Community Issues

My qualifications to run for the Township Board include being the current President of The Woodlands Fire Department, the current Chairman of The Woodlands Community Service Corporation which provides the city type services to all of our residents. I was also the president of The Woodlands Community Association for five years. I have served as a Woodlands Community Association director proudly representing the Village of Cochran’s Crossing for 10 years.

I am the founding member of the Governance Foundation Committee and have presided as Co-Chair of the Governance Steering Committee and the Governance Process Committee. I have served on every committee in The Woodlands Community Association and the Joint Community Associations, including Chair of the Legislative Committee and Chair of the Joint Law Enforcement Committee.

I am also a member of the Montgomery County Community Justice Council and an elected trustee for the Conroe Independent School District serving as second Vice President

I am the current Vice President for Economic Development, The Woodlands/South County Chamber of Commerce and I was past vice-president for Legislative Affairs of The Woodlands/South County Chamber of Commerce.

I have lived in The Woodlands since 1996, although my family moved here in 1974 prior to The Woodlands being built. My father, Coulson Tough, was hired by George Mitchell to become part of the original “dream team” that began the initial development of The Woodlands. I have had a unique opportunity to participate in many of the activities from the beginning of development and to experience the foundation of The Woodlands by the pioneers to the present day transition from the Community Associations to The Woodlands Township.

In response to local village activities, I have participated in Pumpkin Fest in Grogan’s Mill, Taste of the Village in Indian Springs, the Alden Bridge Holiday Festival, Cochran’s Crossing Spring and Fall Festivals and the Panther Creek Flea Market for the last 13 years to name a few. I love The Woodlands and I have had the privilege of meet many residents through my participation as an elected director and through my participation as a team captain and campaigner for the YMCA Partners of Youth Foundation, Chairman of the Memorial Hermann Woodlands Hospital Advisory Board, campaign cabinet leader of the professional division for the Montgomery County United Way, and Chairman of the Boy Scouts Nominating Committee.

I have also been invited to speak on many subjects concerning The Woodlands Community Association, future governance and other important issues affecting our community. I also called for and coordinated the first Town Hall Forum concerning the sound wall at Grogan’s Mill during my tenure as President of The Woodlands Community Association inviting Representative Eissler, Commissioner Ed Chance, and other community leaders to participate in this important issue. I work for resolution of issues for our residents.

I think that there are more than three important issues facing our community and I will identify many in response to this question. The reason the people move to The Woodlands is for our trees and our schools. However, public safety and transportation are also major concerns and issues. The continued sustainability of our community and economic vitality is going to be a future concern as we complete the build-out of our community. At the current time, The Woodlands Development Company is a major source of revenue in providing services and jobs to our community. Once the development is completed in The Woodlands, that participation will be downsized and the Township will need to step into that vital role of planned development.

We have benefited from the enhanced valuations of our property and growth to where our assessments have fortunately been lowered in our community and provide the quality of life and exemplary services that our residents expect and deserve. In the area of law enforcement, we are dependent upon Montgomery County to provide those services. I initiated the first law enforcement study in 1999 and completed that study with the recommendation to supplement law enforcement to The Woodlands. That program has progressed and increased from an initial concept of $350,000.00 with the sheriff’s department to $2.7 million with the expansion of our neighborhood policing program to provide policing throughout all of the neighborhoods of The Woodlands. The fact that we do not have the ability to have our own police force and ordinance making ability will be of major concerns as our community grows to 120,000 residents. This will probably be a major consideration in whether The Woodlands should incorporate or attempt to provide ordinance making legislation through the Township.

First of all, I do not feel that member district representation is a good thing. What happens with single member representation is that you get individuals elected from a geographical area and they ultimately concentrate on serving that area where they are elected and they do not represent all of the residents of The Woodlands together because they report to a single base. Single member district representation creates a bias towards other villages and other residents by its inherent structure. The school district for instance has 180,000 taxpayer citizens, 47,000 students with 50 schools and a 300 Million Dollar budget and is governed by seven elected trustees. The school district’s geographical area is one of the largest in the State of Texas based upon the population density. It requires that the elected trustees which I proudly serve as one to represent all geographical areas of our community and that includes our four feeder zones, Caney Creek, Conroe, Oak Ridge and The Woodlands. I have always prided myself in representing all of the residents of The Woodlands and feel that The Woodlands Township will be a very effective governing board with at-large representation.

However, the Woodlands Township board has the ability to explore and review the elected structure and to make adjustments if village representation appears to be an alternative I have always listened to all of the concerns of all of the residents and have attended the village association meetings and represented those residents when they have an issue of concern and that goes for Grogan’s Mill, Panther Creek, Harper’s Landing, Alden Bridge or any other village.

I see the role of the Village Associations as being expanded in the future. Once The Woodlands Community Association, The Woodlands Association, and The Woodlands Commercial Associations minimize their presence and potentially dissolve, there will need to be an entity that will take that place on a local level. I see the Village Associations as being the natural entity to handle the community concerns and address the areas of concern in their villages and present those concerns to the Township board for action. I feel that the role of the villages will be even more important and that is why I requested that the villages remain a Township prior to 2014. The community of Reston, Virginia went through this same process and voted not to become a city. They will require the same funding or more funding to continue with their vital role since their responsibilities will continue to grow. I, of course, have always attended the village association meetings having been an elected director of The Woodlands Community Association and served as an area representative for the Village of Cochran’s Crossing. I continue to support the involvement of the village association and their relationship to the Township board because I feel that is where the future leaders of our community will come from. They will come from the village associations serving through various officer positions and will gain the experience and level of confidence to run for the Township board.

I have been asked this question many times and my answer has been the same. I do not presume to know what the residents of The Woodlands want for their future government and I support the right of the residents to make that choice. Therefore, I do support having an incorporation election to allow the residents of The Woodlands to choose whether they want to become a city or remain as a Township. In order to become a city, an incredible amount of infrastructure and capital improvements will need to be in place for The Woodlands to operate in its entirety. Once you become a city you forego the receipt of your county services. That includes roads and maintenance which would cost us approximately 50 Million Dollars to replicate county services. The cost of becoming a city would also require a municipal court system and a police force. Right now, one-third of our budget is fire protection; so to enhance and allow another third of the budget to be police protection would require increased costs and expenses. I feel that prior to having an incorporation election, the residents of The Woodlands need to be fully informed and advised of the cost and the requirements of becoming a city.

My family moved here in 1974 before The Woodlands was developed. My father, Coulson Tough, was hired by George Mitchell to be part of his original “dream team” of visionaries who initiated the planning and development of The Woodlands. I have had the unique opportunity to participate in many of the activities from the beginning of the development and to experience the foundation of The Woodlands by the pioneers to the present day transition from the Community Associations to The Woodlands Township.

I love The Woodlands and I want to continue the dream and vision of George Mitchell for my four children and the residents of The Woodlands. Our transition to a central government in The Woodlands Township is another step in our ultimate future. In order to continue that dream and planned development to maintain our hometown, we need experienced leadership.

I offer my leadership and past experience from serving 10 years on the Woodlands Community Association board and five of those years as president of The Woodlands Community Association to maintain and continue the hometown dream of The Woodlands. I also currently serve as Chairman of The Woodlands Community Service Corporation and president of The Woodlands Fire Department having served in those capacities for the last seven years. I also would offer my government and legislative experience providing management oversight and policy review experience to the Community Associations. I have managed the budget of the community over the last 10 year period and served as a trustee on the Conroe Independent School District Board as the current second vice president and chairman of the audit committee with an approximate Three Hundred Million Dollar ($300,000,000.00) budget for the school district.

First and foremost I am a resident of The Woodlands and live in the Village of Cochran’s Crossing. I serve my village constituency and all the people of The Woodlands with the perspective of a resident. I interface with the village associations continually to make certain that all decisions by The Woodlands Community Association are prioritized with our villages in mind. I will continue to do that when serving on the Township board.

There must be a cooperative and cohesive working relationship between the commercial and residential interests of any community or city. One will not succeed without the other. There is no way that a residential community can succeed without commercial interests because the tax base would not support the basic residential services. The mission of George Mitchell was to work, live and play in The Woodlands. Work means having employment and business interests healthy and active in The Woodlands community and to make the Woodlands attractive for the retention of jobs and for future businesses to relocate here.

From my past as the president of The Woodlands Community Association, the resident issues normally take a top priority because that is who comes to the Board for their concerns and issues. The basic reason for that is that we have 85,000 individuals who live in our community and they will have concerns and problems that will need to be addressed by the Township board. My experience in the past has been to find a resolution to the resident issues, calling upon my past experience where I have resolved issues successfully such as the proposed overhead power lines, closing of streets or opening of thoroughfares, adding additional pathways, the sound wall, cooperative shared use of facilities, accommodating expansion and growth in the community and adding to our parks and recreation facilities to keep up with growth.

I feel that eventually The Woodlands will become a city and I support having an election by the people to determine whether the Woodlands should incorporate. I do not presume that I know what the residents of The Woodlands will decide, but I would support the offering of an incorporation election prior to 2014.

I expect that the Associations and the Township will need to work together cooperatively to achieve a smooth transition of the city type services from the Associations to the Township. Anything short of complete cooperation and the continuation of providing the exemplary services to our residents will be unsatisfactory and unacceptable to me.

In the drafting of the Transition Agreement I made sure that our city type services will be continued and maintained in a superior fashion because they will be provided through the three year transition period by the Woodlands Community Service Corporation, the entity currently providing those services. We will have sufficient sales tax revenue and ad valorem tax base to provide those exemplary services expected by the residents of The Woodlands. However, once the community is built out, the sustainability of providing high quality services will become an issue and a challenge, as it is with any city. Therefore, a sufficient tax base, coming particularly from commercial property and sales taxes, to support the continuation of these services is essential. Sustainability of growth and development will be a future concern for the Township.

My expectation is that Woodlands Community Association, the Woodlands Association, and the Woodlands Commercial Owners Association will dissolve or will remain dormant because the service delivery will be transferred to the Woodlands Township. The next few years have us moving to one central governmental entity to provide the services and a “one stop shop” for answers and responses to the residents of The Woodlands. I expect that the roles of the village associations will become even more important, providing grass roots input to the Township.

I am the current President of The Woodlands Fire Department and have served as its president for seven years and served as a director on the Fire Board for nine years. Our fire department is our public safety entity that is provided today under the direction of the Community Associations. The fire department will increase its capacity with the completion of our new Fire Station 6 in College Park along 242 and the completion of our fire academy on I-45 close to Harper’s Landing. The fire department needs to continue to grow with the construction of Fire Station 7 in the new Village of Creekside Park and to plan for Fire Station 8 in the Village of Indian Springs. In addition to providing increased fire protection, these new improvements are intended to lower insurance premiums for The Woodlands residents. I see the fire department changing from traditional firefighting to emergency response for hazardous waste spills, car accidents and other emergency response issues. That has been the transition for fire departments throughout the country. Offering the most up-to-date, effective and efficient fire and emergency medical services to our residents will be my top priority.

Under law, the property tax structure for the residences and the businesses will be identical. The property tax implemented by the Township would be in lieu of the community association assessments and it, together with the general sales tax, would provide overall tax relief to the residents. In the past, the residents have borne most of the burden of community financing through their property based community association assessments. That will change. Furthermore, the new Township property tax will be deductible whereas the community association assessments are not.

The two most important criteria factors that bring people to The Woodlands are our trees and our schools. To maintain that current structure is my top priority. I have done that through my service as a trustee for the Conroe Independent School District. I am committed to maintain our parks, trees and amenities by implementation of a tree reforestation plan throughout The Woodlands and to maintain the existing trees throughout our community by means of a forest management program. As we continue to expand with the addition of new homes and streets, our forest declines and we must constantly replant and reforest those areas to achieve the same quality wooded environment. In connection with our amenities, I have been a consistent proponent of upgrading our older parks and building new parks and sports parks for the enjoyment our children and residents. The development of Creekside Park has included the expansion of recreational and sports field facilities as well as a five mile linear park along Spring Creek.

I have offered my candidacy to serve the residents of The Woodlands on The Woodlands Township Board because this is a critical juncture in the transition of government in The Woodlands. In 1999 I was elected as a director to The Woodlands Community Association Board of Directors and was elected as the president of that board and served for five years from the year 2000 to 2004. During that time I took a lead role in the study of our governance in order to prevent the annexation of the Woodlands by the City of Houston such as happened to Kingwood in 1999. I, along with Joel Deretchin, President of The Woodlands Association and the Community Owners Association and five others came up with a plan of action to prevent annexation of the Woodlands and to educate residents so that we would be prepared and able to provide an alternative to annexation by the City of Houston. From the outset, I have served as co-chairman and founding member of the Governance Foundation Committee; as Co-chairman of the Governance Process Committee and Co-chairman of the Governance Steering Committee. During the 10 years that this process evolved, I traveled to Austin many times to testify in support of legislation which would prevent the City of Houston from annexing The Woodlands and to support enabling legislation that would allow the limited purpose Town Center Improvement District to become The Woodlands Township. That legislation, in addition to expanding the boundaries of the TCID to become community-wide, also gave voters the right to elect a seven member governing board from our community; to implement a tax deductible property tax which together with the sales tax, paid in large part by visitors to The Woodlands, will lower the overall tax burden on all of us. I support the will of the residents to have an incorporation election and to make decisions as to the future government of The Woodlands. I have always supported the residents’ right to choose the future government of The Woodlands and I will continue to work for the residents and their right to determine their own destiny.