Tell Us About You
1. How long have you lived in College Station, and what neighborhood do you call home? What drew you here, or kept you here?
I have lived in College Station since 1990. We bought our first home in Shenandoah, then built in Pebble Creek, where we raised our family, and now call Bird Pond Estates home. What brought me here was Texas A&M to finish school after an enlistment in the U.S. Air Force. What kept us here was the people, the neighborhoods, and the opportunity to find a job, afford a home, build a business, raise a family, and retire — all in the same city. That is the prism in which I view our city because it is my family’s experience.
2. What in your professional, volunteer, or public service background has best prepared you to serve in city office?
After the Air Force, I worked at City Hall as a public information officer while finishing my degree at Texas A&M. I worked with every department, wrote a monthly newsletter for citizens, and regularly represented the city with the media. When the internet arrived in 1993, I designed the city’s first website and selected the address still in use today, www.cstx.gov. That job gave me an early, citywide view of how departments operate.
After graduation, I left City Hall for the medical equipment industry, then started MEMdata with my wife, Kristi. We grew it into a firm that helped hospitals in 42 states budget and procure capital equipment. We also planned technology for new construction as a subcontractor to some of the country’s largest general contractors and defense contractors. MEMdata created careers here for young Aggie grads, not just jobs. We sold the company in 2014 and have since designed, built, and renovated residential and commercial property in College Station, including serving as designer and general contractor on our current home. Budgeting and construction work has given us a close look at how fees and processes have changed.
Along the way I was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to the Texas Statewide Healthcare Council and reappointed by Governor Abbott. Congressman Pete Sessions appointed me to the nonpartisan Service Academy Selection Committee, asked me to chair it, and asked me to select the members. He asked me back to do the same the following year. Recommending young people to the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, West Point, the Coast Guard Academy, and the Merchant Marine Academy, and seeing every recommendation accepted, was one of the most rewarding things I have done.
In 2010 I was asked to serve as founding board chair of Scott & White Hospital at the groundbreaking. I served in that role for six years, through construction and the merger that created Baylor Scott & White, and remained on the board for nine years, the maximum allowed by the bylaws.
Those experiences, public and private, are what prepared me: how a city runs, how a business is built, how a major institution is governed through cooperation, and what young families and growing employers actually run into here.
Neighborhoods And Quality Of Life
1. What makes a neighborhood healthy, and what is one thing the city could do to strengthen established neighborhoods?
Quiet streets. Neighbors who follow the rules and take care of their property. Kids on bikes, safely. The city strengthens that by zoning correctly, enforcing the ordinances it already has, and not routing cut-through traffic through established neighborhoods.
2. How should the city balance new housing growth and student housing needs with protecting the character of existing neighborhoods?
Do not make existing houses the path of least resistance for student-rental redevelopment. High fees, such as impact fees, often do not apply the same way to existing homes, which is one of many reasons student housing investors have bought, torn down, or renovated houses in permanent neighborhoods. Put student housing where it belongs and use incentives to steer it there. Give students districts of their own. Some blending is healthy, and we will and should always have that. A neighborhood being overwhelmed is not.
3. Residents in some neighborhoods consistently report issues with noise, parking and trash. These issues are reported, but there have been few successes in resolving the issues long-term. What changes would you support to increase the effectiveness of Code Enforcement?
Reinstate the annual rental registration fee and use the proceeds to add code enforcement officers. Enforcement has not kept pace with the city’s growth, and that is why the same complaints keep coming back. Students, realtors, and permanent residents agree — enforce the rules.
A Growing and Fiscally Responsible City
1. With TeraFab now under Phase 1 construction, what does the city need to accomplish during your term to be better prepared?
Establish a growth ‘shock absorber’ district on the Fitch-to-Highway 30 corridor, the open and developable land closest to TeraFab. Extend infrastructure there so growth has a place to go and fast-track housing in the right locations. We will not stop what is coming. We can decide whether we absorb it on our terms. The Fitch corridor is of strategic importance to our city and will look fundamentally different in 20 years.
2. When considering a Chapter 380 economic development agreement, what criteria would you use to determine its value to the community? Please give an example of a deal, here or elsewhere, that meets or fails your test.
Jobs and/or housing, and a clear look at future city revenue and expense. Providence Park meets that test: nearly 400 jobs, and a Westinghouse building that sat empty for more than a decade put back to work. The area now pays its taxes and employs citizens. Empty buildings are both a blight and a missed opportunity for our city. With Macy’s, the former police station, the old Academy and possibly more with the upcoming Public Works project, we have too many.
Among Texas cities our size, we are near the bottom in the use of economic development tools. When we do use them, it is often for retail, with little attention to primary jobs or housing. We are reforming ourselves into a consumer-based economy rather than production-based, or professional and technical, while simultaneously making it more difficult to live and work here. We have the staff and the resources to do better. Opportunity and prosperity defined us for decades. We should look to our past to forge a future of prosperity going forward. I have urged that change, and I will keep doing so if elected mayor.
Trust And Transparency
1. Many residents feel major decisions are largely settled before the public has a real chance to weigh in. What specific practices would you support to build trust between City Hall and residents?
After four years on council, I understand why residents feel that way. Staff often choose the path they believe is optimal, then build a narrative around that goal. This is understandable but often results in binary decisions presented to council. Voting yes moves that item forward, while voting no means starting over from square one. I would work to change that, with more options identified, and earlier involvement from citizens and council to ensure a better decision product.
I would also codify the practice I have already pushed: at least 30 days for citizens to review a significant agreement or project before a vote. I would work towards a consensus from council to require staff to present the pros, the cons, and the options before a solidified recommendation.
Staff have a challenging mission, and College Station has entered a period in which citizens will expect more accountability and more transparency in achieving it. I intend to meet that expectation if elected mayor.
2. What does fiscal transparency mean to you, and how would residents be able to tell whether the city is achieving it?
Residents should be able to see the full cost of a project before it is approved, not just a moving construction number on a binary choice. Council should be in the budget earlier, with strategic planning that sets guidelines staff are able to meet as the budget is assembled. Fund balances should be explained and justified in plain language.
City Hall is not a business. Once reasonable reserves are in place for the unexpected, taxes and fees should cover identified needs and then stop. Building balances in several places and sweeping accumulated capital toward projects that have not been clearly explained to the public is not a best practice. Cost-reduction initiatives should happen at least every three to five years, in addition to the annual budgetary review process. NDAs should be council-approved before they are executed.
Governance And Leadership
1. Describe a time you changed your mind after hearing from people who disagreed with you.
Senate Bill 2038, the extraterritorial-jurisdiction bill. I initially supported the resolutions denying those petitions. I changed my mind and voted alone against several of them. The Texas Supreme Court later validated that stance and admonished our city for ignoring the law.
Also, the Northgate surface lot project. We had a transformative plan with a local Aggie developer that honored the spirit of Aggieland and Northgate. We traded it for more money and a massive student housing play that did not honor that spirit. A lot about that project was unknown to council. When I later learned the details, I reversed my position. Both of these examples listed above are indicative of what we often face — a resolute policy position that often does not align with our city’s interests, but with that of City Hall as an organization. When this happens, council must exercise its duty early and ensure we minimize the occurrence of large crowds in council chambers who are upset with us. Participation is good. Frustration and confusion are not. Such projects erode trust and mitigate the hard work staff do every day to ensure we are an efficient city.
2. What would success look like to you at the end of your term?
A citizen-first, council-led City Hall. A safe, efficient city. A settled future for the former Macy’s. A workable solution for Public Works. Compensation adjustments for police, fire, public works, utility linemen, and other line staff. A reformed fee system to create a healthy environment of prosperity. A healthier housing market. Economic development aimed at primary jobs, not just retail. Meeting the moment on TeraFab in a way that makes sense for College Station — and a better relationship between citizens and City Hall. I have specific goals under each of those. Those are the tests I would use.
Closing
1. What's one thing you’d like voters to know about you that hasn't come up in the campaign?
I am a proud grandfather of five. I like woodworking, chess, and golf, but I have little time for any of those hobbies. I retired at 49 and went straight to volunteer work. I research a lot. I enjoy having open days, but they are exceedingly rare. I’m deeply gratified by elected office. I get excited when we make what I believe is the right policy decision for our city, and the citizens agree with the path.
2. For our mayoral candidate only: Moving from a Council seat to the mayor’s chair brings a different role and different responsibilities. What will you focus on in your first few months, and how will your approach as Mayor differ from your approach as a Council member?
I have chaired a lot of boards. I promote and facilitate discussion from colleagues. The job is to keep your own proposals, but to make even more room for every member. I know that balance. In the first months I would focus on elevating the council, giving it the resources to improve constituent service, and working on the decision-making culture at City Hall. I have specific policy and procedure changes for council to consider. I’ll save those for them to hear first, if I am elected.
The difference from a council seat is that the mayor has to build the majority, give equal time, run a fair meeting, and, if necessary, cast a vote. I believe I can accomplish those things.