SALISBURY — Rowan County’s elected officials from Raleigh joined its local elected officials, among other dignitaries, for the Rowan County Chamber’s Legislative Power in Partnership Breakfast at Catawba College.

The meeting offered the opportunity for Sen. Carl Ford and Representatives Julia Howard, Harry Warren and Grant Campbell to share their visions for the upcoming legislative session and to field requests from those local officials attending about needs within their municipalities through a priority lists packet. According to Rowan County Chamber of Commerce President Elaine Spalding it was the largest attendance in the Power in Partnership breakfast series history.

The event was sponsored by the Rowan Municipal Association.

“We have made some priority projects at the Rowan Municipal Association,” Landis Mayor Meredith Bare Smith said during introductory remarks at the breakfast. “We decided that we would coincide to put a packet together.”

Several members of the audience were selected to ask questions of the congressmen about various projects or governmental initiatives. Also, scattered across the room and on the guests’ tables, were posters and informational packets about local projects for which Rowan County officials are seeking state funding.

Spencer Alderman Pat Sledge asked about how to more effectively request funding for possible roadway infrastructure such as the connector project in Spencer that she described as being so important for economic development.

“Its really important that we get that connector from Long Ferry (Road) to Hackett (Street) so we can develop that Yadkin River District redevelopment done,” Sledge said.

According to Ford, the repairs to the devastation in the western part of the state following Hurricane Helene are going to get the lion’s share of funding for future transportation projects.

“I would say that this year, there’s going to be a little less money to go around because of the 85 to 90 bridges still out in western North Carolina including I-40, which fortunately we got some federal funding this week,” Ford said.

Ford added that N.C. is working with Tennessee to repair some of those roads that are on the state line.

“A lot of transportation money this year will be going to the western part of the state,” he continued. “Now, there will still be some projects in our area for sure and some contingency money that we can spread around, but there just won’t be as much all around because of western North Carolina.”

Howard, who began by discussing securing funding for Mimosa Street in Cleveland to be upgraded, indicated that it’s a matter of persistence.

“We know that there are a lot of needs,” Howard said. “We try to look under every rock to see what is a possibility. That is what we will continue to do. Most of the money will go to the west and trying to stabilize that community if we can but at the same time there will be some funding that is available for smaller projects. I don’t discount this as a smaller project, it isn’t, but keep asking. That is what we have to do, is continue to ask.”

For his part, the newly-elected Campbell, said to bring the data.

“We are going to be the ones up there pitching and selling these ideas during the budgetary process,” he said. “One of the things that make this easier for whatever you are seeking is data, data, data. If I can say how many citizens this will affect, this is how much economic (opportunity) will open up because of infrastructure that we are asking for; Things like that can really make a big difference.

“When I say I will go to work pitching this, I say give me ammunition. Sorry, I’m former military.”

Warren added that sometimes you have to get creative with funding source requests acknowledging the reality that not all projects find funding from the most obvious coffers.

“You have to keep going back to the well and sometimes, they’ll give you the money just to shut you up,” he laughed.

Rowan-Cabarrus Community College Vice President of the Division of Academic Programs Michael Quillen asked the congressman to speak on Propel NC, an initiative that he described as the college system’s major legislative agenda for the upcoming year.

According to nccommunitycolleges.edu, Propel NC is a new funding model with five objectives: prioritize connecting students to high-demand, high-wage jobs; target investment in programs tied to workforce demand; make education easier for students; educate North Carolinians for North Carolina jobs; and aligns business model to strategic priorities.

Campbell, who was vice-chairman of the N.C. State Board of Community Colleges, took the lead on that one.

“I did help write this,” Campbell said. “A little bit of a background, the funding model and operating model for our community college system for decades calling it antiquated would be an understatement.

Campbell referenced two elements of that funding model that inhibited or discouraged growth. One of those is how the state tied funding to full-time student equivalents.

“One of the most valuable things that community colleges offer are certifications systems where in certain industries manufacturers you get certifications that allow them to fill positions they can’t fill already,” Campbell said. “Or it allows someone who already works there to get a certification for a better-paying job at the same facility.”

One person from the audience asked the panelists about a Mecklenburg County referendum to allow voters to put additional sales tax that could raise revenues for transportation projects.

“I don’t have any problem at all with putting things on a referendum,” Warren said. “Let the voters decide. I like local control. It’s one of the reasons Carl and I had the question about the partisan school board races.

“Putting those issues before the people, I am very much in favor of that, but there is a limit on how much you can increase your sales tax.”

N.C. Transportation Museum Board of Directors President Roy Johnson shared a few numbers surrounding upticks in attendance at the Spencer-based site.

All four of the speakers encouraged Johnson and any other entities requesting assistance, aid or guidance to frame those requests through economic impact lenses, focusing on how state-sponsored projects can result in positive outcomes. They also invited those with questions, concerns or even projects for that matter to come and visit them in Raleigh.

Howard said that their doors are always open and Ford added that they’d much rather see and hear from their constituents than other special-interest groups in the state capital.