Since 2001, Mayor Vivian Jones has been working hard at maintaining and improving the town of Wake Forest. Jones has faced election years with opponents, as well as years where she ran unopposed.

The 2017 election, however, brings a new opponent for Jones. Town Commissioner Jim Thompson is running against Jones for the position of mayor.

Jones is ready for the election and hopes to accomplish even more if elected to office for another four year term.

“I am excited about the election and the opportunity to share with the people what I have accomplished and what I hope to do in the years coming,” Jones said.

Under the leadership of Jones, Wake Forest has made many additions to the growing community. Amongst her list of accomplishments, Jones has her favorites.

“There are several things we have accomplished during my time as mayor that I am very proud of. The local bus and express bus to Raleigh were established in 2008 and offer transportation for many people who have no other ways to get around,” Jones said. “We were also able to acquire the Renaissance Centre and can now offer excellent cultural arts programs as well as expand our programs for special needs kids.”

If re-elected, Jones plans to support additional changes to Wake Forest.

“I will continue to advocate for more transportation options including roads, sidewalks, greenways, transit. We need to be aggressively developing our multimodal transportation system,” Jones said. “I will also continue promoting our cultural arts programming trying to bring modern, popular offering that will appeal to all ages.”

While the citizens of Wake Forest know Jones as the Mayor, for years she was happily working as a stay-at-home mom.

“I was very happy being a stay-at-home mom for 10 years or so. I worked as an administrative assistant for several years and then my sister and I owned a restaurant for several years. I had always been involved in the community and a few years ago a couple of people asked if I would consider running for the Town Board. I saw a need and decided to do it. After two years on the board, I ran for mayor and was elected,” Jones said.

Being a Mayor of a growing town can be a time consuming position to be in.

“Although being the mayor is technically supposed to be a part-time job, I cannot imagine being able to do the job part-time. I believe it is important to have a mayor who is present at activities and events in our town to show support for all organizations and volunteers who help make this a great place to live,” Jones said.

While Jones believes Wake Forest is moving well along towards the future, she also wishes to see one specific change.

“The only thing I would change about Wake Forest is to add more jobs so young people would want to stay here or return here after college,” Jones said. “I want Wake Forest to be an inclusive, caring, and kind place for all people to live.”

In order to achieve this goal, Jones makes sure she gets involved whenever an opportunity comes.

“My favorite thing about being mayor is the opportunity I have to meet with residents in all sorts of situations and talk about what is going on here. I love going to schools and meeting with students. I am frequently invited to attend classes in elementary schools. Every year Mr. Baker at Wake Forest invites me to his civics classes and that is one of my favorite things to do!”