A look back at my first seven months on Council
Seven months ago, I was sworn in as your Place 1 council member.
At the time, I said I would show up, put in the work, use data to inform decisions, explain my votes, and not hide behind the dais.
I recognize that most residents cannot sit through multiple 3+ hour council meetings each month just to figure out what is happening in their city. So I have tried to use council recaps and issue-specific posts to explain what is in front of us, where I stand, and what I think residents should be paying attention to.
Here is some of what that has looked like since November:
- Requesting a standalone zoning amendment for data centers, since Pflugerville currently has no specific regulations for them, instead of waiting years for the full development code rewrite.
- Advocating for and helping scope a new utility rate study, including a direct ask to rethink how our water and wastewater fees are structured for affordability.
- Proposing a city charter amendment requiring AI, surveillance, and civil liberties policies and oversight. The Charter Review Commission approved the proposal, meaning voters will see it on this November’s ballot.
- Writing and pushing for those AI and surveillance policies now, rather than waiting for a charter amendment to require them. The latest version went to the City Attorney last week.
- Pushing for a more data-driven approach to economic development, where we measure outcomes like jobs created, tax base added, and return on public investment, not just meetings held or leads generated.
- Reviewing the current EMS contract, response-time requirements, compliance history, and the documentation needed to fix the parts that are not working.
- Co-authoring a Code of Ethics ordinance with Councilmember Rogers that would strengthen the rules for Pflugerville’s elected and appointed officials beyond what state law already requires.
- Plenty of other issues and decisions along the way of course!
A lot of this is still in progress. Some of it has not taken effect yet. That can be frustrating sometimes, but it is also how much of local government work gets done. You identify the problem, build the record, write the policy, ask the uncomfortable questions, and keep pushing until there is either a better answer or a public vote.
I am already seeing some of that shift in the proposals that come forward from city staff and the questions being asked before they get to Council. More data. Clearer tradeoffs. More attention to long-term consequences. That is not the same thing as a finished result, but it is progress.
None of this happens by working alone. I try to work across the dais with my colleagues whenever possible, and I am proud to have partnered with nearly everyone on Council on at least one project already. I will also continue to disagree when I think a proposal needs more work, more transparency, or a clearer explanation to the public.
I also want to keep making it easier for residents to ask their elected officials questions. Councilmember Melody Ryan and I have another virtual Town Hall coming up this Wednesday, July 8. I’ll share the details separately, but the goal is the same: make local government easier to follow, easier to question, and harder to ignore.
Pflugerville’s future will be shaped by decisions that seem boring in the moment but matter for years: how a water bill is structured, whether a fourplex is legal to build, how we govern surveillance technology, whether growth pays for the infrastructure it requires, and whether economic development produces results residents can actually see.
That is the work. I intend to keep doing it, keep explaining it, and keep listening when residents tell me where we need to do better.
