Filing season for municipal elections doesn’t begin until Friday, but already there’s beginning to be a line of candidates interested in one of three council seats in Mebane that will be on this year’s ballot.
Announcing for one of those seats this week is Charles Lopez of Blue Lake Drive in the Ashbury subdivision on the Orange County side of the city.
He joins Jonathan White, who has previously filed campaign finance documents with the Alamance County Board of Elections, including notice of a $50 donation to his own campaign.
Lopez becomes the first candidate from the Orange County side of the city. All five current city council members and the mayor live on the Orange County side of Mebane.
Up for re-election this year are council members Tim Bradley, Jill Auditori, and Everette Greene.
Lopez is the chairman of the North Carolina Hispanic Republic Coalition and the Republican National Hispanic Assembly.
Lopez points to Mebane’s growth as contributing to his desire to run for city council. “Our city must figure out how to provide for the expanding population, without losing our small town feel and community.”
He says he will take a “proactive, not reactive, approach to the growth in Mebane. We must be taking the steps now to provide for the needed housing development, expansion of civil service responsibilities, such as increased law enforcement and fire departments; as well as evaluating the needs of growing work force.”
In a prepared statement to the newspaper, Lopez list himself as an HR manager to a “small and growing business” and “an avid investor of small businesses, as well as a licensed realtor in North Carolina and Florida.”
Lopez and his wife of 17 years, Glenda, are the parents of three children.
The local board of election has also received a statement of organization from Jonathan White, a prospective candidate for Mebane’s city council. According to documents that he filed in March of this year, White launched his bid for the council with a $50 donation to his own campaign.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the local elections office hadn’t posted campaign finance reports from any other potential candidates for Mebane’s city council. This year’s election will nevertheless feature four-year terms for three regular council seats that presently belong to incumbents Jill Auditori, Everette M. Greene, and Tim Bradley.
