No one can say longtime Double Oak resident Bernie Carrico isn’t flexible.
From 1980 to 1983, Carrico, a former investment banker who’d moved his family from Michigan to Texas in 1974, was Double Oak’s sixth Mayor. For nearly three months during that stint, he was also the Chief of Police and the Town Judge.
“Talk about a kangaroo court,” Bernie, now 80, said. His stint as mayor came after several years of service to Double Oak that began in the mid-1970s as an alderman and later Mayor Pro-Tem. “We were all volunteers in those days. My Chief of Police was a guy named Nelson Erdman, a pilot who looked just like Chuck Connors from “The Rifleman.” Well, Nelson got transferred to Denver for work. Under the General Law Charter, the Mayor automatically becomes the Chief if there’s no one else. So, in addition to being the Mayor, I’d go out on Saturday nights and bust kids for drinking beer on country roads.
“Then our judge died suddenly. I oversaw one trial. The lawyer demanded a trial by jury, so I went out and stopped cars driving down Shiloh Road. I’d look at their driver’s license, and if they were Denton County residents, I said, ‘You’re on my jury this morning.’”
Bernie always had the town’s best interests at heart in those days—even if it was one of the smallest towns you’d ever seen. Double Oak is just a 2.4-square-mile slice of real estate bordering Flower Mound, Bartonville, and Copper Canyon. It became an incorporated town one month before he and his wife, Judy, officially moved into their newly built home, which was one of only six on their street at the time. There were 164 residents, and from his porch, Bernie could see the bright lights of the Denton Town Square.
Bernie, along with guys like J.R. Griswald, Chuck Bimmerle, Dick Cook, and Bill Brittain, was there to watch the whole thing grow from the first lot forward. And to say they were deeply involved in every decision would be an understatement.
“I can remember sitting at a card table in my sunroom to draft our first zoning ordinances,” Bernie said. “These days, you can copy and paste with a click and drag of a mouse, but back then, we had scissors, paste, and tape.”
Fast forward to today—52 years later—and Bernie and his wife, Judy, are two of the last remaining original residents of a town that has come a long way but still maintains its independence and rural character, one that Bernie and other residents fought for decades ago. Double Oak, which now has roughly 3,000 residents, is a General Law City restricted to single-family residences with a minimum 1-acre lot size, and commercial development is permitted in the northeast part of the town limits. Residents govern Double Oak, which is represented by a mayor and a town council of five members, along with residents who volunteer to serve on the town’s boards.
To date, Double Oak still boasts the second-lowest tax rate in Denton County and operates with zero debt.
And much to Bernie’s delight, they have their own police department, town hall, and volunteer fire department.
Bernie and Judy still live in that same house they built in 1974. Bernie rides his bike through town practically every day and has earned the nickname “Pops.” Meanwhile, Judy is still known as the “Peach Lady” for her famously delicious peaches and blueberries.
“The minute I saw the town all those years ago, I knew it was exactly the spot we needed to be,” Bernie added. “Asphalt streets … no sidewalks … Bill Brittain gave me his spiel about what he planned to do; he wanted to incorporate so that Flower Mound couldn’t annex the town. I remember saying, ‘You’re my kinda guy.’ We’d host council meetings on Bill’s property. The area has exploded since then, and it’s been fun being part of it. The rest, as they say, is history.”
But if you think Bernie has slowed down after five decades of helping shape Double Oak, think again.
The father of five and grandpa to 11 is still knee-deep in town issues—this time as part of a citizen-led effort to diversify Double Oak’s revenue sources with a proposed liquor referendum. This includes plans for a potential November ballot measure. For Bernie, it’s simply the latest chapter in a lifetime of civic involvement.
“This, along with a proposed shopping center on 407, can sustain this town for quite a while and keep things exactly how we intended all those years ago,” Bernie said. “Our motto from the very beginning was to create a safe place to live and raise your children. I think we’ve done that, and we want to keep it that way.”
Flexible? Absolutely. But when it comes to Double Oak’s present and future, Bernie Carrico also doesn’t budge easily.
