Amanda Edwards | Candidate to Chair the Buncombe County Commission

While Hurricane Helene disrupted virtually every life and way of life in this region, at least one thing is happening as scheduled—the 2024 election. Today, I talk with Amanda Edwards, a member of the Buncombe County Commission who is running to succeed the departing Brownie Newman as chair.

Here, in a conversation that took place weeks before Helene struck, Edwards talks about her motivations for entering electoral politics and the issues that motivate her today. Our conversation runs through affordable housing policy, education, the environment and improving emergency services. She also makes a point to talk about transparency and ethics as an elected official. 

Later in this conversation, Edwards criticizes a now former practice of elected county officials accepting retention bonuses. Though she doesn’t directly name him, her opponent in this race, Van Duncan, was an elected sheriff who accepted such a bonus. I emailed Duncan’s campaign to ask for an interview and haven't receive a response.

Help "The Overlook with Matt Peiken" podcast reach its very reachable goal: Just $1,000 in monthly contributions by Election Day. Membership at our Patreon campaign starts at just $5/month. 

Transcript

Matt Peiken: What were you doing professionally before you thought about going into public service? And what was that transition? 

Amanda Edwards: My career goal was to be an NFL sideline reporter. 

Matt Peiken: Wow. Really? I know, right? I used to be a sports writer, so that's funny. 

Amanda Edwards: So I have a huge passion for sports, particularly football. I wanted to be on the sidelines before we even knew who Erin Andrews was or was going to be. I, however, [00:02:00] fell into philanthropy and fundraising during my undergraduate work. I worked closely with the Office of Development, now Advancement, at UNC Asheville. And the Associate Vice Chancellor at the time really took me under his wing and said, I think you'd be really good at this work.

And I resisted until my senior year and I said, I think you might be right. I really like this. So I graduated. Moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, was the public relations and volunteer coordinator for a very tiny non profit called Friends of Literacy, working with adults working toward obtaining their GED and learning English as a second language.

At the very ripe age of 24, I became the executive director of that organization. And because of my age, I knew that I wanted That I needed to have an advanced degree in order to be taken seriously as a professional, and I loved the work of Nonprofits so much that I was like, let's look at the Masters of Public [00:03:00] Administration program at UT and so I did. I applied and was accepted.

I worked and went to school at the same time. Applied for some jobs here in Asheville in the summer of 2004 and the literacy council of Buncombe County, now known as literacy together, happened to be hiring an executive director. It was almost exactly the work that I had been doing in Knoxville.

Matt Peiken: When did you think about running for public office? I know I'm skipping some steps. You're at the AB Tech Foundation and some other things that are still active in your world. 

Amanda Edwards: So the MPA degree, the Public Administration Masters, is the degree that city and county administrators, city managers, county managers must have in order To be qualified to do their jobs.

So never dreamed that I was going to run for office, always had an interest in politics, was happy working behind the scenes on political campaigns, [00:04:00] never wanted to be. on the ballot. However, it was the summer of 2017 when the news was breaking about what was happening in Buncombe County government with the county manager, assistant county managers, and the suspicion that maybe a county commissioner had been involved in some of that as well.

And My family and I were on vacation. Matt, we were in the middle of nowhere, Utah, and I look at my husband. I said, maybe I should run for County Commission. I have this MPA. I understand from a practical standpoint how government is supposed to run. So maybe I should run. And I got back. I had calls from several folks saying we really want to talk to you about considering running for County Commission. And I guess, as they say from there, the rest is history. 

Matt Peiken: It's interesting that you had these thoughts while others seemingly had these thoughts that you should run. And you talked about when getting this MPA that, it's the entryway to running for office. But I also know that's an entryway to being a city manager or [00:05:00] something, not necessarily an elected official.

Those are two different things. Not necessarily two different things, but they don't have to be one in the same. Working for a city, working in a city administration or county administration and running for office. What was it about the political end of things, or at least the elected office that drew you more than being a, like a city manager?

Amanda Edwards: Matt, as we've discussed, I've spent my career serving communities, marginalized populations specifically, and leading organizations. And I felt that the skill set that I had of leading and also understanding the role of the leader of an organization versus the board who is the governance and the policy setting arm of that, gave me a unique lens to run for office versus getting into the employee route of using that MPA.

I have always worked across sectors, across [00:06:00] various political spectrums, and felt that was what was needed in Buncombe County. It was really interesting when I announced my run, my campaign was off to a start, the number of people that I've worked with in this community over the time who said, we had no idea what your politics were.

And to me, that was a positive, that it really spoke to the fact that I believed then, and even more so now that I can work across the aisle with anyone. Especially when you're leading and you're governing and you're serving a community, at the end of the day, it's about serving every single resident and serving the best interest of our community and our county, politics aside.

And so having always operated in that very nonpartisan unbiased manner I think gave me an edge as an elected official that I had already established really deep relationships with [00:07:00] people across the entire political spectrum. 

Matt Peiken: Did you have to adopt a certain politic or even come to terms for yourself with what your politics were in a way that you didn't have to previously?

It's one thing to run a nonprofit. That's not necessarily a partisan position at all. And when you're running for office. Maybe people expect you to take, it's not like running for Congress or Senate, but there is a politic to it. People want to know whether you're a progressive or you're conservative in certain ways.

Did you have to own a certain politic for yourself first before even going public with anything when you ran for office?

Amanda Edwards: I love that question. For me personally, because it does attest to the work that I've done in our community, my goal in running for County Commission in 2018 as a first time candidate was to restore trust, accountability, and transparency to Buncombe County government.

To me, that is non partisan and [00:08:00] was what the county needed at the time. And I believe we are, we've addressed So much corruption and greed in Buncombe County and restoring trust. I believe we've made a lot of progress and delivered on many results of that. 

Matt Peiken: Can you be specific about work to do? Yeah, be specific about some of the things you've done, you and your fellow commissioners have done in that time to restore trust. 

Amanda Edwards: One that I am most proud of, there's many, but there's a couple that rise to the surface. The first that I'm most proud of is, We have made it illegal for elected officials to take retention bonuses that under previous county management, there was an elected official who took a retention bonus to complete their term as an elected leader.

Matt Peiken: That's, that sounds like blatant Cash cow back to yourself in a way why that's so self [00:09:00] serving how would that even be a policy that would fly that would get past public scrutiny? 

Amanda Edwards: It no longer does under the leadership that I brought to Buncombe County commission in Buncombe County government. I think it speaks to the level of corruption that was running through Buncombe County at the time where an elected leader believed that it was okay to accept a retention bonus to complete a term.

When you're accountable to the voters, not the county manager, all seven Buncombe County Commissioners elected leaders are accountable to the voters, not staff. so I certainly, what I will tell you, My personal ethics would never have allowed me to accept a retention bonus. So what I will say, I am incredibly proud of the fact that we have made it illegal for elected officials to take retention bonuses to remain in office. The second policy that I'm really proud [00:10:00] of is we have completely changed how we fund non profit organizations across Buncombe County.

We have a strategic plan in place across five foundational goals of Buncombe County, and we know we're a county full of nonprofit organizations who are doing work that aligns with the goals of Buncombe County government. And so the strategic partnership funding process now fully aligns with the strategic goals of Buncombe County government.

Matt Peiken: Did this not happen before? Was it more piecemeal and subjective in terms of funding? What was happening before?

Amanda Edwards: That's a great question. So I was handed as a brand new commissioner, a spreadsheet with a list of nonprofits and what they were asking for and asked to rank them. It became madness because, of course, nonprofits who had someone working in advocacy or in fundraising knew to reach out to the county commissioners to advocate for the [00:11:00] program they were seeking funding for.

And what I saw was organizations doing incredible work that supports Buncombe County, they don't have the same resources as many of those organizations. They may not have had the time to reach out to their county commissioners to advocate because they're focused on the program and serving their constituents in that organization.

And it felt like Absolute and complete madness and chaos and that you started advocating for the organizations that maybe had reached out to the most or had more resources to send an e newsletter to their own supporters saying reach out to your county commissioners to advocate for funding for us.

And we were leaving really good programs that align with that. the goals of Buncombe County behind. So the other piece that we did away with that crazy spreadsheet. We did away with the madness of [00:12:00] each commissioner bringing in their lens and who they wanted to ensure had funding. Because that also speaks to the way things used to be done in Buncombe County.

And we created a strategic partnership committee and it is a full Fully transparent committee. Their meetings are held in public for anyone to watch or attend and see how the decisions are being made. The commissioners interview and appoint representatives to serve on the strategic partnerships committee. And they are the ones who review the applications. They ask the follow up questions. And it's part of our budget process now that the Strategic Partnership Committee goes through that process and then they make the recommendation for the funding. And they're specifically looking at how those organizations, their goals are aligning with our goals, so that we can further Buncombe County in those areas that we have set as important to moving us forward. 

Matt Peiken: It sounds like you went into running for office to try to be [00:13:00] transparent and clean things up, play a role in cleaning things up. Absolutely. It's another to want to move things forward and establish policies like you were just talking about in terms of how non profits are funded.

What are some other things that you helped initiate as a county commissioner that you wouldn't have even thought about when you were running for office. It's one thing to have a impetus to run. It's another to when you're in the seat to develop some policies And processes that move things forward. What's some things that you discovered in the job that you want to push forward?

Amanda Edwards: The first one that comes to mind for me is our affordable housing subcommittee. Running for office Really opened my eyes to the challenges that our community has in terms of affordable home ownership and affordable Rentals for locals. And it was a result of that working in conjunction with Brownie Newman, that we created the affordable housing subcommittee to really start ushering in a new [00:14:00] process for funding affordable housing projects.

They were very haphazard at the time. They were coming to us at random times. And so we said, we really need to streamline this as part again of our budget process. And we have created, I think, an incredible plan working in conjunction with our affordable housing staff and our affordable housing services program, which funds affordable housing.

The second piece of that is in 2022 voters approved not only open space bonds, but 40 million dollars of bonds for affordable housing. And it was the groundwork that the affordable housing committee laid and setting goals, some aggressive goals, of reaching some affordable housing by 2030. That led us to saying we need bonds in order to really make a difference.

A two to three million dollar line item in the budget every year is not moving the needle forward as quickly as our [00:15:00] constituents are telling us it needs to move. 

Matt Peiken: What happens with that money? So it's one thing. Okay, we need affordable housing. We want to help our county or city government to move things forward in that way. What does the county do with this money coming in through the referendum?

Amanda Edwards: So The 40 million has come to Buncombe County. Let me first say, we do have an oversight committee to ensure that the funding is indeed being spent in the way that we have told our constituents that it is being spent and allocated. So we do have an oversight arm for transparency and accountability with the GO bonds.

What the commissioners have done, specifically the Affordable Housing Committee, is we've expanded the application process for affordable housing. So the process opens late fall, early December, and the developers apply using the goals that we've set forward, as well as [00:16:00] using their pro forma and their budget to determine the cost per unit.

Are they using low income housing tax credits? It's a formula that is looked at. And then the staff, we have incredible staff in affordable housing and planning who review those in depth, in detail. They share every detailed application and budget with us and we review it and then we make funding recommendations from there.

Again, we meet the first Tuesday of every month at 1 p. m. I get open meetings so folks can see how we're deliberating and making these decisions. We have been really lucky over the past couple of years that we've got phenomenal local developers, including Mountain Housing Opportunities and Habitat for Humanity, who do Just an incredible job in terms of building affordable rentals and home ownership opportunities.

What this has allowed us to do, though, is bring in additional developers because we just don't have enough here to [00:17:00] meet the needs. One of the projects I'm really excited about is through a developer called LDG in Louisville, Kentucky, and they are building affordable rental units in Weaverville, which is my neighborhood, my community.

I live in Weaverville and we've been able to look beyond just the city of Asheville for affordable housing. I hear so often Matt longtime residents, natives of Buncombe County saying I need affordable housing, but I don't want to live in the city. I don't need public transportation. I don't need access to core services on a consistent basis.

I have a vehicle, But I need to afford a place for my family and I to live. And I grew up in Weaverville and that's where I'd like to stay. Or I grew up in Leicester and I'd like to stay close to my community. 

 I often say in order to address the affordable housing crisis, we have to have all kinds of housing for all kinds of people, that we have to look across the spectrum of our [00:18:00] housing needs, that we know there's data that show that, for example, affordable homes in West Asheville are often snatched up by folks who may have more means to buy a different type of home, but that's all that's available.

So we do have to ensure that we've got Home ownership opportunities at all price points so that when an affordable house does come on the market, That it is available for someone that that is their price range.

Matt Peiken: When you're talking about developing Homes at all price points and particularly in the affordable spectrum, How can you as a county commissioner or how can the commission or city council give incentives to developers to build properties and price them at a rate that attracts people who are of lesser economic means and they don't get swept under by people who make more money and can pay cash for these homes. How can you help shape the market? 

Amanda Edwards: So [00:19:00] that is where our Affordable Housing Services Program and the bond funding really comes into play because it allows us to fund those developers who have the opportunity to apply for the low income housing tax credits, which is a huge component of being able to bring on more affordable housing to our area. 

One thing that I'm particularly excited about in terms of our policy ways we're addressing affordable housing outside of the bonds is, we know, the most expensive part of building affordable housing is land. So we took a look alongside UNC School of Government's Department of Finance Initiative, all of the land that Buncombe County Government owns, and what could potentially be developed into housing. So working in conjunction with them, several areas were identified, additional research was done.

We now have an RFP out for affordable apartments to be [00:20:00] built on Coxe Avenue, right downtown. So we do know there are people who that's what they desire. They want to be downtown. We also have a large amount of property on Ferry Road where a brewery was supposed to be built and the commission held onto that land. They said, we're just going to hold onto it. We're not going to sell it. It. It could not have been a better decision to hold on to that because that is the second piece of land that we will develop as a county government. And it will include rental units, single family homes, but also homes to address our missing middle price point, which is that 80 to 120 percent AMI. That catches our teachers, our first responders, even our city and county government employees fall well within that 80 to 120 percent AMI.

And the biggest piece of home ownership that we're missing Is townhomes. You go to any city of any size, any budding town, there's home ownership opportunities in townhomes. We [00:21:00] don't have that here. 

Matt Peiken: Before we get to why you're running for commission chair, can you compare and contrast for people who may not dial in really closely to what the difference is between a city council and a county commission, talk about how the county commission either compares, contrasts, works with city councils or works independent and what how they decide what territory falls under the purview of a county commission versus a city council.

Amanda Edwards: Sure. The Buncombe County commission covers unincorporated areas of Buncombe County. A city or a town is the municipality. So we have the city of Asheville, town of Weaverville, town of Montreat, town of Biltmore Forest, and town of Woodfin. Those are municipalities that fall within the county that we live in, as well as the town of Black Mountain. They're working within their jurisdiction to fund their core services, their municipalities, [00:22:00] whether it's law enforcement, their public safety, trash services, whatever is falling within that municipality, that's what they're doing. We're doing that across the county across unincorporated Buncombe.

So Swannanoa falls into that, Fairview. When you think about the towns in Buncombe County that don't have Municipality, that's where Buncombe County is covering right? We do have a budget of about a half billion dollars annually And I think that's usually shocking to people it falls to the County Commission to fund public safety across the county.

So 21 percent of our budget funds EMS, as well as the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office. 20 percent of our budget funds Health and Human Services, which includes public health and the health department. 30%, the largest portion of Buncombe County's budget, covers K 12 education. 

Matt Peiken: That gets to a subject I wanted to ask you about, your view of the merging of school districts.

I know that's come up a lot, and I've talked [00:23:00] to board members, both Asheville City Schools, Who seem, open to the idea, Buncombe County schools board members also. Where do you sit on this?

Amanda Edwards: What frustrates me about the consolidation study, nobody asked the General Assembly to do this. I think the city schools, the county schools, the county commissioners, we were operating with a two school system and we were okay with that.

It's very reminiscent of when the General Assembly came to Buncombe County government and said, we're going to put county commission in districts now and they're going to be tied to house districts. Nobody asked for that. Nobody asked for this consolidation study. So I have concerns about why they wanted the consolidation study and why they weren't funding it if they wanted it. So the consolidation study cost has fallen to Buncombe County to fund at this point. We're hoping that they'll change their mind.

Matt Peiken: [00:24:00] And it's imposed back and it's imposed. They don't have a choice. 

Amanda Edwards: There is no choice to but to do this, right. What I will say on consolidation is We have two Very good school systems, Asheville City and Buncombe County schools that are both serving in many ways, very different populations of students.

At the end of the day, All I want to ensure is that the decision is made with the best interests of our students at the forefront of this and nothing else. 

Matt Peiken: You said it's two different populations of students. In some ways, aren't 15 year olds 15 year olds and 10 year olds 10 year olds? How are you distinguishing why there are two very different bodies of students.

Amanda Edwards: Both of our school districts do have an opportunity gap. The opportunity gap looks very different when you dig in a bit deeper. The Asheville City Schools district opportunity gap falls [00:25:00] within students of color and my concern should a consolidation happen, is that our students of color are not left behind when they are in a school district who does continue to focus on working very diligently to close that opportunity gap.

Matt Peiken: Do you think one district more than another has the imperative to do that, that there's just more need to do that, let's say, within Asheville City Schools than within Buncombe County Schools?

Amanda Edwards: I don't think I can truly answer that question. As a commissioner, I would be really interested to hear that viewpoint from our school board members and our two superintendents. 

Matt Peiken: Yeah. You touched on an issue that I hear permeating city operations often is that, that we're in this mother may I state that the legislature really dictates a lot of what we can and can't do to a certain degree.

Does that also hamstring county commission? Does the same thing that I hear from the mayor and city council [00:26:00] members and others in city staff does that also hamstring county commission and what you can do with your budget and can't do? 

Amanda Edwards: It definitely hamstrings us. I have often said And I will continue to say it that the North Carolina general assembly is the biggest threat To public k 12 education. They continue to not meet their constitutional mandate to fully fund K 12. And so they're pushing that further and further onto County commissions and County governments to increase funding, to ensure that our schools have the bare minimum to operate, which does account for why our County budget is 30 percent dedicated to public schools.

Matt Peiken: And also I know cities, At least Asheville, the only real mechanism they have other than referendums to raise money is property taxes. Can the same thing happen at county level? What can you do to raise money if the legislature's not giving more money toward public [00:27:00] education?

Amanda Edwards: Property tax is the biggest lever that counties have to pull in order to fund its general fund. And that burden gets pushed onto property and homeowners. I recently said that folks across the state of North Carolina should be angry. You're being taxed at a state level, specifically for public education.

And then your local county government is having to add an additional tax because the state's not funding public education. They're siphoning it off elsewhere. And so it makes the budget decisions incredibly difficult on a county when we see where there's need when we see where we need to add additional resources and yet the general assembly continues to hamstring us in moving forward in many areas because we do have to fund k 12 education. i think another area where the general assembly has [00:28:00] really impacted county government is by dictating county commission lines. Every two years, the county commission district lines change and it is incredibly confusing to our constituents.

For example, in 2022, I was elected in the North Buncombe district. So Barnardsville, Weaverville, over to Sandy Mush and Leicester, Woodfin. I have a little bit of West Asheville, but I have no downtown. That's The 2022 district three. You look at the 2024 map of district three and it's completely different.

And so our residents reach out and they're like, I don't even know who I'm supposed to contact as my county commissioner to get help in my particular area. I don't think that is an accident, Matt. I think that goes back to them tying the county commission districts to house districts as [00:29:00] the general assembly was trying to gain an advantage in Raleigh.

They've proven on county commission that has not worked and yet they continue to redraw maps every two years, to the detriment, I think, of voters. 

Matt Peiken: Yeah, is this happening statewide or are they picking on Buncombe County in Asheville? I've heard both. 

Amanda Edwards: Buncombe County is the only county of 100 counties in North Carolina whose county commission districts are tied to its house districts.

Matt Peiken: Wow. 

Amanda Edwards: And we're only one of three, I believe it's still three, that the commission chair is elected at large by all voters. Typically, if it's a seven member board of commissioners, the members of that board of commission elect their chair to serve, maybe two years or so. We're again very different.

Matt Peiken: Which leads to why you're running now. I know Brownie Newman has decided not to run again You did allude to that you've worked with Brownie Newman [00:30:00] on some policies and can you describe your relationship, your working relationship with Brownie Newman and why you're deciding to run to succeed him?

Amanda Edwards: I have developed an incredible work relationship with Brownie Newman and he has been an incredible county commission chair and leader for Buncombe County. He helped us usher in the changes that were desperately needed. to bring trust, accountability and transparency back to Buncombe County government. His leadership has changed the course of Buncombe County for the better, I believe.

I was speechless when he called to tell me that he was not going to seek re election. It takes a lot for me not to have words to say and it took a few minutes to be able to process the brevity of Brownie Newman choosing not to run for chair again.

I, at that point had served five years on county commission. [00:31:00] Talked to some very trusted advisors as well as my family and said, I've got service under my belt. I have experience of serving Buncombe County as a commissioner for a full term. I was well into my second term at that point and decided that I was going to seek the chair seat and a big piece of that for me, Matt, was that I had service as a commissioner under my belt, that I'm ready to serve Buncombe County as its leader from the moment I am sworn in as the commission chair. I don't have a learning curve of understanding the depth and breadth of county government, but really being able to pick up and continue moving the county forward in the ways that the county commission has chosen to move forward specifically through our strategic plan.

I do have four key areas as the commission chair that I do want to keep focused on [00:32:00] and I call them my four E's. I tell folks, it's easy to remember Edwards and her four E's. The first is the economy. And when I talk about the economy, Matt, I talk about ensuring we have career wage jobs as well as affordable housing opportunities and high speed internet.

Those all tie in together to ensuring that we have a strong economy for locals. The second is education. I am incredibly passionate about public education because We know when our K 12 students are highly educated, they go on to great educational institutions, and we hope that they'll come back to good jobs here.

The third is the environment. Of course, I care deeply about land conservation, air and water quality. But I did serve as the executive director of the American Red Cross of Western North Carolina. And because of that work, it led me to see firsthand the impact of climate [00:33:00] change. So when I talk about the environment, I'm also talking about resiliency to climate change and natural disasters and being prepared for when they come, not if they come.

And my last E is emergency services. Again, that time at the Red Cross working very closely with first responders and seeing the importance of the role that they play in our community, whether it's continuing to expand our community paramedics program with EMS, continuing to expand our co responder program with the Buncombe County Sheriff's office and Buncombe County emergency management.

And that program ensures that the right professionals respond to the crisis at hand, whether it is that domestic violence call, you want to make sure you have that sheriff's deputy there alongside the other right professionals to address domestic violence. Also, mental health crisis, substance abuse crisis, that co responder model has [00:34:00] had over 500 calls since its inception last fall.

Only two people have had to be arrested and sent to the detention center because it matters when you send the right people to the crisis. I also want to say under emergency services, it has been under my leadership as a Buncombe County commissioner, that we have increased detention center pay as well as sheriff's deputies pay, which then also led to increasing paramedic pay.

So I am Incredibly supportive of the work of emergency services and want to continue ensuring that we're making Buncombe County a place where everyone can feel safe when they're here, 

Matt Peiken: You mentioned safety. I know you are running for office against Van Duncan, a former Buncombe County sheriff. How do you look to distinguish yourself in this race, particularly in the public safety and emergency responder arena? 

Amanda Edwards: Serving as the County commission chair is much broader than [00:35:00] the role of a sheriff. And because it is broad, it's about looking at the bigger picture and the lens of public safety and emergency services. It goes to seeing it from a more holistic perspective of as I've stated previously, how the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office interacts with EMS and community paramedics, how those programs interact with the detention center, how they interact with the residents who are calling 9 1 1. It's a much broader perspective than just a singular view that he brings to the table.

I also bring six years of experience as a County Commissioner. And again, the very in depth understanding of county government and everything that we do. We have to look at a broader scale of our community, including public education, public [00:36:00] health. I've learned more about the landfill and trash collection that I ever thought I would know in my entire life.

So we have to look at those services as well as just a singular issue that a candidate may be running on. 

Matt Peiken: Are we In a the city is a weak mayor system, you know this Esther Manheimer is one of seven city council members when it comes right down to it. She can assign committee members to things and take committee members off there's not a lot of power other than symbolism, in a sense. You are the mayor you are the center point of things. Same thing with county commission? Or does the county commission chair have certain powers to bring things to the table and certain policies that maybe other commissioners don't. 

Amanda Edwards: That's a great question, Matt. The county commission chair is the one who works most closely, I believe, with the county manager and county staff to determine not only the agenda for the meeting, but the policies and procedures that are going to be brought forward.

So I do think the [00:37:00] county commission chair in Buncombe County does have an enormous opportunity to direct the future of Buncombe County. 

Matt Peiken: I guess the last thing I'll ask you is You've been in office now two terms, this would be your third term on commission. Do you have any sights on higher office? Let's say you are in county commission, you've still got a long career ahead of you no matter where you decide to go. What do you ultimately see yourself doing? 

Amanda Edwards: I see myself winning Buncombe County Commission Chair on November 5th and making history as our first female county commission chair in Buncombe County history.

I never intended to run for public office and I'm looking at this singular goal in front of me right now because I want to be the very best county commission chair that I can be without thinking about what's next.