BOONE — Lynne Mason, Boone’s mayor pro tem, has been serving on the town council since 2001. While she is not running for any positions this year, she will remain in her position on the board after the election.

“I think one of our biggest issues is managing responsible growth and development while protecting the small town feel that we have,” Mason said. “That ties over into working closely with Appalachian State because Appalachian helps drive some of the growth, especially with the increase of student enrollment, and so we have a really good working relationship with Appalachian.”

Mason takes the lives of students at Appalachian into a great deal of consideration. Since she serves on the town’s affordable housing committee, she said she wants to find adequate, affordable housing for students and non-students throughout Boone. Mason said that the big complexes are market-driven, which can be a big burden to students.

Mason also said that she likes the idea of having students live closer to campus for their own convenience and to help with sustainability in Boone.

“I am a big believer in making our community more multi modal,” Mason said. “We are actually working with a group of Appalachian students on skate boards, looking at human powered transportation as an alternate means of transportation. That could be bikes, inline skates, skateboards or scooters.”

While Mason is not a candidate this season, she said she hopes that the future mayor will also care about keeping up with Boone’s traditional, small town feeling along with how it is continuing to grow.

“I encourage people to read up on candidates and understand where they stand on issues and look at what they would be able to bring to the table in terms of part of solutions,” Mason said.

Story by: Anna Dollar, News Reporter

Photo by: Hunter Koch, Intern Photographer