NC Deep Dive
Diving in to local issues within Holly Springs and Fuquay Varina, building community, sharing perspectives, and keeping you better informed!
NC Deep Dive
Mike Kondratick: 2025 Holly Springs Mayoral Candidate
We sat down with Holly Springs mayoral candidate Mike Kondratick to talk traffic, development, affordability, and how a more responsive town hall could better serve residents. He outlines ideas like a transportation lockbox, daily outreach to the community, and a "worth the cost" standard for evaluating future projects.
- Redefining The Mayor’s Role As Active Chair And Resident Advocate
- Why Traffic And Development Must Be Evaluated Together
- Transportation Lockbox Funding To Reduce Developer Dependence
- Microtransit, Carpools, And Greenways As An All-Of-The-Above Strategy
- Small Business Cost Relief Via Grants, Co-Ops, And Paid Internships
- Budget Concerns Around Debt Service And Sequencing Big Projects
- Water Quality Transparency And PFAS Filtration Investments
- Flexibility On Yard Waste Policy To Serve Seniors And Disabled Residents
- Support For A Non-Discrimination Ordinance Aligned With Town Vision
- Biotech Growth and Supply-Chain Recruitment
- Boards And Commissions That Reflect The Town’s Diversity
- Third Spaces And Face-To-Face Engagement Over Quarterly Chats
- Endorsed By Wake County Democratic Party
Kondratick is one of two candidates in the race for Holly Springs Mayor. Early voting begins October 16, and a valid photo ID is required. Election Day is November 4—be sure your voice is heard, and your vote is counted. This is your opportunity to help shape the future of Holly Springs.
MikeforHS2025@gmail.com
Campaign Finance Reports for All Candidate Committees
Voter Information (Register, Am I Registered?, Election Information)
Voter Info (Designated Polling Places, Sample Ballots, Registration Status, Voting Jurisdiction, Verify Address and Party Affiliation)
Election Information (Absentee by Mail Voting, Early Voting, Election Day Voting)
Early Voting Locations
October 16-November 1
Wake County Board of Elections Office-1200 N. New Hope Road, Raleigh 27610
October 25-November 1
John M. Brown Community Center-53 Hunter Street, Apex, NC 27502
Avery Street Recreation Center-125 Avery Street, Garner, NC 27529
Herbert C. Young Community Center-101 Wilkinson Avenue, Cary, NC 27513
ELECTION DAY
Tuesday, November 4 from 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM
As always, if you are interested in being on or sponsoring the podcast or if you have any particular issues, thoughts, or questions you'd like explored on the podcast, please email NCDeepDive@gmail.com. Your contributions would be greatly appreciated.
Now, let's dive in!
Hello friends, welcome back to the NC Deep Dive Podcast. I am your host, Amanda Benbow Lunn, and today I am honored to be speaking with Mike Kondratick as part of our 2025 Municipal Election Candidate Conversations. Mike is running for the four-year mayoral seat in Holly Springs. For this race, he will be running against current mayor Sean Mayefskie. These races are nonpartisan, so there will not be any party affiliation like an R or a D next to their name on your ballot. You will be eligible to vote for one of these candidates for the seat on your ballot in this election. In these candidate conversations, each candidate will be asked the same questions formulated by our constituent survey, observing community members in person and online, and fine-tuning with AI to keep them as fair, unbiased, and open-ended as possible. Just as a special note, Mayor Mayefskie never responded to our attempts to reach him via email and text, and as such, chose not to participate in these candidate conversations. Without further ado, my friends, let's dive in. Welcome, Mike Kondratick, to the NC Deep Dive Podcast. You're running for Holly Springs Town Mayor.
Mike Kondratick:So thank you very much for the opportunity. It's good to be here.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:You're welcome. So you can take a little bit and tell me uh about yourself, how long you've lived in the area, and what has inspired you to run for office.
Mike Kondratick:Yeah, so lived in Holly Springs for the past 12 years. My wife, Mandy, and I, we've raised our three kids here in Holly Springs. And, you know, what Holly Springs is, I think it's such a unique moment in its history. It's a great place to live, growing, but we still have these challenges that we need to be able to address. And to me, you know, that comes down to questions like, are we growing in a way that takes into account our residents' needs and their feedback? And I think just as important, are all of our residents and businesses in a position to benefit from the growth that Holly Springs is experiencing? So I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that how we answer those questions over these next four years will determine maybe how the the next generation of Holly Springs residents experiences this town. So I think it is that important a moment. And also, too, my family is at a unique point in in just in our growth and in our lives where we kind of experience all, I think all the issues that that probably we'll get to talk about here over the course of the of the podcast. You know, we have a uh, well, by the time this this podcast actually airs, we'll have a 22-year-old daughter, uh, you know, who my wife and I would love to be able to live near us in a couple of years and be close. But we also have a nine-year-old at home. So we're still very focused on everything Holly Springs has to offer her over the coming years, right? So we get the full gamut of Holly Springs issues in the Kondratick household. Yeah. So that is really kind of what has motivated me to jump in the race for mayor.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. Have you been an active voter, including in local elections?
Mike Kondratick:Yes. I have voted in every municipal election and certainly every municipal election since we've been here in Holly Springs. As of last year, we have four voters in the household where from two to four. Last year, we are trying to get our kids in that same habit as well. So, yes, we we vote in every every election.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Perfect. What do you feel is the role of the town mayor?
Mike Kondratick:So good question. I think there's a few main roles. I think the one that is most important on the most regular basis is the mayor's role in particularly public meeting in terms of shaping the conversation that happens up on the days and that happens in public view. I think the second piece of the mayor's role is be always being that advocate for residents. And so I think actively shaping the conversation in that way, particularly on the more contentious issues, right? And clearly that comes down to traffic and development. So as the council is considering these big decisions, I think the mayor's role in shaping those conversations is critically important. So, second thing, as I said, I think being that town cheerleader, making sure the residents are well represented, obviously representing the town on various boards, commissions, our county, regional, and state partners, all of those things. And I think the other key piece to being mayor is that like you're the person who all of the answers should fall on, right? So as mayor, I should be as easy to reach as your neighbor. And if you are not getting answers on something or you need something, you should feel free to reach out to me. I'm either going to provide you with the answer, I'm going to show you where to get that answer. So to me, the mayor serves like the glue that is kind of binding the citizens together and making sure that their municipal government is being responsive to them. So yeah, I think all of those things combined should keep the mayor pretty busy. You know, most viewed as like, well, the mayor is just a ceremonial role. And I mean, in theory it is, you'll see that term attached to it, but there's that level of active engagement, again, whether it's on the days in those meetings or whether it's off the days on a daily basis, helping people get what they need, that I think the mayor needs to play a vigorous role in. Being the tiebreaking vote is critically important when somebody's out. And again, being in a spot of actively leading conversations from the days when you do have to assume that role of being the tiebreaker vote, I think you're in the right mind frame to be casting those votes when needed, right? As that could happen at a moment's notice, or all of a sudden you don't think someone's going to be out. They are out, you're moving forward, and you have this additional responsibility on any given night.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Perfect. What is your involvement within the community and town government and what qualifications make you prepared for this role?
Mike Kondratick:Sure. So since we've lived in Holly Springs, you know, I've had the opportunity to volunteer with the town, been a volunteer coach. Actually, both my wife and I, we've both volunteered for the Holly Springs Food Cupboard. I actually had a unique opportunity, not actually volunteering for a town organization, but as a board member of my kids' swim team, had the opportunity to help build out a swim program that is now actively using the Sunset North Pool as a year-round swim team. So that was a unique opportunity in the time that I had served. In terms of qualifications, one thing that I've learned just over my career, and I spent most of my career organizing families and communities to advocate for state and federal government resources to help them live better lives. And through that experience, and in the now nearly 22 years I've been blessed to be a parent, I have learned that the most, I think, profound act of service that you can provide is listening, right? I think that's how people come to understand that you care. And that's how I've tried to run this campaign. I've tried to show people how I would govern as mayor by how I run a campaign. I started this campaign back in March. So I've been on front porches since then listening to people's concerns. And so to me, I think that's given me the best perspective of any candidate running in any race this year in Holly Springs in terms of where residents are at, what their concerns are, and what they want us focused on as a municipal government moving forward. So to me, I think that's the biggest and most important qualification. In terms of my professional career, as I mentioned, I've spent a lot of time, more than 20 years, working with Amazon communities. And so, you know, it's been my job to have a pretty detailed understanding of how governments work, particularly state governments. So we've represented clients, whether it's here at the North Carolina state legislature and other states, clients with issues in Congress as well. So I've gotten a lot of good examples. I've seen, you know, when government works well and when it's investing its resources, helping make people's lives better, the amazing results can be generated. And look, in one sentence, I think that's what our municipal government ought to be doing, right? It ought to be investing our resources to help make our lives better. So for me, in a lot of ways, taking what I've been doing for my entire career and applying it for the benefit of Holly Springs residents. So I think that gives me a unique perspective for this race. Awesome.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:What is your long-term vision for the future of Holly Springs?
Mike Kondratick:Yeah, that's a good question. I think it starts with being able to take a different path when it comes to how the town develops and how we manage that development, how we manage the traffic that comes along with it. I think the growth that has happened to this point and all that is now still in our pipeline, right? Like when you look at the, I think it's roughly 7,000 more residential units in our pipeline, I think upwards of a half a million square feet of additional commercial space, all that's going to come online, regardless if who gets elected mayor, regardless of if we gets elected to the council, right? But for sure, all of that is going to happen on top of a transportation infrastructure that the town is estimated requires about $800 million worth of investment over the next several years. And so I think residents have started to kind of take a look at that and say, well, okay, that's a lot that's going on. You know, traffic accidents are up about 18% over the last two years in Holly Springs. And I think their general feeling is it feels like development is happening to us and not necessarily for us, is what I've heard. And so I've kind of taken that feedback and said, okay, well, you know, we I think the approach then has to be different, right? And so, you know, I've said in in you know, another you know, media availabilities that, you know, we we have to be able to transition then from development at all costs to development almost worth the cost. And so we have to be able to change, I think, the mindset of how we evaluate these projects. And I think it's the mayor's job moving forward and working with the council as we evaluate development opportunities to remind them that look, residents' number one priority is the traffic impact from these developments. And unless there is a really good reason, I mean, the town needs to be getting something really good in return if we're accepting additional traffic, right? So, so so this is not going to be we're trading traffic for a new turn lane anymore, right? Like the town has to be getting something we don't have, some significant piece of infrastructure. You know, we have to be, we have to be achieving some big strategic goal, uh, I think for citizens to accept that that continued level of of traffic and development. So I think changing the way that we evaluate that part of our town is the biggest thing. Second thing, hopefully it doesn't take that long to implement, but I would love to be able to, again, change the way this government is interacting with its citizens. I think we need to be far more engaged. I think we need to be far more vigorous in our efforts to get residents feedback. When we're on the days making these decisions, particularly on these big development projects, right? It's like, you know, you're getting the report from the town staff on the project, you know, you have what the developer submits. There should be that third stack of, okay, well, here's what the community's feedback on this project, right? And so I want to make sure that we are making decisions with as comprehensive a set of facts and feedback as we possibly, as we possibly can. I think we need to, that's going to take time and investment to be able to do. So I want to get that started right away. And again, as I mentioned before, I should be as easy to reach as your neighbor. There should be no reason why you can't reach the mayor on some issue that is important to you. And I can either help you directly or make sure that I'm getting you to the place that can. So that level of engagement, I think, is important. I think affordability is extremely important moving forward. I think whether it's the feedback that I've gotten from small businesses in terms of how expensive it is to start small businesses in Holly Springs, whether it is the affordable housing issue, I think that we need to tackle to a much greater degree, actually introduce affordable housing to Holly Springs, I think are important issues. And so I'd like to see the town make more investments to help small businesses. And the other piece of that I should say, you know, we don't operate outside what's going on at the state level and at the national level economically, right? So in addition to the challenges of the expenses of setting up businesses, you also have, look, the reality is we are going to be in a high tariff environment for the next couple of years that increases costs. Healthcare costs are going up next year. The only question is how much, right? Will ACA subsidies be continued? Will they not? It doesn't look like they are, which means healthcare costs would go up significantly. I think it's incumbent upon the leaders of Holly Springs municipal government to look at this situation and say, okay, well, what investments can we make to make it more affordable to start and operate a small business in Holly Springs as well as to live in Holly Springs? So I think all of those priorities we need to be able to tackle in order for us to continue to grow and attract both residents and businesses.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. What are your top three priorities for our community if elected?
Mike Kondratick:Yeah, so I would go back to a lot of the answer from the previous question is certainly the approach on traffic and development and making sure that we are making the proper investments to be able to address that issue. You know, Holly Springs is home to so many innovative people, creative people. And look, I've talked to thousands of them, you know, at this point, you know, on their front porches. And it is hard to get them to talk about anything other than some issue that is tied to traffic or development, right? And so they are asking their government to solve this problem, to address this issue. And I think what they get from their town leaders is we can't do this, right? And I think what they're looking to vote for this year is somebody that's going to come in and say, okay, how can we do this together? So to me, being laser focused on what we can do comprehensively, both with our regional and state partners, as well as in this town of Holly Springs, what set of solutions can we create that helps put us in a better direction when it comes to the traffic issue? So that to me is the starting point for everything. And then from there, as I said, I think it's the transparency and engagement issue, making sure that we are, as I put on my website and other places, I would have to establish a town department who is responsible for being out in this community every single day. We're reaching every community, we're having all the key conversations, we're getting all the feedback, and all of that is informing our town government's decisions, obviously, including mine. And then it's the investments in affordability, both for small businesses and for residents. So for me, those are the top three priorities.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. What is working well in the town today? And where do you see room for improvement?
Mike Kondratick:You know, if we're looking back particularly here at like, let's say the last four years and you know, the two councils that have been paneled over those four years, you know, I think we've made progress in the areas of diversifying our tax base, right? I mean, it's it's undeniable. You know, we are working toward a better balance of residential and commercial. So to me, the numbers clearly point in the right direction. I also think you look at the investments that we have made in the expansion of water and wastewater and making sure that the resources are in place in a timely way to support the growth of the town. I also think we've continued to make investments uh to continue to maintain public safety. And so I think, you know, our police and fire departments, I think they are well equipped. I think they are fully efficient and capable of carrying out uh the mission that we're asking them to carry out. Um, and I think we've generally been pretty vigilant in that area. So I think those are all things that we look at and say, yeah, progress. You know, the areas that need improvement, again, it goes back to what I've just mentioned in the last few questions. It is the approach on traffic and development that I think has to take the lion's share of our attention. I also think beyond the other things that I've mentioned, there are environmental concerns, you know, that we need to continue to make progress on. I think particularly on issues like restoring the town's tree canopy. I think you look at water quality as issues that I think we need to do better on as well. So I would start there in terms of the areas of improvement.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. Do you support the current town budget? Where would you advocate for changes, including any adjustments to taxes or spending priorities if needed for fiscal responsibility?
Mike Kondratick:You know, the tax rate is, I think overall is pretty attractive, right? I mean, we're at the the second lowest tax rate in Wake County. Now, you know, the one thing I would caution there is the tax rates comparison is always an apples and oranges comparison, right? Because not every town is doing the same set of things, right? So, you know, you may have towns that have higher tax rates, but you know, they have a fully capable public transportation system that they're funding, or they have, you know, they have a robust affordable housing ecosystem that they're funding. And so I always think that comparison is a little unfair to do because you're never going to unpack what everyone's getting for the money that they're spending. But overall, I think the budget is pretty solid. I look at the second biggest spending item in that budget with some concern. So we pay the most for public safety. I believe that's about 38 cents of every tax dollar, but 21 cents of every tax dollar goes to debt service. And so we spend more servicing our debt than we do to pay for our entire general government. And so to me, that's a source of concern. You know, as it's a growing town, I think we've got to be able to kind of think through, okay, well, you know, we have a roughly a half a billion dollars worth of investments yet to make in in water and wastewater. We have hundreds of millions of dollars, as I said, of additional investments that we have to make in transportation. So all of that is coming from the same set of pockets, right? So, how do we balance, you know, the billions of dollars worth of as you add all these numbers up of investments we need to make with debt service that is already pretty high? So I think that's something that we need to be able to tackle moving forward. So spending priorities. So one of the issues that I have is I think for various sets of reasons that we can go through, you know, we are so developer dependent, you know, when it comes to our infrastructure and roads and obviously how that feeds back to traffic. I would love to see a larger percentage of our revenue put into a transportation lockbox, particularly as more money begins to come in in the years ahead from the large employers that Holly Springs has attracted. I think having more of that money allows us to be able to, I mean, it allows us to do a range of things. But when you go to all these individual communities and you talk about particularly traffic issues, you know, for a lot of them it boils down to the issue that that one community has. It's like, you know, you look, you go to Wood Creek and they're gonna talk to you about the traffic light that they need out in front of their neighborhood, right? And that being the biggest thing. And traffic lights are expensive, I think in round numbers. I mean, it's roughly a million dollars to put a traffic light in, right? And so I want us to be in a position to do these smaller, and this is not small to Wood Creek, but like overall, like putting that traffic light in, it's a relatively small thing. But I want to be able to go and either just be able to pay for something like that or be able to go to NC DOT and say, hey, this is approved and we're gonna bring some money to the table here. Can we get this project done more quickly? These people really need this light out in front of their neighborhood, right? So I want to be able to be responsive to these neighborhoods that have these issues that mean a lot to the quality of their day and of course their overall safety, you know, most importantly. Of course, we are less dependent on developers and we have more of our own money to spend. We also then have more money we can take to be able to work through opportunities with both our regional and state partners. We also then are maybe in a position to more quickly ramp up and expand a public transportation network as tests warrant, right? So as we get started here with public transportation next year, it would be nice to be able to quickly expand that if the results warrant it. To me, that just gives us a range of possibilities to be more aggressive and responsive. So that to me is the single biggest thing I think needs to change with the budget moving forward.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Oftentimes it feels like government waits until a specific need is critical before taking action. Do you support being more proactive? And if so, how and in what ways specifically?
Mike Kondratick:Yeah, I mean, I think again, just following from the previous question, having money on hand to be able to address particularly these traffic and development needs that come up, I think is critical. You know, when it comes to environmental issues, I think like back to the water quality issue, as we expand the Sanford plant, more of our water comes from the Cape Fear. And I don't know that there's been a lot of transparency. I mean, I just I haven't seen the details in terms of, you know, what type of particularly PFAS filtering technologies are going to be used, how much of that's gonna cost to maintain. But I do know, again, we exist within this larger state and federal ecosystem, and both the state and federal governments are pulling back quickly on establishing what are the reasonable levels, particularly for these new PFAS chemicals, to be in the water, right? So without having established those levels, you know, one has to wonder what are those levels like over the next couple of years? Do we have the technology in place to handle it? What is that testing like? So that's an area where I think we need to be overly aggressive in terms of making sure that we have the latest and greatest technology, that we're spending the money that we need to spend to make sure it's up to date, that all the testing's being done in a timely way, that those results are being made available to the public in a timely way. And, you know, I made the point earlier: being proactive is really the underlying rationale behind having a department of people that are out in the community every day talking to people. Because not only do we get feedback on the issues that we want to talk about as leaders or that we know are coming down the pike or development projects or whatever, but we're also getting proactive feedback from people on like, hey, here's an issue that you may not know about that I would love if you would address. And so we're able to hopefully find out about these issues more quickly and take care of them, whatever it may mean for that particular neighborhood. So to me, yeah, you know, it's like the whole ethos of a municipal government needs to be being as proactive as we can.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. What new initiatives or attractions would you champion to boost revenue and community pride?
Mike Kondratick:I think a couple of things here. First, as we continue our recruitment of larger businesses, we do have available commercial space, particularly concentrated in the yield and catalyst developments. To me, it makes good sense for us to be aggressive in supporting the existing biopharma group of companies that we recruited. I mean, to me, it seems like the supply chain for those biopharma companies are kind of a target, some low-hanging fruit for us to go after, to continue to build that part of our local economy. I think also, too, with our location, with a talent of our workforce, I think it makes sense for us to also pursue corporate headquarters to be located here in Holly Springs. So I think both of those things continue to then obviously diversify our tax base. Second thing on the small business side, we've covered this in previous questions, but I think there are so many things we can do to improve the small business environment here. I think again, that gets back to affordable housing that employees of small businesses can afford to live in. I think it's all the things that I talked about in terms of helping either remove or prevent costs from coming on balance sheets through, you know, an internship program, through helping businesses establish co-ops to the expansion of the downtown investment grant program. I think all of that puts us in better position to recruit and maintain small businesses. And also, look, I think it's fair to say, even though I know your question asked about something new, but I think it also bears mention that the downtown area development plan is going to continue to move forward. And that whole approach to me kind of acts as glue that kind of pulls all of these issues together because we're talking about locating, you know, so many residential units downtown. I want to say it's in excess of 400, but that serves as an engine for small business growth. And again, I know in that downtown area development plan, we talked about, hey, that's probably a good place for some affordable housing to be located, right? So it's like all these little things that should contribute to more small business growth, I think can kind of come together down there, combined with some of these other ideas that I've mentioned, I think to increase our capabilities on the small business side as well. So I think both those large business and small business approaches put us in a better position revenue-wise.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. Have you ever disagreed publicly with a current town decision or policy? And if so, what was it and how would you handle a similar situation if elected?
Mike Kondratick:So a few things there. I think, you know, the move to our yard trash bins, I think has been an issue. I think part of the challenge is we're kind of reducing service levels there, right? And there really wasn't, I didn't think, a full explanation as to what the rationale was, how much money the town is saving, you know, anything like that was kind of just all of a sudden we were using the brown trash bins. And I've gotten so much feedback from people across the town where the brown trash bin just isn't feasible, right? Like for older folks or, you know, people with disabilities, you know, it's just difficult and unwieldy. It's too heavy. It's literally, it's hard to get to the curb. And so, you know, there are all these limitations for people. And the only way that you can kind of remove the limitation for the most part is through paying extra money, right? Whether you're paying for extra trash bins or whether you're paying for a personalized pickup of your trash bins or whether your yard service is taking it away. I mean, if you have a truck to be able to transport it to the recycling center. And so my position on that is I, you know, much like Cary does or Wake Forest does, I would love to see us allow for more flexibility in terms of how we allow people to bring their yard waste to the curb, right? So, hey, it'd be great if we could bundle sticks together. It'd be great if you could package yard waste in paper, right? So it's easier for you to carry these smaller paper bins. Hey, if you want to continue to use the brown trash bins, wonderful have at it. But I think allowing that simple flexibility, how you get that yard waste to the curb, I think makes people's lives significantly easier to manage over the spring and summer. So that was certainly one decision. You know, I had questions over the parks bond. I have a nine-year-old. I think investing money in parks, borrowing money for parks is generally a good idea. But you know, it's like back to that question of, okay, well, you know, but we already have 800 million in transportation, we already have another half a billion in water and wastewater. And of course, we want to continue to be good stewards of taxpayers. And so when we're looking at how we're going to borrow money for all of our priorities, could we more effectively balance, right? Could we borrow money to make the investments in parks, but then also save some of that money, then be able to then make more investments in transportation infrastructure? And does that put the town overall in a better spot? Right. So to be able to have both better parks facilities and again be less dependent on developers when it comes to building out our transportation infrastructure and being more responsive to what residents are demanding. So I think those are just two of the decisions where I think we just kind of needed to more closely consider all the ramifications of the decisions that we made.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. When you hear smart growth, what does that mean for our town in practical terms?
Mike Kondratick:I think that is the most loaded of the loaded questions, right? Because everybody, everybody who is running in this race is going to use the term, right? And usually it's a line on a palm card, you know, and we're handing it to people. You know, my answer to this one is a little lengthy. I mean, I'll just kind of go into my definition. I actually tend not to use the term, you know, smart growth. I'm usually saying something more along the lines of are we growing in such a way, you know, is accountable to residents. Are we making decisions based upon what we know their feedback and their wishes are? So I think when you look over the last four years, I think we've missed a lot of opportunities to do that. The pipeline four years ago, residential and commercial, looked kind of similar to what it looks like today, right? So we so we knew, right? But we never had the conversation, or I think a detailed enough conversation in the community about what the most appropriate pace of development was for the town. So, I mean, that to me at base level, number one. Number two, we didn't, again, knowing what was coming, we didn't make an all-out effort to get cars off the road either, right? I mean, we literally just started. I mean, we've appropriated about $245 million in general fund money over the last four years. We've just spent a little over $100,000 in this current budget on public transportation or what we call microtransit, right? So we've made almost no effort over these four years in the realm of public transit. Then there's the issue that I just mentioned in terms of, you know, okay, well, how are we closely considering what our debt load is and how we are applying that debt to our priorities, right? Transportation is not going to move and traffic's not going to move off the top of that list, right? And so, how are we continuing to address that? I think we needed to more closely consider that. And then on top of that, we haven't dedicated a significant additional amount of revenue, despite some pushing from I think some forward-thinking people on the council, you know, we haven't done that to a great degree. NC DOT's budget that continues to be stagnant, right? And so, like, what does all of that leave us with? Well, all of that leaves us with what is the only reliable source of transportation and infrastructure growth. It's through our developer partners, right? But then because we have all the strict zoning laws here in North Carolina, what do we get? We get these hourglass roads that are clogged with cars, right? So to me, that is the antithesis, right? That is the opposite of whatever that term you want to use. You want to use smart growth or being accountable, I think, to what residents are asking us to do. So I think residents are asking us to approach this in a different way. And so my definition of that starts with, again, what we talked about before is changing the rules in which we evaluate these projects, right? So if we're developing when it's worth the cost, people are telling me anyway, we better be getting something really good in return. So, Mr. Mayor, we need you to work with the council members to make sure that that happens, right? Okay, so how are we applying that to the evaluation of these projects, knowing that residence top concern is the traffic that's going to get generated from that project? I think it is being more mindful of how these development projects are being coordinated with infrastructure development to ensure that roads are as safe as they can be. To the point they were talking before about the budget. You know, how are we creating that transportation lockbox or adding that additional revenue that we can use to be less dependent on developers, to be more aggressive in terms of how we pursue options with our projects for our regional and state partners, hopefully being able to be prepared quickly for the expansion of public transportation? And also, too, can we make other efforts to get cars off the road? I mean, the vast majority of people in Holly Springs still commute outside of Holly Springs to go to work, right? I mean, can we create a carpool app, help people coordinate their commute? Most people are going kind of in the same direction, right? We're headed toward the RTP, headed toward Raleigh. Can we coordinate, get cars off the road, be more accommodating to carpools? Like trying the all of the above approach to be able to start to address our traffic and transportation issues. To me, like all of those things kind of combine into what would be a smart growth platform. Now, the other thing that I think should get added in is the whole affordable housing issue. I think this is an incredibly important component to get introduced in Holly Springs.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:How would you ensure new development maintains our town's character while remaining affordable for residents?
Mike Kondratick:Before I get to the media that answer, I mean, you are exposed to so much town information as a candidate, you know, that you are reading through. And you read the comprehensive plan, you read the downtown area development plan, you read the town's strategy statement, like our vision statement, affordable or workforce housing, depending on the term. It exists in all those documents. So that to me says the town is making this a priority, or the town feels this ought to be a priority. We, of course, also invested tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars in an affordable housing study that the council pretty soon after voted to shelve, essentially. And here we are with prices continuing to rise and not one affordable housing unit in the town. You know, this touches on so many, I think, both personal and professional issues. I mean, again, This is housing that our adult children can live in, that our parents, that our seniors can hopefully age and place in, that our teachers and nurses and first responders can live in to live in the communities that they serve. It's also housing that people who work in our small businesses can live in. So to me, there's a small business development issue when it comes to affordable housing. But to the meat of your question in terms of preserving character and making it more affordable, you know, I think that requires us to certainly take a different direction. I mean, I would love to see us be able to approach this issue first from the standpoint of public-private partnerships, right? I mean, we are blessed to have lots of large employers now in the town as a starting point. I would love to sit down with them and say, hey, can you all as employers in the town, can we all contribute to the creation of an investment fund that is professionally managed, that attracts more capital, that obviously grows over time, that then becomes an economic engine that we can use to work with developers to create these affordable housing units, right? So in that particular approach, we're able to create the affordable housing without burdening taxpayers and coming to developers with money. You know, we're bringing that to the table to help make it happen. I think we do need adjustments to our zoning laws. I think we need new zoning laws to be able to help govern that process. I also think we ought to be able to take advantage of the affordable housing programs that Wake County has put into place, right? I mean, to me, it just makes good sense. We're sending money to Raleigh every year, and the Wake County commissioners are saying, well, we're starting to give that money back to communities in the form of these affordable housing projects that we would like to work on with municipal partners. And so we see our money going to Wake Forest or Garner or wherever. I mean, it makes good sense. Like, hey, if I'm sending you money and you want to send some of that back to me, well, I'm gonna find a way to take that money back and put it back into the community of Holly Springs. And so I think there are all of these opportunities that we have to be able to create housing that is more affordable, that fits within the character of the town and that doesn't burden taxpayers.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:All right. Our town is growing rapidly, putting pressure on infrastructure like water and roads, public safety, parks and recreation, and housing affordability. If you had to prioritize only one of these areas this year due to limited funding, which would you choose and how would you communicate that decision to residents?
Mike Kondratick:Man, that's that's a really good question. I would choose infrastructure because, again, I I go by what, you know, my five months of knocking on doors and the thousands of conversations that I've had with residents, I go by what they have told me is their biggest challenge and their biggest concern. And so, as I said, I think they're looking for leaders who are willing to work together to solve the problem in whatever ways we can set this town in a better direction with these challenges. And for me, the one little flexibility I will give myself within the bounds of your very difficult question, you know, is tying the issue of traffic and development together into that infrastructure. Cause I think those are kind of like two sides to the same coin type of issue. So here's where I think our approach to communication needs to change a little bit. So in the future, Mike Kondratick, mayor state, I'm working with a department of people who are out there all the time. And if we're out there all the time talking and these changes are being made, then this is at the top of our agenda to be going out and having conversations at the doors on a regular basis. Again, I just think the whole process is of running for office and having these conversations just like once every four years at the doors is kind of it's wild. Like, why are we only doing this once every four years? To me, those folks, you know, they're the leading edge of really everything I think that we want to do from a communication standpoint when it comes to what we are getting out to our communities. And then I think we need to supplement from there. It's having good relationships with all of the HOA chairs across this town and making sure that we're at their meetings regularly and making sure that they are then able to communicate to the folks in their neighborhoods. And then it's, you know, everything that we're doing through socials. You know, I feel like the investments that we make in our communications and our content, particularly through those channels, feels like expands, you know, every year. I think we need to continue to be able to do that. So to me, it is this all of the above approach. But I think to me, the big component that's missing is it's just the number of people that can engage with municipal information, you know, generally is, you know, pretty small, just like the number of people who come out and vote in municipal elections. And that's for a range of reasons that I think mostly have to do with just people's busy work-a-day lives. And so to me, our challenge from a communication standpoint is fitting our messages in in a convenient way in their busy work-a-day lives. To me, having someone on your front porch handing you something and telling you to look at this because this is important, I think is the most effective additional tactic that we can employ to help make sure that people are getting that message and have the opportunity to give us feedback on the decisions that we're making.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. Do you feel we already adequately meet the needs of any of these, the infrastructure, public safety, parks and recreation, or housing affordability?
Mike Kondratick:So, you know, there's always this room for consistent improvement in all the things that we do. I feel like public safety is probably the closest to meeting that. But, you know, even like public safety, I look at questions around, like in particular with Holly Springs PD. Like, I would love to see us be able to fund a program for mental health professionals, you know, to be able to be deployed to nonviolent 911 calls to be able to help better serve residents in mental health crisis. I think there are a lot of great examples for where those types of programs already exist and is making a real difference. I think our police do an awesome job. But it's like, where are these additional ways that we can improve and expand the services to be able to handle these different types of situations that we can fund? Um, so, so yeah, so my answer is I think where we are close to being able to say, like, hey, yeah, let's maintain is in public safety. But it's like another thing I mentioned before when you asked the question about where we've done well, and I mentioned public safety. Because I also think, you know, we've been planning for the town's growth pretty well in that regard, right? It's like fire station three is open, fire station four is, you know, is in the pipeline. So it's like spanning these services in a lot of ways is just allowing us to keep up with helping our first responders make sure that they are efficient and capable, you know, of achieving these missions that we put out for them. But I feel like we're closest to being able to maintain in that area with some of these additional opportunities, I think that we can add on to make our service just that much better as we go.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. As population grows, what strategies would you prioritize to address the roads, utilities, and other infrastructure challenges?
Mike Kondratick:So, yeah, I think in terms of particularly our road infrastructure and traffic, I think, as I mentioned, that to me needs to be an all of the above type of strategic approach, right? So, you know, there are opportunities and buckets of money available with regional partners like with Wake Transit. I think, particularly when you look at in that regard, you know, the amount of traffic going between, particularly Holly Springs and Fuquay. And I think the need for, you know, particularly at the rate that Fuquay is growing as well. I think the need for particularly like our two towns to more closely coordinate our transportation and infrastructure strategies. I think that's hugely important for us to be able to do in terms of being able to capture different opportunities with our state part. Like I mentioned before, having more of our own money on hand to be able to either fully finance smaller projects that mean something to communities, putting in stoplights, or being able to make investments or down payments on bigger projects and getting the moved up lists, I think are critical pieces. And again, I think that comes from being able to manage our budget more effectively and you know, truly making transit and transportation our number one priority.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:For those who might not be in the know, when you talk about moving up in the priority of the list, what does that mean? What does that look like if you were to communicate that with residents?
Mike Kondratick:So, yeah, so NC DOT has a list of projects that they have to be able to get to. So, like particularly in the stoplight example, right? You know they have to do a study, then approve a stoplight to go in, which is kind of step number one. And then as soon as it's approved, it's gonna kind of take a spot on the list among, you know, all these other projects that NC DOT has received from communities across the state, right? And so part of what, and they all have price tags, obviously. I I just think it's chronically underfunded by the state anyway. But then you add on all of the stress that comes from having to focus on Western North Carolina and all of its needs. So you can imagine now, like after Helene is kind of, you know, like on-the-fly restructuring of what NCDOT needed to focus its time and resources on, right? With really good reason. And so the projects that we may need, you know, we get reordered. Um, but we have opportunities to be able to kind of help our priorities make it further up those lists when we can bring money to the table and say, hey, we can handle most of it, like in the perfect scenario, like we can handle all of this, like let us go ahead and do it. So it's it's putting ourselves in a position to be able to handle more of those projects on our own or get them to be a little bit of a higher priority because NC DOT doesn't have to put as much, as much money into the pot to make it reality.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay.
Mike Kondratick:So, yeah, in that regard for infrastructure, um, like I said, I think it has to be in all of the above. Hey, yes, you know, we're we're working with regional and state partners, we're also doing what we can as the town of Holly Springs.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Holly Springs has focused on bringing in biomedical and science-based businesses. How would you balance supporting these businesses and garnering more of them with some public sentiment that may be skeptical of science and vaccines?
Mike Kondratick:The science all still points to vaccines being extremely effective and ultimately protecting the health of everybody, and particularly those who are most vulnerable to the diseases that they are engineered to prevent. And I think that makes it incumbent upon us as leaders to make sure that, number one, that we are amplifying the correct information that keeps our residents safe. And I think that also jibes with the efforts that we need to make to be able to support the companies that we have attracted. I think that also then guides our future business development efforts, right? Because I mean, to me, it makes good sense that we have attracted, you know, this large biopharma sector that we can kind of continue to supplement that with. It seems like the most appropriate next step is okay, well, can we get companies like within that biopharma supply chain that are going to make it easier and hopefully more profitable for the bigger companies that we've attracted to continue to do business here? So to me, those two things are kind of like perfectly in lockstep. I think we are protecting public health. I think we are protecting our local economy that we've already started to build and giving ourselves the best leg up in terms of continuing to recruit complementary businesses.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:As our town grows, farmland faces pressure from development, and some residents struggle to access fresh food. How would you support local farmers, protect farmland, and help ensure everyone has access to healthy, affordable food?
Mike Kondratick:I think the difficult part to that question is the value of the land. And so, you know, you have farmers who look at what they are able to get for their property and make the decision that they're going to sell. And in many cases, that land will get sold to developers. And that's just the part of where our community is in terms of making sure that we continue our efforts to provide our residents with access to fresh foods. I think you know, you you look at how the town has, I think, consistently grown the presence of the farmer's market and you know, the kind of the community magnet that has become and the plans that are in place, which I think are great. Like when you look at the potential for, you know, something that's already really great in the farmer's market, they could expand even more with the downtown area development plan and public market that we can create. So I think it's continuing to make investment to grow the presence of the market, but then also making sure, because I think the downtown area development plan, when you kind of zoom out, that's also an infrastructure challenge as well and a traffic problem because we got to be able to get people downtown to be able to access it. And so I think that comes into our greenway infrastructure. I think that comes into public transportation. Are we able to expand that? No matter where you are or what your means are across LA Springs, we need to be able to get you to where we're able to offer that fresh produce. And so it's incumbent upon us to think through how people from every corner of town can get to where we need them to go. Because I'm to me, I think that's where we're able to enact policies that are more effective versus ultimately the land use, which, like I said, I think is farmers are going to continue to make decisions that are in their economic interests.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Our police sometimes receive requests from outside agencies while also addressing local needs. How would you set priorities for public safety with limited resources?
Mike Kondratick:Yeah, you know, this was part of the conversation I had. I did ride along with uh both the police department and fire department earlier this summer. And they actually talked about the deployments, particularly out to the western part of the state after Helene. So they did multiple tours out there. And to a person, you know, they all had the same feedback, which was, you know, how much they got out of it, how uplifting it was. There didn't seem to be any issue in terms of managing resource to make sure that everything that we needed. So I think our leadership of our public service departments had done really well in terms of managing the resource. I think in terms of what the sheriff's department's requirements are, particularly, you know, here in the times in which we live, in terms of cooperating with ICE, you know, the law, I think it was HB 10, you know, passed by the state legislature, requires the sheriff's office to coordinate with ICE. The law for the Holly Springs PD in particular is to be able to enforce town, county, and state laws. And so I think the expectation there is for me, is that the police continue to follow the law, that the police, as they do now, continue to be well trained in terms of their ability to properly apply people's due process rights. So again, as they do today, I would expect all that to continue. You know, the law makes it pretty clear in terms of how, particularly, the law enforcement resource is to be used, particularly between the sheriff and HSPD. So I would anticipate, you know, that continues to be as well managed as it has been today.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. How can the town better support small businesses and connect with their needs?
Mike Kondratick:Yeah. So again, the the feedback that I received most frequently from small businesses is particularly the cost of starting a business here in Holly Springs. And so I think that challenge, along with, you know, again, we we don't operate, you know, in a bubble, right? We we have to deal with what's going on in the state of North Carolina, we have to deal with what's going on in the national economy. And I think the national economy in particular point to higher costs. I think like we're just going to be in a higher tariff environment for a while. And also, you know, the rate of increase of healthcare costs, I think next year is going to be substantial, especially if, as it appears, you know, Congress is not going to extend ACA subsidies. Yeah, that makes healthcare, you know, an even bigger expense than usual. And so I think it's incumbent on our leaders in Holly Springs here at the municipal level to have conversations about how we can help our small businesses be more profitable in this more difficult environment. And so what I would like to see us do is talk about doing things like being able to expand what is now the downtown investment grant program. I personally don't care where you want to establish your business in the town of Holly Springs. I want you to have this money available for you to apply for to help establish your business. Second thing, I would like to see the town make resources available, like the expertise, I think, particularly financial and legal expertise to help businesses establish purchasing co-ops. Again, particularly to be able to purchase things like healthcare at lower rates. And finally, I'd like to see the town facilitate and fund an internship program that can match talent in our high schools as well as Wake Tech with our small businesses who can use that talent. And the town is then investing the money to pay the interns that work in our small businesses. So I think these are all sensible and frankly, relatively small investments that the town can make help small businesses start to move costs off of those early prevent costs from going on there. So I think all of those things can help make our small businesses more competitive.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. What approaches would you take to foster understanding and collaboration amongst residents with differing perspectives?
Mike Kondratick:Yeah, so that's that's a lot of hard work to be able to do that. And I do think the answer starts with what I mentioned before in terms of having a town department whose job it is to be out there talking to residents on a regular basis, because I think, you know, getting at the answer to your question, Amanda, requires us to first understand what the differing perspectives are, or maybe even that issues exist that aren't, you know, that haven't risen to the, you know, onto the radar screen of elected officials yet that we can know about sooner. And so to me, a lot of that work I think is most effectively done face to face. I typically think it is not best done through online spaces where you know it's just easier for people to not be as invested when when you don't have to do it face to face. Yeah, not everyone has access to all the technology that's needed to do it anyway. So to me, being able to get people together in a third space where they are comfortable having a conversation and feel supported and have us there and have you know some baseline understanding of of what the challenges are, to me, I think is the necessary first step to have people come to a resolution. And, you know, look, I mean, that's why I've been critical of the mayor's approach on his quarterly chats, because to me, it is a static solution to what are dynamic sets of issues and problems and conversations that need to be happening all the time. So it's incumbent, I think, upon us as elected officials to find ways to make sure that is happening and that we are coming to a resolution as quickly and fairly as we can. But that face-to-face interaction to me is where all that starts.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. You touched on it a little bit, but for those who might not be aware, what are third spaces?
Mike Kondratick:So a third space is usually like a community gathering space. You know, maybe for some communities it's their church, for other communities, maybe it's a community center, like someplace where they are comfortable gathering to be a part of their community. I think again, it's coming upon us as elected officials to understand where those third spaces are and be willing to make the time and be flexible to be there. Again, this kind of goes back to that same thing, right? It's like typically those are things we do during campaigns and we're showing up at these third spaces. Well, as elected officials, I mean, that approach needs to continue, you know, to this question or becomes a place where hopefully people feel more comfortable having more difficult conversations because they feel that additional level of support.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. How will you ensure diverse voices and those most impacted are not only included but truly embraced in decision making?
Mike Kondratick:Yeah, so two important things there. I think the first is to me, it makes good sense that the town's boards and commissions look like the town. And so, you know, my expectation is no matter what board or commission that we're looking at, that we are figuring out a way for that diversity to be there and to make sure that their voices are heard and helping the town make important decisions. Now, I think part of that is I think we've talked about now in the answer to a couple different questions, is this constant all the time, always on community outreach effort? Because the reality is that we have to be in these various communities and at these people's doors consistently enough so that we can earn their trust, right? So again, not unlike what we're trying to do now as candidates, right? So I'm at a door, I'm I'm having a conversation with you. It is all, you know, me investing the time to listen, to understand, to earn your trust and to earn your vote. Well, I need to do the same thing and we need to do the same thing as town employees and elected officials to earn that feedback from people. And to me, once we get going with that though, then we kind of create this virtuous cycle, right? We're out in these communities, every corner of Holly Springs, we're getting the feedback. I think once people provide feedback and they see that the town has actually done something with the feedback, right? Like we have done something to help address a problem or a challenge or something that you would like to see done. I think that just naturally gets people more excited and interested in what is going on in their municipal government. And once we've reached that level, well, shoot, like then we have a much better chance. And we go on to that community and say, hey, we have openings on these boards and commissions, and we would really love for people in this community to apply, but now you have reason to go and apply because you've interacted with us and you've seen the feedback that we give, you've seen what we do with your feedback to help make change in your community, and you I think more naturally want to be a part of that, right? And and want to turn in your applications, and then we just naturally get a more diverse set of candidates for these boards and commissions. So all of that has been, you know, an area that Holly Springs um can do much, much better with uh moving forward.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. Do you support a non-discrimination ordinance or policy? Why or why not?
Mike Kondratick:I do support a non-discrimination ordinance. So a few reasons. I mean, you know, the first one starts with the town's strategy statement, or I kind of look at that as more of like the town's vision, you know, for Holly Springs. And one component of that is what we call vibrant community. And I wrote down verbatim, part of what is included under that vibrant community, which is to cultivate a creative and friendly atmosphere that is welcoming for all cultures and the diversity of our residents and visitors. So to me, the non-discrimination ordinance directly supports what we are saying as a town, this strategic priority. That's kind of the first reason why I struggle with why the non-discrimination ordinance hasn't been passed. The second piece of it to me is talking to people in the communities that would be covered by the NDO almost unanimously say that they feel the NDO is necessary. So to me, that's an important testimony to take into account. But finally, the impact of the NDO is no longer theoretical. You know, when we were having this conversation, I think most intently, probably almost three years ago now, the reasons why we didn't move forward with the NDO were all based on questions around how it would be implemented and particularly what the impact would be on small businesses. Well, we're past all the theory now. So we're into year three of implementation. It's being implemented in 10 of 13 incorporated towns in Wake County. And you know, I think it's fair to say a lot of the assumptions that we went through back then have not held in reality. And so part of my frustration is just the unwillingness to, again, in the in the face of reality and and all this empirical evidence, I think it's incumbent upon us now to look back and say, well, hey, you know what? You know, we made some assumptions three years ago, they haven't held. We should revisit this now. That to me is the starting point on the NDO because I think it's been implemented, I think to say fairly, I think it's been implemented flawlessly here over these first almost three years.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. Have you gained any endorsements thus far? And if you gain more, where might voters find that information?
Mike Kondratick:Yeah, so the main endorsement that went out via press release was uh my endorsement from the Democratic Party. And so still working through interviews with various organizations that ought to be making decisions here, you know, in the next little bit, but all that information will be available either on my website or through social media.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. Where can listeners connect with you and learn more about your platform, upcoming events, and ways to get involved?
Mike Kondratick:First, my website, which is Mike4 F O R H S, Mike4H S dot com, and socials, which is Facebook and Instagram on both platforms, Mike Kondratick for Mayor.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. Do you have any final thoughts you'd like to share with those voting in the upcoming election?
Mike Kondratick:You know, I've been focused on having conversations on people's front porches for five months now. You know, we've knocked on several thousand doors, we've had thousands of conversations. And so, you know, what I have done my best to do here in this campaign is develop a platform that I think accurate reflects where residents are and what residents need moving forward. My ask of voters would be to evaluate me and my campaign based on our focus areas of creating community that's affordable for all of our families, for our kids, our parents, our seniors to be able to safely age in place for our teachers, for our nurses, for our first responders. I'd love for all of them to be able to live in the community that they serve. I want all the residents to be confident and know that their leaders are going to invest the time to go out and proactively get their feedback. I want them to be confident that that feedback is going to be listened to. And I want them to be able to see it reflected in their leaders' decisions. I want our small businesses to know that their town government is willing to push boundaries in order to help ensure their profitability. And ultimately, again, I want every citizen, whether you're a native or a newcomer, whether, you know, it's from Sunset Oaks in the east, Stonemont in the West, I want everyone to feel confident that their mayor is their champion. And most importantly, again, I think it comes down to the issues of traffic and development. And I mean, again, we have so we have so many people who are creative, they're innovators, they're go-getters. I want them to elect leaders who look at our traffic and development problem. And rather than saying we can't do this, have the courage to say, how can we do this together? And I think I'm the candidate to do that. And so that is my pitch to earn residents' votes in this election.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. So now we're gonna go into a lightning round. It's a little way to bring some fun into it to get to know you more on a personal level. It doesn't really have anything to do with Holly Springs or politics. What's something you do that helps you to recharge?
Mike Kondratick:Definitely reading.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:What's a hobby, talent, or fun fact about you that most people don't know?
Mike Kondratick:So, fun fact my wife and I met in high school. So we actually have been together since the age of 15.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Oh, wow. What's something that's difficult for you?
Mike Kondratick:Particularly in these times in which I find myself with campaign, full-time work, and family, it is always time management to make sure that I am adequately getting to all of those priorities.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:What book, podcast, or TV show are you enjoying right now?
Mike Kondratick:And I will ask for a small bit of flexibility on this because we just finished it, but show would definitely be the season four, which I think is the final season of The Bear.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Okay. Who's your favorite superhero?
Mike Kondratick:Batman.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
Mike Kondratick:This advice was so profound. I got it tattooed on my arm. It is the simple Buddhist wisdom of know thyself.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Awesome. What's one guilty pleasure you secretly enjoy?
Mike Kondratick:So it's really any any type of cheesy 80s music. You know, we're not even gonna get down to artists because it's like all the genres of cheesy 80s music.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:What's a simple thing that always makes you laugh or smile?
Mike Kondratick:So, all right, so so my mom, her favorite movie when we were growing up, so we were my sister and I, we were children of the 80s, and her favorite actor was John Candy. Her favorite movie was this movie called Summer Rental. And so she made us like we watch this movie like hundreds of times at this point. We know every scene. And so at random times, for reasons that I don't know, like I can't connect, like I'll think of a scene from the movie and I'll start chuckling, you know. And then of course, whoever's near me is gonna ask me why I'm laughing. And I, you know, I'm not in this form where I can explain all this backstory about why like why this like random movie that like a fair number of people have never heard of uh is making me laugh for some for some random reason. So, but yeah, it is that movie that kind of randomly makes me laugh.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Coffee or tea?
Mike Kondratick:All right. So look, honestly, I did my level best to make the switch of tea. It did not work. Coffee is really the only thing that again helps me manage the is it just went through the family campaign full-time work thing. The only, yeah, the only thing I can rely on.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Morning person or night owl?
Mike Kondratick:Yeah, okay. So this actually could have been the fun fact in retrospect. So definitely morning person, but I get up at 3 30 every morning. Oh goodness, which is my effort to it's like so the bit of time between like 3 30 and 6 is the only time where I can kind of like uninterrupt, I can get myself together, get out, get to the gym, get back, and then you know, kind of get the day started. So waking up at 3 30 is the only way that I can do that. So definitely morning person.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Wow. Mountains or beach?
Mike Kondratick:Uh definitely beach on that one. Beach people.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Book or podcast.
Mike Kondratick:I would err on the side of book there.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Dogs or cats.
Mike Kondratick:We are a dog family. We have two dogs, Haley and Maggie. So yes, so we are definitely on the dog side.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Awesome. Well, that brings this candidate conversation to a close. Thank you so much, Mike, for participating, for trusting me enough to put this all together for you, to get your words out, and just for taking the time to be here to connect with listeners and voters and to run. So thank you for all that you're doing, and I wish you the best of luck in your campaign.
Mike Kondratick:Well, thank you, Amanda, and thank you for investing the time to come up with all of the hard questions that all the candidates should have to answer. I know this is no small investment of your time and effort in serving uh the community of Holly Springs. So I appreciate you inviting me and letting me be a part of the process. So thank you.
Amanda Benbow Lunn:Absolutely. Local elections are where democracy lives closest to home. The decisions and actions of our mayors, the Holly Springs Town Council, and the Fuqua Varina Board of Commissioners influence the services we rely on each day, the safety of our streets, the character of our neighborhoods, and even the future direction of our communities. Democracy is at the heart of all we hold dear. Our local governments set priorities that touch everyday life. They pass ordinances, fund our fire and police departments, set property tax structures, and shape the look and feel of our towns. Because turnout is often lower in municipal elections, every ballot cast carries even greater weight. Here's what you need to know for 2025. The voter registration deadline is October 10th unless you register at an early voting site. Early voting begins October 16th at the Wake County Board of Elections office in Raleigh. Additional sites open on October. 25th, including the John M. Brown Community Center in Apex and the Avery Street Recreation Center in Garner. Those two will be the closest to us in Holly Springs and Fuquay Varina. Early voting concludes on Saturday, November 1st. Please note that this year only includes two Saturdays, October 25th and November 1st, and one Sunday, October 26th. The last day to request a mail-in absentee ballot is October 21st, and election day itself is Tuesday, November 4th, where you'll need to cast your vote at your assigned precinct. Please remember you will need a ballot ID to vote. That wraps up another NC Deep Dive candidate conversation. You can find all of our 2025 municipal election interviews at www.ncdeepdive.com, as well as on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you currently listen to podcasts. Show notes will include links to candidates, voter resources, and election information. If you find these conversations helpful, please subscribe, share them with friends or family, and consider leaving a rating or review. Spreading the word in your local spaces helps strengthen informed participation across our communities. If you have thoughts or topics you'd like us to explore, reach out on social media or email us anytime at ncdeepdive at gmail.com. I'm grateful you spent this time with me today. Staying informed is how we shape communities worth calling home. Your choices matter, your perspective matters, and you matter. Your ballot is your voice, and both carry more power than you might imagine. Democracy isn't passive. It only works when we each show up. Thank you for helping me to make it thrive. May we continue to work together to build stronger, more vibrant communities to live, work, and play in. Ones we can all be proud to call home. Until next time, my friends, Namaste. The love and light in me sees and honors the love and light in you.
