Steve Justus – Candidate for Town Board

For the past two years I have had the honor of serving on the Davidson Town Board. I decided to run for the board in the 2023 election following a career in healthcare, emptying my wife Phyl’s and my nest of our 4 children and serving on the town’s Livability Board. I care deeply for this place where we’ve lived for the past 25 years and want the people who live here to live well. When I decided to run in 2023, I had the time and energy required for the position. I thought that my background in health systems strengthening would provide a worthwhile perspective in serving as a steward for this community. Two years later I realize that I had a lot to learn(and still do) from serving with the experienced board and staff that work for our town.

 

I bring an understanding that lives well-lived require an openness to new ideas and new people and an understanding that truth can be nuanced. I try to emulate the global health leader Paul Farmer who, when he lived, approached his work as pragmatic solidarity.   For the well-being of people, they need to be safe and secure in their homes and while moving from place to place, clearly within the core services of a local government. This is the pragmatic component, things the local government are responsible for need to work well at a reasonable cost with adequate resources to support those costs. I believe that elected local government servants need to care about the community as a whole and everyone who lives in their community and work to address the drivers of community and individual well-being. This is the solidarity component. That means that a local government needs to consider its role in these drivers, recognizing that the government’s role may not be one of full responsibility but also not one of no responsibility. Government policy can facilitate positive action taken by others to address drivers of well-being. Government funding can catalyze positive action. Oftentimes the drivers of community well-being present complex challenges that require collaborative approaches from local government, the private sector and civil society. When faced with complex community challenges, I am in favor of finding the practical and helpful way for the town to be involved.

 

Two complex challenges facing our community are both related to the increasing cost of land resulting from our proximity to Charlotte and the lovely but finite location of a college town near Lake Norman. We still have undeveloped open and agricultural spaces that could be preserved but at a hefty cost. Simultaneously we are faced with escalating housing costs pushing low and middle income households out and preventing new low and middle income households from moving in. Preserving our natural resources reduces space for development and is widely considered a good thing by those of us who can afford to live here. I am for seeking creative solutions to preserving affordability whilst preserving natural resources.

 

We are moving to 4 year terms and I see the value in longer term perspectives. Some of our complex challenges require taking a perspective beyond elected terms. Should the community elect me to a second term, I would bring a perspective beyond these next 4 years.

 

I will be pragmatic, “if it ain’t broke, don’t break it” by providing ongoing care for the core services provided at high quality by our town staff. I will seek cost effective, workable solutions to challenges faced in those core services. I will also seek to be in solidarity with the people living in our community by making positive contributions to the complex challenges driving the community’s and the individual community member’s well-being.

 

Thank you for the opportunity to have served on the town board for the past two years.