Old Town Forum Transcript & Audio

Opening Statements

Winston Edmondson:
I appreciate all of you guys coming out today, you know these forums can be a great way to get to know the candidates. I've been speaking with a lot of people in the community and you have a lot of great questions. You want to know what education and training do we have that will assist us in being mayor. What big ideas do we have? The mayor is the figurehead of the city and so to have a big thinker, a visionary, is very important. A lot of you are just concerned with some of the issues that we face and you want to know, if elected, what are we going to do to turn things around. Well, as we're answering these questions I would love it if you would think about this great city. Think about the city of Lewisville and visualize what a perfect city would look like to you. Would a perfect city include a day labor site? Would a perfect Lewisville include illegal immigrants that will pounce on a vehicle if someone is unfortunate enough to drive into the wrong shopping center? Would the perfect city include business that are vacating and going to Flower Mound, and families that are going to Flower Mound for better schools? And then ask yourself, is Lewisville closer to your perfect idea today than it was 5 years ago, or 10 years ago. If you think we are closer to a more perfect Lewisville, then I encourage you to vote for my opponent. He has 10 years of experience in helping some of these things happen. If on the other hand you feel like we're going in the wrong direction, I urge you to be true to your values, and vote for new leadership, and hold these people accountable. I look forward to getting to know you guys better and hope we have some great questions. Thank you.

Dean Ueckert:
Thank you for coming tonight and allowing me the opportunity to speak with you. A little background about me, I was born in Dallas and moved into Highland Village in 1972, and then into Lewisville proper in 1983. I've been blessed all these years and I own and operate an insurance business in Lewisville. You know I believe leadership, experience, and commitment does make a difference, and I was raised believing that actions speak much louder than words. You know, over the years, that's the reason I've been involved in this community with youth organizations, social service industries, schools, churches, non profit organizations, our local chamber of commerce, started on the planning and zoning commission and currently do serve on the city council. I believe my actions, my actual commitment to the citizens is a testimony to my leadership, to my experience, and to my commitment to the city of Lewisville. I am absolutely against illegal immigration. I believe we should enforce every legal tool that we have to enforce and uphold the law with illegal immigration. I also believe 100% that English is, and always will be, the official language of, not only the city of Lewisville, but the entire United States. And I also believe there's a lot of other important issues that a mayor will face every single day, such as keeping the property taxes low, making sure we have economic development, revitalizing our neighborhoods, making sure we have water, sewer, street, and infrastructure. We know it's going to be a challenging time these next few years. We need to make sure, it's imperative, that we elect a mayor that has proven his integrity, and his commitment to this city, to work with each and every citizen, and it's business owners, to improve the city of Lewisville.

Questions
What will you do about lack of code enforcement?

Winston Edmondson:
You know, we do have an issue with code enforcement, and we really need more code enforcers. Not only that, we need some equity in the code enforcement. There are plenty of neighborhoods where, if you're trying to put up a new fence, you can bet if you do it the wrong way, you're going to get a notice the very next day. In other neighborhoods, really not that far from where we are right now, you can go and you can see from the street, dozens of code violations. These are folks typically that aren't legal, and we know that if we give them a code violation, they probably will ignore it. Unfortunately, that's just not good enough. That's not an answer. We need to be equal in code enforcement. So, we need to hire more so we can get the job done. I know the gentleman that does it right now, the folks that he deals with, they've told me that he's a great guy, but we need more of him. So as mayor I will encourage the city to hire more code enforcers, and I will demand that we are equal in code enforcement.

Dean Ueckert:
Code enforcement is always very challenging, and yes, we need more code enforcers. In fact, if you look at my record, you'll see that at every budget hearing, that's one of the things I push on the most. This last budget hearing, I said we needed to add two more code enforcement officers, and after pushing enough, we finally got one added. We are going to have one new code enforcement officer. It's already in the budget. You know, when you add more code enforcement officers, though, some people get offended because now you're enforcing the code, because you're making them bring things up to code. That's what's imperative here in our city. You should make sure we bring everything up to code. We have more than one code enforcement officer. We have a team of code enforcement officers that work now. We do code enforcement stings on the weekend to make sure that we are policing the weekends and evenings, when people are doing a lot of these violations, so that helps us enforce the code. We need to do more of these stings to continue doing like we have in the past.

What specific, unique ideas do you have to bring to the table as mayor of Lewisville?

Dean Ueckert:
Specific, unique ideas...Bring us all together in unity. Make sure we start getting people to come to some things. You know we have open public hearings. We have budget hearings that I don't believe the candidates...well I know my opponent hasn't attended, and you have to attend the things to get involved. You have to be able to come and talk to your citizens. You know my phone number is published in the phone book. It has been since I've lived here. My business is right here. You have to be able to talk to the citizens, be involved in the community, in all the different areas, not just the government, but all the different organizations, from the schools, churches, and charitable organizations, so you can get the input of the people in the community, so that you can go with their ideas. Learn from them. I don't have all the answers, but with your help, and listening to you, I can come up with very innovative answers that will help us bring new development to this community and revitalize our neighborhoods. That's my key, key important thing. Bringing new development and revitalize our neighborhoods.

Winston Edmondson:
Big ideas...you know, um, the last time I checked, "Make sure we get people to show up," isn't a big idea, unless you're going to go and load them up in a truck and force them to attend. You know, I think he's right, though, we do need to get people, and as far as ideas to do that, oh I've got plenty. You know, I think it's important that we encourage community involvement, not just individuals, but groups. I think neighborhood organizations that can keep each other educated, and informed, and engaged...very important. One of the first things I'd do, very easy, I would encourage the neighborhood organizations, I would give them DVDs of the city council meetings. I know that you can watch the meetings online, but when you watch them online, you watch them alone. If we give them DVDs, and we encourage them to get together and watch...You know we've got a group called the LISD task force...I think they would be very interested if they had a DVD and they could see my opponent where he flip-flopped on moving DeLay to Milliken. They would be able to fastforward to the parts that are interesting to them, and watch them, and encourage other people to watch, and really get the type of group involvement that is necessary. I also have an idea called Government 2.0, an interactive website...[Judge Kerbow: TIME]

As mayor, how much time are you going to have to work with the city? Are you self employed? Who do you work for? Will they give you time off to work with the city?

Winston Edmondson:
I am self employed. I have a business development company. I've worked with companies like Toys R Us and Regus, who is the world's largest executive suites company. I go in and make sure that they are employing the most innovative strategies to be successful. I also have a radio show and recently signed a deal with Time Warner Cable, so now we're on TV. So I'm self employed and I can devote, really, a lot of my time. What I want to discourage, though, is to say that this job requires 100% of your time, because I think that there are many leaders out there, that, maybe in the next election, or the election after that, you know maybe they're stay at home moms, and they have time, but not as much time as I do, or perhaps as much time as the councilman. So yes, I can devote 100% of my time to this job if I wanted to, and I intend to really be involved, because we have a lot of challenges right now, but I would never discourage other people from running by saying, "You need this much time." I think there are plenty of moms, and dads, and brothers that are out there that are future leaders, and they may not have as much time as I do, but I bet they can still do a good job. [Judge Kerbow: TIME]

Dean Ueckert:
I'm willing to donate as much time as necessary. That's what I've done in this community since I've lived here. And not just serving on the council. I've only been there ten years. I've been volunteering for over 30 years. I've done things with all the different social service agencies. All the different schools, and churches, non profit organizations. And I've worked with all the people here in this community. That's where the commitment comes in. That's showing involvement in true form. You know, then you take that information you get from those people, and then you take it, and you help it to run the city, you help to make this a better city, a better place to be. I am self employed. I've had my business here for over 25 years. I do have the time to do it, and I've had the commitment to do it in the past, and I promise you, I'd still have that commitment to do it in the future. I will extend just as much time is needed, just like I have in the past, but also I'll do it in the future.

Give an example of something you personally have done to revitalize Old Town Lewisville?

Dean Ueckert:
Well, one of the first things is City Hall. As Commissioner Mitchell can remember, and Mayor Gene Carey can remember, I was one of the ones that said, "You know, when you look at building a new city hall," it's like, I came up and I said, "Why don't we put it in Old Town?" People thought I was crazy for a few minutes. Then we started looking and I said, "You know, we really need to revitalize Old Town." Over the years, it didn't happen overnight, but over the years, it had started going downhill. What if we put the new City Hall in Old Town, and we start developing around it. We're gonna have businesses, and people that build the city coming into Old Town. That's gonna bring more retail into town cause you've got more traffic there. I'm very proud of that. Also the streetscaping, and the landscaping in Old Town, was one of my ideas. And I want to see it extended all the way down to our rail stop. So that's going to allow you to walk through all the way from the rail stop down here by Railroad Street by the railroad all the way up into Old Town, bringing more businesses, more retail shops, and more people into the Old Town area.

Winston Edmondson:
You know, revitalization is more than one block of buildings. Revitalization is more than physical structures. There are a lot of folks in Old Town that, when you talk about revitalization, they say, "It sounds good...but we live here, and we don't see it. Where's the revitalization?" I think revitalization means going in and capturing the hearts and minds, and the buy in of citizens. In 2007, the mayor commended me and gave us an official proclamation, because we built the World's Largest Suggestion Box in Old Town. So the city of Lewisville, and Old Town, is the home of the World's Largest Suggestion Box, and I did it because I wanted to show people that ideas really do matter, and that ideas from citizens really do matter. And you know what? We had people coming from all across the metroplex, not just Lewisville, that came to put their ideas in the box. Because they're thirsty for that type of interaction. They want to know that someone cares about their ideas, and from what I hear, they just don't feel that our current leadership listens [Judge Kerbow: TIME] or cares about their concerns.

What do you plan to do about illegal aliens?

Dean Ueckert:
We have to make sure that we use every tool, legal tool available to enforce the laws of illegal immigration. I don't believe we can ask the police force to act illegaly. I believe we must enforce every law that we have with every tool that we have available to us. And we need to do it tax efficiently. We need to make sure that we're using your tax dollars in the most effective, responsible way that we can and fix this problem. Yes it is a problem. We are working on it. In fact, we have detained over six hundred and forty-something of them, we've run them through the ICE program. ICE has detained 75% of those, which is basically 500 of them, and kept them. They told us to let the other 25% go. We could not hold them any longer. There are other things that we will do. We need to work with our legislatures, both state and federal, to make sure we get new laws passed to give us more legal tools to enforce this illegal immigration problem we have.

Winston Edmondson:
You know, illegal immigration is such a huge problem, and due to the actions and the attitudes of our current leadership, Lewisville is effectively a sanctuary city. I don't see it written anywhere, but everyone knows. You can tell. And really, the attitude is one of the main problems. When we have citizens that will take their concerns to the city council, and members of the city council, who were elected to represent these citizens, call them racists. We know that's not true. It's not about race. It's about right vs. wrong. And that's not leadership. So the first thing I'll do is make a stand and say, "You know what...Lewisville is not going to be a city that is friendly towards illegal immigration. It's okay, in fact, it's patriotic for you to care about your community, and want to do something to clean it up." We're going to get the police officers the additional training that they need, the 287(g) program is an additional program that gives our police officers extra training, and access to databases that will help them do their jobs more effectively. There's a lot we can do. You know the city has bicycles for the police officers, but they're not allowed to ride [Judge Kerbow: TIME]

You proposed all neighborhood parks should have bathroom facilities. This would cost 1.2 million dollars. How would you pay for this? What services would you cut to pay for this? Would you raise taxes to pay for this?

Winston Edmondson:
I'm glad that question was asked. What I presented on my website is really an answer to a question, and what it's more about than bathrooms and parks is the fact that people are tired of answers. You know, you can ask the city council and the mayor anything, and you can bet they'll have an answer for you. Some kind of specific reason why they're not doing what could be done, or why they aren't enforcing this, or why they aren't doing this. People are tired of answers. We want solutions. I'm solution oriented. I want to help people find solutions. So when I speak to people in a neighborhood that show me that you have filthy port-o-potties for the bathrooms, naturally I want to find a solution to that. You know, I will do the research and make sure it's the right thing to do. So it was brought to my attention that there is an issue with bathrooms and some indecent things that can happen there, so that might not be the right thing to do, but you can bet that I'm going to approach it from a solutions point of view, not just an answer...here's your answer, see you next time. I'm solution oriented. [Judge Kerbow: TIME]

Dean Ueckert:
You know, we had looked at bathrooms in the park. In fact we had some in the past we had to take out because there seemed to be a criminal element that want to hide out in those areas. Whether it be sexual predators, whether it be gangs, whether it be drugs. So we looked at that, and we took it to the neighborhood, and we answered their questions, and we acted on what they want. We asked them questions, we acted on their answers, and gave them the solution they asked for. The ones at Sycamore Park didn't want restrooms, they wanted port-o-potties there for the kids. They didn't want the restrooms. We gave them the port-o-potties. Most of the neighborhood parks, the little pocket parks, don't want them in their parks. So no, I wouldn't put them in there. But we can use CDBG money to implement some of this without costing you tax dollars, using federal funds to help pay for these parks, I mean these restrooms we would put in parks, if the neighborhoods want them.

What would you, as mayor, do to encourage participation by the citizens of Lewisville in city government?

Dean Ueckert:
Continue to improve on our communications in the city. Over the last two or three years we've made a lot of implementations on improving our city communications. Our newsletter that we send out monthly has gotten better and better. The notifications through our water bills that we can send out has gotten better and better. To encourage people to imply and get on boards and commissions. That's one of the best ways to encourage people to get involved in getting people that are willing to take their time, spend their efforts, and their commitment to the city to be involved on boards, commissions, programs, CDBG, whatever it be. And through our social service agency, and through our non profit organizations, that all work for our community. That's how we get people involved. Not just saying, "Please come to our meetings," but getting them to participate so they're active members of our community.

Winston Edmondson:
Just a quick response...I have a hard time believing that a community would say, "No we don't want actual structures, we want port-o-potties," so you can judge that statement for yourselves. Listen, we really do need engagement. We need people to get involved, and we need the younger generation to also get involved. There are a lot of folks that are younger and could potentially be great leaders, but there is a disconnect. We have folks that aren't able to bridge that gap. So one of the things that I would love to do is create a dynamic website. An interactive website. A social networking website, where individuals can log on, they can post their ideas, their concerns. If I'm looking at it, and I see that someone has posted an idea, I can indicate that I agree with it. If you see it and you agree, you can do that as well. Those ideas that are most important to most of the citizens will rise to the top, and we'll be able to check the pulse of the citizens, and see what really concerns them so we'll be able to address them. Also we can have keywords, where if you're interested in what's going on with parks, and you're interested in what's going on with zoning, anytime we're going to have a city council meeting with zoning, that will flag, [Judge Kerbow: TIME] and you'll get an email so you can attend.

Since you've never served the citizens of Lewisville in any capacity before, why did you run for mayor, and not for a city council seat to gain the knowledge of the inner workings of the city?

Winston Edmondson:
That's a great question. And you're right, there is no hierarchy. It's not as if the mayor is a more powerful city council member. It's completely different. So I think it's important that people go to where their skill sets will allow them to be most effective. I certainly would not encourage someone that could potentially want to serve to go for a position that really doesn't suit their needs just because a lot of people think it's not the right order. I'm a big thinker. I'm a visionary. I've got a lot of ideas. I want to be the person that can throw these ideas out, throw them against the wall and see what we can get to stick. It's important, if we want to turn this city around, that we have someone that is a visionary, that's not wanting to do the same old thing. Because guess what? When we do the same old thing, we're going to get the same old results. And again, if you're happy with where we're going as a city, then vote for the same results. But the city council members are more detail oriented, and the mayor can be the voice of the citizens, and he should be that visionary, that big thinker. That's why I want to be Lewisville's next mayor.

Dean Ueckert:
I happen to believe that the mayor is a very important, probably the most important person on the council, because, not only is the mayor representing the city when he speaks, goes to functions, talks with the CEOs of corporations, trying to encourage them to come to our community, when he's talking to developers, trying to get them to bring new housing to our community, when you're talking with other people to try to get them to come to the city, you must present a professional attitude, and you must show them some commitment. You know, it's easy to go buy a car from anybody, but if you buy a car from a guy that doesn't know what he's doing or talking about, you're probably not going to buy it. You need to have that experience, I do believe experience is very important, and I believe that the mayor is the one that leads this council, pulls them together, and makes them work as a unit. As a team that can make this city. You can't do it alone. You have to have a team, and be the leader of that team, making sure the city stays in the right direction.

In your campaign report, what kind, and how much campaign donations have you received? Do you have any idea?

Dean Ueckert:
Sure, I've received $6,550. That's a lot of money, and I'm very proud and honored that a lot of Lewisville residents and business owners have trusted their hard earned money to me, because they believe in me. And all but $650 of that was from Lewisville citizens and Lewisville business owners. A little bit of it was from my personal friends I've known all my life. But I'll tell you something else that makes me really proud, is that I believe, every time these people, before they give me a penny, they call me, they talk to me, they tell me how much they appreciate what I've done for this community, the direction we are going...sure we gotta change a lot of things, we're not perfect, and if we ever think we are perfect, we've got a lot more to learn, because you're never perfect. It's an ongoing adventure. It's a road to get there. You never achieve perfectness. Thank you.

Winston Edmondson:
You know I know with the economy, the ups and downs, and mostly downs, money is tight, and so my campaign has decided to not accept any contributions. The folks that did donate, we gave it back and said, you know what, rather than donate monetarily, please, invite us into your homes. Invite us, and invite your friends and neighbors, I'd love to meet them. And we've gotten such a great response. People really appreciate that, and do invite us to let me meet their friends and neighbors, they'll put signs in their yards. We have a gentleman that works with the campaign that did a google application that shows a visual representation of all the signs that we have in people's yards, and I'm just proud and honored to say that Old Town looks completely covered up from all the signs we have in people's yards. So we're not accepting money. I want to get back to what we said before. I didn't say that the mayor is not important. I said that I don't think he's a beefed up, or more important city council member, I think it's a separate role. And as far as communications, you know on the radio, I am paid to communicate, so I do understand that it's very important to have an effective communicator, and I feel that I am a very effective communicator.

How will you, as mayor, be different from all the other mayors?

Winston Edmondson:
I don't know that I want to be different from all the mayors. I think many mayors have some great attributes, but I know that I will be different from the direction that Lewisville is headed right now in that I will make a strong stand against illegal immigration. I'll make a concentrated effort to give the government back to the people. To talk to the people. To get their buy in, to get their ideas. You know, so many times we'll announce what we're doing, or what's moving here, or the big plans we have for Lake Lewisville. As mayor, what I would do is get the buy in from the citizens and say, "You know what? We've got some opportunities around Lake Lewisville. What are your ideas? What would you like to see?" I think we'll get tremendous ideas, and we'll get that support because it's coming from the people. We'll have that buy in, something that we haven't had. Again, you have the attitude on the city council...when people come, it's not uncommon for people to walk away feeling ridiculed or ignored. All of that will change under my leadership.

Dean Ueckert:
I guess I have to agree with Winston. I don't know that I want to be different. I know I want to learn from them. You know I've had some great mentors in my life and in this city, including Bobbie Mitchel, prior mayor, our current mayor Gene Carey, mayor Wayne Ferguson, whose wife is here tonight, all those people are good friends of mine, and I've learned a lot from those people. And you know what? Each one of those people, I believe, and I believe myself included, have always listened to the people. We have heard the people. We are available throughout the community. We are involved in the community. We do take action. We don't just preach a good story. We get out there and get involved and put our feet on the floor and get to work, with our community, with our citizens. We're working with them every day. We just had an event at the school, a grand ball for the challenged kids. That's where you go and reach people. That's how you get involved. That's how you find out what the citizens want. And that's where you make yourself available to them. Being involved every day in this community. [Judge Kerbow: TIME]

Are you endorsed by the Lewisville Police Association?

Dean Ueckert:
No ma'am, I am not.

Winston Edmondson:
Quickly I want to go back to what Dean was saying. You know, I've been married for almost 12 years, and one thing I've learned is, I can think that I'm providing the right amount of attentiveness, and I can think that I'm giving my wife support, and I can say it all day long, but if she doesn't feel that way, it doesn't count. So Dean can say that, "Yeah, we're giving the people what they need. We're listening to the people," but when I'm talking to the people in the community, I'm not hearing that. So that's really what matters. What they think. Not what we feel. So that's what I'm going to focus on. Working with them until they feel like they've been supported. Now currently I'm not endorsed by the Lewisville Police Association, but I've worked with them, I helped them start on their website, and I hope to get their endorsement. I think that Lewisville police officers are some of the bravest people in the community, and I would certainly be honored if they would endorse me.

Why did you vote for a labor day camp last year?

Dean Ueckert:
I don't know if I understand the question because I did not vote for a labor day camp last year. Three years ago...over three years ago now, it was brought up at a budget hearing, which I don't believe any of these people decided to attend that meeting. It was brought up and there were people there that supported doing a day labor camp. Our police department encouraged us to do a day labor camp because they were spread out all over the community, and they thought to better legally enforce and use the legal tools that we have, to gather them in one area would be the best way to do it. We looked at it. We did approve it. We looked at it. I did vote for it three years ago, with several conditions, that we limit the money, and that we look at it. As we worked with it, talked with other cities and such, we decided not to do that, over three years ago. I didn't see anybody out there at that time complaining about it. We decided not to do it three years ago.

Winston Edmondson:
I know people were complaining about it. At the beginning of this conversation I asked you to be true to your values. This is a good example of what I'm talking about. If you, as a citizen, think that someone's values are important, you should pay attention right now because my values would never allow me to vote for a day labor site that is designed to help and promote, and basically raise the red flag saying we are friendly towards illegal immigration. My values would never allow that. Dean's values did allow it. He supported it. In fact, recently, at a meeting, he said it was denied because the land was taken away, but he appeared to suggest that he still would support it. I would never support it. You know, illegal immigrant...illegal alien...the key word is that first word. Illegal. How can we possibly want to elect someone with values that say let's build a nice shelter, a nice area for illegal aliens? No, we can't support it, and we need to be true [Judge Kerbow: TIME] to our values.

Do you believe that Lewisville need more multifamily housing and section 8 single family residences? Do you believe that Lewisville should limit multifamily residences?

Winston Edmondson:
You know we recently, at a city council meeting, we were talking about a variance for a company that wanted to build yet another extended stay hotel. As far as i'm concerned, we have way too many extended stay hotels and apartment complexes. If you look at the differences between Lewisville and Highland Village and Flower Mound, a lot of the differences are exactly what we're talking about right here. No we don't need any additional multifamily. We really need to get back to attracting good American families. Families that want to raise their families. Families that want to build their businesses, and grow, and thrive, and join our community. So no...I think we have far too many as it is, and I wouldn't support any additional variances for companies that want to do any type of extended stay hotel, or apartments, or anything like that.

Dean Ueckert:
No, I don't think we need any more. In fact, the variance he was talking about the other night, I voted against it and we denied that. And I don't think we need any more extended stay hotels. In fact I was the one that brought forth the ordinance that put a stop to that, basically like the one on 121, there's a Budget Suites. Now to build any kind of a hotel, you must have a common interest, you must have certain size rooms. You can no longer build those things. That's putting action. That's not talking about it. That's putting action to work. No, I don't think we should have any more multifamily zoning here. In fact, since I've been on the council, we have not increased multifamily zoning, we have decreased multifamily zoning. We have actually made some land swaps with developers, and make a swap from one zoning to multifamily. They might have light industrial or local commercial and switch it to multifamily, but we always come out on the positive side, so that we get less multifamily. No, we don't need any more, I encourage it and am willing to offer incentives to people to change their zoning because you cannot do it without the property owner's consent. It's against the law.

Do either of you work for the city of Lewisville? Do you provide any services for the city of Lewisville?

Dean Ueckert:
No, I do not work for the city of Lewisville. Never have. And no, I don't provide any services for the city of Lewisville. I never have. In fact, any time there's been any type of a thing that could possibly be a conflict of interest from anybody that I do business with, I have abstained from that vote because I don't believe there should be any impropriety in that. And you know when you talk about, since we sometimes tend to go back to other questions and I have some time left...true to your values...true to your values is telling the truth. Being honest. True to your values is not twisting words, piecemealing voice messages, and piecemealing recordings, and piecemealing tapes, so that you implicate, and you stretch the truth, or you make the truth sound different from what it really is. You can make what you put in there not the truth. True to your values is being honest, showing your integrity, getting involved in your community, and being out there in front of your citizens every single day. Not just talking about it, but doing it.

Winston Edmondson:
No I don't work for the city. You know I would appreciate it if the Councilman would be direct, and if you think I'm lying, or you think I was lying or misleading, I'd love for you to bring it out and I'll address it. Now being true to your values, I think that saying that you've always been for keeping DeLay here and not issuing any variances when you're on record of saying you don't have a problem with any of the variances...you're on record of saying you don't have a problem with any of the variances, and yet, at the LISD task force meeting, you make it sound like, because at a later date you happened to vote down some, that that was your position all along. That's what I'm talking about. True to your values. I will be direct, and I will be upfront, and I'll challenge you on anything that I think is untrue. I won't insinuate, or let people guess, because I'll give you the chance to answer, and I hope you'll give me the same opportunity.

Should eminent domain be used to give land to private companies, as it was for the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium?

Winston Edmondson:
No, not at all. It's really frustrating when the Constitution, over time, gets warped and twisted. Eminent domain is supposed to be used only for public good. Real public property. Not if some of the public might get to enjoy a football game. So no, it should never be used that way.

Dean Ueckert:
No, in fact I'm not in favor of any eminent domain unless it's used for necessary public improvement. What we're about to have happen on I35 widening, there will be some eminent domain there where the state and federal government will come in and take some property. I'm not in favor of that, but sometimes things like that have to happen. We wouldn't have a Main Street in Lewisville right now if that hadn't have happened. Sometimes things happen. But as far as using it for the private sector or commercial development, no, I'm not for it. In fact we have, on our city council, me included, we have fought against that, and made sure that we have not done that. In fact, we have gone on record as putting proclamations out there that we are not in favor and that the state of Texas needs to make sure that the laws are implemented so that a city can not do that, use eminent domain for the private sector.

As mayor would would you do about the I35 expansion, realizing that it is a TXDOT road?

Dean Ueckert:
Well...we don't have a choice, because that's not our road. We don't have a choice. The state of Texas owns that freeway. The state of Texas is going to be the one to come through and do that. What we are doing, and what I will continue to do, whether I'm on the council or not, is to work with the existing businesses and homeowners that we have there that are going to be affected and maybe displaced. We've been working with them now for three years, to make sure those businesses and people have a place to relocate. That we make sure we make changes in our ordinances to help accommodate. We also are in the process already of making sure that we're bringing in new development companies, like the Stauback corporation, and several other large corporations, because we are going to have a new 18 lane freeway. There's going to be some opportunities for some new growth here in Lewisville, some big businesses to come into our town, bringing new tax dollars, which we'll be able to turn around and use that for revitalization of our neighborhoods.

Winston Edmondson:
Here's an example of where, rather than insinuate, I'll be direct and say, that can't be true, because I've spoken with businesses that are being displaced, and I said, "What was the reaction, what did the city council say to you, and what's your next move? What are your plans?" Unfortunately, this company, which is a great company here in Lewisville, plans not to stay in Lewisville. They have two other cities that they're looking into moving to. They only received a letter. They didn't receive any personal communication or contact from any of the city council members, or the mayor. I said, "I'd love to sit with you and your executives, and even though I'm not the mayor yet, do some brainstorming for some creative ideas to see if there is another location in Lewisville that we could move you to because I'd love to keep you. I appreciate your business." He agreed to meet with me. So, yeah, there's nothing we can do about I35, but I will be the mayor that gives personal attention to every home owner and business that is affected, and I'll do my best to keep them in Lewisville. At least for the folks that we do appreciate their business. There are some hotels that I wouldn't mind if they get taken out [Judge Kerbow: TIME]

Do you think that the city of Lewisville has a gang problem? If so, what do you intend to do about the problem?

Winston Edmondson:
I know we do have a...I'm not going to say substantial problem, but we do have gangs in Lewisville. What I would do as mayor is work closely with the actual officers that are in the field to see what's going on. The Lewisville Police Association, I'm a huge fan, and as mayor, I'll be at every single meeting. Of course I want to know what the chief has to say, but I also want to know what the folks that are on the ground level are seeing with their very own eyes. And I want to make sure that they have the budget to make sure they have the additional forces. You know, Lewisville is very expansive. You can drive down 121 and get to an area, it seems like you're in The Colony, but you're actually still in Lewisville. Our police officers have to patrol that area. It's really taxing on their resources. I want to make sure they have all the resources that they need so they can handle problems, like gangs. I just want to make sure they have every resource that they need.

Dean Ueckert:
Yes, we do have a problem with gangs. Most cities do. I don't think we have a huge problem, but I think that's because we have been working on it. Several years ago, we started something called NET teams, Neighborhood Enforcement Teams. What those people do, and it is your rank and file members that I keep in contact with every day,not that I will, but I've been doing, talking with, not only our chief, but our assistant chief, and our rank and file members, every day of the week I'm talking to these people. We go to the NET meetings, out in the neighborhood, and we're having hot dogs, and little chips, and soda water, for people to come and greet, and get in the people in the neighborhood to come out and meet the police officers. Not just the police officers, but the code enforcement officers. They give them their personal cards with their cell phones on them, so that those people have a face with that person. So when they know they have a problem, they can contact that person and get it done, or contact me and get it done. I go out and meet with these people on a day to day basis, and all of these meetings, and with all of our police officers, to make sure they know their voice is heard [Judge Kerbow: TIME] and answered when they call.

Closing Statements

Dean Ueckert:
As I said earlier, I am absolutely against illegal immigration. I always have been. I always will be. I believe we should use every legal tool possible to enforce the laws of illegal immigration. I also believe there's a lot of other important issues the mayor will face every day. Such as like keeping our taxes low. You know when I came on council, the tax rate was $.49 per $100. Today it's $.44 per $100. You know, fiscal responsibility...you know our current credit rating in the city of Lewisville is a AA+. That's the highest credit rating we've ever had. I'm proud of that. I've worked to achieve that. Our water and sewer, you know I remember 3 or 4 years ago when most of the cities all around us were having to implement mandatory water rationing. Not Lewisville. We planned for it. We had voluntary water rationing. Revitalizing our neighborhoods...look at Old Town for example. I think everybody in here would say Old Town looks so much better today than it did five years ago. And you know we're not through. We're right now building, or working on building a Lewisville Creative Arts Center. In that Old Town park plaza, right across the street from city hall. It's going to bring in more people, and more revitalization for our community. And economic development...you know, we all know these are hard economic times. It's going to be a challenge for us. I think it's imperative that we elect a mayor that has a commitment, and has proven his dedication to the city, to make sure things work. You know 90% of the stores down in the outlet mall in Hillsboro are closed right now. The other 10% will be closing in the next few months. You know, even the new shops in Highland Village can't fill all their open spaces. In fact they've already had several businesses go out of business. It's imperative that we make sure that we elect a mayor that has the dedication to go through the goals and work with every citizen in Lewisville to improve this city to make all of our lives better.

Winston Edmondson:
I want to thank you all again for coming out tonight and asking such great questions. And thank you Commissioner Mitchell. In fact, I want to shake your hand. You know you can learn a lot about a candidate by seeing what they feel about the state of the city. I've heard candidates that are here today, that when asked the question, "What would you do, once elected, to turn things around?" The response was, "We can't turn things around. We just have to make due with what we have." On the other hand, you have candidates that seem to be oblivious to the challenges that we face. They seem to think that everything is great. We need someone that can see the challenges, and yet be optimistic about overcoming them. I'm the type of leader that wants to face those tough issues head on. I certainly see them. I'm not going to say that we live in a perfect world, but I'm not going to say that we can't fix them. I think we can come together. I want to be the type of mayor that creates the type of relationship that we should have always had between the elected officials and the people. I want to be your mayor. Your voice. I hope you take the time to learn more about us. Of course you can't learn everything during this short period of time. So invite us out. Invite both of us out. Have your neighbors over. Just don't serve coffee unless you're going to report it. But have us over and learn more about us, because what a mayor is about, his values, the big ideas that he brings to the table...these are all important things. It's not about who you know and who you like, it's about who is going to lead us into the future. Dean is right. Background and history is important, so again, if you're happy with the direction that Lewisville is headed, by all means, please vote for Dean Ueckert. If, however, you think that we need a new direction, I encourage you to be true to your values and vote for new leadership. I feel just like you, that Lewisville is worth fighting for, and if elected, I will fight for you.