Candidate Biography (submitted by candidate):
Paul Fitts has been a resident of Wake County his entire life, growing up near Wendell and living in North Raleigh for over 20 years.
He attended UNC Pembroke and then went on to a career at Accent Imaging, where he worked with Raleigh's top architects, engineers and construction companies on many of the buildings that people work and live in around the Triangle.
Fitts moved on to a career as a mortgage lender through which he helped thousands obtain homes and get a better handle on their financial situation.
Paul also volunteers for numerous charity and civic events.
Candidate Statement:
As a County Commissioner Paul plans to focus on three things: fixing the local economy, avoiding unnecessary tax increases, and supporting our first responders in any way that he can. Like the majority of Wake County citizens he realizes that the economy is our greatest concern.
His plan is to take a pro-active role in recruiting and building businesses from every aspect of the economic spectrum. He wants Wake County to take a leadership role in providing a full service work force. He opposes any form of unnecessary tax increase during these tough economic times.
The looming specter of tax increases could discourage new business formation, slow economic growth further and may deter companies looking to relocate here.
Finally, he will be an advocate for our deputies, police, firefighters and all first responders so that they continue to respond in real time, protecting our citizens and property. Public safety isn't just about having enough first responders to aid us when the needs arise; it's also about taking care of the people who take care of us every day.
He will work closely with our first responders to ensure that we capture all unmet and future needs of public safety.
Candidate Biography (submitted by candidate):
I completed a course at the UNC School of Government on how to serve my county, I am a nursing school graduate, I stayed at home with my children while they were growing up.
I have been a community activist for many years including serving for the last 24 years as a County Commissioner. I served as Chair of our Wake County Board, Chair of the N.C. Association of County Commissioners and Chair of the U.S. Association of County Commissioners.
Candidate Statement:
My years of service to the county have been very rewarding. I have had the opportunity to help solve many problems both in Wake County and around the county. Many times until a person has a problem of their own, such as a dry well or tax problems, they never contact their local elected officials.
Over the last few years we as a board have worked with the City of Raleigh to help plan a Convention Center in downtown Raleigh, which is bringing a whole new economic face to downtown, a new hotel, others planned also, and new restaurants.
I am an advocate for 1/2 cent sales tax being put to a vote of the people, which I feel sure they would support, to fund new rail lines, trains and buses as a growing county soon to have one million citizens. Thus, we continue to look to the future new schools for our current new people. We combined social services, mental health and health departments to become our Human Resources Department. We turned Wake Med Hospital to a not-for-profit board, and it has been quite successful.