Sean Alston is challenging incumbent Gordon Wilder in the race for Vance County Commissioner in District 3 and their conversations with John C. Rose aired on Wednesday’s Town Talk.
Early voting begins Apr. 28 for the May 17 primary election. Alston and Wilder talked about issues affecting the county, including community centers with after-school programs for young people and the continued need to bring jobs to the county.
Sean Alston
Alston, a Democrat, said he would expect the community to hold him accountable. “I want the people in my district…to know that they do, and will have, a voice” in county government.
He said he wants to offer the community as a whole, not just the district 3 that he would represent, that he will strive for more transparency in government. “The people just want to be heard, the people just want to be updated. I can’t guarantee or promise anything,” he said, “but I will be accountable and available.”
His platform focuses on civic participation, building up the community, transparency, accountability and community involvement.
“I feel like I can do what the people need and I feel like I can do what needs to be done,” Alston said. “At the end of the day, it comes down to accountability. I am not going to tell you one thing and do another – I will represent the voice for change.”
Alston is a local businessman and also offers his time as a coach at Vance County High School. Coaching, he said, allows him to interact with parents, youth and with teachers, and he said it’s helped him understand more about what the community needs in terms of support. Teachers need better pay, he said, and parents need a safe place for their children to be when they’re not at school.
“In order to help this county, this community, it has to start with the youth in some form or fashion,” Alston said. After-school programs located in the community that provide meals and homework help would be a good start. Teachers, he said, could get some extra pay to spend a couple of hours after school and children would have a safe place to be while parents are working second- or third-shift jobs.
People in the community, working on the same team as the school system and public safety, can help to support the youth and keep them off the streets and out of trouble, he said. “I just want to be on the team,” Alston said.
Gordon Wilder
Wilder, a Democrat, is seeking his fourth term as commissioner. “I decided to run again because I feel like we have a good board that works together. I feel we’re moving forward and I wanted to be a part of that progress.”
He said jobs is a key issue for Vance County – retaining employees and attracting new businesses and industry to the area are vital to the county’s economic health.
Companies looking to locate here may be attracted by the county-wide zoning plan or the improvements and extensions to the water system, he said. The industrial park shell building concept may also attract prospective employers.
“We need to get jobs to our county and retain those jobs and give our citizens a chance to work and improve themselves,” Wilder said. “Jobs are key,” he said. When people have opportunities for employment, they can improve their own situations as well as contribute to the county’s economic well-being. “We all win,” he said.
Local jobs means workers may be more likely to stay in the county, raise their families locally and spend money in the local economy – a real win-win situation, he said.
Wilder, a retired educator in Vance County Schools, has spent almost 50 years in Vance County serving in various capacities with the Vance County and Epsom fire departments and in his church.
“Those who have called me know that I listen and I want to help…I generally can meet their needs, answer their questions,” he said.
Wilder mentioned the recent renovations to the former Eaton Johnson campus, now home to the Department of Social Services and Senior Center, as an investment in the county’s infrastructure; improvements to the Dennis Building downtown, courthouse and county administrative offices also have come about as part of a capital improvement plan.
“I believe my experience sets me apart,” Wilder said. “All I want to do is seve the county and to move the county forward.”