With just over a week remaining until the Tomball City Council special election, the two candidates in the running for Position 5, Preston Dodson and Judith Wilson, are working to get their messages out to potential voters in order to earn the nod for the vacancy.

Last week, Wilson and Dodson discussed a few hot-button items that the city is currently facing, including how best to proceed with the city’s much-debated day labor site.

Dodson (left) is in favor of the city retaining the site and renewing the lease with the property’s owners in order to keep day laborers off the streets.

“I would like to know from the council members why they think the city should not retain it,” he said. “I have not heard any explanations why they should not retain it. I know several do not like it, but I think we need to retain it exactly as it is and where it is.”

Wilson, in an e-mail response to the Tribune, called the debate on the site a “political football” and questioned the timing of the matter as election season nears.

“The site was provided ten years ago and has been operating on a month-to-month agreement for the last three years,” she said. “I have not heard anyone suggest that it be closed, so what is the urgency to resolve a matter that is not a problem?”

Wilson also is concerned about the details of a proposed lease and said that without another plan, “the site needs to remain open.”

When asked what she would accomplish should she be elected, Wilson, who opposed Gretchen Fagan for the city’s mayor position in May and was defeated, is hoping for “a balance of City Council representatives who work together with the citizens and city staff members for the good of Tomball.”

“I would represent all citizens, not just those who agree with my views and would watch the bottom line on all money matters that impact the people,” Wilson said.

Dodson stressed the importance of bringing new businesses to Tomball.

“We need it (new business) desperately,” he said. “We need to increase the sales tax revenue and the decline in property tax revenue is not going to make up what we need. New businesses are an absolute necessity.”

Dodson said he would like to see the city “seek out and advertise” the attractiveness of the Tomball community to potential businesses.

Both candidates addressed areas the city could potentially improve upon, with Dodson citing a need for the city’s code enforcement department to “pay very attention to what’s going on.”

He suggested that Tomball residents focus more on cleaning up their property in order to “brighten up Tomball,” while adding that the city should also examine its zoning and parking requirements in order to bring new businesses into the downtown area.

Wilson (left) believes the city “should change its focus from the Depot area to other areas of downtown.”

She would like to see the city’s Hotel Occupancy Tax money be spent on other areas or organizations of downtown “to make similar improvements throughout our business district,” such as the Spring Creek Historical Society, the Tomball Community Chorus and the Chaparral Genealogical Library.

One of the issues Dodson and Wilson disagree on is how or if to proceed with infrastructure projects such as the Brown Road Extension.

With the city currently in the budgeting process for its next fiscal year, projects such as improvements to Rudolph Road and extending Brown Road east to Hufsmith Kohrville are being discussed.

“I am opposed to a budget that continues to spend millions o projects such as Quinn Road sidewalks, Rudolph Road improvements and the Brown Road extension,” Wilson said.

Dodson, however, is in favor of the Brown Road extension, as well as an increased focus on residential development.

It’s still unclear what the city’s tax rate will be next year, but some city administrators, as well as Mayor Gretchen Fagan, have said in the past that an increase in sales tax may be needed in order to retain the level of city services the citizens of Tomball are used to.

“Sales tax revenues are declining,” Dodson said, “and we’ve not had a tax increase in a number of years. The community is going to have a decision, whether it’s more important to put in the infrastructure, like extend Brown Road, finish drainage and alleviate flooding, if that’s more important than keeping taxes where they are right now.”

Wilson called projections of a tax increase a “fear tactic” and believes the city is not in jeopardy of reducing its “present level of service without a tax increase.”

“That rumor is simply a fear tactic being used to enable the city to push through a $.17 or $.18 property tax increase while continuing to spend our reserves down to the minimum level required by our City Charter,” she said.

“In fact, the city brings in almost as much in franchise taxes as in property taxes,” she said.

Position 5 became vacant in late June after longtime city councilman Warren Driver resigned following the sale of his Tomball home.

The election is scheduled for Aug. 14, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Early voting will run from Aug. 2 to 10. For more information about the special election, including early voting dates and time, and candidate filings, visit tomballtx.com.

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