Our Vision For The Wilkesboros

Our vision is pretty simple, we want to see our community be as strong and vibrant as possible. Period.

We desire to see every citizen and every family living within the area made up by the corporate boundaries of Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro and surrounding areas enjoying the highest quality of life imaginable. We desire to see the businesses located here thriving just the same.

We want to see less government, not more. We believe that having two separate governments (that historically have not worked well together) for such a small community of less than 8,000 people, is not only bad business practice, but does not serve our community as wisely or efficiently as one unified government body could.

It creates more expense than there has to be, and a lot of government overlap with duplication of departments, staff, equipment, and community projects.

Not only do we as a community have to carry the cost burden of having two of each governmental department when one would suffice, over the years we have taken on the duplicate expenses of many community-enhancing projects such as outdoor concert pavilions, splash pads, parks and recreation amenities, and a myriad of other things.

A unified town would view the the community as a whole and allow us to see the big picture better. It would allow us to address community needs and desires more wisely, and not waste precious dollars on duplication.

We still may need two of some things, but we may not, and at least we would be able to have a choice to decide. Better community planning would definitely save us money, which could be saved, used to make a specific project better, used for other needed projects, used for marketing of our community, or left in the pockets of hard-working tax payers to begin with.

It would be wise, and much more cost-effective to have joint planning on all of these matters. Our desire is to have a local government that provides higher quality services, more efficiently, and at a lower cost to citizens.

We want to see better strategic planning for our community as a whole. We want to see better allocation of our community’s resources, and see them used in a way that puts us in a stronger position in the competitive arena of small town America.

Our current two-town setup makes it more difficult for us to agree on and fund important projects like the much needed W. Kerr Scott water intake project from a few years ago, and address current challenges like the housing crisis.

We believe that consolidation or shared services could bring real potential for the possibility of faster and better emergency response from our police and fire departments. Without town limit jurisdictions in play, emergency personnel could rush straight to the scene. Our fire insurance rating could also possibly be improved with one stronger department.

Also, it is worth mention that there is a trend in firefighting of less people being willing to volunteer for departments. This makes our departments working together (as they already do is some capacity) that much more important. Clearly, one department of firefighters or police officers that train and work together on a daily basis would be much better at responding to emergency situations where all hands are needed on deck, whether it be a large structure fire, a mass casualty incident, or a natural disaster. Tornadoes, hurricanes, and pandemics do not respect political boundaries or city limit signs.

We believe that one larger unified town would be more marketable to the outside world. We believe it would be looked at more favorably by potential incoming industries, businesses, retailers, restaurants and other entities that may be looking at our area. The larger developers in our community have said as much for years.

We also feel strongly that one larger town would garner more attention from the state government, and other similar agencies, than two smaller towns with confusingly similar names. This could possibly put us in better position for grant money and other benefits.

If we were all honest about it, we would admit that most people outside of our community don’t know or care about the difference between Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro, much less the fact that they are actually governed by two separate bodies. Visitors to our area (and many citizens) don’t know where one town stops and the other begins. They don’t know whether they are on Main Street Wilkesboro or Main Street North Wilkesboro.

We also feel that a unified town would bring people together and create a new, much-needed sense of hope for our area. We’ve lost a lot over the last 30 years. At times, it’s seemed like no one had any answers on how to turn things around, but things are changing. We are seeing a resurgence of small towns throughout our state and country. Small towns, just like ours, are re-creating themselves to be something better, and to have a better future.

Focusing on the “glory days” of our area’s historied past will not bring them back or move us toward a stronger future. We must look to the future with optimism, have a vision, and a plan. We must choose to look at the big picture, and turn over every stone that possibly could help us create a better future. The divided 2-government institution of yesterday may not be the best arrangement to lead us into a better tomorrow.

Simply put, integrating the government of a community that is already integrated in many other ways, seems likes common sense to us.

We desperately want to see better jobs, shopping, dining, recreation, and entertainment for everyone in Wilkes. We want to see people in our community being happy, healthy, and productive.

We have one agenda: Seeing all citizens of The Wilkesboros living out their best lives. Period.

We believe our community’s best days are not behind us, but are ahead of us!

We believe that one stronger town equals one stronger county!

We believe in working hard, but also in working smart!

Most of all, we believe that moving forward with a joint consolidation/shared-services study is the right thing to do for our community, and that now is the right time to do it!