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<\/a><\/p>\nShould the city reconsider impact fees or go forward with road bonds?<\/p>\n
Impact fees: A big Lubbock, Texas no!\u00a0Impact fees are\u00a0a tax that only new construction homeowners pay. A City Hall tax gimmick targeting capital risk taking and entrepreneurs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Solutions:<\/p>\n
Road bonds: Thoroughfares and main arterial roads studied and recommended by citizens based on critical growth. This builds our tax base.<\/p>\n
Democracy: City Council receives recommendations. Citizens vote and approve after recommendations are narrowed to fit a progressive schedule to complete and achieve unified plans with financial restraints.<\/p>\n
What letter grade would you give Lubbock\u2019s police and fire departments and why that grade?<\/p>\n
A+++ to our police and firefighters for putting their lives on the line to protect Lubbock, even with a shortage of competitive pay staffing and a growing population in Lubbock\u00a0<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your opinion about the city attracting AI hubs?<\/p>\n
I agree with Governor Abbott:<\/p>\n
No city incentives.<\/p>\n
Protect resources \u2013 water and electricity rates (Lubbock already has the highest tier of Texas cities with highest rates).<\/p>\n
Protect Lubbock\u2019s 100-year water supply.<\/p>\n
Protect Ogallala water basin.<\/p>\n
Protect environment \u2013 noise pollution, etc.<\/p>\n
ERCOT regulations to reduce electricity charges to community and not add additional fees\/cost to Lubbock ratepayers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I agree with Mayor McBrayer \u2013 LEDA examine every proposal and line them up with critical criteria that the elected council has established to protect Lubbock. Then Planning and Zoning Commission review and make sure the entity conforms with our city\u2019s land plan and use.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was a member of City Council that built Lubbock\u2019s 100-year water supply. There\u2019s more work to be done! We need to start planning for 150-year water supply for our city to meet the growth and also be ready to assist the smaller communities around Lubbock that are short on water. <\/p>\n
gary boren<\/p>\n
Are you satisfied with the city\u2019s water plans, or is there more to be done?<\/p>\n
No. I was a member of City Council that built Lubbock\u2019s 100-year water supply. There\u2019s more work to be done! We need to start planning for 150-year water supply for our city to meet the growth and also be ready to assist the smaller communities around Lubbock that are short on water. We also\u00a0established a Water Commission to oversee our water supply and they are not being utilized.\u00a0We need City Council involvement in Lake 7 to ensure no cost overruns. I\u2019m the only candidate who has valuable experience in this area of Lubbock\u2019s water supply and lake development.<\/p>\n
Over the next four years, what kind of leadership talent does the city need to hire in terms of skills and philosophy of local government?<\/p>\n
Citizen-first mentality:\u00a0City operations should be highly accommodating, responsive and accountable to the taxpayer.<\/p>\n
Proactive strategic planning:\u00a0A commitment to long-term planning regarding infrastructure, water supply, utilities and economic development, ensuring the city remains competitive.<\/p>\n
High-performance collaboration:\u00a0Fostering a team-oriented internal culture that breaks down departmental kingdoms and emphasizes shared responsibility.<\/p>\n
Ethical public service:\u00a0Grounding all decision-making in personal integrity, transparency and accountability to the public.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your opinion on business development and recruiting large employers to Lubbock?<\/p>\n
I support the Lubbock Economic Development Association\u2019s efforts to recruit larger\u00a0businesses \u2013 working with Texas Tech to bring numerous good paying jobs to our city.<\/p>\n
We need to work closely with Tech, our medical centers and the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce to grow and help small businesses flourish in our city \u2013 eliminating regulations that are anti-business, keep utilities low and make working with city easy for businesses.<\/p>\n
There has been pressure on the city to stay at the no-new-revenue rate. Where do you stand and why?<\/p>\n
I always support no-new-revenue rate and have. Governor Rick Perry recognized Mayor Marc McDougal and me by putting us on the platform of the 2006 Legislative Opening Session and told the Senate and House you can offset appraisal taxes if you have elected representatives that believe and stay strong to their promises.\u00a0No-new-revenue rate basically is \u201ctruth in taxation!\u201d When appraisals so up \u2013 government tax rate should go down in a corresponding manner. If a government wants more money beyond that \u2013 put it on the agenda, make your case to the public and vote up or down to raise taxes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
What quality-of-life issues would you advocate the city invest in and why?<\/p>\n
Downtown development of the Civic Center\/ Convention Center to benefit entertainment, business seminars, major state and out-of-state conventions that creates a boom in our local economy through hotel tax sales tax and purchase of goods & services. Support youth sports facilities and have the best facilities in Texas \u2013 basketball, volleyball, pickleball, tennis, concerts, youth seminars.\u00a0Clean up our parks \u2013 add facilities, play equipment and support Parks and Recreation to make these parks safe and enjoyable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Is there an important issue that might force you to take an unpopular vote and why?<\/p>\n
My values and major experience in city operations, government operations and state agencies has trained to me to deal with major issues that threaten our city. So I don\u2019t know untll I have to face the challenges. My conservative pro-Lubbock values line up with our community easily.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The candidates of District 4<\/p>\n
Voting locations<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note: Candidates for the District 4 City Council election to replace Brayden Rose, who is stepping down,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-335608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}