The next election for the Waxahachie City Council is set for May 7. In Place 2, incumbent Doug Barnes, who is serving as the mayor, will face Johnny Bryant and Patrick Souter. Candidates were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding their campaign, and below are their responses:
Doug Barnes
Occupation: Retired
Number of years in the city: 31 years
Campaign website: Facebook: Re-Elect Doug Barnes for Waxahachie City Council Pl 2
What are the two biggest issues facing Waxahachie, and what are your ideas to address them?
No one likes traffic congestion on Ferris Avenue, Highway 77, Main Street and other vehicle bottlenecks. As mayor I have worked diligently to ease the gridlock by joining city management and staff, TxDOT and others to help develop a plan that works now as well as the future. Traffic improvements, thoroughfare plan revision, new corridors between major arteries and other roadway options are major goals of mine.
The other big issue, to which I devoted considerable attention, is the vibrant growth of Waxahachie. The blueprint to achieve a strategic population growth plan can now be seen in our Capital Improvement Plan, five-year Comprehensive Plan, Transportation Plan and Economic Development council initiatives. This four-prong approach will create a masterplan that will achieve both quality and controlled growth.
Is Waxahachie managing growth the right way, and what’s the best way to balance the growth while maintaining the city’s uniqueness?
The best way and right way to manage the dynamic growth Waxahachie has experienced and certainly will face in the future is to plan ahead. City Council, city staff, city-sponsored commissions, the Chamber of Commerce and especially citizens’ input are helping craft a 10-year-plus plan to establish specific paths needed to reach specific goals.
The city’s uniqueness is a diverse combination of factors ranging from its heritage, historic downtown, beautiful homes and rural culture to Waxahachie’s hike/bike trails, parks, 90-plus churches, education system and vibrance. But above all is the people of Waxahachie. They reflect a pride in our community, and my responsibility as mayor is to nourish and preserve that quality of life.
As the city prepares for its upcoming budget, where should the city focus its spending?
Support of our public safety – police, fire and emergency response personnel – and programs is a top priority. We want to keep Waxahachie’s image as a wonderful place to live through an assertive infrastructure agenda and continually upgrading our lifestyle programs including parks, trails and meeting places such as the Railyard Park amphitheater, the farmers market and the dog park.
Quality of life also includes actively serving and collaborating with education, medical, businesses, churches and organizations, which help define our wonderful community.
Some residents encouraged the city to adopt the no-new-revenue tax rate last year. What is your stance on that?
I do not support the no-new tax rate. In my opinion having that type of direction would significantly lower the tax rate through the adoption of the effective rate. Therefore, getting a balanced budget required by the City Charter and state law will become more difficult. Planned projects could be eliminated, others would be delayed and potentially cause additional debt for streets, parks and public safety projects that otherwise would be funded with operating revenues. Our current tax rate is $0.66 per $100 valuation, which is the lowest rate of our comparison cities.
Why are you the best candidate for this position?
Experience matters. The learning curve is steep when it comes to making decisions, which will affect Waxahachie now and for decades to come. My “education” began more than 20 years ago when I began my association with the city of Waxahachie as its director of economic development. That responsibility helped shape our city into its sound fiscal position, strong public service capabilities, geographic center for retail, dining and entertainment in Ellis County and a solid support platform for businesses. That experience has carried over as mayor of Waxahachie.
You can’t achieve that sort of expertise overnight. It comes with efforts down in the trenches and a competency reflected in proven results. That is what I offer the citizens of Waxahachie, Texas.
Johnny Bryant
Occupation: Retired
Number of years in the city: 65 years
Campaign website: Facebook – Johnny Bryant for Waxahachie City Council
What are the two biggest issues facing Waxahachie, and what are your ideas to address them?
My first priority on the council will be a proactive approach to the police, fire and first responders. These important people need proper equipment, training and support from their council and their citizens.
Secondly, with my background in structural matters of large proportions, I am very interested in the infrastructure of this city. We need a new approach to priority needs and address existing needs and problems before creating more. I want to listen to the community, and we all join in the discussion on long-term planning.
Is Waxahachie managing growth the right way, and what’s the best way to balance the growth while maintaining the city’s uniqueness?
Growth is inevitable, however we can manage it better with a different approach. We could be more deliberate and should consider all the repercussions of our decisions. Be more proactive in traffic studies, utility needs and cost to taxpayers.
The uniqueness and charm of our town is being lost. To keep the uniqueness the community must get involved and voice their opinion and concerns to city leaders. Get involved.
As the city prepares for its upcoming budget, where should the city focus its spending?
Government should always focus on:
1. Safety (fire and police)
2. Water
3. Sanitation
4. Infrastructure (roads)
5. Quality of life (parks, hike and bike trails, etc.)
Some residents encouraged the city to adopt the no-new-revenue tax rate last year. What is your stance on that?
I’m in favor of low tax rates, however the community should have their voice heard in the rate structure.
Why are you the best candidate for this position?
I’m an energized, passionate, qualified lifelong resident of this community, wanting to serve and galvanize the council, city staffs and the community for the common goals. I have no existing attachment to any on the city staff or any local businesses, and I have no hidden agenda. My work will be for the safety and quality of life, mobility, fiscal responsibility and jobs for Waxahachie citizens.
There are several reasons why I have decided to seek this seat on the council. I could use the much-used phrase that I’m doing it out of civic duty. While that is certainly one reason, it is not the only nor most important reason. I want to be on the council to represent all the people who make this city home. I was raised on the streets of Waxahachie. I knew it when less than 15,000 people lived here. I am excited about the growth and vitality of this city today. However, I don’t want this to be just a stopping point for people wanting to grow and move on. I want people to think of this as their home for their children and grandchildren. Where they feel safe, under the wings of our police and fire departments and our growing medical community. Where children can still walk to school if they choose. Where families can still picnic in the park without harassment.
I have been involved in community affairs and concerns for many years as a volunteer, while working my jobs and raising my family. I have filed several applications to the council and various commissions and boards to donate my time as an expert in the areas wherein I volunteered but have never been assigned. This needs to change. We don’t need a small group of elites who had the resources to be in office to manage everything without interested people with knowledge and experience being consulted.
Transparency and fiscal responsibility have become bywords of every elected official. I’m a man of the people with no hidden agenda. I want to eliminate waste, be honest by evaluating idle assets and divest the city of those not utilized. For instance, the city owns 156 pieces of property. Is that utilization?
As for more streaming and more information to the public? I do not know how a person with a responsible position in city government could possibly deny that the more access to the people is for the betterment of all. Live streaming is a valuable tool and puts all areas of government into homes via the phone, computer, tablet or television. I do believe, however, that all of this needs to be cost effective. If less than 10% of the people registered to vote came out to vote for city election, one must ask, how interested is every single home in Waxahachie interested in planning, zoning, budgeting and other city-related matters? Does it cost a great deal more to make streaming available to every home in Waxahachie if no one watches it? I find most people listen to others and take their civic interest in matters that pertain to them from their friends. How many subscribe to or buy a weekly newspaper? I am sure we want to inform everyone of what is happening at every meeting, but we should be cost conscious of all we do. We’re the guardians of the purse of this city. Meetings should be posted properly by print and by the airwaves. Speakers should be allowed to address the City Council on any subject as long as they do it respectfully and within a reasonably set time. A spokesperson should identify themselves, state their subject and how long they have lived in Waxahachie. I’m not in favor of naming buildings after city leaders. I think it’s harmless to name a building The John Doe Building in honor of Mr. Doe, who may have served this city for many years. I believe it should be a community decision rather than a council matter to name a building for an individual.
I am 65-years-old and a lifelong resident of Ellis County. I have generational interest in Waxahachie as my ancestors and now my children and grandchildren call Waxahachie and Ellis County home.
As I’m now retired, I want to inform the voters of my past employment record in order that they might peruse the person I hope they vote for. All the following can be verified for credibility: I was vice president of Sunset Logistics, Inc.; general manager of the Metro Division for Transit Mix Concrete; regional sales and marketing director for Pioneer Concrete and Aggregate of Texas; general sales manager of Trinity Materials, Inc. of a Division of Trinity Industries. Thereby, giving me more than 40 years of employment in infrastructure, supply chain and logistics.
My responsibilities over the years of my career include a company budget of more than $150 million; the overseeing and management of over 300 employees; instrumental in the partnering with TxDOT, Corp. of Engineers, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Cemex, Lafarge Holcim, and the Hanson Companies.
Past board positions I’ve held include director for Sand, Gravel Motor Carriers Association; chair of Texas Aggregate and Concrete Association; and team director for United Way.
My education begins as a graduate of Waxahachie High School, college credits from Sam Houston State University and the University of Texas at Arlington. My certifications include National Redi Mix and Concrete Association, the American Concrete Institution, the Portland Cement Association, Trinity Mix University in Quality Specification and Processing, certified in soil testing and as a certified Concrete Technologist.
Patrick Souter
Occupation: Attorney, Baylor Law School professor and small business owner
Number of years in the city: 6 years
Campaign website: Facebook – Patrick Souter for Waxahachie City Council – Place 2
What are the two biggest issues facing Waxahachie, and what are your ideas to address them?
The first issue is balancing the improvement of our overall infrastructure with our growth. When one mentions infrastructure, many believe it is expanding our roads and utilities and other city services to meet our growth. However, much of Waxahachie has aging roads, water lines and other utilities that must be addressed as well. It takes a coordinated effort to ensure not only that our new infrastructure needs are addressed but the old ones repaired and replaced. We should also recognize that the needs of our police and fire departments are part of our infrastructure and must be addressed to meet the growth. Higher populations and increased densities of people result in strains on our police and fire department resources. It takes time to train and hire members for both departments and to secure the equipment and resources they each will require. We must be ahead of the curve in making this happen.
The second issue is ensuring that new developments do not negatively impact the current residential owners’ property values and quality of life. We have recently witnessed newly approved developments leaving the current residents who live in those areas feeling that their concerns were not considered. The city must be more proactive in bringing those parties together so that growth may occur but not to the expense of property owners who live in nearby locations. This may be accomplished by coordinated efforts to bring the parties together to discuss each side’s needs and desires rather than it being through the regular city approval process. Any appearance that the residents’ concerns were not truly considered may lead to them questioning the transparency in the process that a citizen should be concerned with from their government.
Is Waxahachie managing growth the right way, and what’s the best way to balance the growth while maintaining the city’s uniqueness?
My campaign motto as set forth on my signs is “Preserve and Improve” that promotes this concept. We should preserve what makes our city special while coordinating efforts to improve it by incorporating our history, structures and town atmosphere that those before us left for us to maintain. The citizens of Waxahachie are blessed with a history we see on a daily basis that represents our past that if maintained will allow future generations to enjoy and cherish. I recognize that Waxahachie will continue to grow as more people discover us and what we have to offer. The ability to preserve what we have and improve on it are not two separate and distinct things. We must have a coordinated effort led by both city and community leaders to address growth through forward-thinking planning and development in a fiscally responsible way that incorporates the old with the new. The city must be proactive to ensure that older structures are not allowed to simply decay due to a failure by an owner, many times an absentee landlord, to maintain the premises. City-led initiatives may be taken to keep that from happening. New projects should be closely examined to ensure that historical areas are not destroyed or otherwise negatively impacted by the growth. New developments must meet the style of the area and those who develop such projects contribute their fair share to the infrastructure needs even if such influences their bottom line. This may be accomplished through the current process in place, but the city must be more proactive in ensuring that it actually happens.
As the city prepares for its upcoming budget, where should the city focus its spending?
The city should focus spending not only on the aforementioned infrastructure initiatives but ways to improve our quality of life. I have real concerns on our old infrastructure and would rather be proactive in addressing those issues than needing to be reactive when an emergency occurs. The need to respond to an emergency redirects our city resources that in turn impacts us financially due to incurring additional costs not budgeted for during the current fiscal year. As for improving our quality of life, the city has taken great strides in improving it by developing and promoting things that all of the community may use and enjoy. We have recently experienced the opening of the new farmers market, the updates and expansion to the dog park, improvement to our parks and trails and the new events occurring in the Downtown area. The upcoming Crossroads of Texas Film and Music Festival is back and bigger than ever and will utilize the historic Chautauqua Auditorium. The city must continue to make things available to the public that all can enjoy and that will raise tax revenues from those coming to Waxahachie to enjoy those experiences.
Some residents encouraged the city to adopt the no-new-revenue tax rate last year. What is your stance on that?
I would be in favor of a no-new revenue tax rate, and even consider a tax rate reduction, as long as it does not negatively impact current city operations and projects that are necessary to address our growth and maintain our quality of life. It is easy to campaign on one of those platforms, but if either will negatively impact the city’s operations and strategic plan then that candidate must be prepared to identify what city functions will be done away with or limited so that there are financial resources available to complete what needs to be accomplished. The analysis, promotion of and implementation of “best practices” in how to carry out governmental functions will allow for a better chance that this may occur.
Why are you the best candidate for this position?
I am the best candidate for Place 2 on the Waxahachie City Council since I am the only candidate who possesses the business and legal education, training and experience to analyze what makes business sense and is legal while balancing such to be fiscally responsible. As a practicing attorney and Baylor Law School professor, I analyze business arrangements on a daily basis to ensure they are justified based upon the facts presented to achieve a desired result and that such is legally enforceable. I am the only candidate that is a small business owner who must create a budget out of my personal funds to not only operate my business but to ensure my employees timely receive their wages so that they can support themselves and their families. My fellow candidates for Place 2 for some reason place the highest importance on how long they and their families have lived here. I could do the same with my connections to Ellis County going back generations, but I would rather focus on tangible skills and attributes necessary to be an effective councilperson and a steward for all of the citizens of Waxahachie.
https://www.waxahachietx.com/story/news/local/2022/04/17/q-a-waxahachie-city-council-place-2/7321359001/
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