News

Tillis opens district office in Historic Courthouse

Thom Tillis talks about his WNC office at the Historic Courthouse.

By Bill Moss, Published: September 4, 2015

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis announced today that he is locating his Western North Carolina constituent service office in the Historic Courthouse in Hendersonville.

Tillis made the announcement after the opening ceremonies of the North Carolina Apple Festival. He has been exploring the options for a Hendersonville office since he won election to the Senate in November. One reason he chose Hendersonville, he told reporters, was that Sen. Richard Burr’s WNC office is in Asheville.

“What we were wanting to do is try to create a bigger footprint,” he said. “Sen. Burr and Sen. Hagan had offices in Asheville. The folks want to see us out there. An office is one thing but folks want to see us out there. It’s important for them to know that I know that there’s a part of North Carolina that’s west of I-77.”

Once the office gets its phone service on line — technicians were working on it Friday — Tillis wants to publicize the phone number and invite constituents to call with requests.

“We’re particularly focused on veterans issues, armed services issues. If citizens in this area have contacted the government and they don’t feel like they’re getting a response, then let the next call be to our office. We’ve got almost 25 people in the state in several different offices. Colton is fulltime western area representative. He travels all over the place. I’ll be out there from time to time doing office hours but when I get out here I like to get out.

Plans now are to staff the office two days a week and at other times by appointment as needed. Tillis, in town for the North Carolina Apple Festival, attended the opening day Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast and welcomed the crowd during opening ceremonies of the festival.