Jon DeHart would apply business principals to Town Council

As the son of a preacher, Jon DeHart lived in seven different towns before he turned 16.

Now that he’s raising a family of his own, DeHart said he is happy to call Chapel Hill home.

A local businessman and father of three, DeHart said he plans to file for a seat on the Chapel Hill Town Council later this week with affordable housing as the keystone of his campaign.

According to the Orange County Board of Elections website as of Wednesday morning, DeHart will run against Lee Storrow, Laney Dale, Augustus Cho and Jason Baker.

DeHart said his work as a mortgage lender for Wells Fargo gives him an understanding of the issue that other candidates lack.

“What I do for a living and what I’m interested in are totally intertwined,” he said. “Housing affordability is what I do, what I live and everything I breathe.”

DeHart said he hopes to make it easier to live in Chapel Hill by expanding the commercial tax base and easing the burden that the town’s high property tax places on residents.

“One of the first questions I ask as a mortgage broker is, ‘Are you moving to Chapel Hill?’” he said. “The majority of the time, the reply I get is, ‘No, I can’t afford to live in Chapel Hill.’”

DeHart, who currently serves on the town’s transportation board, made an unsuccessful bid for a council seat in 2009 but said he has improved his strategy.

“I hope to do a better job of defining myself and getting more people to know me,” he said. “I’ve formed a lot of good relationships since then, and that’s the key part.”

Council member Laurin Easthom is a neighbor of DeHart’s and said he shows great concern for his community.

“He’s a hard worker and an involved member of the neighborhood,” she said. “He doesn’t do anything halfway, and he is ready, willing and able.”

Duane Hall, DeHart’s campaign manager, said DeHart’s persistence will make him a great candidate.

“Even when we were young, he was always the responsible one,” said Hall, who co-led N.C. State University’s Young Democrats with DeHart in 1988. “He’s still probably the hardest-working person I know.”

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