MARSHALL - In-person early voting starts Oct. 16, and Madison County has six county commissioners vying for three seats.
The five candidates — Bill Briggs, Shannon Dowler, Jeremy Hensley, Connie Molland and Alan Wyatt — fielded questions from Sarah Scully, a local reporter with WNC Grassroots Media who served as moderator of the Sept. 22, forum, organized by the Madison County Chamber of Commerce and hosted by AB Tech's Madison campus in Marshall.
Hensley, the commission's current vice chair; and Wyatt, a current commissioner, are Republicans. Briggs, 37, owns a property maintenance company specializing in pressure washing and lives in Mars Hill. Hensley, 47, has been a Verizon service technician for 20 years. Wyatt, 50, is a sales representative
for L&W Supply in Arden. He is a firefighter with Ebbs Chapel Volunteer Fire Department, and president of the county firefighter's association.
Both Hensley and Wyatt live in Mars Hill and have served as commissioners since 2022.
Dowler and Molland are Democrats. Dowler, a family physician and health policy consultant, is in her second term on the Madison County Board of Health. Molland owns Flow Gallery in Marshall and has been active with the Downtown Marshall Association and Rotary Club of Madison County for years. She was named the Rotary Club's first district governor in 2024.
Mark Snelson, another Democrat, did not participate in the forum. Snelson served on the board from 2018 to 2022 and served as the board's chair in his final year. He is director of the county emergency medical services, where he has worked since 1990.
The three top vote-getters will win seats on the board.
The candidates made introductory and closing statements, and addressed six topics: the economy, taxes, the question of resources for towns versus rural communities, accountability to the residents, the county's youth, and their personal top issues.
The county's youth
The issue of setting up Madison's youth population for success was the last topic discussed before their closing statements.
Madison, like many areas, has a diminishing workforce and drug addiction concerns. How can we help develop better youth activities and county parks and recreation to help keep them strong and active into adulthood?
Dowler said she has not seen methamphetamine abuse as high as now, adding there are many substances that are over the counter and available to young people.
"If we have activities and safe places for youth and adolescents to be in community together — if we have strong church support or faith-based supports, we have afterschool activities, and we have resources for them, then they're more likely to stay out of trouble and find the right things," Dowler said, adding that she feels the county needs to support the parents and grandparents raising the kids, as well as the students' teachers. "We've got to support our teachers and our educational system. We've got to feed our kids, and we've got to get them things to do."
Hensley said he felt there is only so much a county commissioner can do for area youth.
"I never once thought that a commissioner ought to do something to keep my kid active," Hensley said. He noted that the county commission board allocated $120,000 in 2023 for upgrades to some county baseball fields after parents' concerns, and rebuilding the covered arena at the fairground site, which hosts youth programming, including Future Farmers of America and 4H.
"I think this youth thing is a parent problem and not a commissioner problem," Hensley said.
Molland invoked the saying, "It takes a village," saying the county needs to work together to make sure children are safe, healthy and supported.
"What I didn't realize until I looked at this question is how important the community is. I always knew how important the schools are. In the schools we have teachers and students and staff, and in our communities we have our neighbors," Molland said, adding that she would like to see community centers have access to the best playground equipment.
"We want to have more things like the Duck (Greenway) trail in Mars Hill. For jobs, we have got to look at opportunities for these young adults and teenagers to find work so they can start earning some money and get prepared for the workforce."
Wyatt quoted Commissioner Matt Wechtel in saying, "Youth activities is not always sticks and balls. It also involves the Arts Council, and the band. But we have supported all of these for the last four years. We've added $60,000 of Article Four money here at AB Tech to help our youth. We're big supporters of the Madison County Cooperative Extension and what they do with our youth up there. We're very supportive of FFA and the 4H," adding that the county received nearly $3 million from the state in its 2022-23 budget for renovations at the high schools' O.E. Roberts Stadium.
"I agree with (Vice Chair) Hensley, in that as far as youth on drugs, and problems like that, that's not necessarily a commissioner problem, as it is a parent problem," Wyatt said. "I don't feel like we enable them with programs paid by taxpayer dollars."
Briggs said he agreed with Wyatt on the enabling of youths with programs using taxpayer dollars.
"It's easy to say, 'I think we ought to come up with some programs to help our youth,' but everything costs money, and a lot of times it can be a dead-end road. Once you get the program going and it's just a dead end and it did nothing, now the county's taxpayers are out of money," Briggs said.
Rather, Briggs said he's always a proponent for jobs.
"Our young adults can start working earlier than most do now. I started farming way before I could drive, let's put it that way," Briggs said. He agreed with Hensley on the importance of parenting. "You can't force a parent to be a good parent or force them to do the right thing always."
Johnny Casey is the Madison County communities reporter for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel. He can be reached at 828-210-6074 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Madison commissioner candidates differ on role in providing for youths
