Dear Editor and Stephenville Community,
During my four years on the Stephenville city council, I have refrained from endorsing council or mayoral candidates, because I felt I had a duty to maintain positive working relationships with whoever the winner would ultimately be. As I reach the end of my term limit and will no longer serve on the council, I offer my opinion of who will best serve our city in the seat I will vacate in May.
The greatest council members with which I have served were not necessarily those I agreed with most often or could convince to vote with me. The greatest have been the servants who have worked hard to understand the issues facing the city, have committed time to research and learn, and have been willing to listen to all sides of any argument before they commit to voting a particular way.
Maddie Smith has become an active student of the issues your city government is charged with addressing. Maddie is the candidate that has attended every regular council meeting, special called meeting and committee meeting since she filed to run for place 5 in January. She has devoted time to meet with several city administrators and directors to learn more about the challenges and wins in their departments.
Through my conversations with Maddie, I have determined she understands the importance of smart growth, working with Tarleton to ensure their growth does not overwhelm the city’s resources, attracting and retaining highly skilled and qualified employees across all city departments, and continuing to address infrastructure needs as effectively as possible while maintaining one of the lowest property tax rates in the state.
Maddie will bring valuable perspective to the council with her management experience at a highly successful, locally owned, multi-state company that has five business centers in Stephenville employing over 100 local employees.
Notably, Maddie filed to run in the first hour of the filing period and never wavered when her opponent made a late change to avoid facing his challenger, Brandon Greenhaw (who I also think will be a great councilman). She has been a resident of Stephenville proper for thirteen years, and most importantly, Maddie understands the duty she has to consider the thoughts and concerns of every citizen of Stephenville if she is elected.
I publicly support Maddie Smith for Stephenville City Council, Place 5, and I hope you’ll join me in casting your vote for Maddie when early voting begins on April 24th.
Election day is May 6th.
It’s a great time to live in Stephenville, TX!
Ricky Thurman
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