Office sought: Cumberland County Commissioners, District 2
Party affiliation: Republican
Lives: Fayetteville
Age: 46
Works: I own and operate the Baldinos restaurants, and practice commercial and residential real estate.
What’s your motivation for seeking office? I have a better vision for improving Cumberland County based on my experience as a successful small business leader, appointed Human Relations Commissioner, and lifetime resident. I will use my communication skills and analytical abilities to focus on three main goals: Growing our economic development by recruiting new industries and better-paying jobs, finally attacking our poisoned groundwater crisis, and bringing public engagement to solutions for our Opioid addiction epidemic.
What uniquely qualifies you to serve? I love seeing people succeed. My primary qualification to serve comes from my steadfast commitment to fairness and fact-based decision-making. My drive to see people win comes directly from my first-hand experience building businesses and helping my employees achieve their goals. My service as a Human Relations Commissioner has reinforced my belief that listening to our community and working to solve issues collectively leads to the most sustainable solutions.
Fill in the blank: The top three issues in my municipality/district are ____, ____ and ____; and I would promote positive change by _____. The top three issues in my municipality/district are: 1. Creating big-picture Economic Development by recruiting new industries and better-paying jobs, which includes efficiently managing our significant infrastructure improvements. 2. Building a new, stronger public/private coalition to engage our residents in developing a comprehensive plan to reduce our Opioid epidemic dramatically. I want to promote the city of Fayetteville to collaborate with Cumberland County to coordinate our funding and programmatic solutions. 3. Finally, leading a new approach to implement current science and attract more federal and state funding to clean up our GenX and PFAS-poisoned water supply. I will encourage the development of filtration technology and laying in municipal water lines for residents still relying on well water.
What new policies or practices would you bring to your municipality/district that do not already exist? The first new policy I would seek to create is holding regular Stakeholder Meetings – residents, in-district city council members, non-profits, and state and federal program managers – with Cumberland County department management to set priorities on key issues and coordinate our responses. Our planning and zoning departments would receive extensive attention. I would like to better coordinate county planning and decision-making with the cities of Fayetteville, Eastover, Wade, Vander, Falcon, Hope Mills, Linden, Stedman, and Spring Lake. I would lobby the other Commissioners to create a formal “City Liaison Officer” from each municipality in each Commissioner's district to coordinate responses to key issues and cross-pollinate initiatives to improve our communities’ quality of life. I want to create a “Customer-First” attitude in our front-line personnel engaging our residents seeking Cumberland County assistance. I also want to promote resident participation by scheduling our most important meetings and decision-making at more convenient times and developing more county government online accessibility.
For more:
(910) 901-7377; Cumberlandfirst.org; Peter@cumberlandfirst.org
