January 18, 2016 was the observed holiday to celebrate the
birth of Martin Luther King, Jr. in 2016.
On this date, we as a family generally make our annual trip to the Fort
Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. My kids have grown accustomed and look forward to
this trip. Even my young daughter Evie knows that this is the day we make this
trip. We attend a rodeo, and the kids ride the rides and eat fair food, it has
been a great event in my life enjoying this day with my family.
On this date in 2016, however, I had several meetings scheduled
related to my elected position on Aubrey city council. As anyone who knows me
is clearly aware, I have always maintained a professional career, and so days
like this provide a good opportunity for meetings during the day, which I can
normally not attend due to my career. So this date was scheduled with back to
back meetings pertaining to city business.
Although she was only three at the time, my daughter Evie
knew that we were supposed to attend the stock show. I was in my office
preparing for my meetings and she comes running in with a sense of excitement
telling me to get dressed so that we can leave for the stock show. I told her
that daddy had meetings and that mommy was taking her to the stock show this
year. Her smile immediately turned to a frown and she started crying
uncontrollably and ran out of the room. This was completely out of character
for her, as she is normally even keeled. At this moment I knew I would not seek
reelection, although I still had well over a year on my current term.
So on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday 2016, I decided that
I would not seek reelection or run for another elected office, at least not now.
I also decided that I was going to try and get some things accomplished, and I
knew I would have to be pretty aggressive to get things some things done.
Therefore, I fully expected that I would ruffle a few feathers to make some of
the needed changes in this city. During the 2016 election, I was so disgusted
with the actions of some in our community that I frankly considered resigning in protest.
Unfortunately, once you know, you can't not know, and deeper you get involved
in things you see in local government, you see the pattern of mistakes and
intentional disregard for the community. So I had pretty much reached my limit
on local politics, but I won with a sizable portion of the vote and still had a
lot of support in the community, they elected me to do a job, so I did not want
to quit on them.
I send out periodic newsletters trying to keep the citizens
informed of what's going on in city hall. On my last newsletter, I received
overwhelmingly positive support and feedback. The citizens of this community
are a whole lot smarter than our mayor and city staff give them credit for.
They may not have time to show up at city hall for a meeting, but they do know
what is going on and for the most part are sick and tired of it.
Over the past year, it has been more enjoyable to serve and
I feel like a lot of progress has been made. There's more work to be done, but
I feel good about the accomplishments we've made. Although, there was a
contingency trying to get me to run for office this year, even by some who I
consider enemies, I really never gave running for office again a second
thought. I appreciate the support from the community, but I won't miss another
trip to the stock show with my family.
