Vision as Union County Commissioner
Having lived in Mecklenburg County for many years as a student and young professional, then moving to Iredell County to begin a family, I can tell you exactly why Union County is the best place to live, work, and raise a family.
In 2003 following a medical crisis with our firstborn, we began researching schools. At the time, we were living near Carolina’s Medical Center, and our oldest started Kindergarten in a large private Christian school in Charlotte. My husband’s office was in Mint Hill, and we began visiting Union County looking for land, and instinctively knew this was our home.
Union County is a beautiful landscape, surrounded by rolling fields for agriculture, livestock, vineyards, schools, colleges, a regional airport, hospitals, growing industry for jobs, opportunities for entrepreneurs, with easy access to interstates for corporate commutes, an international airport, professional sports, shopping, and more. Who wouldn’t want to live in Sweet Union, with low taxes and top-performing schools?
We purchased land, designed and built our home. With a Certificate of Occupancy in hand, we transferred our son to Fairview Elementary in 2005 and enrolled our youngest in preschool at Benton’s Cross Roads. I spent the next nine years volunteering in numerous roles in the Piedmont and Porter Ridge Clusters.
In 2014, with a $91M lawsuit between the County and School Board sitting in Appellate Court, redistricting of 5,800 students away from their neighborhood schools, separating siblings, and a $232M Bond Proposal and leaking roofs across the county, the community approached me to run for the Board of Education in District 4. After years of quiet service, families knew they could trust me to be their voice for their children, families, and tax dollars to advocate for neighborhood schools, reduce transportation time, determine actual capacities in our schools, plan for classroom additions where needed, and repair the broken relationship between the schools and county; starting with dropping the $91M lawsuit that would negatively impact all Union County resident’s taxes.
Serving Union County for the last eight years has been a great honor and privilege, yielding the necessary experience to serve as YOUR County Commissioner:
- In the private sector, I have experience as a Project Manager to balance a national sales team with corporate demands, global budgets, construction schedules, and manufacturing.
- As a taxpayer and School Board Member, I helped lead UCPS for eight years through a conservative lens to meet the needs of North Carolina’s 6th largest school district, Union County’s largest employer, oversee a $454M Budget that comprises $130M from Union County Residents while taking UCPS to #1 in North Carolina in performance from #3, and ranked #116 in State Funding.
- During Covid19, I led our 9-Member Board and Superintendent to honor our sole obligation to provide the highest levels of education with in-person learning, holding outdoor graduations in 2020 and 2021, and fighting the State Board of Education and DPI for 2020 Senior Grades.
- Defended UCPS with Mask Optional and NO vaccine mandates, against threats from Dr. Mandy Cohen, letters from Roy Cooper, while consulting other school boards across the state to join.
- As a wife, mom, neighbor, friend, and Christian, I have the sensitivity to manage conflict, discipline to listen twice as hard as I speak, common sense, and fortitude to treat others the way I want to be treated, and not responding to critics who disagree through social media bullying, personal threats, cyberstalking, fraud and intimidation that often originate from Mecklenburg and Wake County.
You can count on me to hold the Red Wall for Sweet Union
… Experience Matters!
ELECT MELISSA MERRELL for COUNTY COMMISSIONER
