Meet Arno Zegerman: Apex Town Council makes appointment to fill vacant seat
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A finance executive and local business owner was appointed to serve on the Apex Town Council to fill a vacant at-large seat.
Arno Zegerman was selected out of four finalists to serve in the position held by Cheryl Stallings, who resigned from the board last month.
Zegerman, 49, has lived in Apex since 2013 and is the current chief of staff for Silicon Valley Bank, which is a business lender, in Raleigh. In his role, he does financial management, program and project management and procurement, as well as ensuring the technology department runs smoothly, Zegerman said in an interview.
Zegerman, a native of the Netherlands, is also the president of De Wieken, a Dutch cultural group in the Triangle, and owns Honor Yoga Apex, an eco-friendly studio.
The new councilmember was sworn-in to the council on Thursday.
“I’m excited,” Zegerman said. “I’m ready to get started. This is something I’ve been contemplating for a number of years.”
Zegerman moved to North Carolina in 2012 after living in New York and Columbus, Ohio, with his family. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 2016, although he has lived in the country for the past 26 years, he said.
He and his wife have a 15-year-old son.
On the council, Zegerman wants to focus on affordable housing, to ensure longtime residents can live in the town, and public transportation.
“What can we do to alleviate transportation? How do we create safe routes to school, complete some of the basic sidewalk infrastructure?” Zegerman said. “I think there’s alternative ways of managing traffic that we haven’t fully explored yet.”
He also wants to prioritize preserving the town’s natural environment as it grows and development continues.
“I would like to see if we can do more extended buffers, even though that may not necessarily be required in the development plans,” Zegerman said. “Also, looking for some opportunistic and strategic acquisitions by the town to create more public spaces and parks.”
Stallings resigned from the Apex Town Council in December after serving a year when she was elected to the Wake County Commissioners. Because her term was incomplete, the council sought applications for interested residents.
Zegerman was one of 34 residents to apply for the position and earned a majority of votes to move on to the final round of interviews on Jan. 6. The interviews were streamed live on the town’s YouTube page.
“I think the town went to great lengths to make the process as transparent and inclusive as possible,” he said. “I appreciate that and I think that’s something that I think needs to be recognized. ... The town did its best to make this a fair, equitable and transparent process.”
This story was originally published January 13, 2023 at 10:18 AM.