FARMERS BRANCH ~ After 12 years of dedicated service, Ben Robinson has retired from the Farmers Branch City Council, but not before offering some observations on the City he has served and loved:

BEN ON POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS:

   Dee Phelps recruited me and my wife to work on Bob Phelps's first mayoral campaign.  He won by a landslide of 17 votes.  My interest in city service was initiated with that race because there were discussions and written campaign literature about the city and what the candidates thought should be done to improve the city.

BEN ON DART:

   My final motivation to become more involved in the city politics was the discussion surrounding the DART Area.   Just before I became involved in city policies, the Council (at the time) purchased the Word of Faith property and there was a great deal of discussion about what could happen in our city once the DART train received US Government funding.

   Everyone agreed that the DART train would be a game changer for our city.   There were, of course, many delays and lots of second-guessing as to whether the train would ever be approved.  But, the City Councils always believed that financing would be approved and that the 1 percent DART sales tax being paid by our citizens would (eventually) bear fruit. There was pressure to make something happen, so we attempted at least three times to romance developers into initiating development in the DART area in advance of the train's arrival. None of the three were willing to be a DART area pioneer. We accepted the fact that we had to have patience and let the train become a reality and then the market forces would be in our favor.  The rest is history.

BEN ON CITY FACILITIES & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:

   I am certainly proud of the Recreation Center, Animal Adoption Center, Walmart (Neighborhood Market) and all that has taken place on that Southeast corner of Josey and Valley View. However, what is more important than the brick and mortar projects are the Council actions that have concentrated on the improvements in the city's Police presence and Fire Department facilities and operations.   Our citizens' primary interest in city government revolves around Police and Fire protection, Utilities, Parks and affordable taxes.  The remaining small interest group issues brought to Council are minor in comparison.

Animal Adoption Center

   A major policy change did occur about five years ago as an outcome of a Council retreat.  Our city was not competitive in efforts to attract businesses.  Frisco, for example, was using a 1 percent sales tax to generate an economic development fund while the same 1 percent Farmers Branch was collecting was going to DART.  At the retreat, we directed the staff to start a Farmers Branch Economic Development Fund with an initial $500,000 deposit.  With the purchase and subsequent sale of dangerous properties that fund now has a balance of $3 million.  We are now a fierce competitor with other cities in attracting businesses to our city.  Business growth is of paramount importance in keeping our residential taxes affordable. 

BEN ON THE ECONOMY:

City Hall

   There are two things that have happened that I believe are remarkable accomplishments.   One is the manner in which the city was managed in a very tough economic downturn coupled with large legal fees from the illegal immigration action.  Basic city services were not impacted.  We saw some of our sister cities close swimming pools, lower their park maintenance standards and other steps to weather the downturn.   Our Council and the city administration did a superb financial management job.

BEN ON CITY SYNERGY & OUTSOURCING:

   The second remarkable accomplishment is bringing free enterprise into the mix of running certain city operations and consolidating multi-city similar operations into a single source that serves all.  I was on vacation during the time we were in the economic slowdown and reading the local newspaper in Colorado Springs, wherein the city was lamenting the fact that they were going to reduce maintenance of their parks.  In that same paper was an article about a city in Georgia that had just incorporated and had all the city obligations immediately without initial tax revenues.   They, out of necessity, sought out private enterprise to fill their staffing void.  It worked well for them and the consultant who worked with them wrote a book about the experience which I immediately ordered. The Georgia city explored one other avenue and that was the combining with sister cities certain tasks that could be performed for all of them from a single source.   

Manske Library

   I brought this idea to Council and staff ran with the idea and the library was turned over to a for-profit private company and the next step taken was to seek for-profit companies to handle the household waste collection effort.   In the process millions of taxpayers' dollars have been saved and service has not been reduced and in the library case, I believe the library service and appearance has been improved.  We are now seeing a consolidation of efforts with our sister cities with the (public safety) call center that will be in operation this year and the creation of a fire training site on our firehouse site that will be used and supported by us and our sister cities.  

   Actions such as this and others that are smaller in nature demonstrate the excellent attitude and professional manner in which the Council and city staff manages our city with the purpose of being financially responsible to the citizens.

BEN ON TAX BASE:

   Farmers Branch is the envy of cities around us because of the work Council and staff has done to attract and retain businesses in our city.  The result is a lessening of the tax burden on our 28,000 inhabitants because of the large percent of our tax base coming from businesses and, most important, increased sales tax revenues. 

BEN ON RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT:

   If the city maintains an even higher percent of property tax from business, the city can devote more funding to re-development of the older inner city.  Farmers Branch, with redevelopment focus on the residential property east of I-35E and west of Midway Road, and by virtue of its central location, can become a premier North Texas residential neighborhood.  Our Councils for as many years as I can remember have taken pride in the fact that our city services are superior to other cities and city service fees and taxes are less than that in neighboring cities.  I urge future councils to continue that tradition and Farmers Branch property values will reach new heights.

BEN ON LEAVING OFFICE:

   As I leave office I wish to thank the citizens for allowing me to serve them for 12 years and also thank the city staff for assistance in reacting to my requests for background information and responding quickly to citizen concerns.