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Contrasting Views at Kingswood

April 26, 2007

By LOYD BRUMFIELD / Today Newspapers

chnews1.jpgResidents of Cedar Hill got an up close look at nearly all of the candidates running for seats on the city council and school board as the Kingswood Homeowners Association hosted its ninth annual forum April 19.

Seven candidates running for mayor and the city council spoke at the function, along with three candidates running for seats on the Cedar Hill School Board.

Most of the candidates voiced agreement on the issues and had a cordial discussion. Write-in candidate for mayor Phillip Bielamowicz challenged the status quo in his opening remarks, as did former school board member James Charles, who is trying to regain a seat on the board by challenging Place 1 incumbent Terrel Nemons.

Makia Epie, incumbent Place 5 council member, wasn’t able to attend the Kingswood forum. In his place, forum moderator Michael Lemmon read an e-mail from the 11-year council veteran, who was at a board of directors meeting for the North Central Texas Housing Finance Corporation, an organization that tries to make it easier for people to afford homes in Cedar Hill, he said in the e-mail.

Epie said he would be pleased to continue his service and continue to make Cedar Hill a welcoming place to be for people of diverse backgrounds.

He also touted the effectiveness of the city’s police and fire departments, lauding Fire Chief Steve Pollock for recently being named Fire Chief of the Year and said the city’s public safety officials make it easy for everyone to live safely in an era of record growth.

Valerie Banks, one of three challengers seeking Epie’s seat, asked for a moment of silence in reflection of the 32 people killed in the mass shootings at Virginia Tech University.

Banks, a current member of the school board, is seeking to move on to the city council. If she wins, she will have to resign from the school board.

“I believe in Cedar Hill,” she said. “So much so that I moved here twice.”

Like the other candidates, she emphasized public safety.

“I want to continue the efforts of this council to maintain a solid police force, build additional fire stations, be vigilant and ensure that Cedar Hill has a voice in crime prevention and enforcement.”

Jason Russell, another Place 5 challenger and member of the Cedar Hill Chamber of Commerce board of directors, along with Wade Emmert - unopposed incumbent Place 3 candidate - touted the city’s neighborhoods.

“Neighborhoods are the heart of any city, and Kingswood has one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen,” said the managing partner of the Panera Bread Co. restaurant. “What’s going to come from me is going to come from the heart.”

Echoing earlier remarks from incumbent Mayor Rob Franke, Russell said it’s nice to be able to live and work in the same community.

“I moved here in 2000 and it was kind of a bedroom community for me. I used to get up every morning and drive to work in downtown Dallas,” he said. “It wasn’t until 2004 when I was blessed to become a managing partner of my own restaurant that I got to know some of the great people who live here.”

Another Place 5 challenger, Wirt Stoney Jackson, voiced a commitment to the city’s youth.

“One thing I haven’t heard mentioned tonight is our youth,” said the president of the Southwest Dallas County Democrats.

As part of his “Three P’s” platform - Protect, Produce and Preserve, Jackson said Cedar Hill needed more community programs geared toward young people. He pointed to the recreation center, but with a caveat:

“I grew up across the street from a recreation center, but we never had to pay to use it,” he said. “I had never heard of that until I moved to Cedar Hill.”

Earlier, Bielamowicz, the write-in candidate for mayor, said something similar.

“The council has given us facilities that serve no benefit because you have to pay a fee to use them,” he said. “I’m talking about this recreation center.”

Franke is seeking his fifth term as mayor.

I truly love Cedar Hill,” he said. “Over the years I’ve served the city in various capacities, from a soccer coach to member of the council to mayor.

“Frankly, I think I have something to contribute. I have the right motives, and I’ve tried to be pure in heart. We care about people, and we have to make sure we make good business decisions.”

Bielamowicz said the city is moving too fast on development, citing the outdoor shopping center Uptown Village.

“It’s not the project itself that concerns me, it’s the capital improvements around it,” he said. Bielamowicz said road construction near the site of Uptown Village have created hazardous conditions for residents who drive on them.

“The city has allowed developers to use taxpayer funded roads for their own benefit,” he said, adding that some areas of Cedar Hill Road are closed to private citizens and used by the developer as a staging area for equipment instead of getting repaired.

He also cited the number of home foreclosures as a concern, particularly in Lake Ridge.

“I drove through there and saw several vacant properties,” he said, adding that there had been about 25 foreclosures in that neighborhood in March.

People are paying too much in taxes, he said.

Franke and several other candidates countered that by saying the city’s tax rate has remained steady or gone down over the past decade. It now sits at 64 cents per every $100 of assessed valuation.

Property tax rates are the responsibility of Dallas County, Franke and others said.

Emmert said he’s proud of his record as a freshman council member.

“I wasn’t afraid to challenge things, and I wasn’t afraid to ask questions,” he said. “I think I provided positive feedback and I think I contributed, but clearly it’s not just me, it’s the entire council that’s been successful.”

In the Place 1 school board seat, Nemons and Charles offered sharp contrasts at the Kingswood forum.

Nemons said after serving several years as a volunteer on the outside, he wanted to help improve things by serving on the school board.

“Cedar Hill (School District) is on the rise now,” said the six-year board member. “When I got here, it was in crisis with a $2 million deficit.”

Nemons first ran on a platform of fiscal responsibility, he said, and the district balanced the budget within his first year of service.

“One thing you have to understand as a school board member, is you don’t spend money you don’t have,” he said. “You have to make sound decisions on what you do with your monies.”

Nemons also said he ran to ensure a healthy fund balance.

“Without that, your bond rating is going to be low and the buildings you need are not going to get built.”

Charles, who lost his school board seat to Sonya Grass in the May 2006 election, said the district has many problems.

“You’ve got kids in schools who aren’t being disciplined,” he said. “We’ve got big-time problems with our financing, with violence in the schools and kids getting in fights.”

The board doesn’t manage its money wisely and acts without thinking about long-term consequences, Charles said.

“We hired a police force, and it happened just like that,” he said. “We have 11 schools and three police officers, and that just doesn’t work. Schools are getting broken into and computers are getting stolen.”

The district’s money problems made it an unequal partner in the construction of the new shared government center that will be home to city and school administrative offices and the police department.

“Is it fair that the city pays $19 million and the district pays $6 million?” he said. “Where’s the equality in that?”

Unopposed Place 2 incumbent Amy Allen, Nemons and Banks disputed Charles.

“I maintain the tax rate has only gone down,” Nemons said when Charles said the district is keeping $1.6 million that the state reserved for savings to residents.

“If you’re going to have a police force, then have one with enough officers to make it effective,” Charles said, adding that the district’s standardized dress code goes largely unenforced.

Allen said teacher surveys indicate they feel safe.

“We did a survey recently of teachers who were randomly picked. We were lucky in that almost all of them responded and about 85 percent said they felt safe in their schools,” she said.

Nemons invited residents to visit the schools, walk the hallways and see for themselves.

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