City Council Members

City Council Members

Friday, 07 December 2007

Mark Gladney, Pflugerville City Council

Mark Gladney practiced law for 20 years, and credits that experience in preparing him to serve on the city council.

“Identifying and dissecting issues is what I do,” he said. “I look at things from a legal standpoint.”

After moving to Pflugerville in 2001, Gladney took an interest in getting involved and eventually ran for city council. His first term expires in 2008. Gladney said at this point he does not plan to run for re-election.

Q. How do you balance the needs of the different constituents?

A. I ran with [council member] Bruce Wood, and we were basic products of the race track controversy in 2004, 2005. We did a lot of going house to house. From there we learned a lot about what people were looking for in their council. I think, at least from my standpoint and what I heard from a lot of folks, there seems to be a communication gap, a disconnect, between the council and the people. People didn’t feel like the council was communicating with them or their message was getting through to the council.

Q. What motivated you to run for office?

A. The race track. When I heard about it, I thought it was fantasy rumor, nothing substantive to the situation, but later on I found out it was going to be a mile and a half from my house, and that kind of woke me up. Then I heard about Pflugerville Families First and I got involved in that group. That is how I met Bruce and a few other folks, and we did start going door to door. I am a big believer in open government. One of the things I like to think that in my term on council that we’ve brought a lot of sunshine to government, and people feel freer to come to council and get up there for public comment and say exactly what they feel. I want people to know that we are up there listening, and their words do have an effect.

Q. . What is your vision for the city?

A. I want to diversify the tax base. The city staff and city council is working very hard to bring in productive commercial growth. We want to bring in primary jobs to the city, so we can create a community where people live here, but they also work here. A vast majority of people who live here don’t work here. That causes a problem for a lot of the service industry that is coming into Pflugerville. Eventually with Stonehill Town Center coming in, we have a lot of restaurants coming in and a lot of other businesses, and they depend on daytime traffic. If your folks are out there working in Austin or in other areas, they are going to suffer some.

• Employment: Assistant Public Council for the Office of Public Utility Counsel
• Education: Bachelor’s of history, University of Wisconsin, Juris Doctor, University of Houston Law School
• Years in Pflugerville: Six
• Family: Married and one-year-old son
• Contact information: 990-4363, council4@cityofpflugerville.com

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Carlos Salinas, Round Rock City Council

Carlos Salinas has spent a great amount of his time volunteering and keeping this philosophy in mind—you can live in a community or you can live with a community.

“I chose to live with a community, and that means that I have to be a strong stakeholder in what I want that community to be,” he said.

Spending his childhood in the Rio Grande Valley, Salinas moved to Round Rock in 1994. He has served on the city council since 2005 and participated in other organizations including El Amistad Club, the Literacy Council of Williamson County, Habitat for Humanity, the E3 Alliance and is a member of Congressman John Carter’s Hispanic Council.

Q. How do you balance the needs of different constituents?

A. I think that is a challenge that every city council member has, because you do get pulled in a lot of different directions. In my case, I get involved in the school issues, social services, health and literacy. I get involved in the Hispanic community. As a community leader or as an assigned representative of the community, there are things that you have to stay in touch with. It is hard to balance all the needs and it is a challenge that all of the council has.

Q. What do you think is the most important vote you have made?

A. I don’t know that there is a not important vote, because any time you are making decisions as a city council member, you are affecting all of the citizens of Round Rock in some way, whether it be a pending issue, a city ordinance or an economic strategy. I don’t think that there is anything easy in any decision. No matter how small, you are still impacting people.

Q. What is your vision for the city?

A. I would like to see Round Rock find a way to balance the small town charm that a lot of us were attracted to when we moved into Round Rock and yet find a way to accommodate the necessary growth that we had to bring into the city to maintain the quality of life. We have to build a city that is attractive to the eventual population of 200,000, and that is no small challenge for city leaders. As we sit here, Round Rock has a beautiful downtown area; there has been some talk of downtown development. For me, I think that is the crux of what we are dealing with here.

Q. What prepared you to be a council member?

A. I think anyone that gets into this role draws on their life experiences. In my case I enjoy a wonderful quality of life here in Round Rock, from my employment, from the community I live in, but it wasn’t always that way. I have a heightened sense of appreciation for the value of quality of life we enjoy here. That is what’s really important to me.

• Employment: Home Owners Division Operations Section Manager for State Farm Insurance
• Education: Bachelor’s of business administration, Western Michigan University
• Years in Round Rock: 13
• Family: Married
• Contact information: 218-5403, rrcc4salinas@round-rock.tx.us