Who is Eric Rowell, Huntersville Board of Commissioners candidate?

Evan Moore
·2 min read

Name: Eric Rowell

Age: 42

Campaign website or social media page: electericrowell.com

Occupation: Risk Management

Education: NC State University

Have you run for elected office before? (Please list previous offices sought):

Yes, 2021 Huntersville

Please list your highlights of civic involvement.

Huntersville Board of Adjustment; Huntersville Educational Options Study Commission; Huntersville 2040 Plan Steering Committee; and prior to moving to Huntersville, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Access Corporation

What one professional or political accomplishment are you most proud of?

Being awarded the 2021 Sunshine Award for a Citizen by the NC Open Government Coalition

Traffic is an issue in Huntersville while a few critical road projects, such as the widening of N.C. 73, have been delayed by NCDOT. How would you tackle the town’s traffic problem?

Ensuring local road improvement projects are prioritized over non-motorized projects if the $50M town transportation bond is approved by voters in November, which will help ease congestion while we wait for state road projects to be completed over the next few years.

What are your ideas about how the town should recruit and retain more police officers specifically? And all town employees more broadly?

Employee retention across all industries has been a challenge over the past few years, including local government. HPD needs to implement objective hiring and promotional criteria to ensure the best people are hired and promoted to provide our residents the highest level of public safety possible. We need a town board that will listen to the concerns of all officers within the department, not just command staff, so officers feel supported and morale improves.

Huntersville has experienced rapid population growth over the last few decades with the approval of hundreds of new homes. Do you think the town should control growth in some way or keep expanding? Why?

Future growth in Huntersville is inevitable due to still undeveloped land and the large number of people continuing to move to North Carolina, but elected officials in Huntersville have a duty to balance property rights with demands on existing infrastructure to ensure we continue to grow at a responsible rate.

Why should voters choose you over others who are in the race?

Because Huntersville needs someone on the town board who is going to publicly challenge the status quo and I have a documented track record of doing exactly that for years and will continue to push for greater transparency and accountability if elected.