Tell us a little bit about yourself and your experience/accomplishments.
First and foremost, Fayette County is my home, so its future is very important to me. My father, Tom Louisos, Sr., not only introduced me to the business world when I was a toddler, he also taught me the importance of being a community leader and serving our citizens over his 22 years of service in the state legislature. His influence and the experiences I have gained as a businessman instilled in me a strong work ethic and has given me a range of experience related to development, planning, budgeting, and financing that I have been able to draw on in my position as County Commissioner.
• What made you run for county commission, or if you’re an incumbent, what made you seek reelection?
Over the last six years, I have been able to see first-hand the tremendous potential in Fayette County. I have also seen how decisions driven by politics and special interests can impact our county. Because of this, I have worked very hard to see positive changes implemented to address issues with transparency and accountability so that people living in Fayette County can see their taxes at work. Some of these changes have included changing how the excise tax and coal reallocated funds were being used, particularly in terms of moving away from supporting special interest groups.
This change in how taxes were being used along with more conservative spending practices led to the healthiest county budget to date. I have also worked to redevelop the Fayette County Comprehensive Plan to identify economic and recreational development opportunities. To me, these are only first steps in making positive changes for the county. I want to continue this work because I feel like I am only just getting started. There is so much more I want to do to help set Fayette County up for a successful future.
• What are some issues facing Fayette County right now that you would like to see addressed and fixed? How would you fix those issues?
We definitely need to stay focused on being transparent and accountable for taxpayer dollars. We also need to continue our conservative spending practices. When I am in the community, people have identified needs such as affordable housing and a good tax base. While the county commission does not have a direct role in housing, we are responsible for the infrastructure that makes affordable housing possible. I worked to end the Route 19 Plan so areas of the county north of the New River Gorge Bridge that have been largely neglected can now get much needed utility infrastructure.
I also successfully worked to implement the county’s first land reuse agency so dilapidated properties can be razed and the property redeveloped. These types of changes help to address housing needs because they help to put the needed infrastructure in place. They also offer tremendous potential as drivers of economic development. In terms of a strong tax base, these types of changes along with the implementation of conservative spending practices and more effectively using tax dollars, are the foundations for building that strong tax base.
• What makes you stand out from the rest of the candidates, what do you bring to the table that they don’t?
In addition to my experience in business, the one quality I continue to bring to being a County Commissioner is the ability to think outside of the box. Rather than continuing to do what has always been done, I have worked to find new economic and development opportunities for Fayette County.
What was done in the past did not always work for everyone in Fayette County. My focus continues to be on making every corner of Fayette County successful through identifying opportunities that many would not consider or would not see. Because I have been a commissioner for the last six years, I don’t have a learning curve.
Instead, I know what it means to be commissioner and how to move the county forward within the scope of the job duties and responsibilities the state has established for county commissioners.
• Is there anything else voters should know about you and your campaign?
I believe the best is yet to come for Fayette County. I have successfully lobbied for a number of changes that are already positively impacting the entire county and this is the type of work I will continue to do.
I will also continue to emphasize the importance of accountability and transparency because I believe every person that lives in Fayette County has a right to know and deserves to know how their tax dollars are being used to support them.