1. Student Candidate Guide 2013
Election 2013 Candidates – Town of Huntersville
Office
Mayor
Council
Candidates
Jim Puckett
Jill Swain
Melinda Bales
Lawrence Brinson
Franklin Freeman
Charles S. Guignard *
Ron Julian
Rob Kidwell
Sarah R. McAulay *
Jeff Neely
Danny Phillips *
Nick Walsh *
# seats in election
1 candidate will be elected
6 candidates will be elected
High school students surveyed all candidates for office in Election 2013. Candidates who completed the questionnaire are included in
this guide. * = The candidate did not provide the requested information.
Return to the Student Candidate Guide for other Election 2013 candidates, information about local government, how to participate in
GenerationNation’s Kids Voting election, and more. www.generationnation.org/index.php/election/candidateguide2013
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2. Student Candidate Guide 2013
Huntersville
Mayor
Jim Puckett
Website
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Occupation
Education
Political viewpoint
Favorite news source
Community involvement and
leadership experience
jimpuckett.com
jhpucket@bellsouth.net
puckettforhuntersvillemayor
First issue I will tackle
How I will impact…
Young people
Economy
Owner Electro Painters
Bachelors Business Administration
Conservative
WBT radio
Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education, Mecklenburg County
Commission, Centralina Economic Development Commission
(Chairman) Board of Directors Lake Norman Charter School,
Board of Directors Rural Hill Historic Board of Health, Board of
Mental Health, Presbyterian Elder
I will assemble the mayors of the surrounding communities to
develop a plan to market our region for economic development
rather than just worry about Huntersville.
Because of my experience as a member of the Charlotte
Mecklenburg Board of Education and as a Board member of Lake
Norman Charter I know how important it is to have adequate
schools with successful programs, I will continue to make sure
that the schools in the Huntersville area are fully funded and not
over crowded
As the chair of the Centralina Economic Development
Commission I oversaw a program that inventoried all the
economic assets in the region (community colleges with flexible
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3. Student Candidate Guide 2013
Community growth and/or
transportation
Community safety
Housing and
neighborhoods
Budget
Most important …
Role of local government
Collaboration between
CMS, local and state
government
Biggest accomplishment will be
Other comments
training ability, ready to use manufacturing sites, etc.) I will work
with other towns and counties to promote our area and see how
we can partner to use what is unique to each town that we can
use as a region.
I will use the relationships I have developed with state and
federal leaders from holding office for over a decade to insure
our area gets the attention it needs in infrastructure to insure we
have the all that is needed as we grow
As always police and fire will be our first priority in the budget.
I will work to ensure our schools are the best in the area and I will
work with developers to make sure the neighborhoods they build
fit our needs and improve our quality of life.
I have been a part of developing over ten billion dollars of
budgets and everyone I have done all possible to keep taxes low
and most importantly to insist that we prioritize our expenses so
the most important items are funded first and low priority items
that could have funding lowered if need to be maintain a
competitive tax rate.
To provide a safe, healthy city that has effective schools that
allow every person an opportunity to succeed.
Funding and budgets need to have priorities that fund the most
successful programs and demand that programs that do not
succeed after a predetermined time‐frame are ended and the
money reallocated to new ideas or proven programs that need to
be expanded. Use my experience on two different education
boards to advocate for innovation and reasonable expectation
and programs.
Huntersville and the Lake Norman region will be known as the
premier area to live and work in the USA.
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4. Student Candidate Guide 2013
Huntersville
Mayor
Jill Swain
Website
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Occupation
Education
Political viewpoint
Favorite news source
Community involvement and
leadership experience
Jswainsworld@gmail.com
mayorjill.swain@facebook.com
@swainsworld
First issue I will tackle
How I will impact…
Young people
Mayor and part time marketing consultant
BA, Journalism and mass communications
Non‐partisan
No one favorite ‐‐ must search many to get a total picture
Town Commissioner ‐‐ 8 years (two terms as mayor pro tem)
Mayor ‐‐ 6 years Current: Vice Chair of Metro Mayors Coalition
ASC Board of Directors MTC (6 years) Huntersville Connection
Healthy Huntersville collaborative Rec League girls volleyball
coach (7 1/2 years) Past: Ada Jenkins Center Board of Directors
Lake Norman Chamber Board of Directors Visit Lake Norman
Board of Directors Substitute teacher PTSA President (Davidson
IB)
The position of mayor must work on a number of issues at the
same time, including transportation, economic development,
visions for the future...I will continue to work on those as well as
others, like involving our businesses with our local schools,
promoting Healthy Huntersville and continuing to reach out to
mayors and legislators in communities across the state about our
overlapping issues.
I try to impact young people by example ‐‐ by coaching rec league
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5. Student Candidate Guide 2013
Economy
Community growth and/or
transportation
Community safety
Housing and
neighborhoods
Budget
Most important …
Role of local government
Collaboration between
CMS, local and state
government
volleyball for girls, by visiting schools and hosting field trips at
town hall. I also have created an award called Destination
Success, for students who are not your typical "star students' but
who might benefit from a pat on the back. These award winners
receive a certificate from me, a hug and a goodie bag from area
businesses (who are also proud of them!).
I work with the Town Board members to make sure our tax rate is
low, our bond rating is high and our work force is lean and
efficient.
I have proudly stuck with Huntersville for nearly two decades of
phenomenal growth ‐‐ we planned for it years ago and I continue
to run to represent the vision of a large group of citizens who
wanted our town to grow with purpose. With regard to
transportation, although we are dependent upon other sources
for transportation funding, I continue to believe that our
economic development future relies on being able to have a goal
for a number of transportation modes.
Huntersville's emergency services personnel are not only skilled
professionals, but they are really nice people. They are dedicated
to serving our public and have done so quite well. I have
participated in both a mock fire and a mock shooting drill and can
tell from a personal point of view that we are doing well.....
Huntersville's zoning ordinance encourages housing for all income
levels. It is important to maintain that philosophy, since a good
and healthy community is the home for many demographics. I
think it is important to remember that.
Again, our local budget is decided upon by the entire Town Board,
with input from our town manager. We've got the highest bond
rating, so I'll continue to encourage our board members to work
with our town staff to continue our successes.
Today I feel it is important that our local government
officials/elected officials need to encourage citizen involvement
and interest. It is personally important to ME that we converse
publicly and compromise when possible ‐‐ if we are good
examples, then we can encourage the younger generation to run
for office in the future. We need good leaders. We need people
to stand up for the citizens ‐‐ and who is closer to the citizens that
those in local government?
I am proud that a dream of mine, to bring Huntersville businesses
and our local schools together, has come to fruition in the past
two years. Our Community of Huntersville Education
Collaborative (CHEC) is comprised of local volunteers who are
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6. Student Candidate Guide 2013
Biggest accomplishment will be
Other comments
bringing our community and corporate assets into our schools. I
believe this collaborative is bridging the gap between local and
state government with regard to schools.
My biggest accomplishment will simply be knowing that our town
prospers and that people are happy with continued successes. It
isn't about MY accomplishments, it's about how our community
works together to achieve good things.
I have been mayor for 3 terms. I love this job. I hope our citizens
allow me to continue working on their behalf.
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