Twenty-three-year resident George Hidy believes he is the right person to represent his district because of how immersed both he is in the Sterling community.
"I firmly believe to feel the pulse of the community, you have to be a part of the community," he said.
Hidy said he or his children have been involved in almost every aspect their community, from his children participating in Loudoun Lower Baseball, Lower Loudoun Girls Softball League, the Sterling Youth Soccer Association.
"We have a special, unique community," he said. "The first planned community in Loudoun. And I want to reinvest in that community."
AS A CITIZEN, Hidy served on the design committee of the Claude Moore Recreation Center, working on the project for 10 years, from start to finish. He also served on the county’s library board and cable commission.
"If you are going to represent your community then you have to represent the whole county," he said. "You have to have someone who is involved in the community and that’s me."
Hidy went to Board of Supervisors chairman Scott K. York (I-At large) last year to try and get support for a fireworks display in Sterling.
"George had approached me to see if there was any way I could help him with that program," York, who is from Sterling, said. "I managed to get a few folks to donate some money to the program."
Now Hidy is hoping to make that an annual event.
"We’ve been working with him on the fund-raising side," York said. "And certainly my campaign will be a sponsor of it. But [Hidy’s] been working hard on that program."
A father of two, Hidy brought his children up in the Loudoun County school system, and said that experience has driven him to work on improving the Sterling-area schools.
"I worked with [Sterling School board member Warren] Geurin and Mr. York on Sterling Middle School," he said. "Upgrading our schools is important. You can’t not support those things."
York’s children were going through Sterling Middle School with Hidy’s at the time of the needed renovation.
"He was certainly very supportive of getting those renovations done," York said.
BEING A LONG-time resident of Sterling, Hidy said he has watched crime increase and the safety of residents decrease.
"People just don’t feel safe," he said. "I live in the Park and there are certain places I don’t go anymore. The county is growing 10,000 to 15,000 people per year. You have to have a certain number of Sheriff’s deputies on patrol."
Hidy said he has witnessed people move because of the safety issues in Sterling and it concerns him.
"That doesn’t help a community," he said. "It’s a spiral."
Hidy’s concern led him to join the design committee for the Sheriff’s substation planned in Sterling.
"People are going to pay anything for schools and they are going to pay anything for safety," he said.
CURRENTLY HIDY is working as a consultant at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection on the secure border initiative, a job that allows him to work with the budget and money for the fund.
"I am extensively involved with the budget process," he said. "I can live, breathe and do it in my sleep."
Hidy said his experience in creating budgets would help make him an effective supervisor.
"I am not a newbie or someone from the outside who will have to learn the process from the beginning," he said.
Hidy’s work has also helped him to create a long-term view in solving problems, something he said is missing in the county now.
"When you rezone a commercial property to residential, you lose a valuable tax base," he said. "The commercial base is out of whack with the residential [portion]."
While the current board may not have many of their approved homes built, Hidy said eventually all of the approved applications are going to catch up with the county.
"We’re going to be paying for all those homes in the next 20 years," he said. "You’ve got to look out in the future."
AS FOR THE rumors swirling that Hidy is a Democrat in Republican clothing, Hidy said that is "a blatant lie." While he is not a member of the Loudoun County Republican Committee, Hidy said he has attempted to join in the past, but has not been voted in, and that he believes in the Republican party’s principles.
"It’s not the Republican seat of Sterling," he said. "It’s the people’s seat of Sterling, but I would like to keep it Republican."