Ensuring Georgetown’s Future
1. What has been your most significant accomplishment while on City Council?
I believe my most significant accomplishment has been working on ensuring that Georgetown residents have the potable water they need for daily life. As chairman of the Georgetown Water Utility Board and working with City staff and fellow council members, we have signed two water reservation agreements with water supply companies EPCOR and Gatehouse Water LLC. These agreements will provide additional water by 2030 when we have built the infrastructure to bring the water into the city. The South Lake Treatment Plant will be completed this year, bringing 30% more water treatment capacity, and in 2024, the expansion of the North Lake Treatment Plan was completed, increasing its capacity for city use by 30%. Georgetown is not alone in facing the challenge of supplying potable water to its residents. Many cities are faced with growing populations, climate change that is bringing more drought, and building required infrastructure to deliver the water to homes and businesses. I assure our residents that the City is strategically planning for now and for the future so that at no time will we lack safe water for our daily lives.
2. What differentiates you from the other candidate and what makes you a good representative for Georgetown?
One of the key things that sets me apart from my opponent is my longevity within the City. I’ve lived here 16 years, and have lived in Texas more than 40 years. I understand the culture of the City and the state. I’ve spent my entire 16 years here in Georgetown in service to the City with organizations, committees, task forces and boards. My experience in strategic planning and policy encompasses water, education, budgeting, fundraising, communications, roadways and mobility, nonprofit organizations, business and economic growth, and ethical leadership.
3. What key issues have been/will be your main focus, and why are they important to you?
I believe we have four key issues that are critical to maintaining our culture and way of life as we’ve come to enjoy them. (1) long-range water planning, (2) managing rapid growth, (3) public safety, and (4) mobility and transportation. We are addressing our water planning as I mentioned above. Managing rapid growth will require strategic foresight balanced with what the City legally can and cannot do. One of the things we cannot do is tell a property owner what he or she can do with their property as long as what they use it for is legal and fully permitted. I know that residents don’t want more car washes, nail salons, storage facilities, etc. but the City cannot tell a property owner ‘no.’ We’d be taken to court. I will continue to support our police, fire and EMS by ensuring these agencies have adequate funding to do their jobs. Related to transportation, we are continually evaluating what is needed. Through our last bond election, we are widening important roadways to support more traffic, and our Future Mobility Plan, approved in December 2023 will guide future roadway improvements and construction of new facilities.
4. What is the biggest challenge facing Georgetown and what solutions do you propose?
There is more than one big challenge facing Georgetown and certainly water is No. 1. In working with the mayor and city manager and water utility staff we are addressing the need for additional water through the water service agreements that we have already signed. And we are turning our attention to future infrastructure needs to deliver this water to our residents. We are also working closely with the County and Texas Department of Transportation to continually evaluate needed roadways in keeping with our Georgetown Future Mobility Plan approved in December 2023. It’s critical that we align our mobility plans with the City’s Future Land Use Plan and Sidewalk Masterplan to ensure that all three plans work together and share the same vision. These three plans are integral parts of our plans to balance growth while preserving Georgetown’s small-town charm. Balancing growth takes a thoughtful mix of strategic and smart urban planning, transportation and mobility planning, utilities management, and community engagement. And finally, to keep Georgetown’s position as generally being a safe city, I will work to ensure we have adequate funding to hire more police and fire officers, and ensure they have the best equipment and facilities to provide the best services possible to our residents.
Ron began his vision of service to the City of Georgetown using his foundation of a 39-year career in Scouting America (formerly Boys Scouts). He earned his Eagle Scout rank at the age of 17 and has brought the core values of the Boy Scouts to all his service endeavors to the City: to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. For 16 years he has been involved in a wide variety of Georgetown community organizations, committees, task forces and public policy work both in Georgetown and in Sun City. He has immersed himself in Georgetown’s culture and wants to continue to be part of the City helping to strategically manage its growth while keeping its small-town charm. In addition to being a current member of the City Council and the Water Utility Board, he is the Georgetown Representative on the Capital Area Council of Governments, a member of the Rotary Club of Georgetown; a member of the executive committee of the Capitol Area Council of Scouting America; and a member of the Founders Group of the YMCA. In the past he was a member of the Georgetown Independent Schools District Bond PAC; Chairman, Georgetown Mobility Coalition; Board of Directors, Georgetown Chamber of Commerce; and member, Ethics Commission. His service to Sun City has been as chairman of the Expansion Task Force, Finance Committee and Property and Ground Committee.