Mineral Wells Area News

By Gary Norman / Special to Mineral Wells Area News

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Newly appointed Mineral Wells, Texas City Manager Jason Weeks is an expressive man. As he leaned slightly back in his chair and commented on his background, philosophy of work, and eye towards Mineral Wells’ future, he used his hands to accentuate and reinforce the points he made regarding his career path, the influences that brought him to Mineral Wells, and the challenges and opportunities currently facing the city.

Early Influences

Born in Mobile, Alabama, his family relocated soon afterwards to Greenville, Texas where he grew up and attended high school. His first job was walking an early morning route delivering the local newspaper where he made it a point to porch every paper rather than to just toss it into the yard. He credits his grandfather for instilling in him that spirit of customer service at an early age.

Jason commented, “My grandfather taught me you go above and beyond and do something that’s different.”

He put that early influence to good use when later he had a summer lawn mowing business where his grandfather would take him around to service his customers. To go above and beyond, he made it a point to bag the clippings from his mowing and sweeping and take them with him rather than leave them at the client’s house.

Early Career Experience

Later, when he got into high school, he needed a job and knew the local funeral director, so at age sixteen he spent every other night and every other weekend at the funeral home where he mowed the yard, cleaned the facility, worked visitations, and did night calls with the director. After graduating high school through a program that allowed him to work half a day and attend school half a day, he attended Dallas Institute of Funeral Service where he graduated and became a licensed funeral director and embalmer.

After working in the funeral industry, Jason decided to return to school and pursue a career whose work schedule would better align with his growing family’s schedule. He worked out a plan with the funeral home that would allow him to continue working while he attended East Texas State University, (now East Texas A&M University) where he earned a degree in Accounting.

First Steps in Government

Jason received his first taste of government when, upon graduation, he went to work for a local CPA firm in Greenville where he was tasked with auditing the financial documents of counties and municipalities.

Jason explained, “I really liked governmental accounting and one of the partners there mentored me and taught me about governmental accounting and he was very good about teaching and coaching. I really appreciated that.”

Later, a Deputy Finance Director’s job came open in Greenville, at a considerable raise in pay, so Jason applied for it, was awarded the job, and entered directly into local government service. Jason was there less than two years before the City went through some financial difficulties.

He commented, “A lot of people asked how I learned to be a city manager. I learned to be a city manager from bad city managers.”

Career Growth Through Texas Cities

From there, Jason went to work for the growing City of McKinney, Texas as a senior accountant. Within three months he was promoted to Budget Manager and within the first year was promoted again to become the Assistant Finance Director. He also got his first taste of what it is like to work through the challenges of a rapidly growing city.

Jason explained, “When I started the population was 50,000 and when I left the population was 120,000.”

Afterwards, Jason took another upward step in his career when he moved to work for the City of Oak Point, Texas, as the Finance Director. After two years, Jason moved to the larger Town of Fairview, Texas again as the Chief Financial Officer.

He commented, “They didn’t have an executive finance person there. They had somebody doing accounts payable and payroll and that was it. The auditors would do everything and their budget was not really structured. I created the finance function, totally converted everything, and made it very easy to understand finance there.”

Transition to City Management

With the Town of Fairview, Jason’s career began to grow beyond finance when he was given responsibility for utility billing, municipal court and the solid waste management contract. It sparked an interest and while attending some continuing education courses, he decided he wanted to be in city management. He spoke with the Town Manager of Fairview regarding a career change, and she explained to him while Fairview was too small for an Assistant Town Manager, she would do everything she could to prepare him to go out and find an assistant city manager role.

Jason then began working on his master’s degree in public administration, which he received from the University of Texas at Arlington, and in late 2107 he made the transition from being a department director of finance to city management when the City of La Porte hired him as their Assistant City Manager. In that role, he was responsible for the Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), the Office of Emergency Management, Human Resources, Information Technology, the Office of Economic Development, and the municipally owned golf course.

Move to Navasota

As busy as he was and as much as he enjoyed the challenge of the job, Jason missed the DFW Metroplex. However, he had promised his wife they would stay in La Porte for at least four years to allow time for their son to graduate from high school. Once their son began attending Texas A&M University, Jason was ready for his next move.

During a drive up to visit their son in College Station, they stopped at a coffee shop in Navasota, Texas where his wife noted that she really liked the downtown area and asked whether he would want to be city management there. Jason commented, “I told her Brad Stafford had been the City Manager there for years and he certainly wasn’t going anywhere. She then picked up the local paper and it read he was retiring. She looked at me and asked, ‘You’re applying here, right?’ It wasn’t a question; it was a statement. The next thing you know, I went through the hiring process and started in January of ’22.”

Planning for Growth

Once he started the job, Jason noted that while they (the City of Navasota) had done a great job of managing what was currently happening, there had not been a lot of focus on what was to come.

He stated, “Ideally, you’re trying to plan for what is five to ten years out and that hadn’t happened, so I started having to plan for today and what was in the future. There wasn’t a lot of thought as to the growth that was coming up the Aggie Freeway. That growth was coming up and we heard of all the developments that were on their way up this way. Well, we didn’t have enough water connections for the water tower to support what TCEQ requires, we had to immediately start thinking about what we needed, an elevated storage tank, we need this, we need that.”

To facilitate the planning and financing for the management of the expected growth, Jason took advantage of both his financial and city management experiences and established a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone to spur the development and worked out with a developer to donate two acres of land for a water tower in lieu of paying development fees. Further, instead of opting for a water tower that would only handle the current needs, Jason made sure the tower was upsized to be able to handle the upcoming growth. They also planned to build a new water plant and began providing gas services to the area where the development was to occur. Outside of the City, in the City’s industrial district, he worked to update and reauthorize the local industrial districts where developers would pay a fee in lieu of tax and could be scheduled for annexation had no agreement been reached. He also worked to update the natural gas supply agreements with the City’s industrial customers to increase their price to be comparable with the City’s residential customers. This reversed a situation where, over time, the local residential customers were in effect subsidizing the natural gas rates of the local industrial customers. Jason went on to comment, “Bringing all that forward, we put the City in a lot better perspective of growth.”

Management Philosophy

Moving forward in the discussion of Jason’s philosophy of city management, he commented, “Some of the things you will hear from me while I am here, is I try to find win-win solutions. I try to find a yes when in when their only answer is a no. I want to make sure that developers understand that we have priorities to our residents and our community. A developer comes in and develops the community and they make money off it, and they leave and don’t care. So, they have to understand where we are coming from, and I already understand where they are coming from. They are all about the money and, as long as we can find a win-win in what they are trying to do, that is ideal.”

Focus on Communication

Jason went further to describe how he plans to interact with the community. He stated, “The other piece is I am huge on communication; I am huge on transparency.” In proof, one of Jason’s first hires was Brittany Brown, previously the City’s Main Street Manager, as the new Communications Manager. This new position will be part of the executive management team and report directly to Jason. He went on to state, “She needs to be tied to my hip. Anything that comes out, whether it is positive or negative, she needs to be first in line to get that narrative out. The City has not had that here; the City has not told their story. They have allowed the nay-sayers to tell the narrative whether it is right or wrong. We want to make sure we have someone who will tell the story and, whether it is good or bad, it is still our story.”

Why Mineral Wells

When asked what he found attractive about the City Manager role in Mineral Wells, Jason responded, “I like the mountains, I like small towns. I lived a lot of my life on the east side of Dallas. The west side of the Dallas area is a lot different. It feels more country, it feels more laid back, I would say it feels more like home, even though Greenville is still my home. And I love when you have a downtown that is thriving. You can spend a whole Saturday and Sunday downtown. The scenery is amazing. I can look out of my front porch right now and see the ‘Welcome’ sign. That is cool, that is cool to me.”

City Strengths and Plans

Jason sees several strengths in Mineral Wells. He pointed to the completion of the comprehensive plan and parks plan as positives for the community. He also pointed to the in-progress status of the zoning ordinance and drainage plans as steps in the right direction. He stated. “People always say that’s bad, you do these plans and they just sit up on a shelf. But no, what that leads you to is when developments come, now you are ready. It also aids you that now when you have all that, you can put all those pieces together and put together a capital improvements plan. Having all the pieces to the puzzle allows us to start working toward a ten-year capital improvements plan. Most people go five, but I want to go ten.”

Infrastructure Challenges

Jason is aware of the challenges facing Mineral Wells, including the condition of streets, public safety matters, and water supply issues. With regard to streets, Jason commented, “Unfortunately, every city you go to has issues with streets. I drive an ’82 El Camino. If I can’t drive it down the street, we probably have an issue, and that’s most of the streets here. Unfortunately, that is not that uncommon for a lot of cities because the cost of materials now to be able to do any project, whether you are building a house or doing a major project for a city, has increased. My understanding from the last presentation the staff did is we barely get a mile out of $100,000. Looking at planning for street improvements, Jason stated, “Yes, streets need to be addressed, but I don’t think we have even done an analysis of prioritizing the streets. That’s something we really need to get done, first identifying the streets that need to get done first and then coming up with a plan about what we can do.”

Public Safety Priorities

Jason had additional insight into the Fire, Police, and EMS challenges facing the city. He went on to explain, “The facilities they are in are in dire need. It is not a want, it is a need. For fire, although they don’t get to sleep a lot, that is still their home, but it is barely even a home.” With regard to Police, Jason commented, “Our police officers really need a place that is big enough so they can do their reports and come together as a team at the very beginning of shift change so those who are coming off shift can update the current shift coming on. There is nowhere for that to occur other than an office that might be eight by ten (feet). As we move forward with a decision to build a new police and fire facility, one of the big things we are going to start working on is communication, like having tours and encouraging the public to come visit. If you don’t believe it, come up and take a tour and see what it is like. That’s the biggest piece.” Jason also identified the need for a strategy to manage crime fighting in the city. He further commented, “The other part is the police department was authorized for some new personnel last year, and so one of the things the police chief and I identified is we probably need to get a street crimes division up and going. We could utilize two or three, maybe four of those positions to start a street crimes unit and that way attack some of the drug use issues and some of the other criminal activity that we have going on in town.” Regarding local Emergency Medical Services, Jason noted that qualified firefighters had been incentivized to ride in ambulances as paramedics. He stated. “I think that’s working. I am going to have to follow through on the process and make sure we are all good on that. During the next month or two we are going to be working on the next year’s’ budget where we will start identifying those needs and having those discussions with me about what’s needed for public safety. But what’s critical right now is the facilities they are housed in.”

Water Infrastructure and Turkey Peak Project

With regard to Mineral Wells’ challenges with an aging water infrastructure, rising water rates, and the Turkey Peak Reservoir Expansion Project, Jason had several observations. He commented, “Most older cities you go to that don’t have a lot of development, aging infrastructure is always going to be there, and you do have to figure out how you are going to address it. I am a resident here now. I have to pay the high utility bills, especially on the water side, so I am very conscious of that, and I will do everything I can to make my own analysis of the rate structures to try to find solutions to reduce the rates, if it is possible.” Specific to the Turkey Peak Reservoir Expansion Project, Jason went on to state, “However, there are a lot of nay-sayers out there and, whether they are pro-Turkey Peak or not pro-Turkey Peak, we need solutions. I welcome anybody who has any great ideas and want them to bring those to me.” Jason went on to note that professionals have investigated this process for many years. He stated, “A new reservoir just doesn’t come into someone’s mind and it happen overnight in two years. This is something that has been going on for over twenty-five to thirty, possibly fifty years. And so, if that wasn’t the solution, someone along that process should have said ‘this ain’t gonna work and we need to stop and go in a different direction’. But that has not been the case. You have already got this far and have spent all this money to get where you are now and all this time and effort; we need to move forward with it.”

While Jason looks into the residential rate structure, he also looks forward to an opportunity to review the City’s wholesale water supply contracts to make sure they are structured in such a way that all fixed costs are paid even in times of low usage due to droughts.

When asked about the lawsuit filed by water utility rate-payers located outside of the City, Jason declined to comment citing it was an on-going case.

Transportation Infrastructure

Jason is also familiar with the challenges the Turkey Peak Expansion Project faces with obtaining a Memorandum of Understanding with TxDOT regarding the future inundation of a portion of State Highway FM 4. After attending a public briefing by the Palo Pinto County Municipal Water District No. 1 on the Turkey Peak Project and hearing the comments regarding a possible rerouting of FM 4 along Ward Mountain Road, Jason asked for and received a tour of the area. He noted that the District was already planning to pay for an upgrade to the section of Ward Mountain Road near its intersection with FM 4 to make it easier to travel and was discussing reworking a sharp bend in the road further to the north. He commented, “Now I will tell you, it is TxDOT theory that they want a four-lane road and it be 70 miles per hour, and that’s not possible. Those residents out there did not sign up for that and you can’t drive 70 miles per hour on FM 4 already. With hairpin turns and blind corners, it is not a road where you can drive very fast. They’ve talked about finding other options, but once the dam is put in place and the water comes up, that road is going to be underwater. I didn’t see any big issue with Ward Mountain Road. Maybe it is not ideal, but it is a solution. TxDOT has had twenty years to look at this and say ‘this isn’t going to work’, but that has not happened.”

With specific regard to obtaining a Memorandum of Understanding, Jason went on to state, “Just because TxDOT has not agreed yet to a Memorandum of Understanding does not mean they won’t come to an agreement. It just means that what they have now, they don’t want to sign off on it. And with the Governor preaching that water is a huge issue we have in this state, one of his priorities, I can’t imagine why we couldn’t find a workable solution on this.”

Short-Term and Long-Term Priorities

When asked about his short-term and long-term priorities for Mineral Wells, Jason replied, “Right now I am drinking from a firehose. The first thing is establishing those relationships by getting with the stakeholders, so they understand who I am what I am about and I understand who they are. That’s all of the taxing entities, the Chamber of Commerce, local industry, the Hospital District and both counties, and the ISD”. Jason also had short-term priorities internal to city government. He went on to explain, “Number two is I have got to focus on our team and put priorities, expectations, and accountability in place. Departments need to be held accountable, while having the autonomy to make decisions. I cannot make every decision, nor will I make every decision. I need to make sure our directors are making decisions and are able to change on the fly when they need to.”

Mentioning communications again as a short term priority, Jason stated, “Communication is something we are going to focus on, ideally being more proactive. When things are good, we are going to put it out there and when things are bad we are going to put it out there, too. Not only to the public but internally too, especially to City Council. If you can see it on Facebook, I want you to hear it from me, first.”

Regarding an internal forward outlook, Jason commented, “We need to think about succession planning. In Public Works my understanding is our employees are very long tenured and could leave in three to five years. Are we training the next level?”

On the more immediate level of customer service, Jason commented, “Customer service is the big thing I will focus on. We need to become more customer service focused. That’s the culture I like to create where every employee brings their best attitude and does their best. I don’t expect we can provide an answer to everybody, but we do need to provide some type of yes, and provide a yes in a no when we can, and provide a win-win. We need to move away from an ‘Its not my job’ attitude.”

Moving to a long-term outlook, Jason had additional thoughts and specifically listed his priorities as, “Getting a Capital Improvements Plan in place, making sure we are setting goals and putting together a strategic plan. We also need to look at our compensation plan and make sure we are paying our employees the best we can and look at the benefits side of it. We might not be able to pay want Granbury or Fort Worth or Weatherford can, but can we provide some benefits they can’t or won’t.”

When asked about his overall approach to the job, Jason commented, “I am an out of the box thinker. When I am talking to a developer, I am not an engineer or a planner, but I can challenge them to think about different ways. A city engineer may not think it is his job to develop their project, but it is our job to find a win-win and make the development happen. To me it’s not a job, it’s a career. I want to make sure that whatever we are leaving, I can come back and say ‘I am proud of that’. And I can go to my kids and grandkids some day and say ‘I was part of this’.”

During the conversation, Jason mentioned that he feels a city manager should not be kept on-board more than ten years, as they begin to lose their ability to find innovative solutions. However, he has twelve years before he will look at retirement and he commented to his wife this is the last time he plans to move. So, for the foreseeable future, Jason will climb behind the wheel of his 1982 El Camino and drive along the streets of Mineral Wells to his office where he will work to find win-win solutions and, in memory of his grandfather, work to go above and beyond and do something that’s different.

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