Looking ahead in 2025 (and closing 2024)

Happy New Year, Friends -

I hope that you and yours have had restful holidays, and I am grateful for your support in 2024.

The year ended with a flurry of activity:

On December 2, I was sworn into office (photo below), alongside Jean Hamilton, Amy Fowler and Phyllis Portie-Ascott, and immediately got to work with our Board that evening. Congratulations to Jamezetta Bedford and Jean Hamilton, who were elected Chair and Vice Chair, respectively. I was elected to serve on the National Association of County Commissioners (NACo).

In our December 10 Commissioners meeting, I took the following board and committee assignments:

• Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization

• Juvenile Crime Prevention Council

• Jordan Lake One Water Coalition

• Piedmont Food Processing Center

• Solid Waste Advisory Group

• Strategic Communications Work Group

• Upper Neuse River Basin Association

Finally, in late December, I had meetings scheduled with 10 of our (over two-dozen) Orange County departments. These will continue in January, and I look forward to also sitting in on the Orange County Behavioral Health Task Force.

As 2025 begins:

We look forward to the continued leadership of Congresswoman Valerie Foushee (NC-4). We also congratulate NC Governor Josh Stein, who was sworn into office yesterday. We celebrate the imminent return of Justice Allison Riggs to the NC Supreme Court - while her opponent has not yet conceded, a full count of the vote showed her victorious. Senator Sydney Batch was elected as minority leader in the NC Senate, and Representative Robert Reives was re-elected to serve as minority leader in the NC House.

Commissioners across the state are preparing for change at the federal level, and I will keep you apprised as we go forth.

Until next time,

Closing 2024:

Swearing in and remembering those who have departed us...

On Monday, December 2, I was honored to be sworn in as Commissioner by NC Representative Allen Buansi at the Whitted Building in Hillsborough. My twin daughters, Lily (l) and Sara Emamian (r), witnessed the oath of office, and I'm grateful for the support of my husband, Mehdi throughout the election season.

For those who lost loved ones in 2024, I send condolences to you and your families. Our family said goodbye to my father, Forrest Terry Carter, a native of Port Jefferson, NY, who lived in NC in his later years. Forrest was a stoic, faithful man of few words who worked hard and never gave up. May he rest in peace, now that he's joined his bride, Alice.