| Glenn Strother |
For Trophy Club Town Council
Some Questions and Answers
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Contact Glenn:
gstrother@charter.net
gstrother@charter.net
Glenn for a Win
For all of Trophy Club
For all of Trophy Club
Do you support a study to look at the feasibility of combining the MUDs with the
Town? The study would be broad in scope, and look at financial, legal and
organizational pros and cons for merging the MUDs.
The quick answer is yes I do. Our town has one of the highest combined tax rates (.68512), if
we are going to attract new business and residents we need to look at all options to see if we
can reduce our taxes.
This is not to say that the MUDS or our town is managed poorly but rather as we continue
to grow as a town we can see what system and processes work best, and how can we become
more efficient.
There's a strong consensus that our residents don't want another Value Place.
What will you do to promote high end development similar to what is being done
in Westlake?
Bringing in the right types of business into our town is very important to our success and
will assist in bringing additional revenue, thus the opportunity to reduce taxes to our citizens.
The challenge is how do you do it. It is easy to say we do not want another Value Place
Hotel in our town, but what many do not understand is if the applicant meets what we have
in our planning and zoning ordinances it is harder to say we do not want you. Thus the
solution: we need our zoning ordinances to align with the type of businesses we want. The
other thing we need to keep in mind is that even though many do not like Value Place it is on
track to bringing in approximately 20k in Hotel tax revenue to our town.
The other solution is having our new business prospects work closely with our EDC4B
board to help create a Win / Win. As a current member of EDC4B we are working on just
that. We hired a consultant (the Buxton Group) to help us identify the right types of
businesses for our town. Now the EDC along with our town staff are working on getting
them here.
We understand that the Police station needs extensive repair and that we are
spending over budget to keep it serviceable...wouldn't it make sense to have a
combined Fire and Law Enforcement Center plan instead of what appears to be
a fire only approach?
Our current Police station consists of 5 portable buildings stuck together with a roof that
leaks and a brick front. During the town council meeting on April 21st, there was an agenda
item on this. For the past couple of years there has been an item on the budget to do a study
on what would be best, however it has been cut to save costs. When the Vision for the
Entrance of Trophy Club (where the Clock tower is) was conceived it also had a town center
which included moving our town offices along with DPS, Fire and EMS. The new facility
would be where the Charter cable is now. We currently have on the ballot for MUD 1
residents only, a vote to approve bonds to build a new fire station. We need to do something
with our existing Fire station also as it was never designed to do what it is doing now. I have
met with Chief Thomas and toured the existing facility. All of this rolls up to what we need
as a town, which is a Master Plan. We have had pieces of one in the past but they are all
outdated now. Many visions for our town are truly a reality now. A new High school so our
children can go from elementary through High school without leaving our town. The
Highlands will help our town grow with new residents. With growth comes needs such as
more parks, improved infrastructure, and maybe another pool or a rec building. All of which
cost money, and money for the most part comes from taxes. In my opinion we need a plan to
look at all of the needs of our town, the MUDS, and our citizens. Put the plan together,
communicate it well, then go execute it.
Town? The study would be broad in scope, and look at financial, legal and
organizational pros and cons for merging the MUDs.
The quick answer is yes I do. Our town has one of the highest combined tax rates (.68512), if
we are going to attract new business and residents we need to look at all options to see if we
can reduce our taxes.
This is not to say that the MUDS or our town is managed poorly but rather as we continue
to grow as a town we can see what system and processes work best, and how can we become
more efficient.
There's a strong consensus that our residents don't want another Value Place.
What will you do to promote high end development similar to what is being done
in Westlake?
Bringing in the right types of business into our town is very important to our success and
will assist in bringing additional revenue, thus the opportunity to reduce taxes to our citizens.
The challenge is how do you do it. It is easy to say we do not want another Value Place
Hotel in our town, but what many do not understand is if the applicant meets what we have
in our planning and zoning ordinances it is harder to say we do not want you. Thus the
solution: we need our zoning ordinances to align with the type of businesses we want. The
other thing we need to keep in mind is that even though many do not like Value Place it is on
track to bringing in approximately 20k in Hotel tax revenue to our town.
The other solution is having our new business prospects work closely with our EDC4B
board to help create a Win / Win. As a current member of EDC4B we are working on just
that. We hired a consultant (the Buxton Group) to help us identify the right types of
businesses for our town. Now the EDC along with our town staff are working on getting
them here.
We understand that the Police station needs extensive repair and that we are
spending over budget to keep it serviceable...wouldn't it make sense to have a
combined Fire and Law Enforcement Center plan instead of what appears to be
a fire only approach?
Our current Police station consists of 5 portable buildings stuck together with a roof that
leaks and a brick front. During the town council meeting on April 21st, there was an agenda
item on this. For the past couple of years there has been an item on the budget to do a study
on what would be best, however it has been cut to save costs. When the Vision for the
Entrance of Trophy Club (where the Clock tower is) was conceived it also had a town center
which included moving our town offices along with DPS, Fire and EMS. The new facility
would be where the Charter cable is now. We currently have on the ballot for MUD 1
residents only, a vote to approve bonds to build a new fire station. We need to do something
with our existing Fire station also as it was never designed to do what it is doing now. I have
met with Chief Thomas and toured the existing facility. All of this rolls up to what we need
as a town, which is a Master Plan. We have had pieces of one in the past but they are all
outdated now. Many visions for our town are truly a reality now. A new High school so our
children can go from elementary through High school without leaving our town. The
Highlands will help our town grow with new residents. With growth comes needs such as
more parks, improved infrastructure, and maybe another pool or a rec building. All of which
cost money, and money for the most part comes from taxes. In my opinion we need a plan to
look at all of the needs of our town, the MUDS, and our citizens. Put the plan together,
communicate it well, then go execute it.