidate Zak Crotts did not attend the forum.

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Because of a delay in the 2020 Census which impacted the redrawing of local electoral maps, primary elections will be held on May 17, which is also the day for municipal elections. The 2022 general election will be on Nov. 8.

Due to the number of candidates attending, individual questions were broken down into groups of two or three.

When asked whether they agreed with offering tax incentives to lure potential businesses, candidates Don Deal and Chris Elliott differed. Deal stated he didn’t agree with “tax breaks on the back of working citizens.”

But Elliott says in his past experience on the board, he has seen tax incentives help with economic development.

“Over the last four years with this group of Commissioners, we have brought over $1.6 billion worth of industry to Davidson County, and we have brought over 1,600 jobs. And we brought those here because we could offer incentives.”

When asked what skills, talents and vision they had to move the county forward, Kiser said her experience serving on a multitude on community boards has taught her to “speak up and speak out” while still working together with others.

"I feel really strongly about working with others.,” said Kiser. “It is helpful that you know that others...will work with you and you can move things forward and make things happen."

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Lankford, Truell and Mizell all agreed when questioned about the importance of regionalism to the economic growth of Davidson County.

“That is probably one of my top priorities,” said Truell. “There is no way we could operate without regionalism. It holds the tax rate down by partnering with others...Without regionalism Davidson County couldn’t be what it is today.”

When asked what does improving Davidson County meant to you, Lanier said to her it means growth in population as well as in economics which impacts the morale of community.

"Our county has shown some decline and stagnation. This has a seriously damaging effect on careers, education, health, pocketbooks, but most importantly, cultural morale. I feel we should take a look and make sure there is not a policy or practice that's hurting or affecting our growth and prosperity,” said Lanier.

Candidates also answered the question on what quality of life improvements they would like to see in the county.

Miller said he believes there needs to be more improvements and upgrades in the school system, an important quality of life improvement is getting more money for 911 services.

"If they don't grow with us, then they're put in a situation where they don't have the manpower or the ability to handle the growth. Right now, we're losing a lot of our workers to the private sector because we can't compete with wages right now,” said Miller.

When asked what items they would prioritize in the county budget, Mizell, Truell and Lankford all agreed the county needs to offer better wages, but also more equipment to support first responders.

“We need to stay competitive on the pay scale,” said Lankford. “We need current, good equipment for our people to work with...Fire, police and EMS, we are all one heartbeat away from having to call these people, and we need them to be there when we do make the call.”

During one round of the questions, candidates were asked if they supported raising taxes, reducing taxes or keeping them the same. Miller, Lanier and Watford all said they would keep the tax rate at the current rate.

“Over several years we've been able to keep our tax rate at 54 cents,” said Watford. “Previous schools were built across the county ... with previous commissioners, and they were able to build all those schools still with the 54-cent tax rate. So, I think the citizens continue to be satisfied with the tax rate that we have.”

Candidates Shell, Kiser and Kester said when asked that there are many personal priorities they could focus on, but the most important priorities are set by the public.

“We derive our priorities from the consent of the governed, plain and simple,” said Kester. “I want be accessible to hear what their feelings are on the issue, along with the consensus among my fellow Commissioners to prioritize what is important for the people.”

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The candidates also were asked what their vision for the county was in ten years. Deal said he wanted to see a county with more jobs, better infrastructure and a booming economy.

“When we have a county that's growing like ours, you've got to be able to support that growth, said Deal. “And I would like to try to find and track down any wasteful spending that could be cut, the funding issues without raising their taxes.”

Several of the candidates were asked what ordinances they would like to see changed and why.

Kester said he would like to see current ordinances be more “business friendly” to keep more people in the county. Kiser and Shell said they were concerned about the recent increase in large housing developments and the sizes of the lots.

“I am opposed to more government intrusion but the reality of it is, picture your home and a chemical plant wants (to build next door) and we don’t have zoning to take care of that,” said Shell. “But what saddens me more than anything...is looking at these subdivisions that are taking the place of farms.”

Other candidates were asked what issues prompted them to run for office and how they would tackle those issues if elected.

Mizell said he decided to run because of all the social discourse in the nation in the past few years. He also said he wants to make Davidson County a place where people want to live.

“I've watched over the past three decades...close friends move off,” said Mizell. “They go to Charlotte, they go to Raleigh, where they just leave the state completely because that's where the opportunities are. And so that's the other concern I had for getting involved could help make Davidson County a destination.”

The candidates finished the forum by making a two minute closing statement.

General news reporter Sharon Myers can be reached at sharon.myers@the-dispatch.com. Follow her on Twitter @LexDispatchSM.

This article originally appeared on The Dispatch: Candidates for Davidson County Commissioners focus on future at forum