Name as it appears on the ballot: Vickie Adamson
Campaign website: VickieForWakeCounty.com
Phone number: 919-412-5274
Email: Vickieforwakecounty@gmail.com
Years lived in Wake County: 35 years
1. In your view, what are the three most pressing issues facing Wake County? If elected, what will you do to address these issues?
Three issues that are pressing in Wake County:
- Funding our public schools adequately
- Affordable workforce housing connected to public transit
- Need to expand Human Services for the vulnerable citizens from our newborns to our senior citizens.
Too many Wake County residents are not sharing in the prosperity of our county, and there are many things Wake County government can do better to listen to the needs of all its residents and work on ways to provide these services.
Increase local school funding– Our schools deserve better. With the assault on public education by the NC General Assembly, funding public schools should be the top priority for the Wake County Commission along with passing a school construction bond this November. Along with this funding need, we must improve working conditions for our teachers. Our Wake County teachers work hard, and that’s why I want our teachers to have the support systems they need—counselors, social workers, school psychologists, and nurses—to care for the whole child, so teachers can focus on teaching and learning. We need to make sure that every school employee is paid a livable wage (at least $15 per hour) just like our county employees. Our school bus drivers and cafeteria workers need a livable wage. In summary, I will work diligently to find funds to add more helping professionals for our schools, I will support paying all school employees a livable wage, and I will stay focused on getting our school construction needs caught up with demand for school seats throughout the county.
Expand affordable housing throughout Wake County– I know families are struggling to find affordable and stable housing in our community. Our county government needs policies and incentives that expand housing options for everyone. I have not seen the level of commitment it will take to impact this problem. Commissioner Holmes is working hard but she needs help from the full County Commission. I will bring my work experience with Fortune 500 companies to help us look for ways to prioritize and maximize our budget and partner more efficiently throughout the community. I am willing to re-evaluate all of our policies to make sure we are not aiding the gentrification of our neighborhoods, and I will look for ways to have a mix of affordable housing in Wake County. We are losing 900 affordable housing units a year to redevelopment, and at this point only adding 500 more units a year. We have a growing number of homeless citizens, including more and more women and their children, and seniors. As a mother, I empathize with our homeless women and their children. Another key issue is making sure that transit is close to affordable housing to help citizens who cannot afford a car. I will be a County Commissioner who not only cares about everyone—women, men, children and seniors—but I also will do something about it.
Prioritize human services for the aged and our most vulnerable children. I know that many of our families are missing out on our county’s prosperity. I will put renewed emphasis on needed human services for our very youngest children and our seniors. County government needs to focus on people and its core business. I will put Wake County’s children and families first in every county program, especially mental and public health and human services programs.
2. If you are challenging an incumbent, what decisions has the incumbent made that you most disagree with? If you are an incumbent, what in your voting record and experience do you believe entitles you to another term?
I am thankful to Wake County voters for their support during the primary in May. I am honored to be selected to be on the November ballot as the Democratic candidate. I am eager to represent my community. A key area where I will be helpful on the commission is in working effectively with our school board. I also have considerable knowledge about the operational aspects of our schools and will use this advantage to help forge partnerships that will help our teachers and students. I plan on having monthly meetings with various school board members in an effort to stay informed about impending school issues and funding needs, to look for ways we can improve sharing resources between county agencies and our public schools such as nurses. I will be laser-focused on identifying funding needed for social workers and school counselors. Last year’s local appropriation to our schools failed to meet the schools’ budget request, and the school system was unable to implement its plan to expand mental health supports for students to one entry-level counselor or social worker for each of our 186 public schools. The horrific Parkland shootings made it clear that we must address the mental health needs of our students along with implementing other safety measures at every school. I pledge to be a commissioner who will make decisions based on what is best for the citizens of Wake County, not worrying about a political career or future ambitions. My ambition is to make Wake County Schools the best in the nation.
3. The county is by most accounts prospering and growing. What do you think Wake County has done effectively? What policies would you like to see put in place to ensure growth going forward?
Wake County has some effective plans and work going on, I agree. The initial work in the long-term transit plan is moving forward well, and Go Triangle is a great partner for transit. We have a good county park system that complements municipal and state parks, developed over decades, with a good long-term plan. Wake also has a diverse library system – also developed over several decades and well worth the investments we are making.
The strong growth in Wake County is also a strain to our educational systems. Wake County is obligated to have seats for every school-aged child who lives in our county, and Wake County’s budget is strained to meet the needs of that growth. There are about 35 babies born every day in Wake County—that is two kindergarten classes born every day. Wake County has benefited from a strong K-12 school system, local universities, and Wake Technical Community College as a foundation of our local economy.
I do believe we are close to a tipping point in our county due to continuous, nonstop growth—overall our population grows by 64 people every day, with new births and in-migration. That growth continues to crowd our schools and roads. I feel that we cannot let our schools, neighborhoods, quality of life (including clean air and water) suffer. I want to engage our citizens in this conversation and restart the 2008 Growth Management Task Force (with representatives from all cities, the school board and Chambers of Commerce) to develop a new 2020 and beyond plan.
4. With that rapid growth, of course, comes challenges related to suburban sprawl, transportation, and affordable housing, among other things. In your opinion, what have been the county’s successes in managing this growth in recent years? What about its failures? What would you do differently?
The county has succeeded in passing a transit bond and increasing bus access as the first part of implementation. There will be new buses and expanded routes and this is good thing, however, there are still depressed areas in our county where transit is simply not available or inadequate (we must fix this ASAP). One way to make sure we do not continue to make this problem worse is to link future transit stops to all affordable housing projects. I also want to improve marketing of the transit plan. We need to better promote our transit options. As I talk with our seniors, they still feel totally disconnected to public transit. I think this is an area that we must address as we have a growing segment of our population in Wake County that is “greying.” I am very excited about a program that was initiated and started this fall by Raleigh City Councilor Kay Crowder to allow students throughout the triangle area to ride city buses free. Getting young folks comfortable using our buses will help them be lifelong transit users.
Wake County is not winning the fight to keep current affordable housing units nor is the current commitment enough as it is not replacing enough housing to balance the current loss rate. The county has taken an active role in promoting a comprehensive plan for growth management and an extensive sustainability focus since 2000, and they are in a unique position to coordinate and collaborate with our 12 cities. We need to intensify the work between our twelve cities and the private sector in this area.
Wake County should promote sustainable design and green construction practices, water conservation practices such as gray water re-use treatment, energy and resource conservation (green building and carbon reduction), and consistent environmental standards throughout the county. Finally, we must protect our watershed. I will be a strong defender of our watersheds, and I will look for ways to protect our drinking water. We must work to implement the Jordan Lake Rules stalled in the General Assembly. I will be diligent about protecting our watersheds and its water quality to ensure adequate water qualtity for the residents. I will push to monitor the Little River Reservoir Agreement since this is a future water supply for Wake and surrounding counties. I will also want to work with the Orange Water and Sewer Authority to share best practices. Looking for regional solutions is also imperative for our community and something I am interested in pursuing.
5. What should be the county’s role in addressing issues of economic inequality, such as gentrification and affordable housing? Do you believe the current board is doing enough to help its municipalities manage Wake County’s growth in order to prevent current residents from being priced out? Shortly after the May primary, the county released an affordable housing plan that, among other things, called for municipalities to take a more aggressive approach toward missing-middle housing. What about this plan do you support? In what areas do you think it goes too far or doesn’t go far enough? Please be specific.
Considering the lack of interest in income inequality from our NCGA partners, the county has to step up and take the lead role. Our school system is an engine for expanding equity, and we must work with the School Board to promote their equity agenda. The Commissioners are in a good position to coordinate the twelve cities, chambers of commerce, realtor/homebuilders community, and other citizen advocacy groups to ensure that we have affordable housing for ALL of our citizens.
As your question notes, shortly after the May primary, the county released an affordable housing plan. The steering committee had 32 various stakeholders on it and was chaired by Commissioner Jessica Holmes. There are many aspects to the plan that I support including workforce housing (missing-middle income housing you reference) but a larger concern is how affordable housing is not keeping up for low income families (“…56,000 low-income households are unable to find affordable housing and this number is likely to increase to as much as 150,000 over the next 20 years”) leaving too many families few opportunities to even rent. From the report: “Household incomes are not keeping pace with escalating housing costs, especially for the lowest-income households. Since 2006, the median household income for those without a bachelor’s degree has increased by 10%, while rental housing costs have increased by 35%.” What I like the most about the plan is that THERE IS A PLAN! The principles that drive the plan are sound and having this base line data will be critical to recording progress, setting goals, and allowing the public to hold the commissioners and the twelve municipal elected boards accountable. Clearly, more needs to be done and I will pledge to work with Commission Jessica Holmes to implement creative and effective ways, many in the plan, to keep folks out of homelessness and unsafe housing. I personally understand the threat of being homeless or not having money for medicine and food because it all goes to keeping lights on in a home. I don’t have all the answers, but I pledge to work tirelessly on this issue.
6. How would your experience―in politics or otherwise in your career―make you an asset to the county’s decision-making process? Be specific about how this experience would relate to your prospective office.
My background in corporate finance and civic engagement has prepared me to be a strong County Commissioner. I received a bachelor’s degree from East Carolina University is Business Administration with an accounting concentration and worked for several large corporations as a business analyst, helping companies develop and maintain strong business practices. I used my accounting skills to help my employers maximize profits, utilizing quality internal control processes that yielded high quality financial statements. As a business analyst in the competitive world of technology, I learned the value of having well-trained employees who know how to work together as a team no matter their backgrounds. I see this missing in my opponent’s approach to governing and interacting with citizens and other public officials.
Also, I have volunteered in our public schools for 13 years, starting when my son entered kindergarten in the Wake County Public School System. I have held several leadership positions in PTA that have given me first-hand understanding of how hard teachers work to nurture and instruct our students, preparing them for college and career. The time I have spent in the schools has taught me how essential it is to treat our educators with respect and pay teachers a professional salary.
As a volunteer in my church, I help resettle refugees, helping vulnerable families with clothing, housing and food security needs. This work has made me a fierce advocate for affordable housing, sound employment, and transportation services to help citizens get jobs and keep them. I am a passionate advocate for programs that keep families together.
We only have one woman on the county commission. Obviously half of our Wake residents are women, and I want to bring a mother’s perspective. I think it is time for our elected boards to reflect the makeup of our community. Like many women, I have spent most of my adult life working to improve our community and support family issues. I have educational and life experiences that I want to use to improve our public schools, increase affordable housing, provide more effective services to our seniors, and grow jobs that pay livable wages so our families can thrive.
I grew up as a Free and Reduced Lunch kid, so I know the value of being very careful with money and of making sure our priorities reflect doing what is really important when we set our budget. We can and must support and fund our public schools, it is too expensive to fail our children. In summary, I have the compassion, understanding and dedication to improve our community and our schools and as fulltime volunteer, I have the time.
7. The replacement bill for HB 2 that passed last year prohibits local governments from passing living-wage or nondiscrimination ordinances until 2020. Since the winner of this race will be in office in 2020 when the moratorium expires, what sort of nondiscrimination and/or living-wage policies will you push the county to adopt, if any? Do you favor, for instance, a nondiscrimination ordinance that would apply to public accommodations, like the one Charlotte passed in 2016 that led the legislature to pass HB 2? Would you consider raising the county’s minimum wage?
I will support adding LGBTQ and veterans to Wake’s protected class. I will support a livable wage for all employees paid with our local taxes, not just county but school employees as well. I will ask for a complete review of all policies to eliminate discrimination or unfair policy. Wake County government should work for ALL citizens. I want a well-run, efficient and fair county government that does not forget to be compassionate. Wake County has the benefit at this time of having in place a pay scale for all employees that is based on a “livable wage” formula and an ordinance is not really needed to do the right thing when it comes to establishing pay levels. I will certainly support continuing the policies in place and will work to improve pay and benefits and consider cost of living increases as needed. I favor considering policies, ordinance, and programs that prohibit any form of discrimination. Wake County is governed by twelve cities who will have the right to determine the city ordinances that govern those who live in these cities. I will encourage the county commission to partner with our city council members to determine how best to treat our citizens with the utmost respect and to seek ways to end discrimination in a variety of areas.
8. In recent years, the county and the school board have argued over school funding—an argument that directly led to two commissioners losing their primaries in May. How would you approach these funding decisions differently? Do you believe, as some commissioners have suggested, that the Board of Education should be given taxing authority? Why or why not?
An election is not won or lost over a single issue.
Our community supports public schools, and our community expects the School Board and County Commissioners to work together for our students. I pledge to be a partner with the School Board on our shared goals. I will not disparage the school board with hostile rhetoric, and instead, I will encourage open dialogue and respect between the boards. I have faith in the citizens of Wake County to adequately fund our public schools. I will be a good steward of taxpayer dollars but am also willing to raise taxes to fund our schools when justified – our schools are the building blocks of our economy and create our future labor forces. Our community cannot grow and prosper without strong, effective schools. I will seek the community’s input on this issue and I would like more dialogue with citizens between election cycles not just during elections to get their input and guidance.
Your question about giving the school board taxing authority has been around a long time and resurfaces every few years. To be clear, this is not a decision that can be made without holding a referendum in 2020 which would give all voters a chance to decide what we do about this very serious issue. I have mixed feelings about this proposal. On the one hand, I understand how school boards are often frustrated by inadequate funding. Yet, on the other hand, I think having a system of checks and balances when it comes to levying and spending tax dollars is a healthy arrangement overall for taxpayers. In effect, you have two boards and their staffs looking at the funding request. We currently have taxation being managed at the federal, state, and city/municipal levels and giving the school board authority would certainly add another layer of complexity to the current system. I am open to having public forums and open community debates about this issue to determine how the public, the taxpayers feel about this suggestion. If school boards are given the right to raise taxes on all citizens then perhaps they should be elected countywide just like county commissioners to allow everyone input on their election. In the meantime, I pledge to be keenly responsible in all decisions that impact how we fund our county’s responsibilities including schools. I will make all decisions keeping in mind how we can lift up our children, their teachers and families and benefit our economic development goals. I will work diligently to engage all citizens in the process.
9. The argument over school funding this year was often tied to the county’s decision to acquire parkland near Fuquay-Varina called Crooked Creek. Critics asked how, if the county couldn’t afford the give schools everything they wanted, it could afford this new park. How do you view the debate over Crooked Creek? If elected, would you want the county to proceed with the park plan?
The County Commissioner majority did approve giving the school board this past June the money they requested to cover extra duty pay, increase school counselors, social workers, school psychologists, nurses and to add programs they felt were needed to close achievement gaps. I feel it was a failure in leadership by the board majority to fund the park while not adequately addressing school funding issues. Recently, the county completed the purchase of the park. The citizens of Wake County will have an opportunity to vote for a parks bond on the November ballot.
10. Give an example of a time, during your political career, when you have changed your position as a result of a discussion with someone who held an opposing view.
While I have not been in office before, I have been in several situations where facts have convinced me to abandon my personal opinions. I have on numerous occasions in business settings worked to “seek first to understand, then to be understood,” to find common ground. If you are seeking to do the right thing, keeping to the facts, and you are willing to listen and seek compromise, you can change the discussion and maybe change your own mind.
An example of this was my change in stance on development. Growing up in rural NC, I felt landowners should be able to do whatever they wanted with their property. My position changed upon moving to and after watching the growth in Wake County – developers should be held accountable for increased traffic concerns, impact on the surrounding neighborhoods, and especially how their development impacts drinking water quality.
11. Identify and explain one principled stand you would be willing to take if elected that you suspect might cost you some points with voters.
I will be very strict about allowing development in the Falls Lake and Jordan Lake watersheds. I will not yield to making adjustments that could jeopardize our citizens having enough water. I will work to protect our drinking water supplies in Jordan and Falls Lake. Over the last two decades too many concessions have harmed our drinking water. We must protect our drinking water, we can have smart growth but not at the expense of safe drinking water.
