Five candidates are running for Mayor of Corpus Christi including incumbent Mayor Joe McComb, Michael Hall, Ray Madrigal de Pancho Villa, Dan McQueen and Aislynn Campbell.
The following questions were posed by the League of Women Voters board and submitted by candidates via Vote411.org. Candidate responses are reprinted verbatim and are not edited.
Joe McComb
Describe your credentials and life experiences that qualify you to hold this office.
My education, business experience, public service and dedication to make our city a better place to live and work. As a husband, father of five and grandfather of twelve, I know it's important to have a vibrant city to raise and educate a family and provide opportunity for good employment and multiple recreational venues. That is why I have committed so many years of my life to advancing these opportunities for my family and others. We have a great city, but there is always room for improvement. I am proud to call Corpus Christi, HOME and want to "Leave the campground better than I found it!"
In your opinion, what are the most important duties of a Mayor?
Serving as the leader of the city council, the policy making body of our municipality; encouraging cooperation between members of the council and with other governmental entities; being accessible to citizens of our city; being willing to make tough and sometimes unpopular decisions that are in the city's best interest; representing the city at the regional, state and national level and maintaining personal integrity.
What are the three (3) most important challenges facing our city and how would you address them?
This council has focused on: 1) streets, 2) water and 3) wastewater and have made substantial progress on each. The most visible is all the street construction. Implemented bond projects, and water system improvements that have stabilized our system. We are addressing wastewater needs. We will remain focused on these. Infrastructure needs are a challenge, considering our financial capacity, but will continue to seek funds to meet these challenges and other priorities such as: police, fire, parks, libraries, pools, and senior centers to mention a few. However, there is no magic money. I believe our law enforcement organizations are doing a good job.
Using a scale of poor, below average, average, above average, or excellent, please explain your response to the question, "How would you rate the capability of Nueces County to provide water for drinking, irrigation, and industry in the next 20 years?"
Excellent. Currently we have plenty of water. Working with industrial, large water users we have adopted an ordinance to ensure a water supply that won't be curtailed in drought conditions, maintaining critical jobs. We've embarked on siting and permitting one or more seawater desal plants, seeking proposals for other sources. It provides funds for a new supply without impacting the rates of other customers. It's a regional approach with Port Industries, San Patricio Water District, CCREDC and the Port. It's our future!Desalination is no longer "being studied", it's something we are DOING!
Michael Hall
Describe your credentials and life experiences that qualify you to hold this office.
I hold a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master's degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering - both from Purdue University. I am a licensed Professional Engineer in Texas (#129312) and a Project Management Professional. I spent the last few years as the Chief Technology Officer of a company with roughly fifty employees. I'm currently an engineering consultant and perform project management for petro-chemical plants. I bring an unbiased and objective outlook to our city's problems and am the only candidate with the technical competence to solve the issues the city faces
In your opinion, what are the most important duties of a Mayor?
The most important duty of our Mayor is to make sure the city is spending the appropriate amount of time, money and energy on city issues. Our mayor should be able to talk to the city manager and understand the issues the city is facing so that he or she can ensure we are taking appropriate action towards an issue. The mayor and city council need to be able to hold the city manager accountable for their actions. If the mayor has no technical background, it could be very challenging to determine if the city manager is doing his or her job correctly.
What are the three (3) most important challenges facing our city and how would you address them?
1. Infrastructure, as defined by our roads, water and emergency services All of these projects are heavily underfunded due to previous city council cuts. This has led to drastic times for our roads, water and emergency services. I want to make sure we are spending our money appropriately by adding: 2. Accountability Our city government needs to be accountable for their actions. I want to perform an audit to ensure our money is being spent in the most appropriate way possible and communicate that to the public. Once these issues are solved we can finally focus on: 3. Growth My main focus as mayor will be to improve our infrastructure. Our fire and police haven't received general fund increases that allow them to hire more firefighters or police officers while at the same time the city has grown. This has caused an effective decrease in our emergency services ability to perform their job duty.
Using a scale of poor, below average, average, above average, or excellent, please explain your response to the question, "How would you rate the capability of Nueces County to provide water for drinking, irrigation, and industry in the next 20 years?"
Below average. The rate of commercial expansion of the city has been tremendous. We have a plethora of refineries located here and they consume a massive amount of water. We need to make sure that we are providing alternative sources of water for our city and businesses that are capable of expanding in capacity to meet our future growth needs. Desalination is one of the options available that would allow us to scale and build for future growth and is worth looking into. These are very technical problems that will require a city council with a strong technical acumen so that we can make the proper choice.
Ray Madrigal de Pancho Villa
Describe your credentials and life experiences that qualify you to hold this office.
Credentials:
a. Veteran of the US Army
b. Former Judge of Seadrift, Texas
c. Graduate of Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, Del Mar College and Leadership Corpus Christi
d. Businessman in Corpus Christi for over 50 years
e. Served on many boards and commissions for city of Corpus Christi
In your opinion, what are the most important duties of a Mayor?
The most important duty of the Mayor is to have harmony with the council and guide them in a positive manner for improvements for all citizens plus solving the utilities billing problem with this new system.
What are the three (3) most important challenges facing our city and how would you address them?
Challenges:
The 3 most important challenges facing our city are a. utility system billing system, repairing our streets, and cleaning our beaches.
a.1 go back to old billing system while corrections are made new system b.1. repair all streets in Corpus Christi
Using a scale of poor, below average, average, above average, or excellent, please explain your response to the question, "How would you rate the capability of Nueces County to provide water for drinking, irrigation, and industry in the next 20 years?"
The future of Corpus Christi looks bright and we will double in size in the next 20 years, we need to have a good working relation with industry to build a desalinization plant in Corpus Christi where we would never run out of water supplied.
Dan McQueen
Describe your credentials and life experiences that qualify you to hold this office.
Master Degree, Boston University, CIS/PM Bachelor Degree, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, PM Degree Programs: Florida State College, ECPI & CIE Military, Advanced Aircraft Electronics System, NAVY Special Ops SAR, Avionics Systems, Flight Training, Leadership Training. CEO, McQueen Innovative Transport –Personal VTOL and UAV system. The advanced transportation, navigation system and businesses can accelerate the entire city. McQueenmotorcycle.com Flying MotorCycle. CTO of AeroTDE' Aircraft Engineering Consulting. Sr Electrical Engineer CCAD. RAS Black Belt, UTC ACE, other Y, SA, B&G
In your opinion, what are the most important duties of a Mayor?
The major focus for the Mayor of any city is to create a vision and direction that supports the growth of the residents and businesses of a city. This growth is the foundation for revenue that provides the safety, quality of life, developmental services and governmental processes that enhance city and community. Current Corpus Christi government is managed by City Managers and should transition to Mayor leadership.
What are the three (3) most important challenges facing our city and how would you address them?
Security – Economics – Decay. The current business model for the city is dividing into many sections, however it is not diversified. Single points of business keep the city repressed and doesn't provide for a balanced revenue generation process. Targets on cyclical business, tourist, have overshadowed the real opportunity in the city. Stop the Fake News Smears and Slander of the City. This Crime issue is a direct reflection from the poverty, gang, drug and illegal immigration problem related to the fight for the Texas boarder and political direction. It is unfortunate that crime is an actual economic model in Corpus Christi, simply because of the lack of opportunity
Using a scale of poor, below average, average, above average, or excellent, please explain your response to the question, "How would you rate the capability of Nueces County to provide water for drinking, irrigation, and industry in the next 20 years?"
Below average. The diversification of businesses is required that could mitigate the continued increase requirement of water and expansion of alternative water programs. In addition, water management processes need to be implemented to impact the waste of our current water reserves. This requires a comprehensive look at the VISION and Direction of Corpus Christi and currently there are too many people that are steering the ship for their own return on investment.
Aislynn Campbell
Describe your credentials and life experiences that qualify you to hold this office.
Born, raised and educated here, I created GROW Local South Texas, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, to address our systemic community health issues and incubate small agricultural businesses. Working with all levels of city government we've created a top 4 Texas farmers' market and I now travel across Texas, teaching how we've accomplished so much, so quickly, in an area resistant to forward-thinking innovation.
In your opinion, what are the most important duties of a Mayor?
We require a mayor that will change 'the way we've always done it' since it's not working. We will not solve our issues until we finally address and solve our foundational, systemic issues. To follow the ethical and legal boundaries of our chartered "Council Manager Government" holding the City Manager accountable for city management. Policy leadership with a long term, sustainable vision while solving today's many burning fires of neglect. A vital voice and proud ambassador for all citizens that is willing to take responsibility for mistakes, show all citizens respect and produce quick wins and creative solutions with low or no-cost quality of life improvements. Our city deserves some wins while we carry the heavy weight that 40 years of neglect and malaise has left us with.
What are the three (3) most important challenges facing our city and how would you address them?
1) No real, sustainable options to pay for our basic city services (including public safety) aside from tax increases and massive debt
2) The added burden of managing and paying for 40 years of infrastructure neglect 3) A community influenced by 40 years of stagnant apathy leading to lack of city pride, community responsibility and a general loss of respect and trust across the board. The only solution to these challenges is managing our strained budget to the penny while purposefully, aggressively growing our tax base so that we receive our share of the success that is roaring across Texas. CCPD (and CCFD) are understaffed, underfunded and overworked. Every study and state rank comparison confirms this.
Using a scale of poor, below average, average, above average, or excellent, please explain your response to the question, "How would you rate the capability of Nueces County to provide water for drinking, irrigation, and industry in the next 20 years?"
Above average. Corpus Christi has been the envy of the state for water planning for a long time. The Coastal Bend Regional Water Planning Area Water Plan reports that we can provide water for the above criteria for approximately 32 years. Nevertheless, we should always proactively secure future water supply especially if, under my leadership, we become more aggressive about tax base growth. I would follow our traditional policy of working on multiple options picking the least expensive that provides the water we need. We have to have abundant AND affordable water for our citizens and industry.
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