Crowded field in Apex as 8 candidates run for 3 council seats

Mary Miskimon: I've been in Apex since '95. I was a reporter for 10 years. I got married, had children and basically retired from news broadcasting and got into substitute teaching here in Apex, where my kids went to school. Currently, I work at a wealth management firm. I also work for an international nonprofit group of CEOs and I have a small business, MEM Creative Concepts and I do landscape consulting. I used to chair the Town of Apex's Tree Citizens Advisory Panel which we called Tree CAP. When I was on there, I wrote a heritage tree proposal to protect trees within the Town of Apex's historical district.

Andre Powell: My wife and I have five children. My daughter's graduating from NC State in December. I've been more focused on family and my wife's career, more than mine, and now I have the time to focus on something else. So my priorities are husband, father, and everything else.

TJ Evans: I'm originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota. I moved to Apex when I was 12 so in 2008, I went to Apex High School. I was actually a part of the basketball team that brought home Apex High School's first and only basketball State Championship, which is how I got my catchphrase for the campaign: "Championing Apex." Beyond that, I am a fiance, I am a father and I'm a believer as well.

Kyrone Nebolisa: I grew up in Fayetteville. I attended NC State and have been in the area since I started working in biotechnology. I currently work at the Johnson and Johnson facility in Wilson, where they're building a new plant for cancer therapies. I've been married for about eight years. I have two kids: A six and three-year-old. I also like giving back to the community, working out and sports.

Ed Gray: I'm a lawyer by trade but before going into the law, I was an officer in the United States Air Force. I was deployed to various locations, including Afghanistan. After leaving the Air Force, I eventually became a federal prosecutor, prosecuting some of the most dangerous criminals in America. Now I make sure that justice is being pursued as a Federal Public Defender and ensure that everyone gets and maintains their rights under the Constitution.

Mary Miskimon: Having been here for a long time, I've seen the growth in Apex, and I've built three homes here. So I know that with each subsequent home, you're able to make a nice profit, but nothing crazy. You were always able to buy another home and that's changed.

In the last five years, we've had three town managers, three police chiefs and three Finance Directors, and our budget has increased 60% in five years. We also have an ongoing utility billing issue where we've had a lot of problems with the billing after a cyber attack. And so I'm concerned about how this town council, frankly, is leading our town.

(Editor's note: In July of 2024, Apex was the target of a cybersecurity incident which caused some errors in utility billing. Separately, the town updated its utility bill design and process that left some residents confused about their bills. Town officials have acknowledged concerns and said they are working toward additional changes to the bills. (Updates on both matters are posted on the town's website.)

Andre Powell: I also believe that Apex is at, what I would call, a pivot point to where the things that we do the next four to five years, if we don't look at them differently, it's probably not going to help the town be the best it can be.

TJ Evans: I don't necessarily look at this as an opportunity to step into politics and become a traditional politician. I'm really stepping into politics, because, as a community organizer, one of my favorite things is bringing people together, despite your religious beliefs, political beliefs, and any other thing.

Kyrone Nebolisa: What made me want to run for town council is after moving to the Apex area, I opened up a small business where I began to outreach the community through various engagements. I just wanted to continue that, even after selling my business and going into other ventures, I still wanted to give back and serve the community.

Ed Gray: Apex is a place that I chose to live in after living in places overseas and all over the United States. My wife wanted to make a home, and part of making that a home was ensuring that this place was going to be a place where my daughter wanted to return after she goes to college and she wanted to live here. And that was the big reason why I wanted to run. I felt like there was a need to make sure that Apex maintained its sense of community, that Apex ultimately was a welcoming place for everyone, and most importantly, was going to be a place that was going to be driven for the future.

Mary Miskimon: I have that perspective of having been here for 30 years and know what made us the peak of good living and what earned us all the accolades. I'm working hard to earn the votes of people in our community by giving them a voice on the town council, by being their true representative, so they have a voice in the development of the future of the town.

In the last five years, we've had three town managers, three police chiefs and three Finance Directors, and our budget has increased 60% in five years. We also have an ongoing utility billing issue where we've had a lot of problems with the billing after a cyber attack. And so I'm concerned about how this town council, frankly, is leading our town.

(Editor's note: In July of 2024, Apex was the target of a cybersecurity incident which caused some errors in utility billing. Separately, the town updated its utility bill design and process that left some residents confused about their bills. Town officials have acknowledged concerns and said they are working toward additional changes to the bills. Updates on both matters are posted on the town's website.)

Andre Powell: I'm your neighbor. I don't speak politician. I don't act politician. I don't have prepared answers for anything because I like to take the time to understand what somebody's immediate needs are, aside from myself. I don't know everything, nor do I pretend to know everything, nor do I think that any party is the gatekeeper to good ideas.

TJ Evans: I believe that local government should allow their residents to shape the decisions they make and take their voices in the forefront of the decision making process, not just at the back end of it. On top, I'm someone who's been involved in this community and love this community deeply. I want to continue to advocate for those in our community as well.

Kyrone Nebolisa: The community has different things that they feel like are not being advocated for them, and I feel like I could be a strong voice for them, as we have a lot of important issues facing our local community. Especially living in New Hill, it seems like we don't have a lot of voices for us in the New Hill community outside of Apex, so there has to be a strong voice for those residents.

Ed Gray: I'm proud that we have a lot of candidates that are stepping up to serve. What differentiates me from my other candidates, though, is that I've got experience in this job. I've had an opportunity over the last four years to help move Apex forward with regard to affordable housing and our budgeting. We have been able to do this growth and manage this growth in a smart way, but not on the taxpayer's back. We've been able to do this and maintain a sense of community, and that's an important factor for why people live in Apex.

Mary Miskimon: The top issues that voters tell me are: Traffic gridlock, concern that we're building too many cookie cutter town homes and apartments, and that we are losing our neighborhood identity and the sense that our voice doesn't matter. So that's my job, if I get on the town council, is to bring transparency and give voice to those people who feel they haven't been heard.

Andre Powell: Communication. It sounds really cliche but we need to take more time to listen to what people are saying. We hear about things that happened at a town council meeting, but we didn't really get a chance to participate before a decision was made. And another layer to that is it always feels like these decisions were made before we got here. So that's a big break in communication that I don't really think is necessary.

TJ Evans: Utility billing is the number one issue. I would say the second thing is growth. Apex has been growing. It may not be to the extent to which some people believe it is, but we're growing around 4% year over year. So growth is another big one. And the third one is going to be the proposal of a data center in New Hill slash Apex.

Kyrone Nebolisa: One huge issue is the data center. There's a big proposal for a developer to build a data center in the New Hill area. If we listen to the community and even my opinions about the process, it should be a no-go. It's too close to the neighborhoods, a lot of noise pollution, right? No to pollution. It should be further away. That's one. Two, ongoing utility bill. Those people are still seeing high billing for the utilities, so that needs to be fixed. Three, the rate of development going on in Apex. The development is good, but it needs to be smart development.

Ed Gray: The top three priorities for me are 1) We've got to improve and increase our overall water and sewer capacity. 2) Roadways. We need to stay in coordination with N.C. Department of Transportation, which owns and operates these roads, to make sure that we are making all of those roadways safe and effective. 3) Make sure that we have the infrastructure in place to provide and nurture our growing commercial developments. You know, we were recently identified as the new home for the North Carolina Children's Hospital. It's a great honor, but that means that we're going to have to do some things in order to make sure we have the infrastructure in place to support the growth that will come around when that Children's Hospital is in place.

Mary Miskimon: Whatever we do, it needs to be community driven. We need to think about neighborhoods and communities whenever we are considering new developments. And for things like the unified development ordinance. I helped write that in terms of environmental concerns terms of regulations, ordinances that protect buffers, streams, etc. But it's up to the town council to enforce those. Just because it's in the ordinance doesn't mean it has to be enforced. There's a wiggle room there. Then, for example, with the hospital. It's going to bring a lot of benefit to the community, but we need to communicate that transparently. And I think we need someone on the town council such as myself that understands the development process, and also how to protect that particular area's identity.

Andre Powell: Have you ever seen a documentary about the old coal towns in West Virginia or other places where towns just die? My working theory on that is they die not just because coal has gone. It's because there's no diversity in income and people. We have to be adaptable to the fact that in 50 years, if we continue the same trajectory, the only people that will live here will be retiring in 15 years, and they're probably not going to be able to afford to retire here. I like the "not in my backyard people." I think they're adorable. But the reality is, if we want our town to live for another 50 or 60 years, we have to diversify what we're doing. We have to attract companies that are going to provide jobs for current residents and some new people to move in as well. It's a cycle. It's like the circle of life from The Lion King.

TJ Evans: Bringing the hospital to Apex was a win, and I think we should expand those types of opportunities. It's going to help with tourism. It's going to help with economic vitality. And it also doesn't have that much strain on our infrastructure and our resources. Now, we have to take every development opportunity case by case. And it needs to be balanced out and we need to be strategic about what we're voting on.

Kyrone Nebolisa: As far as affordable housing, I think Apex has done a good job. They've already started with developers coming in with a lot of apartment buildings. Can we dedicate a percentage of those to a certain income level? I'd like to see more of that. To help developers do that, running incentives through, maybe fast tracking their permit process or giving them more tax incentives.

Ed Gray: What we have to do as a council, and what we're going to continue to do if I'm elected, is making a very careful balance as to how we increase the inventory in a smart way that's not going to tax the taxpayer. That's why the affordable housing plan we started, one of the first in Wake County, is something that we're going to continue to refine right now. We said that we wanted developers to set aside 5% of their housing units that they develop, as affordable workforce housing at 80% of the Wake County AMI (area median income). We now want them to set aside 10% because we know that there's an urgent need to stay ahead of the need for affordable housing.

Mary Miskimon: What people are telling me is that they want single family homes with small yards: small single family homes. It might seem somewhat counterintuitive to you, but that's how you protect the environment. The way we're developing right now is we are building a lot of density. This is a change for Apex. We have density in large urban areas but people move to Apex because they want a certain quality of life. They want tree lined streets. They want areas for their children to play. So we build out what's called Planned Unit Developments. These are neighborhoods with amenities and open space. When you cram in town homes and apartments, there's no room to plant trees.

Andre Powell: I've observed that we don't focus on some of our older neighborhoods the way that we should. I think a big fail is the lack of constantly reviewing, hey, where do we need to pivot? I'm not anti-park, but I do think that the challenge is we have to do two things at once. We're going to grow whether we want to or not, but we have to be responsible about how we do it. We're going to have communities that start to struggle - like Shepherd's Vineyard, Justice Heights and Knollwood - because of their age, infrastructure-wise, need more attention. We can't deny them that because we want to focus on the next shiny thing. I think that's silly.

TJ Evans: In Apex, we have over 13 miles of greenway space, which is incredible. I know that there's also some money in the budget this year, I want to say right around $1.2 million, to expand some of those greenways. I know that the three greenways are looking to expand Beaver Creek, Reedy Branch and Middle Creek. I do think we already do a great job with green spaces so just expanding on it, here and there, when we can, is important.

Kyrone Nebolisa: Green spaces are very important. It's a safe place where we can bike, walk and people can just feel safe. In high congested traffic areas, people can relax on the greenways. So I would definitely advocate for the preservation of our current greenways. I think it's very important for people to easily go out and get on those greenways and enjoy them.

Ed Gray: I know in Apex, we've got some areas that are primarily a majority African-American, that haven't had the attention that they needed for several years. That's an area where we put a lot of time, money and effort in making sure that we're building those sidewalk connections, that we're building those railroad crossings and other things, because if you don't take care of those communities that have been traditionally marginalized, then you're ultimately making a reflection as to your values as a community. I can say without hesitation that one of the values of our communities is that we aren't going to leave the least of us behind in order to progress forward. So it's been a big priority for me to make sure that we are investing in communities, whether that's improving parks like West Park or improving sidewalk connections between Justice Heights to downtown.

Mary Miskimon: I am a strong advocate of property rights. I have a significant number of people who live in the ETJ, the extra territorial jurisdiction, that is an area that is likely to be annexed by Apex at some point. Those areas are more rural and they support me because I am an advocate for personal property rights. So when I look at these types of decisions, I'm wanting to do the least amount of harm, whether it's a traffic light or a shoulder for a road, etc. Looking to do the least amount of harm and always looking to work with the property owner first.

Andre Powell: I'm not a big fan of eminent domain. I think it's an overused tactic. I understand why that was probably the approach, I don't necessarily agree with it but I also don't know the details of it. I do think that if we're going to use eminent domain, we should pay people market value. So the ethics for me is, do the right thing, not because it's easy, but because it's the right thing to do. I have no problem with making my voice heard on that.

TJ Evans: I'm not a fan of eminent domain. I've seen what it's done to other communities, as a member of the Black community, I've also seen how this has impacted our community on a large scale as well. We have to make sure that as a town, we are not making decisions without giving the people impacted by these decisions a seat at the table. Before eminent domain should ever be a solution, we should figure out how we can resolve it, if it needs to be done. Either we find a different way that or we work with the people who are involved and figure out how we can settle this amicably.

Kyrone Nebolisa: If you're taking over land, are we doing it responsibly? Are we impacting the way people live? Are we kicking people out? I think all those considerations and factors need to be considered to ensure that people are the priority, and not development or business or funding. We need to prioritize people, make sure that people are taken care of first in any plan or action we do. When people are taken care of and we have a plan for our residents, then we can take over the land. If you don't have a plan and we're just telling people to go figure it out on your own, I think that's wrong.

Ed Gray: When there's going to be infrastructure development or infrastructure change, that eminent domain is the tool of last resort. Unfortunately within Apex, it's had an unfortunate effect which is communities of color tend to be in the pathway when eminent domain needs to be taken. We do everything we can to make sure that we are working with the landowner if there's a need for eminent domain to take place. And what we mean by that is, we will approach the landowner, we will ask them what price they like for us to be able to purchase the property for? We won't exercise eminent domain unless there's an absolute public purpose that's got to be involved. We don't do eminent domain for private companies or enterprises. Our goal is to make sure that we are doing everything we can to justify our public purpose and all that takes place before we even get to shovel one hitting the ground on any project.