Talking Growth, Service, and Stewardship with Adam Caldwell

Jonathan Breeden: [00:00:00] On this week’s episode of The Best of Johnston County Podcast, we continue our candidate series, and this week we have Adam Caldwell, who is a candidate for Johnston County Commissioner, District 3 seat. He’s in a primary against former Commissioner Chad Stewart, and current Commissioner Mike Rose on March 3rd, 2026.

We talked to Adam about growing up in Samson County, his time in East Carolina, what brought him to Johnston County, all the different community involvement that he’s done in Johnston County and why he wants to be your County Commissioner for the next four years. So if you’re interested in this race and what he would do if he’s your County Commissioner, listen in.

Welcome to another episode of Best of Johnston County, brought to you by Breeden Law Office. Our host, Jonathan Breeden, an experienced family lawyer with a deep connection to the community, is ready to take you on a journey through the area that he has called home for over 20 years. Whether it’s a deep dive into the love locals have for the county or unraveling the [00:01:00] complexities of family law, Best of Johnston County presents an authentic slice of this unique community.

Jonathan Breeden: Hello and welcome to another edition of The Best of Johnston County Podcast. I’m your host, Jonathan Breeden. And on today’s episode, we’re continuing our candidates sort of our candidates series here, leading up to the March 3rd, 2026 primary. And today we have Adam Caldwell, who is a commissioner candidate for District three. There will be three people on the ballot on March 3rd in the Republican primary from District three, Mike Rose, Adam Caldwell, and former county Commissioner Chad Stewart. The early voting starts on February the 12th, and anybody who’s a registered Republican or an unaffiliated registered person can go in and vote and ask for a Republican ballot and take part in this election, there are no Democrats running, so whoever wins this primary on March 3rd, between the three of them, will serve as one of your county commissioners from December of 2026 to [00:02:00] December of 2030.

Welcome Adam.

Adam Caldwell: Good to be here. Good to be with the Mayor of Cleveland.

Jonathan Breeden: The mayor of Cleveland, right? The unincorporated mayor of Cleveland. Before I forget, I have to ask everybody like, follow, subscribe to this podcast wherever you see it, whether be on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, X, LinkedIn, or any of the other social media channels, The Best of Johnston County Podcast, Best of Johnston County Podcast comes out every single Monday, has now for over 28 months.

So go back and list some of our previous episodes, including some of the other candidates. The other county commissioners. Almost every county commissioner has been on over the years. We’ve had the county manager, Rick Hester, all kinds of great guests. If you love Johnston County as much as I do, this is the podcast for you.

There we go. Now the mayor, mayor of Cleveland, I know, right? If Cleveland would incorporate, I could be the mayor, but Cleveland’s not gonna incorporate. Would take a a, a survey and a vote of the people and I don’t think the vote of the people, people don’t like to vote to tax themselves. 

Adam Caldwell: Yeah, I get it. I’m an anti-tax candidate in this race, so I get it.

Jonathan Breeden: You are anti-tax, there’s no doubt. So anyway, state your name, what you do. 

Adam Caldwell: Adam [00:03:00] Caldwell live in Benson married three kids, six, four, and 10 months old. So I thought, you know, it’s not, not quite as busy at home, so why don’t I just run for commissioner?

No, it’s a lot of fun. I have, have experience in the public sector and private sector. I travel all across Eastern North Carolina, help small towns with civil engineering needs grants, storm water, you name it. Help them with public projects.

Jonathan Breeden: So, well, where were you born and where’d you grow up? Because I know you moved here a few years ago. I met you when you moved here.

Adam Caldwell: Yep. I, I’m one of those folks. So, I wasn’t born in Johnston County, but you know, I got here quick, as quick as I could. Grew up about 20 minutes south of the line between Newton Grove as five east corner.

Jonathan Breeden: Samson County.

Adam Caldwell: Samson County.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Adam Caldwell: Yep. I graduated from Hobbton High School.

Jonathan Breeden: Oh cool. I didn’t know that.

Adam Caldwell: Followed my, my then girlfriend to East Carolina. Now she’s my wife. She grew up in Benson and been there forever, ever since. 

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, how about that? How about that? That’s great. What’d you graduate? What degree did you get to East Carolina?

Adam Caldwell: Poli-sci history. I was a double major.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay. Oh, I was poli-sci.

Adam Caldwell: Oh, were you?

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. Well, you didn’t go to law school. You were probably smart. So [00:04:00] anyway well, I remember meeting you, I mean, I really got to know you when you were working with Tom Tillis our US Senator. When did you work for him? What did you do?

Adam Caldwell: I started there April of 2016, and I left the end of 2023. So I had, I pretty much covered all of Eastern North Carolina during my time there, and it was really, you know, outta 10 stuff that he’d get invited to but could not attend due to his, you know, senate schedule. And it was so much fun. I mean, getting to know the, the elected officials and staff and citizens and, and you know, just, you know, really being out there and getting to know those folks and the issues that matter to them.

I loved it. It’s probably gonna be the best job I ever had, to be honest with you. A lot of fun

Jonathan Breeden: I would be happier than a pig and slop if I could do a job like that, you know? ’cause I love politics. I like Tom Tillis a lot. He is you know, everybody like his various politics, but, but he is, I, I knew him when he was speaker of the house.

He is as good and genuine and honest and Christian of a person, as you will ever know.

Adam Caldwell: [00:05:00] Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: You know what I mean? And, and you know, he, they did some things in the state house he didn’t agree with, but he understood that’s where his caucus was. And you know, and I would go start fussing to him about something they’re doing.

He goes, look, I agree with you, but like I got a caucus. The majority’s gonna say what’s gonna happen? You know, one of the things he didn’t wanna do is make judges partisan again, particularly at the trial court level, you know, and he was. I, I agree with him about that. But you know, we have, we have partisan trial court judges now in North Carolina, so it is what it is.

But he, he is a really, really, really nice guy. I think he’s done a nice job.

Adam Caldwell: I tell people all the time and I’m like, look, I don’t say this ’cause I used to work for him. But you know, you get to that level and there’s people that live in a bubble. He was never one of those. I mean, the guy, the guy you see in the grocery store is gonna be the same guy you’d see standing next to the president, the Oval Office and on the Senate floor.

And he’s such a genuine down to earth person. 

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah, he was so nice. And some of that I think comes from the, you know, working class background, growing up poor and sort of [00:06:00] having to get everything his own, you know, everything he earned, he earned himself. Right. You know what I mean? So. Well, cool. So you left there and I think you went to work at WithersRavenel, the big engineering consulting firm out of Raleigh or car out of Cary, I guess. I think they got like 500 employees. What do you do for them?

Adam Caldwell: Yeah, so I had a unique opportunity. I love what I was doing in the public sector, but I knew I didn’t wanna be one of those people who, you know, worked in government their whole life. I wanted to see what it was like on the private side and there was this opportunity to really kind of do what I was doing before in Senator Tillis office and still help small communities all across Eastern North Carolina. And so I’m doing that now working with, again, local staff, local folks on projects to benefit the public.

Jonathan Breeden: Some of the things you’ve worked on is stormwater

Adam Caldwell: stormwater

Jonathan Breeden: getting new underground pipes, like, I mean, stuff like that. Right? 

Adam Caldwell: We, we help, you know, really the niche is small, small towns like let’s say White Lake. Windfall up beside Hertford and Northeastern part of the state, small communities that [00:07:00] really we just enhance the capabilities that they wanna offer their citizens, you know, through grant services and again, through utilities added capacity just to help them, you know be all they can be for their citizens. It’s a fun.

Jonathan Breeden: Well that’s cool. That’s cool. That sounds like another job I would like to have. Go around, talk to people, see if you can help ’em. Like, right. Like that’s what I do. I sit here and I help people every day. I help ’em get divorced, help ’em do a child custody case.

So that does sound like fun. I love to travel around. I love to meet people. I love North Carolina. So you’ve had two jobs I think would be really neat. Maybe if I give up this practicing law thing, I could go work with WithersRavenel. So anyway, so you have been pretty active in Johnston County. I know you went on, you got my seat on the economic development commission in 2022.

We were just talking about that before we started recording. You didn’t know you were getting my seat. I didn’t know why I was being replaced. They just told me Tom Tillis wanted somebody and he had a lot more pull than Jonathan Breeden. So anyway, so talk about some of the things you’ve done. I know you’ve been on that board, you’re on the planning board.

Talk a little bit about some of the [00:08:00] things you’ve done to serve the community. 

Adam Caldwell: So involved really in, you know, starting to serve the County on the planning board back in received an appointment in 2015. And learned a lot, I didn’t know how much you know, being on that board I would learn ’cause I to tell you, it’s especially the work I’m doing now, just interacting with different boards. The experience from that, I did that until about 2023 I thought, you know, with the county getting a new comprehensive land use plan seemed, that’d be a good time to kind of see what else is out there and those, you know, sometimes five hour meetings on the planning board, I was like, yeah, I, I’d rather be at home if I can during those evenings.

So left planning board, now doing economic development advisory board. Chris Johnson’s awesome working with a really good board there and learn a lot from them and trying not only to grow, you know, high paying jobs here in Johnston County, but to support the jobs and the industries we have here now.

So also involved in Benson. Locally, I serve on the Benson Area Chamber of Commerce Board on the State Annual Singing Convention Board. Most people know that as the Benson Sing work with some really great people on that board as [00:09:00] well. Preservation Johnston County, which is a group that Todd Johnson helped stand up to really identify, you know, notable historic sites across our County as we’re changing and developing, making sure that we save those sites and promote those.

So, you know, I’m blessed to serve. I really am. It’s love this community. Love Johnston County. 

Jonathan Breeden: Well, I mean, you definitely have been active in a lot of different things. The Economic Development Board, I, I was on there and. You know, I, I think about the projects that, that came through or were starting to come through in the two years I was on there, which was one of the things was this spec building in Benson and they didn’t know what they were gonna do with it.

And it was like, what do we want to give an incentive to somebody? We don’t know what it is. And I was like. Yes, because it’s Benson and we’ll find a tenant and you gotta have the inventory for the business. Everybody wants something turnkey now.

Adam Caldwell: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: And so they ended up doing that for the developer of that.

And who knew it would turn into Volcan [00:10:00] with a thousand, a hundred thousand year paying jobs in Benson 

Adam Caldwell: and Jonathan, you laid the groundwork for that and really it, a lot of folks who don’t really understand economic development, you gotta play the long game with that. And so you look at a town like Benson, I-40, I-95 geographically, there’s a lot of places all over the, the country that would love to be in that position. But, you know, again, it’s, it’s taken that long for them to land an announcement like Vulcan. And I think a lot of that goes to the advanced manufacturing training center that we saw in Four Oaks.

Jonathan Breeden: Yes.

Adam Caldwell: Of course. You got the first one in Clayton that’s been doing great things for a number of years. So just all that coming together. And then you have a company like Vulcan who’s gonna, you know. Help support our national defense with these magnets. You know, I’m just excited. Benson’s gonna be known.

Mules, Moonshine, Magnets and Music. So we got the four M’s in Benson. So it’s be awesome.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, I mean, Benson’s gonna grow. I mean, there’s no way if fans, what’s about it? It’s, it’s gonna grow. They’ve got some new housing developments coming there. I mean,

Adam Caldwell: people wanna make sure it grows the right way. And, and I think, you know, again, when [00:11:00] 77% of your workforce is leaving the county every day making sure that we attract those high paying jobs. So rooftops are here. Where are the folks going every day for work? We wanna keep ’em right here in Johnston County. 

Jonathan Breeden: Well, there’s no doubt about it. I mean, Benson just had the largest tax increase in North Carolina.

I know. I mean, well at least in Johnston County for sure. And was. Facing all kinds of financial problems. I know you’re not on the Vincent Town Council. I’m hoping maybe they’re gonna get that straight. I do hate that they did a hundred percent. By the time you do it with the county and what the, and what the, and what the town did to ’em, the citizens of pensions got a hundred percent tax increase.

I don’t think that’s good. But then again. All the people that gave that a hundred percent tax increase to the town of Benson are running unopposed. So obviously the citizens didn’t think enough to run against them, but I mean, you’re probably gonna have to pay that. I mean, that’s not good. A hundred percent tax increase.

Adam Caldwell: That’s when, when those

Jonathan Breeden: Oh, property taxes, I mean a lot of people fixed incomes 

Adam Caldwell: when that, that reval notice came January of last year and we saw what the increases were gonna be across the county. I mean, it [00:12:00] put a hole in my pocketbook, like I’m sure it did a lot of other folks, but. My first thought was, you know what, what’s this gonna mean for folks who live in town, especially like seniors, and those on fixed incomes, they not only have to pay the county tags, but are now are hitting it, you know, getting hit with what the municipalities.

And to my knowledge, I don’t think any municipality stated that revenue neutral rate or went under it. They are, most of ’em stayed the same. 

Jonathan Breeden: Well, several of ’em stayed the same. Yeah. So you had 70% raise in property values in Johnston County and Benson and Selma. Left the rate the exact same. So that’s a 70% tax increase right there.

And then the County was about 20 to 25% across the board. Some people more, some people less, and that’s how you end up getting, and Princeton barely cut the rate, so they ended up about an 85-90% tax increase there and that’s just a lot. And you know, I don’t live in a town. I live out here in Cleveland, the County.

But I mean, you know, it wasn’t fun for me to have to pay 20% more property [00:13:00] taxes. But I mean, I talk the commissioners, you talk to commissioners. I understood where they were. Not sure, I absolutely agreed with ’em, but I wasn’t in the seat to make the decision. I mean, you studied it, you looked at it you went to the budget meetings.

What did you think? I mean, it ended up being about 20% across the board. Were they right? Were they wrong? 

Adam Caldwell: If I was being on the board at the time, I would’ve kept it at the revenue neutral rate. As a conservative, you know, I really think raising taxes should be a last resort. And really that’s a key plan of my platform is for so long in Johnston County, what has happened is we’ve had an imbalance in our tax base.

And what I mean by that is residential growth has been so strong for so long. That industrial growth has not had a chance to keep up or has not kept up rather with that. And so what we see is, you know, if that industrial, if we could pump that up a little bit more, for every dollar that’s spent on residential, it’s gonna be at least a $1.20 that’s gonna require in services ’cause what do the folks want?

They want the sidewalks, they want, you know, trash pickups, schools, parks. Whereas every dollar you put toward industrial, it’s only 60 cents in services. They’re not expecting as [00:14:00] much in return for that. So really gotta do a better job of balancing that tax base ’cause what I fear is for the next reval, if we don’t get it right, we’re gonna be in the same situation again, where taxes could be, you know, going up.

Jonathan Breeden: Well, what. I know you went to a couple of the budget meetings. What do you think the, the Fisher should have cut out of that budget that ended up being about 20% more than the budget before?

Adam Caldwell: Right. Well, I mean, again, if I was on there, I would’ve went line by line looking for ways that we can maximize efficiencies and ways, you know, we can cut, cut waste. I know the commission established a lot of priorities at their strategic retreat, and so that was kind of the impetus I think they wanted a little bit of cushion to knock off some of those capital priorities.

I would’ve said, well, well look guys, you know, we we’re asking a lot of Johnston County taxpayers by doing this, particularly the ones that live in town. And so then to turn around, not only after that, but to, you know, keep that rate above revenue neutral and say, but hey, you know what? [00:15:00] We we got an opportunity for a baseball stadium that can come to Smithfield.

Here’s $2 million for that to turn around and do that right after the vote. To me, I think a lot of citizens had a tough time swallowing that. 

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah. And I actually like the baseball stadium idea. What I don’t like are the terms of the lease. I think the lease is bad for the town. But I, you know, I like baseball stadiums and you know, it’s something to do, but it is a for profit company getting a stadium.

That’s how the game works. But I can understand that. I know several, the commissioners voted against the baseball stadium.

Adam Caldwell: There’s two.

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah! I know Butch Lawter voted against Baseball stadium and so did Bill Stovall. So, I mean, what’s the answer, right?

Like private property owners can sell their property to whoever they wanna sell their property to. Do you think we should say? No, you can’t. You can’t sell your father’s farm, he’s dead. You live somewhere else to this developer.

Adam Caldwell: You mean in terms of farmland, preservation?

Jonathan Breeden: Yeah, farmland. Build houses. Right. Like, I mean, I mean, how do you stop [00:16:00] houses from being built? 

Adam Caldwell: Again, Hey, I’m a private property rights guy.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Adam Caldwell: But you know, we’ve got planning and zoning that’s been around for a while for a reason, and I think if you look at kind of the default way it’s been done in Johnston County for so long.

We have a hundred acres in Bentonville and a hundred acres in Clayton. It’s been treated the exact same, same density, you name it, treated the exact same. It’s the same county, but at the same time, do we want Bentonville to look like Clayton does now? And, and you know, growth in Clayton. Good for them. That’s, that’s awesome. But I think you talk to most people in Johnston County, they say, you know, we like Bentonville being, being rural. Talk to the people who live there. They’ll tell you the same thing. And so. I don’t think, you don’t tell somebody that, no, you can’t sell your, sell your property. You can’t develop it.

But there’s a reason why the county has tools at its disposal, like zoning. I mean, you wouldn’t put an asphalt plant next to a daycare, right? I mean, it’s just situations like that and commissioners are entrusted to determine how this county’s gonna grow, what it’s gonna look like in 10, 20, 30 years.

[00:17:00] And you know, again, I, I’m talking to a lot of people across this county and I hear ’em say, look, you know, we’re. We’re growing so fast, but are we, are we keeping up? Are we able to keep up? And so again, there’s a lot of things that make Johnston County special and don’t, don’t want it to look all the same.

You know, with the growth just coming down, down, down, there’s ways you really can, can make sure that it’s planned correctly and that we’re preparing for. 

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Jonathan Breeden: Right. So, I mean, talk about some of the songs. You were on the planning board for eight years, you know way more about this than I do. We’re about to get a new Uniform Development Ordinance that sort of gives the teeth to the new master land use plan that was [00:18:00] approved about a year ago. Talk about that process. I know you worked pretty hard on that. You had a lot to do with that master land use plan, just in basic terms for the public and what this new UDO, whenever it gets passed in the next maybe six months is going to do ’cause I don’t completely understand it, but I understand some parts of it. 

Adam Caldwell: One of my frustrations when I was on planning board and really what kinda lit a fire under me when I first thought about running four years ago was, you know, if you live next to a piece of property that’s about to be developed, you get a notice in the mail telling you, Hey, this property is you know, there’s might be developed into something. Show up at this meeting. We’d have so many meetings where folks would show up and a lot of them raising very good points. They’ve lived there their whole lives and again, bringing a lot of good information to the table.

They show up at that meeting thinking, you know, Hey, I’m here. My voice can make a difference and the way the current you know, system is structured. That if an applicant comes in there and they meet all the criteria set forth [00:19:00] by the policymaking body, which is the commissioners, if they meet all that criteria, legally the planning board has to go ahead and just approve it.

So my frustration was, you mean we’re asking all these folks to show up and they’re raising their voices and we’re just gonna sit here and listen to ’em.

But again, just rubber stamp, that’s really what I had a problem with. It was one of my biggest sources of frustration and on the planning board. And so I’m hopeful. With this new UDO know one of the things in there is it sets kind of a threshold for a certain number of homes that instead of just, you know, being either approved by staff or going to the planning board, that the commissioners instead would be the ones to decide up or down, you know, whether it’s gonna happen.

And I think that’s the way it should be ’cause we don’t elect the plan the board, we elect the commissioners. So I think that’s a positive change that, that we’re gonna see. Number of other things. I think that’ll, that’ll be good in there. We started working on that comprehensive land use plan and there was a stakeholder group that was really heavily involved in that.

And it [00:20:00] came to the planning board that was adopted in August of 2023. So the end of 2023 by the planning board. Commissioners later adopted it then, but here we are, 2026, still no UDO and the comprehensive land use plan. It’s, it’s more of a visioning document. I mean, to really give it teeth. You have to have that UDO.

And so folks are asking, you know, the really good question of why is it taking this long? I mean, what, and imagine how much has changed just in that time, from 2023 to today in 2026. So I think we need to go ahead and get that in place. There’s gonna be things to iron out, there’s gonna be fixes. It’s, it’s a living document after all.

We’ve changed a lot as a county and we need that, that document to help guide us to where we wanna go. 

Jonathan Breeden: Well, and for all of my Cleveland listeners who’ve supported me all these years, the Cleveland School Road basically becomes commercial under this land use plan and, the Cleveland School Road going towards Wake County.

You can also see light industrial, which [00:21:00] I think there is a, somebody coming through the, the plans right now to build a light industrial complex surrounding the Cleveland Fire Station. Number two, they’re on Cleveland School Road, so be paying attention. A lot of changes coming here to 40 42, 40, 36, 40 Veterans Parkway, and it’s not all houses.

You’re gonna start to see light industrial in this area we are next to a major interstate is gonna be fairly close to some houses. So pay attention. You get one of those notices in the mail, start studying this. But ultimately the commissioner’s gotta make some of those decisions particularly about some of this light industrial they’re talking about putting over here around the fire station.

So, how are you gonna approach that, right? You can talk about any of these specific. Now you’re not on there, you probably haven’t looked at these plans, but how are you going to approach those decisions? 

Adam Caldwell: Right. Well, hopefully with the, you know, the state most folks may be aware of this, the state kind of put in a provision to a Hurricane Helene relief bill that prevented planning staff [00:22:00] from doing any down zoning. So what that’s meant for Johnston County is, you know, going through this comprehensive land use process and the new UDO. Now the map where you show, you know, the different places you can have the zoning overlays.

They can’t really do that because of state legislation, but there’s been talk about maybe trying to repeal some of that or roll some of that back. But I think that’d be a very important graphic for the commissioners to have as they’re planning, you know, what this county’s gonna look like in 10, 20 years to have that graphic to look at. Okay, we’ve zoned this area for this. This area for that, and to help them make those kind of decisions. But again, going back to something I said earlier about, I really think it’s important that for commissioners to be the ones making a lot of those decisions when it comes to, like, say, residential with the subdivisions ’cause folks need to know that when they show up and voice their concerns or you know, whatever they have on their mind to a board.

That it’s the folks who can take that in into consideration ’cause the way it was with the planning board is, you know, [00:23:00] we saw the data for traffic count. We saw the data for school capacity. And at that time there was a lot of schools that were, you know, at that level or over capacity. We saw that information, but then they said, you know, we, you can’t use that in your decision making. So needs to go to the policy making board so they can do that. 

Jonathan Breeden: Well, and, and in the current way it’s currently written. If you meet the criteria and the planning board approves it, it doesn’t go to the commissioners. So the planning board in 2025 approved about 1300 lots new lots. And the planning board in 2024 approved about 1200 new lots. And I don’t think any of those went to the county commissioners because these developers were meeting what’s there.

The other thing the public has to understand is once your thing is approved, it’s good for like eight or 10 years. And you don’t have to build on it right now. So a lot of development we see now are divi subdivisions that were approved many, many years ago where once it’s approved is there, and then they waited for, for better market timing.

Adam Caldwell: Mm-hmm.

Jonathan Breeden: Better supply chains. Particularly [00:24:00] during COVID and all of that. To now build. So it’s not like when you see a new neighborhood, that neighborhood probably went through the process, right? 2, 3, 4 years before they ever broke ground. Right? And I don’t know that the public completely understands that either.

Adam Caldwell: I wish I had that exact number off the top, top of my head. But that also factors in. So when you think about, you know, our water capacity or sewer capacity. Because if it’s on the books, even though nothing’s built there and it still looks the same way, it always has, that’s factored into the capacity and we’re reaching, you know, capacity very, very fast.

And so we gotta make sure, you know, we’re talking about the future, how we’re growing that we’re, we’re doing it responsibly in a way that the growth we’re getting. You know, it allows the folks who already live here to have a chance to work here as well and not have to commute, you know Wade County and elsewhere for a high paying job.

Jonathan Breeden: Have you studied what they’re talking about doing with the water? It, it comes out of right there near Wayne County. It goes into a rock cro in Princeton and it’s $800 million to take it to Clayton or something. [00:25:00] You know, that’s gonna be passed on to the users of the water and all that. Have you looked at that plan?

Do you think they’re on the right track? Do you think they’re going, they’re going down the wrong track? 

Adam Caldwell: So it’s, it’s, it is tough. You know, I’m, I’m glad they’re going ahead and thinking about, you know, planning for that down the road. But what I worry about, you know, not just as a rate payer myself, but for the rest of Johnston County is, you know, is that burden when I fall heavily on the folks who are already paying those, those rates heavier on them versus, you know, the folks who will be taking advantage and, and moving here and living here.

So we gotta make sure we, we try to balance that. And there’s a lot of different proposals. They talked about, you know, buying water from City of Raleigh and, and Wilson and Sampson County and other places. ‘Cause the price tag. On that plan is, is, is hefty. And what we do know is, you know, the longer that we, that it’s down you know, that we wait and it’s down down the pipe so to speak, it’s only gonna get more expensive as well.

Right. So, 

Jonathan Breeden: right. Well you’ve been talking about the budgeting process and how you think it should be more open. The current budgeting process, [00:26:00] they start sort of talking about it in April. The school board, I think by law has to send them a budget request by May 15th.

And then they start working on it. They have two or three budget work sessions in June. They have a couple public hearings and they vote on it end of June. That is the sort of current process. The budget is $420 million. Eight years ago it was $220 million. You’ve criticized that process. How can it be better? 

Adam Caldwell: I went to a few of those public budget hearings and they just kind of opened it up and they said, okay, whatever you got, just come on up. And it’s like what exactly do you want us to speak on? Like what information do you want to give us? I’d love to see it more, you know, citizen engaged, citizen focused. Let’s do the, you know, the meetings they have on the budget beforehand. I’d love to see those, you know, like they kind of do with a strategic retreat.

They have everybody at a table and they’re filming it and folks can go sit and watch that. I’d love to see that kind of format with the way we budget ’cause again, if I’m fortunate enough to be [00:27:00] elected, I’m going through their line by line ’cause I need to understand. Not only what I’m voting on, but I also need to understand that it’s not my money, it’s not the County’s money, it’s the taxpayer’s money.

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Right.

Adam Caldwell: So we need to be the best stewards we can of that. 

Jonathan Breeden: Right. Well, what else have I not asked you about? These are the things I know you’ve been campaigning on. Is there anything I’ve not asked you about that you wanna talk about? Funding for public schools. They have a half a billion dollars in buildings they need to do Any of that you wanna talk about?

Adam Caldwell: Sure, yeah. On the public school piece, you know, I’m, I’m proud to be the son of a public school teacher. I’m a product. You know, title one public school. My sister-in-law works at a school and then we’ve, I’ve gotten my first grader at a public school here in Johnston County. So, you know, I, I love our public schools what our teachers do.

I’m also a very big advocate of an above all education approach. I think each parent should have every tool at their disposal for what best fits their child. ’cause they’re, they, they know what best fits their child. Not government. So, you know, charter, [00:28:00] private parents should have those options. So I, I’m an above all education, you know, advocate.

Of course we wanna make sure that we, we fund our public schools to the best of our ability. It is the biggest chunk, you know, of, of the county budget. But again, making sure that we’re being wise stewards of those dollars, that we’re building these campuses smarter and going up, not out. There’s a lot, again, there’s always, to me, greater efficiencies.

Making sure we maximize that dollar that’s going there and, and supporting our classroom teachers, making sure we do. That’s very important. 

Jonathan Breeden: Well, I guess one of the things that this board has not done that I think they should do, which is give construction funds to charter schools. What do you think about that?

Adam Caldwell: Honestly, I’m gonna have to study that one.

Jonathan Breeden: Okay.

Adam Caldwell: A little bit more ’cause in my mind I’m thinking about all the needs I know that our public schools currently have. And an issue that’s really important to me is, you know, students in mobile units. And I know there’s a plan now that the board has talked about that would reduce that. think the current, [00:29:00] the total number of mobile units down by like 87%

Jonathan Breeden: right

Adam Caldwell: on a timeline, I wanna do everything I can to speed that up. It is a safety concern I have with students in that if you go to a school campus, you know, I think I’ll applaud the school system for doing a good job, better job, trying to fortify the brick and mortar schools. How you could in, how visitors can get in and how students can, you know, making sure they don’t wander out. Things like that, but you go on a campus and you look at mobile units and oftentimes they’re just behind the campus beside it.

Jonathan Breeden: Right.

Adam Caldwell: And I want students out of there, not only for safety, but I want ’em in a brick and mortar classroom as well. And again, you know, I’m not saying, I’m opposed to the charter funding at all. It’s just an issue. I need to study a little bit more. 

Jonathan Breeden: I got you. So, alright. I guess how can people reach out to you and your campaign and learn more about it? 

Adam Caldwell: Sure. So, again, I’m on I’m on Facebook Adam Caldwell for Johnston County Commissioner. Voteadamcaldwell.com. It’s my website. I’ve got a bunch of different policy positions on there. I’m doing my best to get around. Hopefully I’ll run into folks all around the community. [00:30:00] I’m trying my best to get out there.

Jonathan Breeden: I mean, you’re out there. I mean, you’re, you’re definitely working hard. I mean, I mean, you’re everywhere I go and I, I go, I go to a few things and I’ve not been anywhere in the last three or four months. You haven’t been at it, so you’re, you’re definitely getting out there and talking to people. There’s no doubt about that. So the last question we ask everybody on this podcast, what do you love most about Johnston County? 

Adam Caldwell: I love the heritage and, and you know, you, you can’t think about the heritage of Johnston County and our history and, and our agricultural backbone. I mean, thank goodness agriculture is still our number one industry here in Johnston County, and I, I wanna see them do even better. It, it’s, it’s, it’s tough. Agriculture is, it’s tough. It’s a tough business to be in nationwide. And so if I’m fortunate enough to be reelected at the county, I wanna make their job.

The folks in agriculture, I wanna make their job easier. I don’t wanna make it more burdensome. ‘Cause you know, you look at the heritage of Johnston County, what makes it so special? The people we have here. And you know, you look at you, you ask folks who move here, you know, what, what is, what’s special to you about Johnston County?

And they say, yeah, it’s just, it’s just special. You got the place and you, you, [00:31:00] you go to the town, you know, the small towns, just the community feel and, and, and as big as we are, and as much as we’re growing, it’s still tight knit. You know, I’ll give you a, an antidote of that. I went to Archer Lodge they’re, they do a New year’s brunch every year.

Jonathan Breeden: Yep.

Adam Caldwell: This past January 1st was my first time being there. And, you know, folks hear about Archer Lodge, it’s huge. I mean, it’s, it’s booming ever since they were first incorporated. But you go in that room and it’s just like neighbor to neighbor. Like they’ve known each other for 30 years, even if they just moved here, you know, two years ago.

So that, that sense is, to me, I see that all across Johnston County. It’s special. Our heritage are people. I just wanna preserve that and help it. 

Jonathan Breeden: Alright, sounds good. So, as I mentioned earlier we’d like to thank Adam Caldwell for being our guest on this week’s episode of The Best of Johnston County Podcast

Adam will be on the ballot on the March 3rd, 2026 Republican primary ballot. If you are a registered Republican in Johnston County or a registered unaffiliated voter in Johnston County, you can go in and you can ask for a Republican ballot. There is [00:32:00] no Democrat in the race. The Republican primary will determine who will have the District three commissioner seat for the next four years.

It’s between Adam Caldwell current Commissioner Mike Rose, and former Commissioner Chad Stewart, as I mentioned earlier as well. Please like, follow, subscribe to this podcast wherever you see it, whether it be on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, X, LinkedIn, or any of the other social media channels of Best of Johnston County Podcast comes every single Monday. It has now for over 28 months. Also, please so kind leave us a five star review down below and tag us in your Instagram stories. Best of Johnston County. Until next time, I’m your host, Jonathan Breeden. 

That’s the end of today’s episode of Best of Johnston County, a show brought to you by the trusted team at Breeden Law Office. We thank you for joining us today and we look forward to sharing more interesting facets of this community next week. Every story, every viewpoint adds another thread to the rich tapestry of Johnston County.

If the legal aspects highlighted raised some questions, [00:33:00] help is just around the corner at www. breedenfirm. com.