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The Windsor Town Council voted 5-0 on Jan. 14 to appoint veteran educator Debra Hicks to the town’s Planning Commission for a four-year term.

This will be Hicks’ second stint on the commission after serving in years past.

She was approached about serving again following the resignation of Commissioner Larissa Williams.

“Larissa Williams had to resign her position on the Planning Commission due to a change in the responsibilities of her career,” Town Manager William Saunders said during the Jan. 14 council meeting.

Williams’ term expired on Dec. 31, 2024, creating the need for the Town Council to appoint someone to fill a new four-year term.

The council also voted 5-0 to reappoint Leonard L. Marshall and Ricky Vaughan, who Saunders noted were willing and able to be reappointed to four-year terms expiring Dec. 31, 2028.

The tally of votes did not reach six on any of the appointment votes because Councilman Jake Redd was not present at the meeting.

After mentioning Williams’ resignation, Saunders alluded to Hicks when he said, “I passed around a Talent Bank form for a past member of the Planning Commission — and a member of the (Windsor Board of Zoning Appeals) whose term also just expired on 12/31/2024 — for council’s consideration for the open spot on the Planning Commission.”

Windsor Mayor George Stubbs recalled serving with Hicks in the past on the Planning Commission, noting that she had opted to resign then because she was caring for family members at home and working at the same time.

He highlighted her extensive experience in education in the area, including Isle of Wight County Schools.

Councilman David Adams ultimately said, “Based on her previous experience and her overqualification as an educator, I recommend that we appoint Ms. Debra Hicks to the Planning Commission for a term to expire on Dec. 31, 2028.”

The 5-0 vote followed shortly thereafter.

In a Thursday, Jan. 30, interview, Hicks shared her reaction to her appointment.

“I was excited,” she said. “I was excited because I know the history of Windsor.”

She has lived in the town for 25 years.

“I know that we are small but yet mighty, because it is really growing now,” she said.

She noted that she is honored to be able to serve.

She said that in her previous stint on the commission, she served for approximately two years.

Her parents’ health had reached a point where she needed to take care of them, in addition to her full-time duties in education, making it difficult for her to attend the monthly Planning Commission meetings.

“I’d say, ‘I’ll be there next month,’ and I just didn’t feel comfortable with that,” she said, alluding to why she resigned back then. But when she could attend, “I did a good job, and now they want me back, so I must have done something right.”

Hicks is now retired, though she does still work three days a week for Southampton County Public Schools as the coordinator for the division’s international teachers.

However, this schedule will allow her much greater flexibility to serve on the Planning Commission.

She has worked in education for 47 years, serving as an employee for SCPS, IWCS and Suffolk Public Schools in various roles — several of them administrative.

She graduated from Virginia State University with a bachelor’s degree in special education, with certifications in working with the emotionally disturbed and learning disabled child.

Right out of college, she worked for SCPS.

“I was the first special education teacher for the learning disabled and the emotionally disturbed,” she said.

She enjoyed this work as she sought opportunities to truly reach the “hard to handle” students and help them succeed in life.

“I have never, in my 47 years, found a child that I could not do something with,” she said. “And that’s rewarding for me.”

Eventually, she decided she wanted to be an administrator.

So she went to Old Dominion University and earned a master’s degree in special education, as well as a Certificate of Advanced Study in supervision and administration.

Then she went to Virginia Tech and earned an Education Specialist degree.

These credentials helped her go on to serve in several different school administrator and central office positions.

Hicks said her work experience has prepared her for the Planning Commission role because it has helped her with being organized, being strong and knowing people.

She said what she brings to the Planning Commission “is the strength to make hard decisions, the strength to be a good listener and to have a heart for the people of the town of Windsor in making the right decision, collaboratively, because I know how to lead and I know how to follow.”

Providing some more specific insight into what she hopes to accomplish on the commission, she said, “Windsor’s a special place to me because of the rich history that it brings, and I want to be able to be in a position where I can help the town advance but yet keep the same, sweet culture; same, sweet beauty; same, sweet sustainable area that they have.”

She indicated that she wants to see growth balanced with preservation and sustainability of the town’s current identity.