Irving City Manager Tommy Gonzalez will be named a Texas Tech University Distinguished Alumni for his innovative leadership, which led to the City’s receipt of the 2012 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s highest award for operational excellence. The City of Irving was the first municipality in Texas to receive the award and the second city in the nation since the Baldrige inception 25 years ago.

“It will be an honor to be back in Lubbock and celebrate with my alma mater,” Gonzalez said. “I’m always pleased to share what I’ve learned through our implementation of Lean Six Sigma principles and Baldrige criteria. The journey drove tremendous results for which we are proud, and the awards underscore the fact that private sector business principles apply to government as well.”

Gonzalez became the Irving City Manager in 2006 and oversees a $500 million City budget and more than 2,100 City employees. Through the use of Lean Six Sigma (LSS), the organization found breakthrough improvements in City services provided to residents, visitors and the business community. The City of Irving has saved more than $44 million and 50,000 hours in productivity through the use of LSS methodologies.

The City also received a double AAA bond rating from Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s for the last six years. Irving was ranked by Bloomberg Businessweek as one of its Top 50 “Best Places to Live” and by 24/7 Wall St. as one of the Top 20 Best Run Cities in America.

Despite the sluggish economy, the City of Irving has had much economic development success. In 2012, jobs added or retained in Irving totaled 7,642. In addition, more than $180 million of taxable investment was added to the community. In a relatively short amount of time, the city’s appearance has improved dramatically with corridor enhancements, the removal of substandard structures and strengthened code enforcement. Moreover, Irving has realized a historic crime rate decrease for eight consecutive years with an overall 43 percent reduction in violent crime.

Prior to joining the City of Irving, Gonzalez was Assistant City Manager in Dallas; City Manager of Harlingen; and he served in a number of positions with the City of Lubbock, including Deputy City Manager.

Gonzalez earned a master’s degree in public administration from Texas Tech University and a bachelor’s degree from Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, NM. He was a recipient of Eastern New Mexico University’s Outstanding Alumni Award in 2012. Gonzalez is also a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt from the University of Texas at Austin.

Source: City of Irving

By Amanda Casanova

 Reinventing Main Street and loosening zoning laws were among the recommendations Gateway Planning revealed in their suggestions to jumpstart the Heritage Crossing district. The Feb. 28 presentation was the cap to the developer's 60 day study of the district, an area that business owners and residents have long said has needed an overhaul to attract more business.

Among its recommendations, Gateway Planning suggested the City welcome multiple developers and businesses into the area.

"We're trying to set a framework going forward for near term catalytic activities," Scott Polikov, president of Gateway Planning, said.

Already, the City is looking to attract a range of developers. Next week the City will start accepting requests for proposals for the sale of about 20 acres of residential land in the district.

Other Gateway recommendations included creating bike lanes and a comprehensive parking plan, reinventing Irving Boulevard, Main Street and Second Street as well as easing zoning and design guidelines.

"Great architecture is not your goal," Polikov said. "Great pedestrian experiences, great food and cafes, those should be your goal."

Later on, the City may even consider scaling back the boundaries of Heritage Crossing to Britain, Pioneer, Delaware Creek and Sixth Street.

About 50 people attended Gateway's presentation at Irving City Hall, asking questions about marketing the area and suggesting what
type of businesses they'd like to see - namely more breakfast restaurants and nighttime hangouts.

This isn't the first time the City has heard a plan to revitalize downtown.In 2008, developer Delbert McDougal released plans to gut Heritage Crossing and revamp it with new offices, parking garages and apartments. The plan never gained support from the public and last year, the City cut ties with the developer.

Gateway Planning, however, has helped overturn downtown areas in Duncanville, Roanoke and McKinney. In McKinney, efforts helped create a rebranding that led to the city’s recognition as the fifth best place to live in America because of its downtown.

For now, it's too early to choose a new brand for Heritage Crossing according to Polikov.

"I think that is a story yet to be determined. It has to unfold," he said.

By Will Jukes

The Coppell Republican Women's Club hosted State Representative Bennet Ratliff and Board of Education member Pat Hardy for a meet-and-greet and talk on education and state government. It was a rare opportunity for constituents to hear and engage with representatives at a higher level. The club, which formed in October, hopes to keep voters informed and involved with precisely this kind of high profile engagement.

“I feel our mission is to educate our voters, inform them, and inspire them to get out and really be able to talk to others about what's going on,” said Kit Whitehill, President of the Coppell Republican Women's club. “My husband ran for the Court of Appeals this last election. I had never been involved in politics and had been to lots of meetings and saw how important it is to not just vote, but to really be informed.”

The meeting also gave Pat Hardy, the State Board of Education representative for District 11, a chance to connect with a new element of her constituency. As a result of a redistricting, District 11 now represents both Irving and Coppell.

“Until November, this wasn't in my district,” Hardy said.

Hardy gave a talk covering not only the basic jurisdiction of the State Board of Education (which includes funding, curriculum formation and charter school oversight), but also touched on issues concerning current state policy on education. She devoted particular attention to quelling fears about C-SCOPE, a recently adopted curriculum standard that has been the subject of much media attention.

“C-SCOPE is a curriculum model that's being promoted by the regional service centers, and it's the right of each school district to choose to participate in this system, but I thought I would explain to them what's involved and how people have pulled pieces out of that to make it sound very radical, when in fact, it's not very radical,” Hardy said. “Some of the parents feel like the lessons are radical and teach Communist ideas, but I happen to be very familiar with it, and I don't think it's that at all.”

Despite this, many parents had other concerns. In response to a question about the curriculum's lack of transparency - it isn't available for review online - Hardy replied that the curriculum standards were available for public viewing at the district office, and also defended the policy on the basis of copyright law.

“It's a copyright issue. We paid for that, and if we put it up online then anyone can use it. But it is available for public viewing,” Hardy said.

She also devoted a portion of the meeting to dispelling myths about Texas education, pointing out that Texas was first in science education among minorities and that the state's model works.

Bennet Ratliff, the representative for state district 115, commented on House Bill 5.

“House Bill 5 is taking a fresh look at all the high stakes testing criteria that were put in place a year ago. We've heard a lot back from parents and teachers and administrators and the general public that we're over-testing our kids,” Ratliff said. “Fifteen tests to get out of high school is too much, and there are a lot of bills that are being considered to try and reduce that to a reasonable number and make sure that there's accountability for our taxpayers, but yet, provide flexibility for our kids without putting them through an entire regiment of tests.” Ratliff hopes to reform Texas education and move it in a direction that offers more ways for students to graduate.

By Amanda Casanova

The Irving Independent School Board narrowly voted to extend Superintendent Dana Bedden’s contract one more year in a decision that signified the political divisiveness of the board just months before the election.

Board president Ronda Huffstetler and trustees Gwen Craig, Jerry Christian and Valerie Jones voted for the extension at the March 3 meeting. Trustees Steven Jones, Larry Stipes and Gail Conder Wells voted against.

Huffstetler said in a letter sent out before Monday’s meeting that consideration of the contract extension is “the exact same procedure (the board) has followed for years.”

“On the calendar, (consideration of an extension) always comes after the evaluation,” she said. “We follow the guidelines established by the Texas Association of School Boards for superintendent contracts, evaluations and extensions, which say, ‘Contract extension is a common and accepted practice.’”

But the vote, which came just two months before May’s election, became a political move and split the board.

Adding to the arguments at the meeting was news that one candidate in the race for the District 6 trustee seat had been disqualified and another had dropped out. By default, Norma Gonzales, who has said she is not confident in the current administration, will run uncontested for the board seat.

With Gonzales’ support, the board could form a majority of trustees who are critical of the district’s leadership.

Speakers told the board that the vote was too close to the election, and a change in board members could also mean other changes for the district that would be costly.

“If you vote to give him another year and something changes, it will cost the district more money to get out of his contract,” Andrew Goldsmith said. “Let’s wait until May when the election’s over, then vote on this extension.”

With Gonzales remaining the District 6 trustee, there are two open seats on the board. In Place 5, incumbent Gwen Craig is facing Lee A. Mosty and Manuel Benavidez; and in Place 7, Mike Gregory and Randy Randle are vying for a seat.

Early voting starts April 28 until May 7 and Election Day is May 11.