Who is Ken McCool, candidate for Matthews Board of Commissioners?
Name: Ken McCool
Age as of Nov. 7, 2023: 25
Campaign website or social media page: votekenmccool.com
Occupation: CEO of Kens Sports Cards/Mayor Pro tem
Education: Connecticut school of broadcasting
Have you run for elected office before? (Please list previous offices sought or held):
Yes, two term Commissioner, last term spent as Mayor Pro Tem
Please list your highlights of civic involvement:
Spearheaded $1.5 million dollar allocation of ARPA funds for attainable/affordable housing. Played a crucial role in getting the Matthews parks and transportation bonds approved, which will result in the largest investment in those areas in over 15 years.Helped repair the relationship between CMS in Matthews, and that has worked towards more investment in Matthews students and schools.I also serve on many civic boards includingMatthews Playhouse Board of directorsCentralina Regional Council CRTPO (serve as alternate)Metro Mayors coalition (serve as alternate)Matthews eommittee on education Municipal education advisory committee (serve as alternate)
How should Matthews handle residential, commercial and industrial development? Should the town change any ordinances or rules to alter how development occurs? If so, what?
I believe that responsible development is crucial for the town. Matthews is a great place to live, so many developers want to build in Matthews. I believe we have to do many things when approving development, we need to make sure we are ensuring tree save and green space - no one wants all the trees cut down when something is being built. We have to ensure that the developers are building some attainable/affordable housing, this is crucial as we have teachers, first responders, nurses, and others who work in Matthews but cannot afford to live in the town they serve, we can help this by making every new development have affordable housing either for sale or for rent.
What’s the best feature of the town of Matthews and what’s the most important thing it needs to improve?
I believe the best features we have is our downtown and our park spaces. Matthews is bustling, our vibrant downtown and parkland make it so it is a great place to be and to raise a family. The main challenge I see that needs to be improved is traffic, we need to continue to work with NCDOT and our public works department to work on alleviating the traffic problem, luckily the passage of the transportation bond last year will give us the resources to build some new roads that will alleviate some traffic, although there still is a ways to go.
An internal investigation found that Matthews Police misrepresented how successful they were at clearing crimes. What can you do, if anything, as a member of the town board to ensure police are accurately reporting internally and to the public what crime looks like in Matthews?
The Police department directly reports to the town manager not to the Board of Commissioners. Although we do not have direct control of the police department as a board members, we do have a vested interest in making sure that crime statistics and other areas of the police department are accurately represented to the people of Matthews. That is what transparency is all about, so we will continue to work towards better transparency by working with the staff and the Department. I know our police department is on the right track now, and that we will continue to have transparent policing and statistics.
What sets you apart from other candidates on the ballot and makes you the best choice?
I have used the tagline “Youth and Experience “ for my re-election bid. Although I am comparatively young to the other candidates, I am experienced in serving the last 4 years on the Board of Commissioners, and 2 of the last 4 as Mayor Pro Tem. I have many accomplishments that I am so proud of in these last 4 years, but the work is ongoing and I am excited to continue the good work if re-elected for my 3rd term. I humbly ask for your vote once again this November.
