A bevy of local leaders, including Copper Canyon Mayor Sue Tejml, Flower Mound Mayor Melissa Northern, Flower Mound Mayor Pro Tem Al Filidoro and Denton Mayor Mark Burroughs recently traveled to Austin to meet with Joe Straus, Texas Speaker of the House, Senator Chris Harris, Senator Jane Nelson and other state officials.
The meetings were held during Denton County Days on Feb. 21-22, a county-wide initiative to take local issues to the state legislature.
Over 200 Denton County delegates attended the breakfast meeting in Austin presided over by Denton County Judge Mary Horn. According to Copper Canyon Mayor Tejml, the highlight of the event was an individual summary by each legislator of his concerns for this legislative session.
“They unanimously agreed that to meet the huge budget shortfall, almost every area of state government would have to sustain a cut. There could be no “sacred cows.” Even very fine and very productive projects would lose funds,” said Tejml.
Representative Burt Solomons of Carrollton, newly appointed as Chairman of the Redistricting Committee, spoke to county leaders about the task of redrawing the political boundaries in North Texas that will likely produce two new Congressional Districts.
While the Flower Mound delegation was in Austin, the Senate approved a resolution honoring the Town’s 50th anniversary at the request of Senator Harris and supported by Senator Nelson.
The group also met with Aaron Demerson, Executive Director of Economic Development and Tourism, Michael Chrobak, Director of Texas Economic Development Bank, and Tad Curtis, Team Leader of Domestic Expansion and Recruitment to review Flower Mound’s Economic Development program and priorities.
At the request of Representative Tan Parker, Mayor Northern also spoke in front of the House of Representatives Urban Affairs Committee on a subsequent visit to Austin. Mayor Northern provided an overview of Flower Mound and spoke regarding local issues including natural gas drilling, eminent domain, and transportation funding.
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