Rep. Reece Pyrtle on the joy of working with people
Coffee shops, for communities of just about any size, are in that circuit of classic catch-up spots, where folks regularly process or transact together. Whether it’s the news crawl, personal life, or thoughts on the happenings locally, you can often find a good conversation at the coffee shop, noted state Rep. Reece Pyrtle on what was essentially a random Thursday morning in a java stop in uptown Eden called the Roasted Bean, where indeed a group of involved locals (not limited to Mayor Neville Hall, coincidentally) were caffeinating and casually going over the latest. For an elected official, particularly a state representative, connecting with people over conversation and common ground might just be the nature of the job. But for Rep. Pyrtle—a retired police chief who entered elected office as a county commissioner in 2016 before his appointment to the N.C. House in 2021—that’s the very point of interest. Over morning coffee at the Roasted Bean, Rep. Pyrtle spoke with Southern City about how, for him, public service truly is fulfilled by steady conversations and connections with people, including those from places of disagreement. But, first, we had to discuss the latest.
What’s been going on in your world? As we speak, we’ve just wrapped up the primary work of the 2024 legislative short session.
RP: Well, I enjoy being retired. And so it gives me a lot of opportunities to go around to different areas of the county and spend some time with different folks. Today I was at a—I’m a member of all the chambers here in the county and I try to attend their networking events and spend time having conversations with the constituents. You know, one of the things that I shared with them this morning is that, now that we’re out of session, my office remains open, and if there are any issues, please call. We have an amazing staff of great problem solvers, and I said, “You know what? Even if your problem isn’t necessarily something that we can handle or we can take care of, we can at least point you in the right direction or connect you with somebody that maybe can mitigate whatever issues you’re having.” And so, I’ve grown up in Rockingham County, you know, I’m a product of this county, and one of the things that I’ve always been doing—whether it was my background in law enforcement before I got into politics, or as a county commissioner, or now as a state representative—is just keeping those relationships open and active; I think that’s important. I think from a political standpoint, you know, one of the things that I pride myself in is that, as a police chief, you came into my office with the problem; I didn’t care where you live. I didn’t care anything about your socioeconomic background. And I’ve just taken that with me as a county commissioner and now in the North Carolina House. You call my office with an issue. I don’t care what your party affiliation is. I don’t care if you contributed to my campaign. My staff’s going to try to resolve your issue the best we can. I pride myself on trying to serve everyone in Rockingham County, and not just those that supported me when I was running for election.
What inspired you to run for election or enter public service, to begin with? Some people go through life appreciating people but it never crosses their mind to jump in like that.
RP: It’s something I’ve always had an interest in. My grandfather actually ran for sheriff of Rockingham County as a Republican, and I want to say that was in the ‘50s. So there’s a little bit of politics many years ago in the family. My dad was a World War II veteran, born in 1925. He passed away in 2004, had me kind of late in life. But he was always engaged in local, state, and even at the federal level, the political climate, maintaining what was going on in the world. He was one of those guys that read the paper from cover to cover, and he would often cut out articles for me to read. Because he was concerned I may not have seen it in the paper, about what’s going on. But he was very conservative. His best friend in this world was also a World War II veteran. My dad was in the Navy. His best friend was in the Marines. His best friend was on the other side of the political aisle, so to speak. And they often had great conversations. So, I think I got that from my dad. We often had great conversations about what was taking place in our community and in our state.
So, you’ve preserved that aspect of life in public service, but it still comes with sacrifice. What makes it worthwhile?
RP: You know, I’m a people person. So, I enjoy meeting people and having discussions about issues with folks that, although we don’t often agree, I think it’s important to understand the flip side of the pancake. One of the things I’ve often said is that every pancake’s got two sides. And I think it’s important to understand that although you may not agree with the different ideas, and outcomes that ought to take place, I think it’s important to understand where the other person is, where the other side’s coming from. And so, I value that. I really enjoy that. But I also enjoy making a difference. Knowing that you’ve done something that’s going to have a long life, it’s going to have an impact on the future generation. I have one child. She’s a sophomore at Appalachian State (University). That’s where I graduated from, that’s where my wife graduated from. And she did really well in school. And when she started looking at going to college, one of the things I told her, I said, let’s look at the North Carolina University system first. Yeah, I’m a little bit prejudiced, but I think North Carolina has the greatest university system in the nation. And I said let’s look there first. And then we’ll look in the private sector, and we’ll expand from there. But, you know, she was blessed, she had choices. And she chose Boone (Appalachian State), and I couldn’t have been more excited. And there was no stipulation on there that “that’s the only one that I would pay for,” nothing like that. But that’s what she chose. And my wife is an educator. She’s got 33 years in public education. And she works for the county school system. And my daughter, that’s what she’s interested in doing. And I think that’s a very noble profession. I’m more proud of the choices that she’s made. And to be honest with you, that’s what I almost did. I was going to teach math and coach baseball. And as a matter of fact, when I retired, a friend of the superintendent said, you know, there’s a pathway for lateral entry if you’re interested in doing that. And at that point in time in my life, I just couldn’t work that into my schedule. I still now try to play golf a couple or three days a week. So yeah, that I’ll try to work that into my schedule.
And you can meet constituents and have conversations out on the golf course, too.
RP: Absolutely, absolutely. But that’s kind of my background. My dad, I think my dad was really the most influential on me. He unfortunately passed away in 2004, and I really didn’t get into the political arena until 2016, as a county commissioner, and actually, you know one of the things unique about that was it was something that I had been thinking about doing as opposed to talking about doing, and the opportunity presented itself, and I took it. And actually, for the last year of my career as a police chief (in 2018), I was also a county commissioner. So, I was a police chief in Eden and a county commissioner. And I knew I was going to retire. I mean, that was never in question, because I shared that during my political stump speeches. I shared with them, I hope to get elected to county commissioner, but I’m real sure I’m going to retire in December. So, it was. It was fine. And I think that’s one of the things that’s really helped me, as I shared earlier, is that spending 30 years in working for a municipality. I was there as a county commissioner about five and a half years before I moved to the General Assembly, and then being in the North Carolina House. I understand the layers, so to speak. I understand that when you make a decision at the state level, how it’s going to trickle down and impact the county and the municipalities. Because as I was working in the municipality, I was on the receiving end of that, quite often: when a decision at the federal level or the state level was imposed, how that impacted us.
So, given that and your experience in local government, you know how powerful it can be to align communications and understand disparate issues that can come up. How do you view effective communication? What works best between you and the different entities you have to keep open lines with?
RP: Well, I was just talking to the Chamber of Commerce folks, about what’s going on, and one of the things that I shared with them at the end is that, you know, I’ve had the same cell phone number since I was the number two guy at the police department in 2002. And I kept that number when I retired and was a county commissioner. And I kept that number when I left the county commissioner and went to the North Carolina House. And I share that with you because I was actually going to Raleigh, it’s been about a year ago, I got a call and it was a gentleman who was having issues. He said right in front of his house there’s water coming out of the road, out of the pavement, there’s a water leak. He said, “I don’t know who to call.” I said, “Well, what’s your house number?” So, he told me, and so after I got his house number, you know, I still got all my contacts. I called the director of public works and said, “Hey, there’s a gentleman over here, really nice guy, he’s having water issues, he’s got a water leak from the house, and he’s concerned about his water being turned off and all that.” He said, “I’ll get somebody over there.” So that evening, I called him back and said, “Look, they’re gonna have somebody take care of it. They’ll be in touch with you. Let me know if you have any other issues.” So that evening, I called him back. I was coming home from Raleigh, it was just a day trip. I said, “Hey, I just want to touch base with you. Did the city take care of it?” He said, “Oh, absolutely. They were over here shortly after I talked to you, and they knocked on my door, said you’re going to have the water off for a while, and they cut my water off, they fixed it, repaired everything, got my water back on, knocked on my door, said I’m good to go.” He said, “I really appreciate you taking care of that. That’s helping people.” I’ve never worked in the private sector. I’ve been law enforcement, and it’s about helping people. The county commission, same thing. I’m helping folks and I look at what I do now is in the same capacity. They’re trying to provide, meet the needs.
It’s nice because it’s in recognition that we’re all really trying to help people, even though we may have various styles of doing so.
RP: Yes, that’s what it should be about. Our short session is unofficially ended. We still got some dates we’re gonna meet, but we’re out for the summer. My office remains open, and I have an amazing staff that are sitting there. And if you have an issue, and you happen to not have my cell phone number, you can call my office, our staff will shoot me an email … because I’m telling you I’ve got some amazing folks that work for me, who are able to reach out and jump right on it, and they love helping people, too. That’s very beneficial, is having good staff, and I do, I got blessed. It’s also recognition that, you know, one person can’t do everything. It’s definitely a team. It’s who you bring with you, who you build, who you trust to share with you.
How does your team tend to process nuanced, complicated or verging issues?
RP: It’s a lot of reading, but also, we have a lot of folks within our caucus and even within the General Assembly that are subject matter experts in a lot of fields. And I often have members come to me and say, “Hey, you were a county commissioner. Tell me about what your thoughts are on this. What do you think the commissioners association will think about this?” And it’s one of the things where I have some very smart very talented folks that are in the General Assembly and in my caucus. And I will lean on those folks. And plus, I have amazing staff when I have questions. Obviously, you have to be dependent upon the ongoing staff and you have to have some relationships. To me, it’s all about relationships. You know, fostering and cultivating those relationships. When I was a police chief, when I first got to the police, appointed a police chief here, one of the first things I did was create a reason for all the chiefs to get together and the sheriffs to get together, and we invited this attorney that I was really after the most. Because when you create a relationship, when it comes that, if you have to make that ask, it’s much easier to make it if there’s a relationship in place. And if you’re the recipient of that ask, it’s much easier to say yes and understand why that ask is being made. Even when you might have hit just a little pothole, that relationship will help. Those potholes won’t be quite as deep if there’s a relationship in place. And I did the same thing as a commissioner when I was chair. One of the things I did was direct the manager to find an issue. Let’s have dinner and get everybody together, all the elected officials in one room, the town council and all that good stuff. And let’s get together, have dinner and talk about an issue that’s impacting us all. Well, the information was important. But it was that breaking bread and having those conversations that took place before, during, and after the event that I think was most beneficial… When I was working with the municipality and even with the county, there’s things that did or didn’t happen at the state or federal level. And a lot of times, you know what, we had to depend upon ourselves. We had to look to see what we could do with our span of control to mitigate the issues that were impacting our community. And in Rockingham County, you know what, it didn’t just impact the community that I served as a police chief. It would impact the community 10 miles down the road in Reidsville, 12 to 14 miles up in Madison … and so you know we had some some some very good conversations on what we could do within our span of control to work together to address the issue to address this quality of life issue. It was huge, I mean I remember one of the big ones that we had was trying to address some of our mental health issues and the serving that population that of consumers that were in crisis that didn’t have any resources. They’re still part of our community … and that’s really what kind of got the ball rolling and helped me realize how big these relationships were. That was in the early 2000s before I was the police chief. And we worked hard, and then as the police chief, I continued that and tried to expand on it.
On the flip side, being a retiree, you could just sit back and let the stress go, keep the focus at home and so on. But, staying involved to the extent you do, do you still find time for yourself? Ways to break away and enjoy the coffee?
RP: Like I said, my wife is a school teacher; my daughter is a sophomore, she’ll be a rising junior at Appalachian State. And so, during football season, we may make our way to a college football game now and again. I’ll be honest, I play golf when I’m here. I try to play golf at least twice a week, sometimes a third day. I enjoy doing that. My mom is 85 … I’ve got to take her to the doctor today. She’s still in good health, I still go with her and visit and talk to her on the phone. I’ll go by her and see her every day. She’s liable to call the police department to do a welfare check on me if I don’t go by there and see her. So, you know, that’s family and friends. Let me tell you a good thing about retirement. You know, somebody said it to me, but I didn’t believe it until I actually retired. If I wake up one morning and I have nothing on my calendar pressing, I go play golf. By the time I go to bed that night, I’m sitting there wondering: I started off really not much to do, and by the time we go to bed, I wonder how I got it all done. Really, being engaged in the community. And I do everything from the Boys and Girls Club Board of Directors and so on, and that takes up some time, too, when you engage in all that. Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, there is always something going on. And that’s fine. I enjoy staying active. I really do. And I enjoy people. So that’s what makes it easy. I’ve been blessed, got some great relationships, made some great friends since I’ve been in the General Assembly… There’s so many great people there, it’s a pleasure to be around… I like people. I like having the conversations, and I like making a difference. And I hope that at the end of the day when I retire, they think, you know what? Somebody cared about his community and tried to make a difference in his community. Yeah. So that’s me. I’m pretty simple. I think I’m a simple person. I’m just trying to do the right thing. Not just across Rockingham County, but across the state of North Carolina. And I’ve had that opportunity.
