Legislator Q&A: Rep. Reece Pyrtle you I’ve got some amazing folks that work for me, who are able to reach out and jump right on it, and they love helping people, too. That’s very beneficial, is having good staff, and I do, I got blessed. It’s also recognition that, you know, one person can’t do everything. It’s definitely a team. It’s who you bring with you, who you build, who you trust to share with you. How does your team tend to process nuanced, complicated or verging issues? RP: It’s a lot of reading, but also, we have a lot of folks within our caucus and even within the General Assembly that are subject matter experts in a lot of fields. And I often have members come to me and say, “Hey, you were a county commissioner. Tell me about what your thoughts are on this. What do you think the commissioners association will think about this?” And it’s one of the things where I have some very smart very talented folks that are in the General Assembly and in my caucus. And I will lean on those folks. And plus, I have amazing staff when I have questions. Obviously, you have to be dependent upon the ongoing staff and you have to have some relationships. To me, it’s all about relationships. You know, fostering and cultivating those relationships. When I was a police chief, when I first got to the police, appointed a police chief here, one of the first things I did was create a reason for all the chiefs to get together and the sheriffs to get together, and we invited this attorney that I was really after the most. Because when you create a relationship, when it comes that, if you have to make that ask, it’s much easier to make it if there’s a relationship in place. And if you’re the recipient of that ask, it’s much easier to say yes and understand why that ask is being made. Even when you might have hit just a little pothole, that relationship will help. Those potholes won’t be quite as deep if there’s a relationship in place. And I did the same thing as a commissioner when I was chair. One of the things I did was direct the manager to find an issue. Let’s have dinner and get everybody together, all the elected officials in one room, the town council and all that good stuff. And let’s get together, have dinner and talk about an issue that’s impacting us all. Well, the information was important. But it was that breaking bread and having those conversations that took place before, during, and after the event that I think was most beneficial... When I was working with the municipality and even with the county, there’s things that did or didn’t happen at the state or federal level. And a lot of times, you know what, we had to depend upon ourselves. We had to look to see what we could do with our span of control to mitigate the issues that were impacting our community. And in Rockingham County, you know what, it didn’t just impact the community that I served as a police chief. It would impact the community 10 miles down the road in Reidsville, 12 to 14 miles up in Madison ... and so you know we had some some some very good conversations on what we could do within our span of control to work together to address the issue to address this quality of life issue. It was huge, I mean I remember one of the big ones that we had was trying to address some of our mental health issues and the serving that population that of consumers that were in crisis that didn’t have any resources. They’re still part of our community ... and that’s really what kind of got the ball rolling and helped me realize how big these relationships were. That was in the early 2000s before I was the police chief. And we worked hard, and then as the police chief, I continued that and tried to expand on it. On the flip side, being a retiree, you could just sit back and let the stress go, keep the focus at home and so on. But, staying involved to the extent you do, do you still find time for yourself? Ways to break away and enjoy the coffee? RP: Like I said, my wife is a school teacher; my daughter is a sophomore, she’ll be a rising junior at Appalachian State. And so, during football season, we may make our way to a college football game now and again. I’ll be honest, I play golf when I’m here. I try to play golf at least twice a week, sometimes a third day. I enjoy doing that. My mom is 85 ... I’ve got to take her to the doctor today. She’s still in good health, I still go with her and visit and talk to her on the phone. I’ll go by her and see her every day. She’s liable to call the police department to do a welfare check on me if I don’t go by there and see her. So, you know, that’s family and friends. Let me tell you a good thing about retirement. You know, somebody said it to me, but I didn’t believe it until I actually retired. If I wake up one morning and I have nothing on my calendar pressing, I go play golf. By the time I go to bed that night, I’m sitting there wondering: I started off really not much to do, and by the time we go to bed, I wonder how I got it all done. Really, being engaged in the community. And I do everything from the Boys and Girls Club Board of Directors and so on, and that takes up some time, too, when you engage in all that. Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, there is always something going on. And that’s fine. I enjoy staying active. I really do. And I enjoy people. So that’s what makes it easy. I’ve been blessed, got some great relationships, made some great friends since I’ve been in the General Assembly... There’s so many great people there, it’s a pleasure to be around... I like people. I like having the conversations, and I like making a difference. And I hope that at the end of the day when I retire, they think, you know what? Somebody cared about his community and tried to make a difference in his community. Yeah. So that’s me. I’m pretty simple. I think I’m a simple person. I’m just trying to do the right thing. Not just across Rockingham County, but across the state of North Carolina. And I’ve had that opportunity. I like people. I like having the conversations, and I like making a difference. And I hope that at the end of the day when I retire, they think, you know what? Somebody cared about his community and tried to make a difference in his community. Yeah. So that’s me. I’m pretty simple. NCLM.ORG 23
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