Opening statement

I am a Roanoke Valley native, educated in the Weldon City Schools and Fayetteville State University.

I have been married to the former Sandra Walden for 33 years and we have raised two adult children, Kendal and Kevin.

My mother-in-law is Mrs. Arizona McNair Putney of Roanoke Rapids.

I retired as Community Corrections Manager with the Department of Public Safety with 28 years of service.

My community involvement in Halifax County includes the following: Co-founder and President of Exodus for Youth mentoring organization for 21 years, volunteer youth soccer and basketball coach for 15 years, Real Estate Agent for over 25 years, former school board member 13 years, member of Halifax Regional Medical Center Board of Directors 10 years and currently serve as Chairman of State Employee’s Credit Union Board.

Why are you running?

I am seeking my second term on the Halifax County Board of Commissioners to continue the priorities of my first term and they are to focus on jobs, education, senior citizens, public safety and maintain low property taxes.

Are you for or against school merger?

I am opposed to merger of the three schools districts currently operating in Halifax County.

Here is why:

As it relates to students, I have seen no data to prove a correlation between merging schools and an increase in overall academic achievement or a reduction in the drop-out rate for students.

Merging schools would lead to larger classroom sizes, longer bus rides for students, as well longer commutes for parents to get to their child’s school.

Higher performing students would continue to perform at a high level in Honors and AP classes, while lower performing students would continue to struggle in classes tracked for lower performance.

As it relates to taxes, the voters of the Halifax County School District voted down a supplemental school tax by almost 3 to 1 which would have raised county taxes for education to levels currently being paid by the residents of Weldon and Roanoke Rapids School Districts.

Weldon and Roanoke Rapids decided years ago to make education a priority and in doing so, they chose to raise taxes and make the financial sacrifice to fund their children’s education.

In 2012, 72 percent of the voters in the Halifax County School District decided they were still not ready to pay more taxes, even if it will benefit our students of the county.

I am not going to overrule their decision by supporting a merger that would force them into paying more taxes.

As it is related to jobs, a merger would lead to school closings as well as major layoff for teachers, administrators, as well as other staff. Our county needs more jobs, not less jobs.

I will not support any action that puts Halifax County residents out of work.

Do you feel there are any alternative to merger that could be explored?

The Evergreen Report identified several recommendations that could save tax payer dollars and if implemented, could make the system more efficient. Emphasis on the three public school systems in Halifax County should not be about merger, but about student achievement.

Which report do you feel is more valid, The UNC Center for Civil Rights Study or the Evergreen Report?

The UNC Center for Civil Rights Study report viewed the three systems from a historical civil rights perspective. The Evergreen Report was commissioned by the Halifax County Board of Commissioners to examine ways to improve education in the county and provide information to make improvements. Both reports should be considered, however the Evergreen Report should be our guide.

The county’s fund balance has dipped dangerously low. Please explain how you think this happened? Please explain what needs to be done to get it back up to acceptable levels?

I think the reason for the fund balance dipping so low has to do with the recent recession the county experienced.

Halifax County also has high unemployment, cuts in federal and state funding as well as less money in local sales taxes and not much economic growth.

In order to improve our fund balance, the economy will need to improve and we need to continue to look for ways to cut county costs while preserving county services.

I feel that we have economic development projects that will soon come to fruition in 2015/2016 that will provide a major boost to our local economy.

Some governments enact small tax increases each year to keep up with the cost of doing business. Would you be in favor of this?

I’m opposed to any tax increase. If a tax increase should need to occur, I feel that discussion should be centered around a sales tax and not a property tax.

Commissioners recently voted to not expend funds to expand the county jail. Why or why not was this the correct thing to do? Do you feel this matter should be looked at again? What do you believe the economic advantages or disadvantages to this decision will be?

I agree with the decision by the Halifax County Board of Commissioners not to refurbish and expand the Halifax County Jail. This was the right thing to do due to the projected cost for the entire project.

If we had proceeded with this project we would have had great challenges in trying to move forward to build/remodel schools.

Additionally it would have been a very good possibility that we would have to raise property taxes, which is something the Commissioners did not want to do.

We did vote to move forward with a transportation plan for inmates which will ease overcrowding in the Halifax County jail at the same time put the county in compliance with state requirements.

Following the meetings on the recreation master plan, one of the recommendations is that the county consider forming a recreation department and making the 4-H Rural Life Center part of that plan. What are your thoughts on recreational needs in the county and how do we go about making that happen? What needs to be done to bring recreational activities to wider spectrum of people in the county?

Halifax County is almost at the bottom when it comes to health. I do feel that more recreation is needed in the county. I strongly feel that more conversation regarding this needs to take place among Commissioners and our citizens.

Discuss any other issues you feel are important for the betterment of Halifax County and what you would do to improve them.

I truly believe that the only way the county will move forward would be for citizens to currently work together for the betterment of our county. I strongly feel that more parental involvement is needed to enhance education for all our boys and girls in the county. As a County Commissioner, I’m committed to bringing these things to fruition.