Mark Bolton, vice president of communications, marketing and economic development with Coastal Electric Cooperative, talks about Derrick Smith:

Q. What makes Derrick Smith bring to this community?

A. Derrick is certainly a man of integrity. He’s honest and cares. He has a passion for working with children. He has been a inspiration to my son, Nicholas, with his baseball. Every times he sees me, he asks how Nicholas is doing with his baseball. He genuinely cares. He just a very sincere and warm person. In the business world, he is the kind of person you want to do business with. His word is his bond. A man of honesty.

Q. What makes Derrick a good friend?

A. There is never a bad day. Whenever you see Derrick, he is friendly and outgoing. It seems that at a time when lots of people and friends get stressed and they say say "not, now, I’m busy," Derrick is not that way. He always has time for you. You never got the feeling that there was something more important going on in his world. There probably is but you’d never know that. That is the mark of a good friend.

Q. What makes Derrick a good family man?

A. There’s nothing more important in Derrick’s life than his wife and kids. They are unmistakably number one. What I see is the time he spends with his family. He is an officer with a fairly large bank and that occupies a lot of his time but he still manages to put his family first. He is always doing with his kids. He’s a good family man and he always finds the time to be a good dad and husband.