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Andreas Pleil
Elections and appointments
Personal
Contact
Andreas Pleil (also known as Andy) is running for election to the Surf City Town Council in North Carolina. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025.[source]
Pleil completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
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Biography
Andreas Pleil provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on August 8, 2025:
- Birth date: August 20, 1957
- High school: Wheaton North High School, Wheaton, IL
- Bachelor's: University of Illinois, Medical Center, College of Pharmacy, 1981
- Graduate: The Ohio State University, 1982
- PhD: The Ohio State University, 1986
- Gender: Male
- Religion: Christian: Nondenominational
- Profession: Business Executive
- Incumbent officeholder: No
- Campaign slogan: Say no to higher taxes
- Campaign website
- Campaign Facebook
Elections
General election
The general election will occur on November 4, 2025.
Endorsements
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Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Andreas Pleil completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Pleil's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I’ve loved Surf City since the first time I visited 50 years ago. The island has been our family touchstone and in 2017, after retiring, my wife and I made Surf City our forever home. I have degrees in pharmacy, business, and economics. I spent most of my career developing new medicines and demonstrating how they benefit patients. I want to keep Surf City a great place for families, like it was when I first came here.
- 1. Say no to higher taxes. A 30% tax hike now and another hit from rising property values in January is too much.
- Transparency. Town leaders must be honest and open.
- Put families first. Every decision needs to consider the outcomes and impact it has on what makes Surf City special, its people.
Planning is the key. How we grow as a town is the most important policy choice we make. Growth affects everything - from roads, to water, to schools. If we don’t plan right and grow smart, everything gets harder.
Surf City Town Council is the first step in governance. Local decisions on taxes, how and what we spend, what is built and how we grow as a community all start with Council and the people they represent.
My father was my hero growing up. He taught me to work hard, value education, and care for family. Later, my PhD advisor showed me by his example what makes a good teacher, a clear communicator, and a team player.
Aristotle provides insights into equality that reflect my perspectives. Everyone gets one vote, everyone gets fair and equal consideration, and more money should not equal more power.
Always be truthful. Listen to people and stay open to better ideas. Serve the entire community - not just yourself or your friends.
I’m good at thinking things through, critically and completely.
I can do math in my head.
I know my limits and when to ask questions.
I am flexible and willing to change my mind if someone makes a strong case. Keep people informed and engaged. Listen first, then plan, then act. Stick to the vision of the long term plans. Don’t raise costs so high to make Surf City unaffordable except for the few.
That people say, “He did the right thing, he made Surf City better.”
People in my age group likely remember the assassination of JFK. I was 6 and in first grade. It taught me how fast life can change. My best memory was the first moon landing in 1969. I remember my father explaining all the technical aspects in German so my grandmother could understand.
I started mopping floors in a family owned drug store at age 16. That lead me to pharmacy school, then graduate school followed by a long career in medicine and research. I suppose I’ve had that job my entire life.
As boring as it sounds, it’s a short 65 pager on research methods and analysis. It helped me teach students and work colleagues how to do smart research and interpret the results correctly.
Wile E. Coyote. He never gave up, even when things went terribly wrong. That perseverance with a little better planning is what we need.
My ringtone is “Surfin’ USA” by the Beach Boys. And of course, as any resident of our town knows, “Surf City” performed by Jan and Dean and written the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson is a must when crossing the bridge to the island.
Being a parent is the toughest thing any person does. You have to set rules without inhibiting the child’s individuality and growth. If we on the Council thought like parents to Surf City, I think we would make the best decisions.
Town Council has the power over the local purse. They set tax rates and until the rate exceeds 1.5 dollars per hundred assessed value, they don’t need your permission.
You can speak during the public comment period and that’s it for offering your opinion on things like taxes and zoning.
Town Council doesn’t set property values, that’s left to the county. Those values, however, impact the dollars out your pocket and into the Town budget.
Town Council doesn’t review or approve special events like concerts at Soundside Park.. That’s done by a small group of staff based on a checklist of requirements.
Town Council can’t control schools. They can’t build schools or set teacher pay. They do control what gets built and that affects how many people move here, and that directly affects our schools. Life experience matters more than having a political background. Leadership and stewardship is not unique to government service. Moreover, if someone’s government experience showed them how to play the system; how to avoid listening to their constituents, it’s not helpful at all.
First and foremost, you need to understand basic math; budgets and spending are at the core of every decision.
You need to know and appreciate the Town’s rich heritage, the rules that guide decisions, and the strategy and vision in the planning documents.
You need to be honest, think and act ethically, be empathetic and to put yourself in the shoes of your neighbor, and act accordingly….do what’s best for the community, not what’s best for yourself. Town Council makes the final call on taxes, how money is spent, what is built and what is denied, and that means how we grow. Town Council also has the ability to help bring in grant money for our parks, our beaches, and our infrastructure…roads and water.
Paraphrasing Ronald Reagans, “ there are three stages when people hear a new idea, first, they say it’s crazy, then they say it might work but it’s not worth trying, and finally, they say, I always said it was a great idea.”
Financial transparency is critical, not just when decisions are made rather through the entire process. Each decision maker from the Mayor to staff employees has to take ownership of their decisions and the outcomes from those decisions.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
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