Chairman Kirk DeViere lays out Vision 2030, prioritizes clean water, schools and mental‑health services

Chairman Kirk DeViere delivered the Cumberland County State of the County address on March 17 at the historic courthouse, laying out a multi‑year agenda he called “Vision 2030” that centers on clean drinking water, education funding, mental‑health services and stronger military‑community partnerships.

DeViere framed the priorities as urgent public‑health and economic issues and highlighted recent county actions and partnerships that he said advance those goals. He credited county leaders with adopting a budget that reduced the property tax rate while funding the Cumberland County School System’s 2026 request and said the county secured more than $300 million in state and federal support for major water projects.

“Families in Grays Creek did not cause this. They built their lives and then discovered that the water they trusted was poisoning them,” DeViere said, invoking residents who pressed officials over PFAS/GenX contamination. He described local actions taken this year, including installing filtration systems at Grays Creek elementary schools and accelerating construction of a water system for contaminated neighborhoods.

DeViere gave concrete program examples and dollar figures: he said the county committed “more than $260 million” to deliver clean, state‑regulated drinking water and described expanded partnerships with Cape Fear Valley and local colleges to strengthen health‑care workforce pipelines. He cited investments in new school construction planning, support for a regional aquatic center and upgrades at the Crown Complex to attract events and jobs.

Mental‑health services were a central theme. DeViere said the board has expanded behavioral‑health partnerships and intends to build a local center that connects walk‑in crisis care to inpatient psychiatric and substance‑use treatment, and to integrate mental‑health professionals into 911 response: “Help, not handcuffs,” he said.

On regional coordination, DeViere reiterated support for consolidating the county and city 911 systems into a single, professionally led center, and spotlighted the county’s Soldier to Agriculture program and other measures aimed at keeping military families in the county.

Why it matters: the address packaged several ongoing, costly initiatives into a single strategic narrative intended to guide county policymaking and budgeting over coming years. DeViere framed the work as both moral and practical — improvements to water, schools and behavioral health carry immediate community‑health benefits and longer‑term economic‑development goals.

What’s next: DeViere said the county will host an infrastructure summit later this month to align road, sewer and water investments with growth corridors, and he framed the next steps as implementation milestones of Vision 2030. After the address, the board moved on to its regular meeting agenda, which included land‑use hearings and administrative items.