Filing windows for several public offices closed Feb. 28 with six Republican hopefuls running for three seats on the Rowan County Board of Commissioners.

Greg Edds, Judy Klusman and Jim Green currently hold the seats, and each is running for their second term.

Challengers include old hand Jim Sides, who has served on the county commission for three nonconsecutive terms previously. He was acting chairman when he lost the primary in 2014.

Then there’s Mike Julian, a newcomer for the commission race. He made one bid for school board against Josh Wagner for the East Rowan seat. The race was close, but Julian fell short with 48 percent of the vote.

The final challenger is Commissioner Craig Pierce, running for re-election some two years before his term is completed.

The Salisbury Post asked each candidate about county priorities for the coming years and their next steps should they be elected.

They were also asked about visions for West End Plaza and their ideal board composition.

Greg Edds

Edds, who owns a State Farm Insurance agency, was first elected to the Board of Commissioners in 2014.

His goals for the county are many, ranging from expanding infrastructure and continuing economic development to strengthening education and further combating crime.

If he is elected, Edds said his first steps include working on the southern water and sewer system: securing inter-local agreements, completing preliminary design work and securing necessary funding before construction begins.

Edds said that West End Plaza’s development should happen in phases. Phase 1 would be the completion of the IDEA Center, a partnership with local educators that he said will “absolutely” be supported by the next board.

“(T)here have never been any other plans for that space. The West End Plaza master plan identified that end of the mall as all ‘flex space,’” he said. “This project … has widespread community support. It identifies with our goals to create new businesses, create jobs, reduce poverty, increase our tax base, provide new educational opportunities and provide programming and infrastructure that will help attract and retain young people and entrepreneurs.”

From there, he said the county should proceed with the design of agreed upon government offices and the use of additional space.

All of this will need to be looked at in conjecture with investments to water and sewer in northern and southern parts of the county — a high-cost project in itself.

Asked about his ideal board composition, Edds praised each of its current members, saying the board has performed “very well” during its two years together.

Mike Caskey, he said, has been a vital voice for the emergency services community. Judy Klusman has a passion for health and human services and Jim Greene has remained passionate about agriculture, parks and workforce development, he said.

Edds also praised Craig Pierce’s advocacy for the animal shelter, airport and investment in strategic infrastructure. There have been very few instances where he has not voted with the majority, he said.

“He often has opposing viewpoints but that encourages the board to consider all possible options and that’s a good thing,” he said. “It makes us stronger as a group.”

As for himself, Edds said he tries to bring a vision to the county and bring people together around shared values and common goals. He said that Rowan citizens should vote for him because has worked since 2014 to give them what they wanted.

“They wanted someone who would cast a positive vision for our community and work to improve our economy, attract good jobs, grow our tax base and provide new opportunities for every citizen of Rowan County,” he said.

Jim Greene

Jim Greene was also elected in 2014, receiving the most votes during a lower-turnout off election year.

He said that the board should prioritize telling the same positive story about Rowan County, overcoming negative publicity, supporting education, completing water lines in the northern part of the county and planning a logical development off of a revitalized Exit 65.

“We will work with the development of that area so that it will benefit the people first and the municipalities of Landis and China Grove,” said Greene. “There has to be great thought and planning done in this so that it is a benefit to all of us.”

If elected, he said he’d like to pursue a park or recreational facility made available to the southern end of the county. He’d also like the county to identify places for a new business park.

“For long-term economic development, I think the county needs to look at buying land and having money available for developers so we can speed up economic growth,” he said.

Greene said the original intended use of West End Plaza as a location for county services should remain its developmental direction, though he believes the space can be used to “spur many things.”

He said he sees support for the IDEA Center remaining, as long as the current board stays intact.

“We’d like to see other things like that,” he said. “We’d like to see the facility being used for the development of businesses in many ways, whatever form that would take place.”

Greene praised the current board, saying that it has made tremendous progress since the 2014 election.

“It would be hard for me at this point to see anybody that is running against the incumbent (board members) … that would add significantly to new ideas or progress for Rowan County,” he said.

He, like Edds, would offer praises for his current colleagues on the board: Caskey for being a ‘quiet leader,’ Klusman for keeping the board informed on social issues, Edds for his vision, and Pierce for acting as a champion for animal services.

Greene said people should vote for him based on his now proven track record in office.

“I think that, unlike when I ran in ‘14, I now have a body of work that I can point to and say, ‘here’s what has happened since we took office, since I took office,’ ” he said. “Here’s what happened to Rowan County: we have built a new school, we built a central office for the Board of Education. We’re in the best financial shape that the county has ever been in with the highest bond rating. Our tax base has increased by millions, and we have more income coming in then we have ever had.”

Mike Julian

Julian is a newcomer to the race for Board of Commissioners, but current and campaigning commissioner Craig Pierce has already formally endorsed him.

He said that the board’s immediate focus should be on the water and sewer project in the southern end of the county.

“Cabarrus has grown about all it can and that growth is coming north up the interstate,” he said.

Julian said another focus of the board should be making sure municipalities feel the county cares for them. He said many leaders from within these communities feel like “a red-headed stepchild.”

If elected and with that in mind, Julian said he would make a point to visit each town council meeting during the fiscal year, ensuring that each knows they are included in decisions made by the commissioners.

“Those that I have already visited, I have told them that they matter, they have my attention, I care about their feelings, and I want to make sure they succeed,” said Julian. “Because when they win, everyone in the county wins and we need to celebrate our victories.”

Julian called the West End Plaza one of his “pet peeves,” and he said it was purchased over five years ago with the intention of moving county services to the facility.

Current leadership cancelled contracts to up-fitting sections of the facility for Social Services and the Health Department, he said, an action that wasted county taxpayers’ dollars.

He said he’d like to see the facility used in a combination of governmental and private enterprise to its capacity.

“I am not opposed to the IDEA Center as long as taxpayer dollars are not used to keep it going,” he said.

Julian said he has no preference of whom he’d like to see on the board other than himself. He can and is willing to work with whomever citizens elect.

“I just hope the citizens elect some fiscally conservative people so we can move this county forward but not hinder the growth by not spending some money,” he said.

Rowan residents should vote for Julian, he said, because he is a fresh face to the board, born and raised within the county.

“I have fresh ideas and I believe that I can make our county better,” he said. “I have spent that last 20 years working in different areas trying to make a difference … I want to make our community better so those who have gone off to college will want to come back here to live. … I want others that are looking at North Carolina to say, ‘Rowan County has something going on and I want to be a part of it.’ ”

Judy Klusman

Klusman, a third candidate running for her second term on the board, said the commission needs to continue its positive leadership as it has since 2014.

Immediate focuses should be education, job training and combating the opioid crisis, she said.

“We’re starting to see improvement, and the county commission needs to continue to support our school system and continue to fulfill the promises that we have made for the next several years,” she said.

Klusman said that her next steps if re-elected included continuing to work with Cardinal Innovations to try and locate a treatment center within the county. This, she said, would be a very long-term goal.

She said she’s taking the lead on the board to address opioid abuse. But she said the county has made great strides identifying issues by bringing together a collective of partnering organizations and public services: public health, emergency services and the sheriff’s department to name a few.

As for West End Plaza, she said that the relocation of social services and public health will probably take several million dollars to complete.

She wants the board to complete these shifts as funds are available, without borrowing money or raising taxes.

“We are spending your tax dollars as carefully as we would our own family budget,” she said. “We have had wonderful increases in revenue: $1 million each year over last two years. That’s how we’ve been able to give county employees and teachers raises, which is critically important because we need to keep the good people that we have.”

These changes have been made without having to raise taxes, she said.

Klusman was the third commissioner to praise the board with its current composition. She said Chairman Edds had worked hard to bring members to a consensus on issues.

“It’s very hard to get us all on board and make sure we’re not ambushed at the meeting with an item, which in the past was not always true,” she said.

She also said there was a benefit to having board members with different perspectives and professional backgrounds: Pierce with a retiree’s perspective, Greene and Edds with eyes for business and Caskey with a background in emergency services and law enforcement.

“We have a broad range of interests and experiences and that’s why I think it’s a good board,” she said. “Hopefully the people of Rowan will see that and we’ll all be able to continue to work together.”

Klusman said that Rowan citizens should vote for her because she has fulfilled her original campaign promises of positive leadership and communication. She said she’s striven to work collaboratively with services across the county.

“In a time when you’ve got to make every dollar count, we’ve got to have those partnerships,” she said.

Craig Pierce

In an unprecedented move, Craig Pierce is running for his third term on the county commission, though he has two years remaining on his second.

Pierce said that upcoming priorities for the board should be making sure that the southern part of the county receives water and sewer service.

If elected, he said he’d like to talk to his fellow commissioners and see what type of projects they had prioritized. He said the board could identify “like-minded” visions and areas of focus and work on a program to implement them.

“We need to make sure that we take care of the needs of the citizens first,” Pierce said.

Pierce said that goals for West End Plaza “depend on who you’re talking to.”

He said there was a general direction of where to go next, but that next strategic moves would depend on who was elected in 2018.

None of the space is currently available to be leased, he said, and no construction is happening.

Pierce said the IDEA Center project was incumbent on private donations — to the tune of $3.9 million to be leveraged by project partners.

“That’s really not a decision that the commission can make,” he said.

When asked about his ideal board, Pierce said he didn’t have a preference for who took the three available seats.

“I yield to the citizens,” he said. “Whoever they elect is who I’ll work with.”

But he said he didn’t see any particular strength with the board as it stands.

“I just don’t see anything moving,” he said. “They’re just now seeing water and sewer as something worth pursuing.”

Pierce called the expansion of water and sewer to South Rowan a “slow-moving project.” He said he hasn’t had any participation on a lot of it, though board members haven’t acted as a hindrance either.

“We all have a different approach,” he said. “Some of us agree and some of us don’t. There’s no consistency on how we want to accomplish making this a better community for all our citizens.”

Pierce said that people should vote for him because he “made a commitment to them to finish up this water sewer project.”

But, he said, he doesn’t want to be 70 years old coming out of the project either. He’d like to have a personal life sometime, and he has a three-year-old grandson he’d like to spend time with in his retirement.

“I don’t want to tie up six more years of my life with this,” he said, “But I can’t not run in 2020 because I can’t finish what I set out to do in two more years.”

Jim Sides

Running for his fourth term on the Board of Commissioners after four years away is Jim Sides.

Sides said he didn’t have any real priorities or agenda, but that he held the same three beliefs he always had. He believes in less taxes, less government and less control.

The former chairman of the board said his first pursuit in office would be to end a quarter cent sales tax enacted in 2004. It was supposed to have a ten-year life on it, he said.

“I think it’s time to give taxpayers a tax cut,” he said. “… The county should give back to the citizens now that it’s taking in additional revenue.”

Sides said his next actions if re-elected are still in flux.

“When you’ve been out of office, there’s a learning curve when you come back in,” he said. “I have not been involved in the last three or four years.”

But, he said, he felt like serving on the board was a ministry for him, calling his time in office his “calling.”

“I’ve lived my dream, a lot of people can’t say that,” he said.

Sides said he was on the board when West End Plaza was purchased, and that the mall would have been a blight to the county if it had merely closed.

He said he’d like to see the space used as intended: as a space for the now overcrowded Department of Social Services and Health Department.

He said he wasn’t yet convinced that the IDEA Center was the best use of available space in the former-mall site.

“I’m for anything that will help people, but government doesn’t always come up with the best ideas,” he said.

Sides said he had no vision for an ideal Board of Commissioners. Simply, he said he wanted to get elected and wasn’t concerned with anyone else.

“One of the things that I feel like I’ve been successful in is to be transparent with the county about what’s going on,” he said. “If I’m elected, things won’t be done behind closed doors.”

Citizens should vote for him because he is passionate, cares about them and the county and wants to see growth based on economy rather than growth based on “what five people in red chairs want,” he said.

“I really want what’s best for the citizens,” he said. “I want citizens to feel like they’ve got a say in the government. I want to run it like its their government.”