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Incumbent Spath calls first term 'educational'
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Published: October 13, 2009
Troutman Alderman Mike Spath likes to stay a step or two ahead of the rat race.
He left his native town in southern Ohio just before the Rust Belt bust and moved to Florida.
When that got too congested, he relocated to Mint Hill, just south of Charlotte. He then found a place on the southern end of Brawley School Road in Mooresville.
"And I just got sick of the traffic ... and all the frustration out there," he said.
Five years ago, he "came across this house here in Troutman." A year later Spath won a seat on the town's Board of Aldermen.
He is now running to keep that seat.
"It's been educational," he said of his term so far.
Spath said he cut his political teeth as executive in his firefighters union during his 25 years with the Charlotte Fire Department.
"The issues, of course, are different," he said. "With the union, I was involved with things having to do with firefighters. Here, it's been about water systems and zoning matters. So, as I said, it's been educational. And there is a lot to learn."
Like most other political leaders in Iredell County, Spath is concerned about the growth that is inching its way toward his town.
"I know you have to grow or the town stagnates," he said. "You have to grow to bring in new tax dollars to make the town more convenient. The challenge, of course, is to do it right."
Spath points to nearby towns Mooresville, Huntersville and Cornelius as examples of municipalities that grew explosively and in a way, he feels, that created divisions within the towns themselves.
"You don't want to end up with two towns," he said. "In all those places you have an old town and a new town. We want to keep it one town in Troutman."
Spath said a number of good things have happened on his watch, such as the new water tower, the construction of a new library, repaving of the streets in the Inglewood neighborhood, passing the town's first comprehensive land-use plan and entering an annexation agreement with Statesville and Mooresville.
"I feel pretty good about what we've done," he said.
Spath is running against three other candidates for one of two at-large seats on the board: Charles Delnero and Curt Rogers; and fellow incumbent Scott Feimster.
The one-stop early voting period for the Nov. 3 non-partisan municipal elections begins this Thursday at the Iredell Board of Elections offices in Statesville, and runs through Oct. 31.
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