By Forney1 on Fri, 04/21/2017 - 15:15
 
 
About the Candidate
 
I am currently on the Forney City Council Place 6 serving my first term.  I have been a resident of Forney since 2003 when my family and I moved here from Mesquite.  I am retired after a 36 1/2 year career in municipal government.  I worked for three Texas cities--Longview, Lancaster and Richardson.  I held management positions in all three cities ranging from a field supervisor in public works to assistant city manager, director of public works and director of planning & zoning.  As a resident of Forney I served on the Bond Committee of 2006, P&Z Commission 2006-2015, and TIF Board 2010-2015.  For leisure I enjoy hunting and golf.
 
How many City Council meetings have you attended from Jan. 1, 2017 until the time you filed your paperwork to run in the municipal election? This number of meetings attended represents those attended before you filed your paperwork.
 
I have attended all City Council meetings since January 1, 2017.
 
During the time you have been a resident of the City of Forney, how many City Council elections have you voted in?
 
I have voted in every City Council election since the 2004 election.
 
Do you own a business? If so, do you currently do work for the city of Forney or any real estate developers or home owners’ associations located Inside or outside the Forney city limits? If you are elected or re-elected, do you plan to continue to do work for the City of Forney or any real estate developers or home owners’ associations inside or outside the Forney city limits while in office?
 
I do not own a business.
 
How do you propose to work with other members of the City Council and the Mayor as a team for the betterment of the City of Forney and its citizens?
 
I like to wait until I have heard everyone else’s comments on an issue before I speak.  You learn more by listening, not by talking so I want to hear out my colleagues first.  I prefer a collaborative approach by combining proposals from everyone and developing a compromising/collaborative position, unless the issue being discussed I have strong feelings about.  My approach is to work with everyone, only then can we be successful as a council.
 
In your opinion, what action or actions, if any, should the City of Forney take concerning the Markout Water Corporation situation?
 
Before any decisions are made about Markout Water Corporation, a comprehensive analysis needs to be done.  This would entail such as details as inventory of the current system, issues it has, pros/cons of taking the system over or not, budgetary impacts, impact on future city growth, etc.  No decision can be made (one way or the other) until this issue has been properly and thoroughly vetted so as many answers as possible can be established. 
 
In your opinion, what are the three most serious challenges or issues the city of Forney will face during your two-year term if you are elected or re-elected?
 
Continued management of growth by catching up and then being prepared for future growth, which will happen.  Second is continuing maintenance of the city’s infrastructure.  Third and perhaps the most important and difficult challenge is for all factions within the community to come together and work as one to move Forney forward and realize our goal of being a city without limits.  All communities have factions amongst the residents.  This is not unusual.  It is virtually impossible to get 100% agreement on things.  But I have not seen a division as deep or personal as it is here.  Somehow we have to overcome this so we can achieve our goals.
 
How do you propose to strengthen the relationship between the City of Forney and Forney ISD?

 
First, communication between city staff and school administration needs to be continually ongoing.  This would be accomplished primarily by the city manager and FISD superintendent.  We need to resurrect regular meetings with the school board, which have not been since Fall 2015.  Another idea mentioned at the Meet the Candidate night was having council members and school board trustees attend each other’s meetings so each group can gain more insight and perspective into each organization’s situation/issues.