It’s been two years since the Town of Lexington’s youngest councilman, Gavin Smith, was elected to his chair in a special election at age 31.

He told the Chronicle that his proudest accomplishments from the past two years have involved small business advocacy, bettering the town’s communication with residents and increasing transparency.

Smith’s term expires this November, and as for running again, he told the Chronicle he’s “prayerfully considering it,” but hasn’t made a final decision.

“It’s been a blast,” he said. “It’s been a learning experience. You know, I came to council with federal experience and state experience, but what I’ve learned is that municipal government is very different.”

Smith, before coming to council, served in the President Donald Trump administration as a deputy communications director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and press secretary for the U.S. Department of Labor.

Former Town Councilman Steve Baker’s resignation prompted the 2023 special election. Smith told the Chronicle that when the seat opened up, the timing was right, so with encouragement from loved ones, he ran, gaining former Town Mayor Steve MacDougall’s endorsement.

2023 reporting from the Chronicle detailed the former mayor’s thoughts on Smith: “Gavin’s passion for our community, paired with his experience as a communicator, small business owner and former presidential appointee, uniquely qualifies and prepares him to serve our town. … As we continue our work to make the Town of Lexington an even greater place to live, work, raise a family and learn, young voices and leaders are needed now more than ever, and I can think of no one better to fill the vacancy and join our Town Council than Gavin.”

Smith knew from the start that having a strong small business community is imperative to the town’s success, but said he didn’t realize just how imperative they are until looking at the town's budget.

“I realized that the correlation between the dollars we bring in from business licenses … directly lines up with how much our police department budget is,” he said. “If we did not have a small business community, it would make it very difficult to fund our police department … We have a very safe community. Great response times, low crime rates. It is a very safe place to live. … We’re able to fund that because of small businesses.”

That’s why one of the things Smith is most proud of from these past two years is helping get the Small Business Advisory Committee started. The committee consists of three citizen in-town business owners and six additional in-town business owners, a staff member and a council liaison, all of whom are appointed by Lexington Town Council.

According to the town website, “The Small Business Advisory Committee is committed to supporting and advocating for the small business community. It is charged with recommending to the Town Council ordinances, policies and procedures that impact business owners.”

Smith said what makes him stick out as a council member is how he engages with the community — not only through his online presence on social media and his newsletter, which aims to increase town transparency, but also in how he talks at council meetings. He strives to help locals understand every decision council makes, removing the barriers sometimes caused by government jargon.

“And we haven't been perfect on that. Sometimes when you talk about things like utilities, even I am like ‘Okay, I need to go meet with staff and learn a little bit more,” he said.

Smith said there are still things he wants to accomplish while on council, whether he decides to run for reelection or not, including setting plans in place to add more downtown parking.

“We do not have enough parking downtown,” he said. “There is not a single handicap parking spot on Main Street.”

He also said he wants to do more to address traffic concerns in the town.

“It’s on us to figure out, how do we fund that?” he said. “There are many projects that we need to do around town. … but we’ve done a lot of small improvements, like the turn lane at Mineral Springs.”

Smith said his road to winning the special election was encouraging, because a lot of locals showed up for him when some protesters put up signs outside voting precincts that read, “Gavin does not reflect Lexington values. He has a husband.”

“For me, I wasn’t fazed by it. You think whatever you wanna think,” Smith told the Chronicle. “It was an encouraging start, with the number of people that showed up wanting to give me a hug or support me, it just reminded me why I love Lexington so much.”

Other Lexington town council members whose terms expire in November 2025 include Mayor Pro-Tem Ron Williams and Councilman Todd Carnes.