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Batt Spring Election Preview
City Council Place 1
Jim Jett
What do you consider to be your
qualifications for College Station
City Councilman?
lam 30 years old, energetic and
interested in working for the bet
terment of College Station. I came
back to College Station of my own
choice after going to college here
The following candidates for
College Station City Council-
men were interviewed by Bat
talion staff writers.
The city council election is
Tuesday.
because I liked the town. I have
worked in business as an employe,
supervisor and owner. I feel this will
aid me on the council to maintain a
business-like approach to city gov
ernment. I am active in the
Chamber of Commerce and local
civic organizations.
What do you consider to be the
advantages and disadvantages of
consolidating the cities of Bryan
and College Station? Do you sup
port this move?
lam not for consolidation, as I can
see no gain for the city of College
Station. I see bad problems arising if
we give up any degree of control
over our city. The voter turnout is
larger in Bryan than in College Sta
tion, which would cause a power
imbalance without a ward system.
College Station is presently a
pay as-you-go’ city, and I want to
keep it that way.
Do you favor ward or at-large
elections for the city? Why?
I favor the ward system. At least it
would insure a diverse geographical
distribution on the council.
Should the council hold two regu
lar meetings monthly instead of the
one it holds now? Should council-
men receive compensation? How
much?
The council should hold meetings
as often as needed. Two regular
meetings would get more people in
formed as to when the council meets
than the called meeting system.
The council should not receive
compensation. The job can be done
at this time by concerned citizens
giving their time.
Do you favor moving the railroad
tracks by the Wellborn Road
beyond A&M’s west campus?
Yes. The railroad is an increasing
problem.
How would you have voted on
the Dominik Drive rezoning?
(changing a single-family residen
tial area to an apartment building
district) Why?
1 would have voted for the rezon
ing. I believe the buffer requested
by the residents was adhered to by
Harry Seaback. There was a mutual
agreement arrived at between them
and it was kept by Seaback. The city
needed more apartments and it is
not for the council to judge the per
sonalities of the person making the
request.
On what criteria would you ap
prove zone change requests in gen
eral?
The needs of the community
must come first. Changing patterns
in the city may necessitate rezon-
ings. An investigation should be
made into the effects of the change
on the surrounding area. We must
he careful to avoid a ‘snowball’ effect
that woidd take us away from our
development plan.
(See JETT, page 8)
Jim Jett
Gary Halter
Gary Halter
What do you consider to be your
qualifications for College Station
councilman?
I have a Ph. D. in Political Science
with a specialty in municipal gov
ernment and administration. I teach
courses in city management, city fi
nance and law. Also, I work as an
adviser through the university to
other cities in Texas giving them ad
vice on management and technol
ogy application.
What do you consider to be the
advantages and disadvantages of
consolidating the cities of Bryan and
College Station? Do you support
this move?
First of all, I oppose it because I
know there are no economies of
scale in most municipal services.
Per capita expenditures for police,
highways, sanitation, fire protection
and for recreation and parks gener
ally tend to increase with the size of
a city. Many of these things in the
area of police and fire protection can
best be handled through coopera
tion between the two cities. In the
areas of utilities there are
economies of scale in terms of pro
duction but to a large extent these
services are already consolidated.
Do you favor ward or at-large
elections for the city? Why?
I would favor a ward system
under these conditions:
a) it should be a combination of at-
large and ward with the mayor
being elected at-large.
b) we would have to increase the
size of the city council beyond its
present position. I think larger city
councils do provide more accurate
representation of all the various
segments and interests of the com
munity.
c) wards have to be apportioned
equally according to population.
We would have to write into the
charter an absolute requirement
that reapportionment occurs every
certain period of time.
Should the Council hold two reg
ular meetings monthly instead of the
one it holds now? Should council-
men receive compensation? How
much?
Last year the council held 36
meetings of which 12 were regularly
scheduled. I think we should
change the charter to allow for regu
lar bi-monthly meetings at a specific
time so the citizens will know when
they will be held.
It wouldn’t make any difference
to me if councilmen received com
pensation because a state law pro
hibits any state employee from tak
ing two salaries of emolument. I
don’t think that the job is so de
manding that the average person
can’t serve without pay. A salary
should be paid to city councilmen if
the demands of their time is such
that you begin to exclude certain
people from serving because their
job won’t allow it.
Do you favor moving the railroad
tracks by Wellborn Road beyond
A&M’s west campus?
I think so. The exact effect this
would have and precisely how it
ought to be moved and how the
feeder lines would have to be de
veloped would have to be looked
into.
How would you have voted on the
Dominik Drive rezoning? (changing
a single-family residence area to an
apartment builiding district) Why?
I would have voted with the resi
dents because they were promised
that the area would remain a single
family residence area when they
bought. Also a petition was signed
by about 270 people requesting that
KAMV-TV to hold
election forum tonight
Candidates for the College Station City Coun
cil and A&M Consolidated School Board will be
questioned by a five-man panel tonight at 10 in a
live television broadcast on KAMU-TV, Channel
15.
Representing The Battalion on the panel will
be city staff reporter Gerald Olivier. The other
panelists include Mark Holcomb of KAMU-TV;
Wendy Gramm, representing the Brazos County
League of Women Voters; C.J. Leabo, journalism
department head; and Eagle reporter Jerry Gray.
The panel interview will be rebroadcast in its
entirety at 10 p.m. Monday. The College Station
City Council election will be the following day
while the school board election is set for April 5.
On April 2 at 10 p. m. a similar interview program
will be held by Channel 15 with candidates for the
Bryan City Council and Bryan School Board. The
show will be re-run at the same time on April 4. The
portion of the first program dealing with candidates
for the A&M Consolidated School Board will be
included in the April 4 re-run.
this change not he made. Since this
is a democratic government, I think
the council should have postponed
the hearing to give the public time
to legally file the petition.
On what criteria would you ap
prove zone change requests (in
general)?
The three main criteria I would
look into are the change in traffic,
the effects on drainage and the
character of the neighborhood. If
any of these things are going to be
greatly altered then I am going to
vote against it.
Should College Station have zon
ing ordinances at all? (Bryan has no
zoning) Would you recommend
changes in the current zoning ordi
nances?
I think we have to have zoning.
Development can be directed by
laying major utility lines in a specific
direction but only as a supplement
to zoning. If the city continues to
approve over 90 percent of all rezon
ing requests then this cannot work.
I would recommend a time limit
on the amount of time a piece of land
can stay in a particular category
above a single-family residence and
still be undeveloped. If a piece of
(See HALTER, page 8)
Voting Precincts
S. W. Parkway
College Station voters will fill three positions on their city council in Tuesday’s
election. On the following Saturday, April 5, two positions on the A&M Consolidated
School Board will be filled.
The polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on both days.
Polling places are as follows:
Precinct 8 South Knoll Elementary School
Precinct9 A&M Consolidated Special Services Building
Precinct 10 College Station Fire Station
Precinct 20 TAMU University Center
Precinct 21 College Station Municipal Building
Precinct 24 College Hills Elementary School
City Council Place 3
Don Dale
What do you consider to be your
qualifications for College Station
City Council?
I’m going on my past record and
my support for continued im
provement in the regulations that
govern our city. We have had a de
velopment controls committee that
I am chairman of and we are trying
to clean up some of our ordinances
that are not up to date. I think this
continued effort will enable the city
to keep up with its growth with up-
to-date ordinances. I’ve served four
years on the city council and have
been very involved in the city’s af-
i fairs.
What do you consider as the ad
vantages and/or disadvantages of
consolidating both the cities of
Bryan and College Station? Would
you support such a move?
No, I would not support such a
move. That’s a very ticklish subject
with me in that I’ve been here so
long and I’ve watched the people of
Bryan turn thumbs down on the
people of College Station and try to
run everything. But now the city of
College Station is going to outstrip
Bryan in all activities and now they
(city of Bryan) would like for us to
join them. I am 100 percent for the
cooperation between the two cities
but not the consolidation.
Do you favor ward or at-large
elections for the city? Why?
I see nothing wrong with the
ward system. I think the distribu
tion of people throughout the whole
area has certain advantages. But it
would make no difference to me
whether or not I was elected from a
ward or an at-large system. I think I
Don Dale
could represent the people just as
well either way. I think you might
have a little better representation
with a ward system and I would vote
for it.
Should the Council hold two reg
ular meetings monthly instead of
the one it holds now? Should coun
cilmen receive compensation? How
much?
I don’t know whether two are
necessary or not because sometimes
we meet more than once a month
during special meetings. Just meet
ing for the sake of meeting really
doesn’t make sense. As long as all
the committees we’ve got are doing
their jobs then I see no reason why
we should meet twice a month. I
don’t think we should be paid be-
(See DALE, page 8)
Bob Bell
What do you consider to be your
qualifications for College Station
city councilman?
A basic interest in the city of Col
lege Station and the people. I have a
bachelor of arts degree from Texas
A&M and have been in business for
nearly 10 years. My qualifications
are a mix of community interest and
business success that would be val
uable as a city councilman.
What do you consider to be the
advantages and disadvantages of
consolidating the cities of Bryan
and College Station? Do you sup
port this move?
No party supporting a consolida
tion has approached me to support
it. Several College Station residents
are against it. My personal feeling is
that cooperation in some areas, such
as individual protection and city
services, could be in the public in
terest. I support examining
cooperative measures that could be
beneficial to College Station.
Do you favor ward or at-large
elections for the city? Why?
A city council of eight members
plus a mayor, with four councilmen
elected from wards, and four plus
the mayor elected at-large would be
best. This would give all areas rep
resentation, and enlarge the city
council to better handle city gov
ernment. This would combine the
best features of both systems.
Should the city council hold two
regular meetings a month instead
of the one it holds now? Should
councilmen receive compensation?
How much?
I would favor two regular meet-
Bob Bell
ings. The council should not receive
compensation.
Do you favor moving the railroad
tracks by the Wellborn Road
beyond A&M’s west campus?
I think I need to study this issue
more closely before I make an iron
clad statement. The factors involv
ing a move may be such that the
railroad will be moving on its own,
or it may be impossible to move at
all.
How would you have voted on
the Dominik Drive rezoning
(changing single-family residential
to an apartment building district)?
Why?
I would have supported the re
quest of the Dominik residents and
would have voted against the rezon
ing. It was not the request of Col-
(See BELL, page 8)
City Council Place 5
Greg Magruder
What do you consider to be your
qualifications for College Station
councilman?
I am currently an advisory direc
tor of University National Bank. I
Greg Magruder
have an awareness of and interest in
community affairs.
What do you consider to be the
advantages and disadvantages of
consolidating the cities of Bryan
and College Station? Do you sup
port this move?
At this time there has not been
enough representation of both sides
of the argument. Some advantages
are that both cities could be in
volved in mass transportation sys
tem and utilities regulation. The
complexity of consolidation would
be a major disadvantage.
Do you favor ward or at-large
elections for the city? Why?
I would tend to favor ward system
because it would insure representa
tion for students and for specific
areas of the city. It would not be
practical to divide the city into
wards to give minorities their own
representatives because of the way
the minority areas are spread out.
Students have the capability to elect
representatives in the at-large sys-'
tern.
Should the council hold two regu
lar meetings monthly instead of the
one it holds now? Should council-
men receive compensation? How
much?
Yes, the city should have two
regular meetings each month. They
would get more done and wouldn’t
have to cram it into one long meet
ing. Councilmen shouldn’t receive
compensation.
Do you favor moving the railroad
tracks by the Wellborn Road
beyond A&M’s west campus?
Yes. The tracks need to be moved
to allow student traffic to get across
the tracks. The move would better
facilitate traffic flow in town.
How would you have voted on
the Dominik Drive rezoning?
(changing a single-family residence
area to an apartment building dis
trict) Why?
I would have voted against it be
cause people in the area did not
want additional apartments.
On what criteria would you ap
prove zone change requests in gen
eral?
I am skeptical of zone changes.
The city needs more planning and to
stick to plans. People would have to
convince me a zone change would
be advantageous to the whole com
munity or I would vote against it.
Should College Station have zon
ing ordinances at all? (Bryan has no
zoning.) Would you recommend
changes in the current zoning ordi
nances?
Yes, we need zoning. I would not
recommend any changes at this
time.
Considering the city’s growth
rate, should College Station gener
ate its own utilities instead of con
tracting for those services from
Bryan?
If there was a future consolida
tion, this move would not be feasi
ble. I am against another city con
trolling our utilities. They may cur
tail our usage in a shortage.
Larry Bravenec
What do you consider to be your
qualifications for the College Sta
tion City Council?
I’ve served one year on the coun
cil and it was a year in which I
learned a lot. If I’m elected I don’t
think I will have any trouble finding
my way around. It takes about a year
to get to know your way around
here. I was elected to fill an unex
pired term and I feel I m qualified
for another term.
What do you consider to be the
advantages and disadvantages of
consolidating the cities of Bryan
and College Station? Would you
support such a move?
I haven’t seen any advantages,
but I wouldn’t oppose it if the ad
vantages became clear to me in
terms of better services and less ex
pense. There are certain advantages
in separate cities in that you have
police and fire departments that are
closer to you and are able to serve
the city better. Second, we buy our
utilities, water and electricity from
Bryan. Bryan has to float its bonds to
the public, generally, and one of the
factors that bears on the rate of in
terest they pay on those bonds is
their past experience with their
major customers. College Station is
their major customer. We have paid
our bills on time and because of this
I think we actually save money by
selling bonds to the public that
wouldn’t exist if we had just one big
city. Consolidation just for the sake
of consolidation doesn t make sense
to me. We are operating quite well
now as it is.
Do you favor ward or at-large
elections for the city? Why?
This is really a matter out of the
councils’ hands, but speaking as a
private citizen, I would probably
vote against it. I think city govern
ment would be more responsive
when you have seven councilmen
you can call on rather than just one
from your own ward. The city really
isn’t big enough for a ward system.
It would probably divide the city
because then you would be promot
ing the interests of your own ward
rather than of the whole city.
Should the Council hold two reg
ular meetings monthly instead of
the one it holds now? Should coun
cilmen receive compensation?
When the new council met last
April this issue came up and I voted
in favor of two meetings because I
feel we have enough business now
to warrant two regular meetings a
month. We’ve been averaging
about two and a half meetings a
month now. Sometimes we have
(See BRAVENEC, page 8)
Larry Bravenec