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Cohort 1

Jurisdiction: Hendersonville

University: Wake Forest

Hometown: Charlotte, NC

Drew Finley served as a fellow in the City of Hendersonville’s Water and Sewer Department, where he conducted a comprehensive survey of the state’s 20 largest municipalities and their special assessment policies and procedures. The data informed the City’s own special assessment policies for both water and sewer service. Finley also created policies for utility extensions and assessments, which are designed to provide sewer service extensions to failing septic areas. Finley also worked on the creation of the department’s strategic plan.

Finley graduated magna cum laude from Wake Forest University with a bachelor’s degree in politics and international affairs and Spanish. He is a member of the Pi Sigma Alpha and Sigma Delta Pi honor societies. At Wake Forest, Finley was president of the Euzelian Literary Society and a student representative on the College Curriculum Review Committee. His undergraduate research focused on disparate impact doctrine under the Fair Housing Act as well as historical and contemporary manifestations of housing segregation and housing discrimination in Winston-Salem.

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