It has been the honor of my life to serve Pitt County’s 9th District in the North Carolina House over the past two years, and I cannot thank everyone enough for all the support given to me during my term. As I reflect back on the term, I owe my success to your constant input on how I could do my job better and on the real needs of Pitt County, creating a tangible vision of how we can grow our community together. I believe that it’s because of our work together that we will look back at 2021 and 2022 as truly historic years for Pitt County.
From Day One of my service, I promised to you that I would work with anyone serious about solutions to deliver meaningful results, and we made that happen. Less than one year into my term, we secured the long-awaited expansion to ECU’s Brody School of Medicine after years — a $215 million transformative project critical to expanding our class size and increasing access to health care in the east. We’ve also delivered increased funding for high-speed internet in rural areas, established new innovative programs in our local police departments, and supported our veterans, farmers, teachers and state employees. Because of your support and encouragement, I’ve been a relentless advocate for Pitt County and it will pay dividends to our community for years to come.
I’ve also made sure that my office has continued to serve you until the last day of my term. We’ve been available to you to hear your concerns about issues you deeply care about, and we resolved over 100 requests for help with state-related issues. Additionally, my office has been active in bringing home significant grant opportunities, totaling $1.7 million. As a result, we’ve been able to expand infrastructure for Wildwood Park, invest in our downtown streetscapes for the City of Greenville, and support our parks departments in Greenville and Simpson to begin long-overdue recreational projects.
Of particular note is the $250,000 we secured to complete the Pitt County-Greenville Passenger Rail Feasibility Study, which is the first step toward connecting our area to the statewide passenger rail network. Serving in this role is so much more than showing up and taking votes — it’s being a relentless champion for our community and helping us dream big when it comes to mapping out the future of this special place.
I will remain an active member in our community and I will continue to look for ways to serve and advocate for my hometown. I hope to see you around town and at public events — it’s something that I enjoy doing even as this job comes to an end. I wish the best for the new delegation that will be soon sworn in at the North Carolina General Assembly, and I hope they will meet the moment required of a community on the rise. Thank you, Pitt County.
Brian Farkas served the 9th District in the N.C. House of Representatives from 2020-2022. The district covers southern Pitt County including Winterville, Ayden and Grifton.
