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McKinney mayoral, at-large council seats only contested races for May election
By Chris Beattie, cbeattie@starlocalnews.com
All candidate filings are in for the McKinney City Council and the McKinney ISD seats up for election.
There will be two McKinney races in the May election: a three-person race for one of two City Council at-large positions, and a two-person race for McKinney's next mayor. There will likely be no contested races for the four McKinney ISD positions up for election, barring write-in candidates, as only incumbents have filed.
Latest to the campaign starting line was Derrick Johnson, 42, senior pastor at Independent Baptist Church in Como, a city near Sulphur Springs. The 10-year McKinney resident filed about an hour before the March 1 deadline to run against Mayor Brian Loughmiller, who in December announced he would seek re-election.
Loughmiller, 52, has been McKinney mayor since 2009, when he won the seat over George Fuller. Loughmiller, a managing partner at Loughmiller Higgins P.C., a law firm that specializes in family law, previously served two terms on the City Council.
In his announcement, Loughmiller said he would "remain committed to our strategic goals of bringing quality economic development to McKinney, while continuing to promote a family centered environment for all of our community," and would "continue to focus on policies that promote cooperation between private business and local government, and a conservative regulatory environment that meets the needs of our citizens while encouraging private investment in McKinney."
The other, more contested City Council race will be between Jeremiah Hammer, Randall "Randy" Pogue and Jose Martin Sanchez. They will vie for the at-large seat to which Councilman David Brooks said in recent months he would not seek re-election.
Hammer, 33, president of Sustainable Ventures, a consulting company that helps environment-friendly and startup businesses, first ran for the City Council in 2011. He ran for the other at-large seat now held by Roger Harris, winner of a runoff election against other candidate, Steve Bell.
Hammer, the second to file this time around, told the McKinney Courier-Gazette in January, "My motivation this time is coupled with a much broader and deeper understanding of everything that's going on in this city. From what I've been able to learn and observe over the last two years, it just furthered my desire to step up and run for this seat.
"There is an opportunity to do something greater, and I believe with minor changes and a broader perspective of how we approach our problems, we can move this city forward into a much more sustainable future."
Sanchez, 42, who filed Jan. 30, is president and CEO of Sanchez and Associates, an urban planning consulting firm. A 21-year Texas resident, he lived in McKinney from 1998-2001, during which he served as the city's senior long-range planner, a newly created position at the time. The city staff managed annexation of more than 10 square miles, the first Architectural Standards Ordinance, the first tree preservation ordinance, the city's largest commercial overlay district along State Highway 121, and updates to the Master Thoroughfare Plan and the Comprehensive Land Use Plan, according to a public release.
He has again lived in McKinney the past six months, according to his filing.
In his announcement to run, Sanchez said, "The city of McKinney has given so much to my family that I am compelled to return the service...I want to be part of the team that leads McKinney into the next 50 years."
Pogue, 42, was last to put his name in the at-large hat, filing Feb. 14. Pogue is president of Pogue Engineering & Development Company, Inc., a McKinney-based civil engineering firm. He is a 16-year resident of the city.
In his official candidacy announcement, which he released publicly soon after filing, Pogue said, "The future of our city has never been brighter and I look forward to being a part of it for many years to come. My main goal is to make the necessary decisions on what will be best for the city as a whole for the long term."
The City Council's Districts 1 and 3 seats are also up for election, but only respective incumbents Don Day and Travis Ussery filed. Both council members were elected to the seats in 2009. Ussery serves as mayor pro tem.
The McKinney ISD's Places 1, 2, 3 and 7 are all up for election in May, but as of now, there will be no races. Only incumbents Maria McKinzie (Place 1), Bobby Amick (Place 2), Kathi Livezey (Place 3) and Curtis Rippee (Place 7) filed.
Amick is the newest of the four board trustees seeking re-election. He was appointed to the position in July 2011 after former Place 2 Trustee Mark Rude abruptly resigned the previous month. Amick has served the remainder of Rude's term.
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