Business Today
WOMEN
September 2015
15
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leads to a successful team,” said Honeycutt, who chose to call her successful mini-company at Allen Tate in Concord, “Team Honeycutt.” Winners will be announced in the October edition. Business Today created the Top Women Awards 11 years ago to honor women in business, education, non-profits and government. The winners will be feted at a Champagne Reception Oct. 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. at River Run Country Club. Women—and men—have a variety of different leadership styles, but often women seem to have the most success in building teams that work together. Dakeita Johnson, president Vanderburg Enterprises, as well as the director of the National League of Junior Cotillion
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of Cabarrus County, is also a judge. All judges are former winners; Honeycutt won in 2005 and Johnson in 2008. “Being a leader means you are attuned to your community around you. You are focused on the needs of your community and reach out to help wherever and whenever possible,” Johnson said, regardless of whether the community is the county as a whole or the office. “A leader begins each day striving to be the BEST they can be...for their family, their business and their community,” she says. The Business Today Top Women Awards criteria places an emphasis on position, experience and giving back to the community. Teachers, caterers, CEOs, decorators and politicians have been winners.
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For example, in December 2012 the North Carolina Supreme Court invalidated the APFO for public schools in Cabarrus County. Under the ordinance, the county had allowed developers to avoid the consequences of inadequate school capacity by paying voluntary mitigation fees to defray the costs of constructing or expanding school facilities. It was the payment of the fees which tripped up the county. “This case has important lessons for towns and counties wrestling with issues of growth and public facility capacity,” said Professor David W. Owens from the UNC School of Government. “The key issue in this case dealt with financing the costs of adding school capacity, but the same issue must be addressed for the full range of public facilities needed to serve new development.” The bottom line, Owen said, is that the authority to regulate development does not include the authority to add financing methods unless and until the state legislature specifically says it does. Meanwhile, Facebook pages like Exit 28 Ridiculousness give some indication of how restive many citizens are over not just clogged roads and highways, but efforts to improve them with tolls. So where does this leave municipalities such as Cornelius? “We can ask for certain types of improvements, such as turning lanes, to be included as part of their conditional zoning” said Cornelius Planning Director Wayne Herron. “However, the developer has to agree
to any condition for it to be valid.” Herron said the town has been “very fortunate” that many of the improvements requested, at developers expense, have been agreed to and constructed over the years. However, that doesn’t address the big-ticket infrastructure expenses such as new schools and highways. Other rapidly growing areas around the country are still attempting to establish APFOs with mixed results. In the South Carolina suburbs of Charlotte, several municipalities are moving ahead, with Fort Mill ready to impose the fees starting October 1. York and Lancaster counties are also discussing ways of imposing impact fees. In Queen Anne’s County, near Baltimore, voters recently rejected an ordinance which would have required a determination of school adequacy for residential developments of 20 or more new lots. Over 60 percent of the voters felt, apparently, that adopting such a rule would put too much of a damper on growth and development. Besides Maryland and North Carolina, APFOs have been adopted in several other states, including New York, California, Washington and Florida. However the courts continue to strike down many of their provisions, especially those which require payments to municipalities. The result: While they look good on paper, many of the current APFO’s in North Carolina are severely limited as an infrastructure funding tool of the future.
2015 Top Women in Business Nominees Angela Lane, Angela Lane, CPA, PLLC; Angie Brown, Great Wolf Lodge; Annie Baugh,UTC, Interlogix; April Cook, LKN Community Health Clinic; Colleen Lloyd-Roberts, Brandgarden; Jan Beatty, Wells Fargo; Jennifer Cone, McIntosh Law Firm; Jennifer Irvin Newton, The Peachtree Market; Jennifer Parsley, AIM Tours & Concord City Council; Jennifer Shiley, Grabowski Foundation (Young Elites); Julianne Colvin, Crawford & Colvin Family Dentistry; Karen Tovar, The Tovar Group, LLC; Kerri Dobi, Acosta Sales and Marketing; Lauren Moore-Fischer, Inspiration for Aspirations; Lisa Qualls, BB&T Home Mortgage; Margi Kyle, Designing Doctor, LLC/ Little Smiles; Michelle Riley, Aquesta Bank; Pam Dubois, Cabarrus County Government; Sandi Vizner, Lapis Financial Strategies; Susan Tillis, community leader Sally Ashworth, executive director of Visit Lake Norman, is a member of the Top Women Class of 2006. “Thinking of success at the highest level comes down to one main question: Can you decide that your happiness can come from someone else’s success? If your answer is ‘yes,’ you have taken the most important step towards becoming a great leader.” Leadership and careers can come from any direction. Jennifer Ehlers Cone hopes to be a winner this year. One of only two partners at The McIntosh Law Firm in Davidson, Cone is one of 10 children. No one in her family practiced law. “The thought of being trusted to repre-
sent those that did not otherwise have a voice, was a driving force. After taking a class trip to Washington, D.C. with a tour of the capitol building and observing arguments on the Hill, my fate was sealed,” she says. At the firm she has come to “learn the true meaning of patience.” “Leadership to me as a woman means the ability to provide guidance and to instill confidence in my co-workers,” she said. To make reservations to attend the Top Women Champagne Reception, call 704-895-1335. Tickets are $25 in advance. The event includes a mini business expo designed for women.