Name as it appears on the ballot: Deno Hondros
Previous elected offices held: Fayetteville City Council District 9 (two terms)
Age as of Election Day: 49
Occupation (employer, where you work, what you do): Realtor
Best phone number and email for voters to reach you. Website and campaign social media:
1. Give us your elevator pitch in 200 words or less. Why are you running for this office? What makes you the most qualified candidate?
Fayetteville is my hometown, but it is Our city! As I mentor my 14 yr old son, God gave us two ears and one mouth. That suggests we should listen twice as much as we talk, and talk half as much as we listen. I have served the city as PWC Commissioner and liaison to council, currently Chair FAMPO (our Metropolitan Planning Org), Chair our UDO/Housing Ordinance Committee, NextGen Workforce, Audit, Appointment, Community Safety and formerly Chaired Storm Water Committee, and served on Homelessness & Mental Health, and Corridor Committees. Am a BoD member for LPR Associations, advisory board member for TSA of Sandhills, Parish Council President at our Church, and serve on The Greater Fayetteville Chamber’s GRC and HBAF GAC. In short, the reason I am the best candidate for District 9 can be summed up in one word: experience.
2. What do you view as the three most pressing issues facing your district and the city as a whole? How will you address them as a city council member?
Public Safety, Attainable Housing & Infrastructure.
We must continue to build on the foundations that we have already developed. In the last two budgets, council appropriated approximately $15M additional pay for our first responders (Fire, Police & 911) to correct our step plan, bring our first responders up to market pay in their fields AND, to fix pay compression issues so that veterans on the force are not getting paid the same as new hires with less than 2 years on the job. In the same two years we created an Office of Community Safety (OCS). This is in support of FPD, first responders and our community by assisting with mental health, unsheltered community members, and residents with substance abuse issues, and freeing up our police to focus on their core mission: preventing crime, and law enforcement once a crime has been committed. We are in a critical housing situation. Mortgage and rent payments continue to increase, many times outpacing wage increases. This is typical when demand outpaces supply. One way to positively impact this is by streamlining our processes and procedures, which will allow new units to come online to market faster. I consider sidewalks and pedestrian crossings as infrastructure. We must continue to invest in our sidewalks, crosswalks, Storm Water, IT infrastructures, and in our labor force.
3. What’s the best or most important thing the Fayetteville City Council has done in the past year? Additionally, name a decision you believe the council should have handled differently. Please explain your answers.
There have been several. I will mention two. The first is positive revisions to our to our code of ordinances. One example is Special Use Permits (SUP). Originally, there was between 150-160 items that would require a SUP, which is essentially a public hearing similar to a rezoning. Once staff reviewed and made recommendations, and council approved staff suggestions, we were able to reduce that by roughly half. Now only 70-80 items require a SUP. The second is the aforementioned OCS. Our OCS working in conjunction with FPD shall provide a more holistic and robust community and positively impact and improve public safety.
What I would have preferred council would have handled differently, is the Youth Protection Ordinance. I would have preferred instead of including a youth curfew, or at a minimum prior to, that a task force would have been assembled to plan out the who, what, where, when and how of the ordinance would be implemented, and operate in practice.
4. Last year, the City of Fayetteville sued a contractor for abandoning over $6 million in construction projects. The city has since hired new contractors to finish the projects. What steps will you take to ensure Fayetteville is able to successfully complete capital projects in the future?
Since the abandoned projects, and subsequent legal proceedings, Council tasked the City Manager’s Office (CMO) with an after-action report (AAR). Subsequently Council and CMO reviewed where there may have been deficiencies and/or weaknesses, and have developed and instituted new processes and procedures to include, but not limited to a more robust vetting process, and use of a Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) to help mitigate an similar reoccurrences. CMAR is a project delivery method for construction where the construction manager is contracted to provide input and feedback pre-construction, and then manage the project through to completion. We shall continue to review our processes and procedures to ensure quality projects are completed within budget.
5. While overall crime in Fayetteville has decreased by around 13% this year, the number of homicides and incidents of juvenile crime have increased. The Fayetteville City Council recently enacted a youth curfew ordinance. Would you have voted in favor of it? How will you work to improve public safety and reduce crime in the city?
Every household has a right to determine what, if any, curfew is right for them. I disagree with government instituting a one-size-fits-all solution to a challenge that varies in scope and situation(s). When council discussed a youth curfew back in 2023, I voted in opposition. When council discussed it again a few months ago, again I was unable to support it. Why? Firstly, because it presumes all local youth have a safe home to go to. Secondly, because basic questions regarding this curfew could not be satisfactorily answered. I recommended prior to any curfew being adopted a task force be set up with various partners: DSS, Juvenile Justice, CSS, FPD, CCSO, CCS, etc. Council did ultimately pass a Youth Protection Ordinance, which includes a youth curfew. It contains ages (17 and younger), times (11pm to 6am), and certain exemptions: work, athletics, adult chaperone. What it does not address is how this will be implemented, nor where the youths will be held if found in violation of the curfew. Will they be fed if hungry? If so, by whom? Will they be sheltered in unsheltered? If so, where and by whom? Without answers to these very basic questions, I could not in good conscience consider supporting.
6. How will you work to attract and retain new businesses and other development to Fayetteville? Name another municipality you believe has made smart decisions about sustainable growth and development, and describe what it has done that could be implemented in Fayetteville.
Government’s role, I believe, is to create an inviting environment where desired industries and businesses not only wish to locate, but believe they can thrive. Continuing to improve upon our Public Safety, Attainable Housing and Infrastructure, as well as Quality of Life areas such as Parks & Recs is how we achieve this. The Triangle, Triad and Wilmington areas, as well as Sanford and Lee County are examples of growth areas with smart, sustainable growth strategies. One of our biggest challenges locally is our public schools. We must continue to partner with Cumberland County, and Cumberland County Schools CCS to improve them. (*Thank you to Cumberland County Board of Commissioners for fully funding CCS this year, for the first year in my adult life!) Sanford and Lee County created a blueprint for what it looks like when a municipality and county, although through separate lenses and sets of responsibilities, can look like when differences and egos are set aside, and both respective bodies pull in the same direction (instead of against each other) for their constituents’ best interests, while also moving the entire region forward. Together!
7. The county and city have often struggled to determine who is responsible for addressing homelessness. How would you work with the Cumberland County government and other community partners to decrease homelessness in the city?
Counties in NC are an extension of the State, meaning often times counties administer state programs and funding locally. As such, they have certain statutory authorities and responsibilities: Schools, Courts, Law Enforcement, Health and Human Services, Social Services, etc. Municipalities are creatures of the state, meaning we exist because the state says we can. Most cities & towns exist likely because at some point in time a group of residents petitioned the state to incorporate. This required a articles of incorporation, a charter and by-laws. Per its by-laws, municipalities may provide many services (enhanced law enforcement via a police force for example); however, our sole statutory requirement is code enforcement. In this context, “code enforcement” doesn’t refer to mowing of overgrown lawn or graffiti removal, but rather State of NC Building Safety Codes. Fayetteville is a member of the National League of Cities (NLC) and NC League of Municipalities (NCLM) and both host conferences with workshops annually. The workshops consist of challenges many cities face: substance abuse, crime, youth violence, homelessness just to name a few. In those workshops are best practices, and tried and true solutions with a proof of concept where other cities have had success implementing them. When it comes to municipalities, they typically do not own nor operate shelters (nonprofits and counties usually do). What municipalities often provide is a Resource Center. Fayetteville provides the same at Fayetteville Cares (formally Day Resource Center). This isn’t merely my opinion, a simple online search verifies the same.
