Fred Ilarraza, for Village of Marvin Council, answers your questions

To help inform voters in the Nov. 4, 2025, election, this candidate questionnaire is available to be republished by local publications in North Carolina without any cost. Please consider subscribing to The Charlotte Observer to help make this coverage possible.

Name: Fred Ilarraza

Email: Filarraza@marvinunited.com

Political party: N/a

Age: 47

Campaign website or social media page: https://marvinunited.com/

Occupation: Private Equity Executive

Education: Some college

Have you run for and/or held elected office before? List previous offices sought and/or held): No.

Marvin is known for its small town, rural feel. As Union County becomes more desirable and growth pressures increase, can the city’s character be preserved? Or is change inevitable?

Change is inevitable and we don’t exist in a vacuum. That being said, I think that managing growth to preserve the rural aspects of Marvin is paramount. There is a reason we moved here instead of Meck or Waxhaw. Nothing against those places but they aren’t Marvin. We fell in love with the rural character, the large lots and all of that existing so close to more populated towns. If we aren’t going to preserve what makes Marvin different why even be a separate town?

In what ways can the village preserve Marvin’s rural feel despite pressures of growth as Union County increasingly becomes a desirable place to live?:

Implementing some policies that require developments to conform to our previously set guidelines and sticking to them is certainly one way. A comprehensive tree policy is another. I think this town council bends too far for developers. I’ve developed and I get it, however the municipality should be setting the framework not the developer. The developer is often a carpet bagger with no roots, ties or care about our community. Their relationship is transactional.

How do you plan to listen and make yourself accessible to residents about critical issues outside of public comment at village council meetings?:

I’m semi retired now. In my view, if elected, the constituents are my “customers”. As a business person nothing is more important than understanding your customers. What do they want? What’s working? What isn’t? What could be better? What are their concerns? I think the current council is in a bit of a bubble or echo chamber where they perhaps aren’t hearing from all their customers, as evidenced by the 80% NO to the Go Bonds bill. That’s about as out of touch as an elected official can get.

Do you believe that the Village of Marvin should remain a largely residential community or explore opportunities for commercial development?:

I’m open to some commercial but realistically, there is a ton of commercial around us. What do we need in Marvin that we can’t get to in five minutes? One of the elements that sets us apart from our neighboring towns is that we have more horses than miles or road and we don’t really have commercial. This pocket of old growth, larger residential homes sets us apart from our neighboring towns and I like it.

What sets you apart from other candidates?

I’m rather similar to the other candidates on our slate, Barbara, Eck and Martin. Regarding the incumbents, constituents have told me that they feel dismissed, treated like children when they voice questions or opposition to the current council. An embarrassing “we know better than you” attitude towards the public. You can see evidence of this in the YouTube videos of the meetings. The MarvinUnited team will bring an end to that kind of discourse.

This story was originally published October 15, 2025 at 4:45 PM.