Climate and Environment
- Continue to support the creation of new public transportation options to reduce our carbon footprint, offering public education on these important issues
- Encourage renewable energy sources for all county buildings and new development
- Assist lower income homeowners with an energy audit; seal homes to reduce fuel consumption
- Encourage schools to continue to compost and reduce food waste
- Encourage residents to chose Energy Star products when replacing old appliances
- Continue to work on the Solid Waste Advisory Board (SWAG) to reduce our waste stream; support new technology efforts converting waste to fuel
- Encourage the acquisition of land through the “Lands Legacy Program” to protect important natural habitats and forests
- Support Orange County’s Voluntary Farmland Preservation Program currently 121 farms, 15,433 acres, about 6% of the county.
Economic Development
- Work with our Economic Development team to identify and attract new business. In 2019, I assisted in the negotiation of over $100 million dollars invested in the Buckhorn EDD, bringing 650 living wage jobs over the next 5 years.
- Continue to support local business with Article 46 tax dollar grants
- Work with UNC “Innovate Carolina” to create space and retain new start business in Orange County
- Support and continue working with the laUNCh business incubator
- Continue to support Women Entrepreneurs at “WEpower”
- Grow tourism though the Orange County Visitors Bureau, promoting clean Economic Development
- Support programs at Durham Tech – Orange County Campus to support newly located company workforce
Affordable Housing
- Allocate remaining funds from the 2016 bond
- Continue conversations with town leaders to identify housing opportunities
- Continue working with Orange County’s housing non-profit organizations to enhance housing stock
- Consider land by Carrboro Elementary for teacher and school staff housing
- Continue to explore affordable housing options with our partners on the Greene Tract – currently 100 families are homeless in the CHCCS system, we can and must do better
- Revisit zoning options to make it easier to build a variety of housing
Schools
- Continue to address unfunded state mandates
- Support efforts to increase safety on all school property
- Identity funding sources; increase economic development
- Support ongoing data presented in SAFPO
- Continue discussions on where to locate new schools
- Continue to address inequities between old and newer schools
- Encourage the schools to make all custodians CHCCS employees paid a living wage
- Continue to encourage a long-term maintenance plan for all facilities
Social Justice
- Push an anti-racist message and voice opposition to hate groups
- Continue efforts with UNC to assure students and faculty are safe on campus
- Support the Human Relations Committee’s programs and outreach efforts
- Implement new transportation concepts for rural Orange County
- Continue to help people relocate from manufactured homes where land is being sold for redevelopment
- Continue conversations with the Compass Center to create safe homes for women and children in abusive relationships
- Work with the Department on Aging to make sure our seniors are safe and have access to regular meals
- Continue working with the Partnership to End Homelessness and the Family Success Alliance to identify families needing assistance with basic needs such water and electricity – children need these essentials to perform well in school
Leadership, Boards and Commissions
- Rotating Chair – Chatham-Orange Joint Planning Task Force
- Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization
- Orange County Juvenile Crime Prevention Council
- Legislative Issues Workgroup
- Solid Waste Advisory Group
- Triangle J Council of Governments
- Upper Neuse River Basin Association
- Finance Chair – Orange County Visitor’s Bureau
- NCDOT – Orange County group
- School Collaboration
- Chapel Hill/Carrboro Chamber of Commerce “Big Ideas” initiative
- Rural Broadband Workgroup
- Kenan Mentor Board of Directors
- School of Government Ambassador Leadership Alum
Sponsored Resolutions
- Resolution in Response to Recent Acts of Racial and Ethnic Intimidation on the Campus of UNC-Chapel Hill
- Resolution Supporting the More Powerful NC Campaign Against the Opioid Epidemic
- Resolution Supporting North Carolina’s Working People and Their Families
- Resolution in Support of Expanding Medicaid Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act
- Resolution Condemning the Ku Klux Klan and Other Similar Group