Four years ago I asked for your support and your vote. You delivered in a big way and elected me to serve you on Plano City Council. I promised that I would be honest, transparent, accessible, and hold true to the values I upheld when you elected me. I believe I have done so consistently, and now, I once again ask for your support and your vote for the May 6, 2023 Plano City Council election.
I made some big campaign promises four years ago, but with the votes of my fellow council members, by the Grace of God, I fulfilled those promises in just a little more than the first year. And we were just getting started.
I promised to adopt the “Effective Tax Rate” (now called the “No-New-Revenue Rate”) to keep city property taxes flat for at least two years in a row while prioritizing Public Safety. We’ve now done it four years in a row. Honestly, I didn’t expect to champion it again this last budget year, but with 40-year-high inflation, I didn’t want to hit our people twice, with both inflation and a tax increase. So we did it again.
I promised to take action on the citizen petition to repeal the Plano Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan–the controversial 30-year roadmap for the growth and development of our city. Not only did we repeal the Plano Tomorrow Plan, we created a citizen committee to develop a new plan, the goal of which, as I said, was “to create a comprehensive plan the overwhelming majority of our people could get behind.” We did just that and created the new Plano Comprehensive Plan, passed unanimously by the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee, the Planning and Zoning Commission, and the City Council, with no citizen opposition.
We’ve increased transparency and accountability, and for nearly my entire term, I’ve brought to you City Council Previews and Video Recaps in a way that I’ve tried to make easy-to-understand and entertaining to make what’s happening at the local government more accessible to busy residents.
Some of my most significant goals now, apart from preserving what we’ve gained, are:
- Meaningful DART reform
- Overfunding and equipping the police to dominate the top spot as “America’s Safest City”
- Dominating the top spot for America’s “Best Place to Raise a Family”
- Exploring what we can do locally to secure our energy production and distribution to guard against electrical grid failures
- Developing a community volunteering framework to serve as a model for the whole country
- Developing a 20-30 year maintenance roadmap for the city to operationalize our maintenance and use the $20 million per year we currently spend on servicing our bond debt (paying the interest) to repair our roads and water mains instead
Above all, I feel incredibly privileged that I was able to serve you during the tumultuous and historic events since 2020, which certainly wasn’t in the brochure. When I speak about it publicly, I start to choke up and my eyes moisten–seriously, this happens. To have a hand on the tiller of the governance of this phenomenal city during such a momentous and turbulent time is something I regard with awe and reverence, and though nobody saw any of this coming during my election of 2019, I’m nonetheless grateful that I was entrusted with this duty at such a time.
I pray the next four years don’t hold such surprises in store, but whatever happens, I promise you I will serve you as I have done since 2019, with complete honesty and accessibility, and with a strong moral compass. I’m not pursuing the goals I listed above just because they’re important to me. They’re important to me because our community is important to you.
If this ever becomes all about me, I no longer deserve to serve you.
So now I ask for your vote on May 6, 2023, and your endorsement, your time, and your financial contribution.
Thank you for your continued trust in me!
With Gratitude,
-Shelby Williams
Plano City Council – Place 5
