ICYMI: In case you did not have an opportunity to read the candidate responses to last week's Courier-Times questionnaire, please see mine posted below!
Name: Sherry Clayton Wilborn
Age: 50
Occupation: Certified Economic Developer, Commercial Real Estate Broker and Consultant
Political experience: 9 years of close interaction with Roxboro and Person County elected leaders through employment with Person County Economic Development; working with local, state, and national legislators on economic development priorities and needs; involvement with the campaign to Elect Jason “Skeet” Wilborn for Person County Sheriff in 2022
Civic involvement: Boards and Memberships (All current): Roxboro Area Chamber of Commerce, Roxboro-Person County Home Builders Association, Roxboro Savings Bank Board of Directors, Kerr Tar Regional Council of Governments, North Carolina Economic Development Association, International Economic Development Council; Voting; Running for Office; Engaging with elected leaders at the City, County, State, and National levels on matters affecting Person County; Volunteering with political campaigns; Volunteering with and donating to school, church, and civic organizations
1. What is your vision for the future of Person County? My vision for the future of Person County includes governance that seeks to preserve Person County’s rural character while creating a place that is ripe with opportunity for our citizens. The next question allows me to elaborate.
2. How should elected officials strike a balance between tax base growth and economic development while maintaining the county's rural character? The best way to approach increasing the tax base, growing the economy, and maintaining the county’s rural character is to establish policies that promote the highest and best use of the land, infrastructure, and resources that are available to us, and which minimally restrict property owners. For example, in considering the adoption of a new Unified Development Ordinance, there should be considerable flexibility in the permitted uses for the Rural Development district. This district makes up 64% of the county’s land use. Some people think more regulations in the land use allowances is what will protect our rural character, but if more restrictions are placed on what can be done out in the county so that commercial uses are forced into the city, then either the city will necessarily expand and take away from the small town feel, or entrepreneurs who need to start out operating their businesses from their homes will not be able to afford the start-up costs of offsite overhead and we will miss out on opportunities for small business growth to come from local people who can serve the needs of the community best.
3. What more can the commissioners do to support local first responders that isn't already done? The commissioners can remember to bring in the leadership of the first responder agencies earlier in the planning and decision-making related to all types of growth, development, and development policies. Whether development projects are residential, commercial, industrial, or even recreational, they are dependent on support from first responders. This also includes increases in events throughout the county and regulations that are added through ordinances such as the proposed Unified Development Ordinance. When growth happens or regulations are instated, it can be taken for granted that public safety agencies will be there to respond and enforce. Over time this leads to them being spread thin with vehicles, equipment, and staffing across all first responder agencies.
4. How should the commissioners be supporting the local school system? Should the commissioners be providing more funding or have more involvement? The commissioners are tasked with supporting the capital needs of the school system. I believe it’s time for a more proactive approach to funding the needs of the aging school facilities. I spoke with some current and past leaders in Johnston County, a place where they have had unprecedented growth while keeping pace with adding and updating school facilities. In the past 25 years, Johnston County has invested $750-$800 million in school facilities and has still been able to lower the tax rate during that same period. This was done primarily through school bond referendums, which is the same method employed by Person County in the mid-1990s when the county also experienced much economic growth. Another strategy is to have dedicated funding from the increased tax revenue from proposed industrial development projects to be for infrastructure development, including schools.
5. Has there been a vote or action the commissioners have taken in the last few years that you do not agree with? What would you have done differently? I hear and read derogatory comments about county commissioners all the time. We live in a time that politics has become nasty and divisive, sadly, even on a local level. As someone who has attended or watched essentially every county commissioner and city council meeting over the last 10 years, I understand how tough some of the decisions they have to make are, so I won’t cast stones. With that said, I think none of the current candidates would be running if we didn’t think we had something to add, or to put it differently, if we didn’t think something was lacking. One decision the commissioners made recently that really stood out to me that I believe would have gone very differently if there had been someone on the board with an economic development perspective was a special use permit request for Brandon’s Wrecker Service. I do think special use permits have a place, but the approval process can be far too subjective. That particular approval had 2 conditions placed on it by the commissioners that were above and beyond staff recommendations and placed additional expense and requirements on a small business that no one else in the county has to follow. That action may not seem to impact many, but it stood out to me because it struck at many of the things that are so important to me as a Republican candidate – landowner rights, small business and entrepreneurship support, and small government. I expressed my views to one of the commissioners afterwards, and he was sympathetic to my points in support of that small business in hindsight. I saw reluctance in a couple of others when it came time to vote. That was definitely a situation that I felt I could have made a difference if I had a voice and a vote. I could speak to more hot button decisions they’ve made, but on many of those they had multiple closed sessions, so I am not dealing with all the same information they were. In the case of that special use permit, I am.
6. Is there a topic or issue in Person County you feel has not received enough attention? What should be done about it? Yes; I believe a strategy to plan for growth has not been addressed. With only one municipality, and one which controls the county’s access to water and sewer infrastructure and residential growth, the city and county should be working more closely to address infrastructure needs and to develop a strategy for growth. The Economic Development Commission is the place where leadership from both elected bodies overlaps and which also focuses on growth. They are the organization that can initiate that collaboration, and with my economic development background and knowledge of local infrastructure, I am equipped to lead those efforts as a commissioner.
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