Philip D. Brown

Richmond County Daily Journal

The three challengers in the race for Rockingham City Council are all running on a platform of change.

Each recently sat down with the Daily Journal to explain why they feel new voices and new perspectives are needed in city government.

Perdue Farms Senior Human Resources Representative Travis Billingsley is one of those challengers, along with educator Teressa Beavers and businessman Jerry Austin Jr.

Billingsley summed up his views about the change the city needs by recalling something his grandmother told him while he was growing up.

“If we continue to do the same things we’ve always done, we’ll always get the same results,” Billingsley said.

“The one major reason that I decided to run for city council is that Rockingham needs some changes,” he said. “We need new people in office, who bring something different to the table. The younger generation needs the chance to be heard in city government.”

He said since 1975, Richmond County has lost about 8,000 jobs, and his work in human resources at Perdue Farms has given him some insight into the workforce needs of the area and industry recruitment.

“I’m very familiar with the skill sets of our workers, and I see everyday that people here don’t meet the minimum requirements,” Billingsley said. “We need to work on educating the public, and I feel because Rockingham is the county seat, there is a responsibility for our city government to provide some of these resources.”

He drew the correlation between the county’s “extremely low literacy rate,” and the fact the Literacy Council is located in Rockingham.

“There are some opportunities to partner with some programs in the community, and assist the people so they can meet the requirements to work - being able to read and do basic mathematics,” Billingsley said.

He said another key to recruiting and developing industry in the area is by lowering taxes.

Beavers is an educator with Richmond County Schools who said she wishes to bring transparency to city government, while engaging Rockingham’s citizens more in the democratic process.

“I think the citizens need to be more involved in the decision made by their local government,” she said. “We need more transparency in our government, and the citizens need to know that their ideas are valued.”

She said the city council meetings are “already an open forum,” but one that needs to be capitalized on more effectively.

“I would like to continue to build those relations, and work to make sure people are comfortable with attending the meetings,” Beavers said.

She said many of her ideas are centered on the concept of “maintaining a balance between innovation and preservation.”

“I would like to see us do more to preserve our resources, and one way we can do that is by introducing recycling to Rockingham,” Beavers said. “Many of us already take our recycling to the trash site on Highway 1 across from the high school, but I feel more would do it if they were able to do it within city limits.”

She said she would like to involve students in expanding recycling efforts in Rockingham.

She also said she would like to see more done to revitalize downtown Rockingham.

“I worked during high school four summers with the Chamber of Commerce, and I feel that gave me some prior experience with downtown Rockingham,” Beavers said. “Of course, that was in the 1980’s and it has declined from that point, but I feel like we need to explore other avenues to bring that part of our city back up to where it’s more inviting, and our citizens should have more opportunities to hear music, experience culture and attend festivals. We need to bring something more culturally-enriching to downtown Rockingham.”

Beyond these ideas, Beavers said she would “have to assess what our resources are being used for,” but she also feels strongly concerning taxation and recreation.

“I think we need some new faces on the city council, and not just new faces, but people who will be willing to work to improve the quality of the way our resources are being used,” she said. “I feel like we need to keep our taxes low, and cut them if possible, but I’d also like to see more outlets for the youth of Rockingham. That’s a common concern that I continue to hear from people: There are no positive activities for the youth of Rockingham to be engaged in, in the city limits.”

Austin is the general manager of Riley Paving in Moore County, and he pointed to the lack of jobs and recreation opportunities in Rockingham as his inspiration for running for city council.

“Nothing has changed in Rockingham since I was this tall, and now I’m this tall,” he said, holding his hand near his knees before raising it to the top of his head. “I want to make a change in the City of Rockingham.”

He said he has three young children, and there is nothing for them to do in the city limits.

“We don’t even have a decent park where they can go play with other kids,” Austin said. “There’s Castle Park, but that’s outside the city limits. The new recreation complex is a good idea, but that’s for the older kids. We need somewhere where the citizens of Rockingham can take their three, four and five-year-olds to play with other kids their size, and not have to worry about something happening to them.”

He also pointed to the lack of jobs and businesses in the city limits as something that can be improved on, noting he is forced to drive to Moore County to work while his heart and his family are in Richmond County.

“We only have one nice, chain restaurant in Rockingham,” he said. “I love to eat at some other places in Rockingham, like Bo’s, but there really isn’t even a place in town to get a good steak. And we wonder why industry doesn’t want to relocate here!”

He also recalled the city having two theaters when he was growing up.

“We have to do something to bring entertainment back to Rockingham, so there isn’t that long line of cars going up U.S. 1 to Moore County every Friday night,” Austin said. “If I’m elected I’ll work to bring those things back, so we can keep people in our town instead of sending them away.”

n Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.