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Evans steps down from Mayor’s seat
By Kim Nguyen, Staff writer
After her seven-year run as Plano’s mayor, Pat Evans stepped aside Monday evening to let Mayor-elect Phil Dyer take the post.
“Phil will be a fantastic mayor,” she said. “Of course, he’ll have his own direction to take, but he has the good of the city in focus, and I look forward to him doing a great job.”
Evans, along with Place 2 and Place 4 incumbents Scott Johnson and Sally Magnuson, have reached term limits after serving on the council for three terms. Ben Harris and Lissa Smith were voted to take Johnson’s and Magnuson’s respective places on council. Under the leadership of Dyer, the new council’s first meeting will be May 26.
“There will be a lot of challenges, especially in these times,” she said. “But I know they’ll all do a great job.”
The biggest challenge is tackling the multi-million dollar budget deficit. In March, the city’s budget and research department estimated that the deficit for the 2009-2010 fiscal year will be $13.5 million. According to the same projections, the deficit increases to $32.5 million for 2010-2011 and falls slightly to $31.1 million in 2011-2012.
The previous council began the daunting process of identifying cuts and looking for ways to operate the city on a smaller budget.
“Plano is viewed as a wealthy city, but the city government has always operated in a very lean manner to keep the lowest tax rates and high quality of life,” Evans said. “The new council must maintain that lean spending and will have to make a lot of cuts without sacrificing the things that makes Plano an outstanding city to live.”
Along the roller coaster ride that is city government, Evans said she is glad to have ended her time in office on a high point.
When asked about her accomplishments as mayor, Evans consulted a list.
“A lot of people have been asking me lately, so I figured I’d write them all down,” she explained.
One accomplishment she said she was most proud of was the formation of the Economic Development Fund, where 2 cents from every dollar the city raises in sales tax are set aside to use as incentives to bring businesses into the Plano community.
“That has been a huge development for Plano because we had no money to use as incentives,” she said. “There was a loophole in the legislature that allowed for Frisco, McKinney and Allen to take advantage of Plano’s commitment to DART.”
Evans said under the Economic Development Sales Tax, a small city would receive 2 cents from the state’s sales tax, half of which is dedicated to the city’s general operating fund.
“It was a huge disadvantage to us because, with 1 cent dedicated to DART, we couldn’t compete,” she said.
To counter, the Plano City Council voted in 2006 to raise its property tax rate by 2 cents, which goes toward the Economic Development Fund.
“It was tough because we had to raise taxes to allow for the Fund, but it was worth it in the end,” she said. “But over the last two and a half years, we’ve been able to bring a lot of big companies to Plano, which brought more than 5,000 jobs with an average salary of $75,000 and more than $225 million in investments.”
“I’d say that was a success,” she said.
Another success Evans pointed out was how the city has embraced its growing diverse population. Evans spearheaded the formation of the Multicultural Outreach Roundtable (MCOR) in November 2002 to seek input and recommendations to the city council on different methods, practices and programs that the city can offer to effectively serve the entire community and meet the objectives of local government.
“Even back then, we realized the city is changing so much because of increased diversity,” she said.
The council solicited recommendations from the different cultural groups and organizations in Plano, and each group wanted its own individual program or identification.
“But we couldn’t do it that way because that would push everyone out further from each other,” Evans said. “I wanted to institute one place for everyone to get together and get an enhanced experience in Plano.”
For starters, Evans and MCOR volunteers built upon one of the common denominators across all cultures: games and recreation.
“My experiment really turned out well because so many things have spun off of this one idea,” she said. “For instance, Plano is now known as the cricket capital of North America. Plano hosts an annual tournament that attracts people from all over the world.”
Evans also noted that the community has a growing interest in table tennis and the city has since become host to the annual World Peace Table Tennis tournament.
The success of the MCOR start-up can be attributed to the all-volunteer staff that serves as liaison to the city council.
“It [an all-volunteer staff] had to work out that way,” she said. “Making appointments doesn’t really instill the spirit I was looking for. Giving them the option opens the possibility and it’s really grown wonderfully.”
Since the group’s inception, Evans said she’s seen an increased number of citizens making the push to train to be more active in city government and members of the city’s boards and commissions.
Evans also mentioned a few other notable accomplishments, including Plano’s response to and welcoming of evacuees from hurricanes Katrina and Rita; Plano’s role in bringing the Arts of Collin County performing hall and arts park n or rather, the “three-city performing arts center,” she said n to the area; the city’s efforts to go green and be more environmentally friendly; and bringing red light cameras to the city.
Her time on the council has been a relative success, with many items on her “To Do List” completed. Except for one project.
“I’ve always wanted to make changes to the Collin Creek Mall,” she said. “We’ve worked and worked, but it kept eluding us all these years.”
Evans hopes that the new council will continue to work toward revitalizing the shopping complex.
“I’d really like to see the creek get dug up and that area be transformed into a multi-use complex,” she said, alluding to the design of the Watters Creek at Montgomery Farm in Allen. “It could be a wonderful city center because of its great location and proximity to Downtown Plano.”
Now that she has some free time, Evans said she is not sure of what path to take after her mayor’s terms ended, but is positive that she will continue to serve the community and continue her activism toward the arts hall project.
“I’m waiting for inspiration to strike,” she said.
Contact Kim Nguyen at knguyen@acnpapers.com
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
Bigot Finder wrote on May 28, 2009 10:14 AM:
" Hello Taxpayer.
Only a bigot would be critical of an outreach program that invite different cultures that are part of the citizenry of this city to participate in the volunteer opportunities. What is it that you want credit for? "
Only a bigot would be critical of an outreach program that invite different cultures that are part of the citizenry of this city to participate in the volunteer opportunities. What is it that you want credit for? "
Taxpayer wrote on Jun 1, 2009 7:57 AM:
" It is not being a bigot to wish that all boards and commissions of the City of Plano have the same opportunity. Much of the MCOR is run out of city management office, high visibility of the former Mayor Evans. Others do without this support and it reflect on the very living conditions of citizens of Pllano, such as Senior Citizens.
Who is the bigot now if you dont want what is best for all citizens of Plano?
Shame on you! "
Who is the bigot now if you dont want what is best for all citizens of Plano?
Shame on you! "
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boards & commission that dont receive this most favored status like the MCOR,
they even started with their own checking account unlike others. It is unfair to other citizens that choose to try and make a difference in their city. The city is pouring dollars down this hole while ignoring other needy Boards and their needs. But then that is just a reflection of this administration! "