Candidate Vows to Bring "Conservative Voice," but not Hard-Right Shift, to Brevard City Council
Bill Bailey, a longtime fitness coach, is clear about his right-wing politics, but says he will take time to learn about policy and seek to find common ground with other local leaders.
BREVARD — Bill Bailey touts his right-wing credentials in his campaign press release, which states he plans to bring “a conservative voice to the (Brevard) City Council.”
The release arrives in an email with a domain, reagan.com, that pays homage to one of Bailey’s political heros, former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. When he sat down for an interview in a small, closed office at The Fitness Factory gym on Asheville Highway, where he works as a fitness coach, he declined to wear a mask and said he hasn’t been vaccinated for Covid-19.
“One of the conservative things I think about is being forced to get a vaccine,” he said. “Get all the vaccines you want. Wear all the masks you want. But I don’t want to be forced to do something that cuts across basic freedom of choice.”
Staking out such positions make sense politically, considering that the three other candidates in the nonpartisan race for two open seats on the Brevard City Council “tend to be more liberal in their political views,” he said. That means he’s not just a conservative voice, he’s the only conservative choice.
But Bailey, a 55-year-old political newcomer, also casts himself as a low-key candidate, who agreed to run at the urging of right-leaning friends and submitted his campaign paperwork on the last day of the filing period. He acknowledges he has a lot to learn and has no plans to immediately impose his ideology on local decisions.
“I’m not going to come in with some massive agenda and start screaming and shouting and say listen to me,” he said. “I’m going to be relatively quiet and take it all in and try to understand.”
Bailey, a former gym owner, said he has an “entrepreneurial mindset.” He vows to take a “fiscally conservative” approach to the job and look at providing incentives to create private-sector solutions to problems such as the city’s shortage of well-paid manufacturing jobs.
But he doesn’t promise to slash taxes or gut regulations, partly because, he said, the city seems to be doing pretty well.
Since Bailey moved to Transylvania Count in 1997, he has watched the city add features he appreciates, including the recently opened dog park. The central business district, he noted, is apparently thriving.
“It’s actually a cuter, nicer, more beautified town than it was then,” he said.
All of which means political distinctions start to fade when it comes to the election’s big issues.
Affordable housing is a major problem, he said, agreeing with other candidates and noting that the house he rented for $350 when he moved to Brevard could easily cost three times that much now. He talked about the benefits of encouraging developments with greater density and a mix of prices close to downtown — another common talking point among his opponents.
He wasn’t aware that, at its meeting the night before, the City Council had voted to forgo $5,500 in utility connection fees for two planned “tiny” houses in exchange for the builder’s promise to offer affordable rents.
But that, he said, sounds like just the kind of public-private collaboration he favors.
“I like that idea . . . to give an incentive like that,” he said.
City Council members and most of the candidates are big backers of the multi-use Ecusta Trail, which would run on an old rail line between Brevard and Hendersonville.
Bailey wants to make sure the city looks for outside sources of funding; in June, Council voted to do just that, applying for a federal grant that would cover most of the trail’s construction costs.
And like current Council members and his opponents, he sees the trail’s potential to promote economic growth, especially because, he said, the rail bed is currently “just sitting there stale, doing nothing.”
Plus, it might be fun, he said. “I’m asking myself, as someone who owns a bike but doesn’t ride it much — would I be incentivized to get on that trail and ride all the way to Hendersonville?”
He didn’t know the details of another issue discussed the night before, a return to a previous city policy requiring parking to the rear or side of new stores and restaurants on commercial strips. But he said he has a balanced view about the need for such regulation.
“As a conservative, I’m not hugely excited about some of those restrictions,” he said, “but you don’t want people parking anywhere and everywhere.”
Also, he said, based on what he knows about other candidates, he sees the possibility of more common ground. Bailey is a property owner in Brevard, having bought a house north of downtown in 2016. He and his ex-wife, with whom he remains on good terms, he said, raised a son and daughter who both attended public schools.
It’s the kind of life that makes him value a solid community, which he also sees in other candidates for mayor and council.
“We’re not out there staying up all hours of the , dining and dancing,” he said. “We’re at home leading quiet, simple lives, taking care of our families and preparing for the next day.”
The Candidate:
Bill Bailey, 55
Facebook: Bill Bailey for Brevard City Council
Education: Associate’s Degree, Daytona (Fla.) State College; attended Freed-Hardeman University (no degree); personal trainer certification, National Academy of Sports Medicine; nutrition coach certification, National Association of Sports Medicine
Career: U.S. Marine Corps veteran; former fitness director, Brevard Health and Racquet Club; certified fitness trainer and nutrition coach
Public Service: Transylvania County Honor Guard; board chair, The Center for Women, a Christian-based pregnancy crisis center; board member and chief umpire, Transylvania County Little League
Personal: Divorced father of two adult children, grandparent of four
Brevard Connection: Has lived in or near the city since 1997, city property owner since 2016
The Job:
Brevard City Council members are elected to four-year terms and receive an annual salary of $6,700.
Conservative is fine, disrespect for others health is not!
Are Brevard city employees required to be vaccinated? Are the present city council members vaccinated? Would be Bill Bailey be willing to be vaccinated if elected?