Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Meet the Candidates: Flower Mound Town Council

Southern Denton County residents will head to the polls starting this month to decide a plethora of municipal and school board contests.

The Cross Timbers Gazette asked each candidate in a contested race to answer a brief questionnaire to help voters make an informed decision at the polls this May.

Two Flower Mound Town Council seats, Place 2 and Place 4, are expiring this spring. Bryan Webb, the current Place 2 Council member, has reached his term limit. The two candidates running for the two-year Place 2 council seat are current Planning & Zoning Commissioner Albert Picardi and former P&Z Commissioner Sandeep Sharma.

The race for the three-year Place 4 council seat features three candidates: Incumbent Don McDaniel; Jim Engle, who ran for Town Council previously, but was not elected; and newcomer Tony Lawrence, a town resident since 2010.

Election Day is Saturday, May 5, with early voting on Monday, April 23 to Saturday, April 28, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and, Monday, April 30 and Tuesday, May 1, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The candidates for Flower Mound Town Council are listed in alphabetic order under each individual contested race.

Place 2 (2-year-term)

Albert Picardi, 60

What is the main issue facing your community and how would you address it: Traffic, growth, parks, and safety are all very important issues. But, there is one issue that is affecting the town more. It is trust of our town government. I see calls for “follow the money,” that Town Council is on the take, that Council is benefiting from all the growth. If offered anything of value as a town council member, my first stop will be to report the infraction to our police. At Fidelity, we were expected to have very high personal integrity. It is what helped make us a great company. I will use the principles I learned, and hope to return civility toward our leaders.

Why are you the best candidate for this position: With years of community service, I am known by many Flower Mound residents. It is my hope that I will be able to reach out to residents to feel free to reach out to me. We need to reduce government by hysteria. Communication will be key. My campaign is only accepting contributions from registered Flower Mound voters. No PAC’s, or out-of-town money will be accepted. My personal integrity will mean every decision will be based on Flower Mound residents.

Facebook page: Albert Picardi is Running

Website: None listed

Email: [email protected]

Sandeep Sharma, 51

What is the main issue facing your community and how would you address it: Traffic. Flower Mound does not have a major highway or many thoroughfares. Looking at the recent project approvals, the traffic will only increase. The approval of multi-family projects along FM 2499 will add thousands of cars, creating bigger bottlenecks, and with additional traffic lights installed, will back-up the traffic on FM 2499. Prevention is easier than the cure. Let’s not increase traffic to the point that we can’t solve it. When elected, I will work toward preventing any more multi-family and high-density projects.

I support open green-spaces and responsible growth. When we keep changing the Master Plan to add higher-density housing, it simply puts more burden on the infrastructure, and adds to the traffic problem.

Why are you the best candidate for this position: I have taken residents’ issues to the Town Hall and helped them collaborate with town staff on important issues; I will make the right decisions for the benefit of the town. Flower Mound has one of the best parks and trail system. With me on the Council, it will only get better. I will work toward enhancing the parks and open green-spaces;, every resident, including other council members, and town staff, will be treated respectfully. Under my leadership, you can be assured that the mission statement of the town will be honored.

Facebook page: facebook.com/Quest2Excel

Website: engageourtown.org

Email: [email protected]

Place 4 (3-year term)

Jim Engel, 62

What is the main issue facing your community and how would you address it: Managing growth is the largest issue. With our location in the Metroplex and the growth of the region, it is inevitable that Flower Mound will grow. The challenge is to manage that growth to ensure that we can handle it with the town’s infrastructure and not significantly nor negatively impacting the quality of life for the current residents. We need to maintain our high standards and quality that make Flower Mound a unique and desirable community. Developers will have many proposals for new development. We have limited space remaining in some areas, such as our Lakeside Business District. We need to sort through those proposals and only approve those that bring true value to the residents, not just any new apartment development.

Why are you the best candidate for this position: I have a college degree with more than 30-years of business experience to lend to the town. I am retired now though so I have time to devote to the needs of the position. I have been engaged on town issues for the past 3-1/2 years. I am a reasonable, responsible and intelligent person who will listen to residents and their perspective on issues. I received the endorsement of the Greater Lewisville Association of Realtors (GLAR) for my stand on supporting homeowner property rights. I intend to serve the community with the focus of maintaining and improving the residents’ quality of life.

Facebook page: Vote Jim Engel

Website: jim-engel-for-fmtc.snapsite.us

Email: [email protected]

Tony Lawrence, 39

What is the main issue facing your community and how would you address it: We need to slow down the construction of apartment complexes, specifically, because our roads are inadequate to accommodate Flower Mound’s current population growth (~3.5% in 2016). Until the town brings swift transportation innovation, residents will continue to fight traffic through our major thoroughfares. While I gave public testimony against the expansion of Morriss Road to six lanes, we do need to make necessary improvements to keep the road both safe and effective in moving traffic consistently. I have proposed that traffic circles in key areas can help in the effort. Traffic circles encourage traffic flow, reduce emissions, and are 75-percent safer than standard lights.

Why are you the best candidate for this position: Flower Mound needs to balance the tax base between sales and property contributions, which may allow for another property tax decrease. As a successful business development professional, I feel I am best-qualified to partner with key departments to entice more businesses – and the right businesses – to make Flower Mound their home. Today, I work with some of the world’s most influential manufacturers and retailer and I will bring expertise that will help the business-growth effort. In addition to business acumen, I have ideas for our town that will contribute to reducing tax burden through better public/private business collaboration. I have also proposed solutions to our town’s growing transportation challenges.

Facebook page: Tony O. Lawrence

Website: www.tonyforflomo.com

Email: [email protected]

Don McDaniel, 50 (i)

What is the main issue facing your community and how would you address it: reducing the property tax burden on our residents by broadening our tax base and continuing to manage a fiscally-responsible budget. Adding commercial taxes to our base will help take some of the pressure off our residents, while allowing us to continue with the high-levels of service and amenities for which our town is known. Addressing commercial tax base also has other benefits such as: bringing jobs; attracting young families, which will help with our declining student population; and, adding retail and restaurant opportunities.

Why are you the best candidate for this position: I care about all of Flower Mound, not just the issues important to my friends or those proximal to my home. I work very hard to make fact-based decisions using all of the data and expertise available to me. It is easy to get bogged-down in the emotion and the anecdotal stories surrounding topics in our town. It is the job of council to strip that away and deal, with the facts and figures to come to a just and beneficial decision for the whole town. I will continue to take on the tough issues by bringing them forward and working with residents, town staff and the rest of council to make fact-based decisions.

Facebook page: Don McDaniel for Flower Mound Town Council

Website: None listed

Email: [email protected]

Mark Smith
Mark Smith
Mark Smith is the Digital Editor of The Cross Timbers Gazette.

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