THE NEXT MAYOR OF ROCKY MOUNT: A NEW EXPECTATION

The closer we come to the 2027 municipal election, the more convinced I become that we need to have a different conversation about the office of mayor.

I keep imagining a conference room reserved once a week for the mayor’s purposes. Around the table are people invited because of their experience, accomplishments, disappointments, and knowledge of Rocky Mount. The participants change from week to week, but the purpose remains the same: to discover what might become possible when people who have been working separately begin thinking together.

Rocky Mount already has many organizations, businesses, churches, and individuals doing worthwhile work throughout the community. I am not imagining another meeting to hear reports about what they are doing, nor an occasion for the mayor to promote an agenda and recruit others to carry it out.

The purpose is not to learn what everyone is already doing, but to discover what no one has yet imagined doing together.

Consider what this might mean. Bring together people involved in restoring Main Street, not simply to discuss individual projects, but to discover what their combined experience might make possible. Invite those working with young people to share what has succeeded, what has disappointed them, and what they have learned along the way. Their collective knowledge might reveal opportunities that none had recognized independently.

Imagine bankers discussing financing small businesses and historic properties, or Realtors exploring new ways to introduce buyers to Rocky Mount’s shotgun houses, bungalows, and older neighborhoods. Each gathering could begin with what participants know and move toward what they might accomplish together.

At the head of the table, the mayor would do far more than preside. The mayor would choose the participants, lead the conversation, ask questions that challenge familiar assumptions, recognize connections between seemingly unrelated efforts, and encourage those around the table to take promising ideas forward. The mayor would not need to manage every undertaking, but would remain interested in its progress, helping sustain the relationships and momentum necessary for success.

This is the capacity to turn a personal vision into a shared civic purpose.

The significance of such leadership is not simply what a mayor personally accomplishes, but what the mayor makes possible for others to accomplish. The participants bring their knowledge, experience, and willingness to contribute. The mayor provides the leadership that helps turn those separate strengths into a common undertaking.

A mayor’s leadership can be measured not only by what is accomplished during a term of office, but by what the people of Rocky Mount become capable of accomplishing together.

As we approach the 2027 election, I would like us to ask mayoral candidates two questions that reach beyond promises of economic development and a better reputation for Rocky Mount.

1. How would you awaken a renewed sense of confidence and possibility in citizens who have stopped believing they can make a difference?

2. How would you bring together people from different neighborhoods, backgrounds, and competing interests to work toward a purpose larger than their individual concerns?

We have spent years talking about the revitalization of Rocky Mount. What if we began by revitalizing our understanding of the leadership that can help make it happen?

The opportunity before Rocky Mount in 2027 is not merely to elect another mayor. It is to establish a new expectation for what being mayor can mean.