Vote In Leander - Andy Hogue (Mayor)

The Vote in Leander series continues with our interview with Andy Hogue, candidate for Mayor of Leander. Voting begins on April 22nd with the Election Day on May 4th. 

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I've had the opportunity to sit downwith several of the candidates so far,
and this week I had a chanceto chat with Andy Hoague, who's running
for mayor here in Leander. Ihope you enjoy our conversation. We're back
here at Lantern Media Studios for thecontinuation of the Voting Leander series here on

(00:27):
the Lean and Leander Podcast. I'myour host Andrew Nawden, and with me
today is mayoral candidate Andy Hogue.Good to be here. Thanks for joining
me. I really appreciate it.A great studio you have got here.
Well it's not mine, but youknow they let me borrow it. That's
right. Make you so the spacewhen you got it. Yeah, no,
absolutely no, this is really honestly, and you know, plug for
Lantern Media. This has been awonderful experience. You know, given that

(00:51):
I'm typically working, you know,with my own gear, it's a little
low tech compared to this, butyou know, it gets the job done.
But this is really it's been Imean, it's kind of nice to
come here and do this. Yeah, makes me feel all official and stuff.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time. I really do appreciate it because
I know you know, people arebusy, and you know you have normal

(01:11):
life stuff to do, so it'salways nice to be able to, you
know, find a time that accommodatesboth of us. So I appreciate that
very very much, and I lookforward to our conversation here today. Yeah.
Likewise, all right, so Andy, I know a little bit about
you. I don't know who youknow a whole lot of stuff. But
I do like to start with theorigin story, if you will, so

(01:34):
to speak. So tell us alittle bit about where you're from, what
brought you to Leander, and thenwe'll go from there. Well, it
starts in rural Ditton County. That'swhere I spend most of my time growing
up. And as you know,anything north of DFW got gobbled up slowly,
slowly, just like what's happening rightin the Austinary I'm sure it's a
very familiar story. As a matterof fact, I spent time in Argyle,

(01:57):
Texas, which had a direct railline, and I moved to Lean
and I kept on having deja vuand thinking, wow, this is very
similar. But anyway, I movedto the Austin area in two thousand and
eight. I was a newspaper reporterand got very involved in uncovering toll road.
I hate to say scandals in anice podcast, but yeah, I
mean if that's how you framed them, right, yeah, yeah, Well,
I mean there were there were alot of question marks and unanswered questions

(02:19):
and things that we weren't getting answersfor, like how many overpasses do we
get? How many underpasses? Howwill this affect farmers and ranchers? How
can an ambulance get around the barriers? Good questions to have, and I
found out I was getting in alot of trouble from people with five to
one two area codes. Okay,anyway, go to the Republican Convention that
summer and got offered a job withlone Star Report. They put me in

(02:42):
a transportation editor in a few otherpositions to do healthcare policy and some of
their side gigs, and I hada great time. I spent three years
in the Capital Press Corps and I'velived here ever since. I moved to
Leander in twenty thirteen. My wifeand I got married. My wife,
Katrina, she's a worship singer.She's lived here since gosh four where I
think, but she had most ofher home paid off, and I said,
let's stay here, okay, Andwe had a kid within our first

(03:06):
year of marriage. So before youknow it, I one morning I woke
up with a Mustang convertible, acondo in Austin and not far from the
capitol. And one morning I wokeup and noticed I had a minivan,
a mortgage, and three kids.There you go, right right, That's
exactly how I go. That's myLeander origin story. Okay, right now,
that's nice. I appreciate you sharing, and I'm sure the people who

(03:29):
frequent the podcast and the YouTube andall that other good stuff will appreciate it
as well. A nice, nicebackground. So since you're kind of the
kind of you have a little bitof a journalist in you and hopefully can
appreciate some of what we do herefrom that perspective. In Leander, you
said, twenty twenty thirteen, Soabout ten years now, right, have

(03:54):
you have you seen? I mean, you've been obviously here ten years,
so you've seen a lot of thegrowth. You've seen a lot of what's
happened here in Leander. The waythat things have, you know, exponentially
exploded. I mean to talk aboutthat short time, it's crazy right,
Like, I've only been here,you know, six years, and even
in the six years that I've beenhere, it's just been it's it's mind

(04:16):
boggling. Those are six very monumentalyears, now they are. I mean,
you throw a pandemic into the middleof that and everything else. I
mean, it's it's pretty crazy.That's the star on the Bengo card.
We just don't count that one.Yeah, that's the free pass right right
exactly. Yeah, so you've beenhere for ten years and you've kind of
seen all of this happening and aroundyou. What other type of I like

(04:40):
to refer to it as like serviceorientation, but what other type of community
engagement, community volunteers and what elsehave you done prior to this? And
then we'll talk a little bit aboutwhat's motivating you to make this move.
Yeah, Well, as you mightknow, having children kind of becomes your
big community focus. And I'm aheadof the parent Taxi committee right now,
That's what I mean. Where butbefore I did a lot of things before

(05:01):
I moved to Austin. You know, being a reporter takes a lot of
your time as well. A lotof the capital activities kind of take precedence
and also traffic keeps you from beinga lot more involved in your neighborhood.
You get home at seven thirty andhalf the year it's dark yep. So
well in Gainesville and valu Vue,Texas, some other places in North Texas
and Denton, I stayed very active. I was involved with Optimist International.

(05:23):
I was a chapter president. Iwas involved with an after school program.
Let's see what else keep Texas beautiful. We started a chapter in my hometown
of Valley View, which had sixhundred people now eight hundred. So the
explosive growth hasn't caught up to valueyet, right, but we did restore
our town square. So we gotan offer from the governor's office. We
got about I think it was tenthousand dollars, but that goes a long

(05:45):
way in a small town. Wetook a working square that's mostly just parking
and agricultural storage. We turned itinto an actual catalyst for economic growth.
And now the square has bounced backand there's restaurants, distilleries. It reminds
you a lot of what's going onLeander right now with the economy before food
trailers. So that was quite aquite a feat right now. Very involved
church community activities, so I stayedquite active. I can give you the

(06:08):
resume some other time. No,no, no, that's fine, that's
fine. You give me plenty towork with right there. So one of
the things that that I picked upon there, and I'd love to talk
to you about more when we're whenwe're done with this. So we I'm
involved with Lily Leander Foundation here inLeander. Carlo Saint James great work.

(06:29):
Yeah, he does some really greatwork and I'm and I'm I'm pleased to
have been invited to join that board. And it's been a it's been a
nice little you know, exercise aswe kind of start to get our legs
under us and whatnot and kind offigure out how to make that thing work.
But one of the things that's comeup from that or begat of the
foundation was Keep Leander Beautiful. SoI'd love to at very least invite you

(06:53):
to one of our board meetings.May you give us a little bit of
insight I need to be there,right No, I think that's I think
that would be very benefit official tothat conversation because my wife actually serves on
that board with Keep Leander Beautiful.So I think that is something that I
would love to explore with you further. But you know that that's that's that's
great stuff. So obviously you know, some orientation as kids like you said,

(07:16):
that tends to do that, right, you end up being you know,
whether you do do it or you'resucked into it. Either way,
you know you you end up beinginvolved. What is it that now,
at this point, you know,ten years into your your life here in
Leander, what is it now thatmotivates you to say, you know what,
I'm gonna, I'm going to stepinto the public square. I'm gonna

(07:38):
I'm going to make myself, uh, you know, a public figure for
all extents and purposes. What motivatesyou today being a glutton for punishment?
Well, there is that, Butseriously, and I think it's a certain
type being behind the scenes, beingbehind the camera, working with in media
relations. But I've done for along time with the Travis Kunty Republican Party

(07:59):
a special I've some people said,Andy, I think you have imposter syndrome.
I think you like working with candidatesand pretending you're them sometimes. No,
no, no, this is justwhere my skills are, you know.
But it just kind of dawned onme. After all the problems we've
had finding quality candidates, and let'sface that, a lot of people are
leaving the Austin area. They're goingelsewhere, or they're finding out they could

(08:20):
work from home so they don't wantto fight the traffic anymore. And we're
losing some great talent up the road. So I thought I would be a
hypocrite if I didn't try to revenfor something. So for the past two
years or so, I've been beatingthe tires and trying to find a good
fit, and this seemed like agood use of my talents. I was
looking at counsel before there was anopen seat, but really mayor seems to
be a great fit. It's nota recall election. We're not ousting the

(08:43):
current marriage, just the terms up, and I think that's the best use
of my talents in my background.I do think that with the mayor's office
have a chance to broker the piece. That's something i've kind of excelled in
over the years. I can takemore later, but I'm good with small
groups, I'm good with a consensus, and I'm really good at running meetings.
I don't know where that skill comesfrom. But I haven't really got

(09:05):
to try that much of my life, and every time I have has been
great. Right, Maybe the outcomeis not perfect, but the meeting has
been perfect. So yeah, nowI I also have that skill set.
I'm you know, unfortunately or fortunatelyI don't know how you want to put
that, necessarily, but yeah,no, I've I had the opportunity to
kind of step into a leadership roleon the Economic Development Committee. Yeah,

(09:28):
not by choice. I mean itwas kind of like, you know,
hey, you want to You're thelast one left kind of thing, you
know, So yeah, but thatended up you know, I didn't I
didn't really know that I had thatskill set to run effective meetings and it
was actually, that's a good skillto have. It really is so straight
into mayor. I mean obviously ifyou looked at a council position before,

(09:50):
then obviously you know. And Ialways like to bring this up because it's
always I think it's an important pointfor the viewers to understand that all of
the positions in Leander are essentially volunteer. No one's getting really paid for anything.
I think there's some stipends and stufflike that for a little travel and
whatnot that happens. But beyond that, there's no paycheck or anything like that.

(10:11):
So everybody's basically volunteering their time foryou know what in all essence,
and I always frame it this way. These are my words. This is
not necessarily how other people may describe, but it's an advisory for the most
part, right, because you've gotcity staff that are actually executing all the
stuff at the end of the day, right, But the council serves in
that position of you know, kindof advising and steering budget and ordinances.

(10:37):
From that perspective, mayor is alittle different, though. I always like
to point out that the mayor takeson a leadership role within that group,
right, So the mayor provides alittle bit more direction, a little bit
more vision from that ac sets theagendas, decides what's important or you know,
prioritizes. I shouldn't say what's important, because everything's important, but helps

(10:58):
prioritize that, and you want todo that well, you know. As
a reporter, I spent the betterpart of a decade spending my evenings watching
council meetings, watching county commissioner meetings, watching waterboard meetings, watching a justice
of the peace sale. One timethey had auction off some property and things
like that. Very hard to keepa relationship during those years. But I'll

(11:22):
tell you what I spent my timewatching, and I think the most admiration
I've had is for somebody that cansit there and again moderate that discussion when
everybody has a different angle or nobody'slistening to each other. And someone that
can just broke with a piece andkeep the business going, keep the train
going, and in the agenda withintwo hours. That's somebody I admire a
lot. Yeah, I know,anybody who can actually do that, I

(11:43):
mean, they deserve it admiration,right, That's right, because those meetings
typically end up going a lot longerthan when you anticipate, right, much
longer, sometimes into the wee hoursof the morning two am. One time
we spent it all nighter and Igot home around six am and then right
back to work. That's not fun, bunch of the carden on well,
but I mean it's it's part andparcel of what you an expectation, so
to speaeah. Right, So Ihate to say with Leander, I'm just

(12:05):
jumping in. It seems like I'vebeen in the world for a long time.
I've watched a lot of meetings online, I've followed, I've worked with
some candidates over the years, andso I feel like while I haven't been
a staple at the council meetings,I mean, really, what percentage of
Leander residents are at the council meetings? Very seldom. So yeah, I
think we need again somebody who bothunderstands the system and is a regular,

(12:28):
you know, paycheck to paycheck personon the council. That would be a
great boon for the city of somebodyto be mayor that is in that role.
And you know, we're not bankingit either. We're just like everybody
else. And I've I was debtfree till about age thirty six. Then
we had kids. But you know, it's the We need the voices of
just regular, workaday folks on thecouncil. And I believe I'm the I'm

(12:50):
just a strange archaeoptrics between the twoworlds. So I've got to run for
it. This is a rare opportunityfor me now, and I can definitely
see where you're kind of coming tothat conclusion. Again, I'm not super
super familiar with your background, butI know enough to where I know where
you're coming from, right sure,So yeah, no, I mean obviously
so you're kind of already touching onit. But like outline for outline for

(13:13):
the audience, what you think youknow? What? What what would you
say are your unique qualifications? Likeif you if you were to ask,
well, I am, I'm askingyou the question, what are what are
your unique qualifications? What do youthink you bring to the table that maybe
sets you apart. Well, I'dlike to say I would continue the communications
improvement. There's been a lot ofimprovement. I think Leandard has been growing

(13:35):
up over the past decade or so, So I'd like to continue that.
But I think you need to bringsome passion to the table right now.
It seems that there's a lot ofdisconnect. For instance, when I filed,
did anybody call me? No onewanted to know more about me or
figure out what was going on orwhat my what my what my game was?
It was just sort of like that, and not to really dig at

(13:56):
anybody in particular. But I've noticedthat in a lot of policy situations as
well. No one's really working thephones, no one's talking to the developers.
Besides people that get paid to doso, but we need the representatives
of the people to get involved inactually care and I think that would go
that would you know, be worththis weight in gold, is just to
lift the phone and start caring aboutthe town. Are we talking to Liberty

(14:18):
Hill about their water shortage? They'regonna do with They're gonna be in the
same place we are right now,very soon. Things like that, I
think we can solve a lot ofproblems, and we can accelerate the building
of the Senior Center. I knowthere's a lot of background there and running
out of money situations too, butthere are things we can do if we
would just lift the phone, andwe can prevent a lot of these pinch
points from occurring with a little morecompassion and a little forward planning. So

(14:41):
that's one thing I'd like to bringto the Castle. I think that's I
think those are there's a good points. I definitely concur from the perspective of,
you know, just the communication partof it, right, I mean,
obviously that's that's part and part ofwhat we do here on the podcast
is try to open up some ofthose lines of communication and help people underst
and what some of the thought processesare the policy making and the decision making

(15:07):
is more complex and can sometimes beconvoluted from that perspective as well. Just
but that's the reality of the jobs, so to speak, right, Ye,
when we farm out a lot ofthat, right right, No,
And I mean, you know,you would hope that there are communications with
our you know, our neighboring citiesand some planning being done there. You

(15:28):
know, there's some visibility to that. It's not completely transparent, and there's
reasons for that. Sure, Yeah, no, absolutely, So you always
kind of want to thread that needlewhen when you're in the public square and
and you know, it's it's niceto hear that definitely because I think you
know, again, I would sayyour background probably lends that, right It

(15:50):
just you you have had that exposure, you have had that experience in the
past, and so it's a littlebit more I don't want to say secondhand,
but like it's easier for you,right, that's where your thought process
is. That's exactly where it's easyfor me. Best job I ever had
was with City of Austin District six, the council member of Don Zimmerman.

(16:11):
Think what you want you about,Don, but one thing Don does that
he gets things done right, andhe wanted a council satellite office. He
says, nobody in District six,in the northwest corner of Austin or up
by Steiner. It's kind of theoutward fringe, the deep space nine,
you know of the city. Hesays, No one's really going downtown for
business. They're just not They're justgoing to complain and not take care of
things, and they're the least represented. So he opened up his old campaign

(16:34):
office, flipped it over, gaveit to the City of Austin basically,
and started a field office. Buthe needed somebody to run it. So
I took one of the shifts.I took the afternoon shift. Loved it,
worked its way into a full timejob, and I could tell you
stories. But all it took wassomebody to you know, leave the desk
and go work with the constituent andsolve a water bill dispute or go solve

(16:56):
anything from a broken bike path togetting rid of or adding a you know,
a speed bump, things like that. But that's what woke me up.
I thought, this is what I'mgood at, and not just taking
the complaint and putting the machine,but following up sometimes years later and someone
picked up the phone and says,oh wow, I can't believe you're following
up. This never got finished.And that's that's really what kind of woke

(17:18):
up I guess reawoke in my communityservice angle. I'll spend a long time
in capital politics, a city ofAustin politics, and you know, you
get kind of jaded. Sure,but that really, yeah, gave me
a kickstart my interest in I wouldI don't want to put words in your
mouth, but I would say,you know, just that that that experience
of engagement, right, yes,just understanding. And I like to talk

(17:41):
about the representative part of anyone whois, you know, putting themselves on,
whether it's put forth for counsel orput forth for mayor. It's a
representative type of position specifically here inLeander because everybody's at large. Right,
So to your point, if you'reif you're not engaging with the community,

(18:03):
if you're not out there, actuallyyou know, and it goes beyond attending
you know, ribbon cuttings and thingsof that nature. In my opinion,
this is strictly my opinion, right, it's it's it is more about that
I think you know understanding that therethere is an issue on a road.
I always this is always my goto I don't understand how from a planning

(18:27):
perspective that there is not enough orin my opinion, there's not enough focus
on finishing out Lakeline to hero right, It's where I live, so it's
in my backyard, right. Soadmittedly it is something that I see every
day, so it's a little bitmore pronounced to me. But when I

(18:49):
look at that and the way thatthe developments were built and the way that
the the developers were allowed to developout there, it seems to me a
miss. It's like, well,you know that Lakelne is a is a
large conduit. It's not a it'snot a main street by any stretch,
but it's a large conduit. Andthere's a lot of traffic on Lakeline coming

(19:10):
all the way up to Leander,all the way up to the schools,
uh and and Crystal Falls. That'swhen I got here that you could already
see that, right. Then youdrive a little bit further down Lakelne and
also it contracts the two lanes andyou're like, okay, well why did
you do that? That doesn't makeany sense, just go ahead and plan
out four lanes, you know,finish them up, do all the way
through to Hero because once you seethat, and then your headed towns towards

(19:33):
Nameless. But there's traffic there too, right. So those are the types
of things that I think get unfortunately, and I know why. I mean,
sometimes it's it's monetary. Sometimes it'syou know, uh, just from
a planning perspective and having to shiftthings around to address some of the more
pressing needs. That makes sense,right, Oh sure, but it takes
any direction. Sure, yeah,absolutely, and especially during this timeframe,

(19:56):
right while we were going through whatwe've been going through now with just the
massive expansion of the city. Andagain I'm always very fond of saying,
you know, look, nobody couldhave really predicted that, right, You
could have maybe anticipated it, butyou would have known when it was going
to happen, and it all happenedat once, right, right, So
there's really there's you're playing catchup,regardless of how how well of the planner

(20:19):
you would have had to be inyou know, clairvoyant to be able to
really understand that. And it's fullright, it's true. So anyway,
but those are I agree with you, because I do think that is something
that you know, when when acandidate has considered or a candidate is able
to either you know, directly orindirectly get that type of feedback. Directly

(20:42):
is better in my opinion. Butyou know, hey, that's just me.
But yeah, no, I appreciatethat, I do. Yeah.
Well, not to get into thepolitics of it all, but at the
twenty thousand foot level, I thinkwe got two real choices. We could
slow down growth and wait for thingsto catch up, sure, and I
say, okay, we'll put amoratorium on this development, or we can
turbocharge or tax base and be ableto afford the things that we need to

(21:03):
not only you know, pay fora right turn lane and leave some of
that traffic, but also to negotiatewith the developers. Right now, we
are absolutely addicted to developer fees,and we don't have the gravitas to come
in and say, okay, wedon't like this, or we want some
natural vegetation, or we want alittle bit of extra thoroughfare to make up

(21:23):
for the congestion. We don't reallyhave that negotiating power right now because we
don't have the big enough tax base. So recruiting businesses and industry to come
to Leander. We've got to getcommercial. That's going to be prior to
number one for me, So Ichoose that latter option. I think we
ought to embrace growth and again,if we can't, then yeah, maybe
maybe moratoriums are the option. Butin a community is growing as fast as

(21:45):
Leander, I think we need toget on the train and just really saddle
up and let's get our commercial industriesin this town. Yeah, I would
concur. I mean, again,having had some exposure there, you know,
I won't pretend to be an expertby any stretch of the imagination,
but I mean, diversification of thetax base is key to that type of
growth, and you cannot I've beenI've been party, and I've been privileged

(22:07):
to be in on a couple ofconversations where you know, the the idea
of remaining a bedroom community and youknow, you know, using property tax
as the primary vehicle for you know, funding the growth of the city and
stuff like that. Sure, andit's there's nothing wrong with that should you
choose that direction, right, ifit's something you decide to do, then

(22:29):
hey, that's that's the type ofcity that you want to be in,
but we can't be one hundred percentbedrooms. No, you can't. You
can't. And I think that waspart of again, some of the consideration
you know previously, not not necessarilythe last you know, election cycle,
but maybe two three election cycles downwhen this was you know, starting to
bubble up. I don't think thatwas a whole lot of consideration there,

(22:51):
like you know, and it's difficultif you don't have the staff to support
it as well. So that's alwaysbeen a little bit of a think of
a little bit of a problem anda drag on the propulsion forward. Right,
nobody's fault. It has nothing todo with anything other than just no,
you know, you went from youknow, thirty ish thousand to eighty

(23:14):
thousand and almost overnight, right,And that's a lot to deal with,
and so you have to adjust andthat takes a little bit of time.
I think, in my opinion,I think we have made some of those
adjustments, and I think some ofthe development that we're seeing around does indicate
that, right absolutely, it startsto indicate that, okay, there's a
diversification there in the way that we'reapproaching, you know, the land that

(23:37):
we do have to develop. ButI also think it's really important for people
to understand that, you know,Samsung and and Tesla, they were never
in the cards, right, thatwas never going to happen out here.
It's not the right place for themto be. So when you hear those
comparisons, and we hear it alot, like you know, Huddo always

(23:59):
comes up, like what Huddo's doing, I'm like, well, but that's
a different scenario, right, theflat land flatter land, they're in a
different you know, demographic absolutely absolutely, and just you know, this les
regulated land one hundred percent. There'sso many other things that they don't have
to deal with, you know.The I think the one common tie between
all of the different cities is obviouslythe long term ability to support communities with

(24:25):
growth from you know, like fromthe water perspective, you know, and
I know that the city has doneyou know, quite a bit to correct
I say, course correct on water. Whether those chance, whether those decisions
could have made or could have beenmade earlier, that's arguable, you know,
how we move forward again somewhat arguable. Right, there's a couple of

(24:45):
different ideas that you can approach andand different ways to do that. But
I think again, I think it'skind of you know, at least we're
growing up, and I think yousaid it earlier like the city's kind of
growing up a little bit, andI think you're I think we're probably early
adolescents, maybe still still a littlebraddy, you know, jinglin the keys,

(25:06):
jingling the keys. Can we drivethis thing? Anyway? So so
we talk about growth, and youknow, one of the things that that's
always important to discuss when you're havingthat growth conversation is, you know,
how do you responsibly grow right?How do you how do you ensure that
there's a balance between the aforementioned needsright, the diversification of the tax space,

(25:27):
and then you know the small townethos right right? How do you
what's the balance there? What areyour thoughts on that type of question?
Oh, that's a great question.That's the big thing. You get.
You either get people that want TraderJoe's right now and they want, you
know, Leander to be an extensionof Austin, they want the domain up
here, and then really with NorthLine we might get that. Unfortunately,

(25:48):
I think we're getting more apartments lately. But you know, and then you
get the other people that want Leanderto stay the way it was, And
man, I love those people.They're there. They remind me of the
folks I grew up around, andI just want to hug them and say,
I know, my mom and dadlive on ten acres and they're getting
surrounded very slowly. That the dairyfarm right next to them just got bought
out. You know, So Ifeel you, man, I really do.
And I just realize I'm keeping mysunglasses on there. I don't worry

(26:10):
about that. There we go.Yeah, I hadn't noticed, but I
do think that one thing you've gotto do is realize that if growth is
inevitable, then we have to manageit correctly. And if a lot of
us moved here for the vistas andvalleys that we come to know and love
about the Hill Country, then let'skeep those. And there's ways to do
that. But again, you needa diverse economy and a wide tax space

(26:30):
to be able to negotiate. Otherwisewe're kind of beholden to whatever the developer
wants. And I drive by anew development I won't name it. I
love that brought houses to my neighborhood. I love that they've master planned it.
But man, they've got frontage.That's just all it is is unused
property with irrigation. And yeah,the grass is starting to turn yellow lately
because of Stage four. But ohmy gosh, why in the world before

(26:53):
it was cedar trees and native grasses. If you left it alone, it
would have been just fined during thesummer, would turn to differferent colors until
September than it would have turned white, you know. But it would have
looked great with a look hill country. But they had to put Patty's of
Grass down. Why because a lotof times the developing company does not live
here. They don't, right,they don't know what we have, the

(27:14):
kind of treasure we have. Andagain lifting the phone and talking to them,
sharing our vision and getting excited aboutit. Man, we've got to
do you know that big on aneconomic development committee. If we don't do
that, then that's to our dismay. But I think again, to preserve
the small town, we've got tounderstand the small town. Sure can communicate
that and show people why it's importantto preserve it and maybe do some things
that I've never been done in atown before. Right, we can be
the innovative hub in Texas. Idon't know, but we could do something

(27:37):
completely different than nobody's seen before.But we've got to have the vision.
No, I agree, and Iwould say that in many conversations I've had,
you know, in the past andeven more recently, to me,
that's one thing that has been aconsistent missing element from the conversations here in

(27:59):
the Lander because I remember when Ifirst started to get involved and started to
serve on committees and have conversations andbe part of you know, the Mayor's
advisory and stuff like that. Youknow, I spent some time working with
the chamber here, you know,just kind of trying to get a feel
for like, Okay, who's who'swho, what's what, and how do
we work right, just kind ofunderstand it. But vision and an overarching

(28:22):
understanding of what where we were goingwas. It's been a constant in my
opinion. And that doesn't that's nota bump against anybody you know, who
has served, who is serving,who might serve. No, it's just
there. There there's a I wouldn'tframe it that this is the wrong term

(28:42):
because of the way it sounds,but it is somewhat of an identity crisis.
Right, It's like, we don'treally know what Leander's going to become,
so we don't know how to necessarilyexpress what we want it to be.
In many in many in many ways, there are ways to address that,
you know. I think the theforthcoming one eighty three survey and that

(29:08):
and that particular project, I thinkthat's going to help a lot. With
that, that corridor study, Ithink that helps a lot. Right.
It starts to get some ideas outthere. But I would argue here too,
there needs to be some leadership inpresenting ideas too. And it's one
thing to wait for people to tellyou what they think and and to you

(29:30):
know, to digest that and andand have conversations. But at the same
time, there is a need forideas to be put out there. You
know. I had one of theinterviews we talked about this, and it's
like there's no real crazy idea anymore. Right, it's just different ideas,
just different ways to do things.So put them out there. I mean,
the worst thing that can happen isthat they don't work, you know,

(29:53):
I mean, that's the worst thingthat can happen. A great thing
about an idea doesn't have to work. It's an idea. So you just
put them out there, just seewhat happens and at least start the conversation.
Yes, get the idea, makeit a plan. Absolutely, it
turns into a plan after after time, in my opinion. I mean again,
you know, I think it's alwaysinteresting to sit down with the candidates

(30:14):
kind of explore that a little bit, like you know, hey, you
know, so, how would wedo this? So what is the vision?
Right? Well, and in aword, with our candidates and Aamian
names or name any factions or slates. But we've got a whole crop of
candidates that are like nothing I've everseen in Leander. I mean, whoever
wins, we're going to be astep forward, especially some of the newcomers.
We've got some fresh blood, We'vegot some talent we've never had before.

(30:34):
And it might be just another expressionof Leander growing up. But I
think either way, after this nextelection, you're going to see a lot
more talent and a lot more driveon the council we've had before. But
when I first started out here,we were still kind of on the tail
end of this. Well, it'syour turn to be on the council.
You're in the fire department, sothey represent the fire department and that kind
of thing. And that's great,but like you said, you know,
it doesn't pay a cent. Andif you're busy being a firefighter or a

(30:56):
busy commuting downtown and fighting traffic,you know, you don't really have a
lot of time to read the councilpacket, right, And I think to
a degree as well, I wouldargue that, you know, if that
being the case, and that thatwas what happened a lot of times,
you're you're too close to it,right it It kind of it deafens the
room for any new ideas because youkind of fall back into the well,

(31:18):
that's that's the way we've always doneit, right, And I think again,
I think there's a maturation in thecity and there's opportunity to bring in
new ideas and bring in you voices. And I always you know, from
my perspective, again, what Ido here is just about the at the
conversation. This is you and mesitting around having a beer and having a
having a chat. Right where's abeer right there? But but that's the

(31:42):
point is that you I hope thishelps with with anybody who would would have
an opportunity and not be able tosit down with you and have that one
on one conversation. Right. Ihope that I'm representing the types of questions
that people should ask or would ask. This is what I'm hearing at the
What you're saying is exactly what I'mhearing at the door, at the door,

(32:04):
knocking on doors and yes, okayyou kno, yeah, the block
walking, I'm not doing enough ofthat lately, but yeah, I agree.
I think that is a way tobe able to do that. Now.
You know, our community has hasgrown so much that there's a lot
of walking now, yeah, lotsof heels, yeah, right, right,
you know, a bicycle. MaybeI don't know. Maybe I don't

(32:28):
know, but I think I I'vehad candidates come to my door, which
is always interesting because I typically theydon't know that I live there, right,
show up, They're like, ohyou live here? Yeah I do
anyway. But it's it's nice tosee that done. I mean, and
it's we're still we're still smallish enoughthat you can get a good chunk of
that type of direct engagement. Right, Yes, we're not so small anymore

(32:52):
that you know, it's two threecommunities, you know, and you know
it's it's a barbecue and everybody showsup. Oh no, I already had
things that I've said at the door. Get back around to me two hours
later somehow. Yeah. Well,and social media too. I mean that's
true if you have those conversations.Was it next door is one of those
like that one? Yeah, justthat's a kind of it, like people

(33:13):
know stuff right away, next story. So we've talked about a couple of
other things, and again, youknow, I appreciate you kind of just
following me down the little path thatI set out. And you know,
again I don't want to get toodeep into anyone put the political idea or
thought or whatever. It is.This more conversational just to get some of
your ideas out there, right,just to help you kind of express what

(33:34):
it is that you you think.So, transparency and accountability is always something
that comes up at some point oranother, and so you've had a unique
experience from that perspective, having donethe journalistic side of that, right where
you are pushing for transparency, right, So how do you answer that question?

(33:57):
I mean, I think you've kindof touched a little bit on it.
But let's speak to that question specifically. What are some of your ideas
on how the city can be moretransparent or more communicative from that perspective.
Okay, well, you can starta blog, you can start a podcast,
and the problem is who's going tolisten to it. Who's going to
take the time to break their routineand stop, you know, a kid's
soccer practice to watch the video orread the blog. So that's the problem.

(34:21):
How do we bridge that gap?So, of course that's a million
dollar question. I think elected officialsand appointed officials everywhere want to know the
answer to that. But again,I think listening is the most important thing,
and not just being a good listener, being a responsive listener. So
trying to find out where the demandis. What are people concerned about?
Well, right now, they're concernedabout water, they're concerned about traffic,

(34:44):
and I think if we advertised forumsabout that better, we could get a
large crowd of these things. Oneexample, we got a raider way over
by Rouse High School Micrisco, andthat is being rebuilt during school hours.
And maybe they can't help it,maybe it's just they got to do during
the springtime. I don't know thereasons behind it. I'd like to read
a little more about that. Butpeople have questions. Now I've been told

(35:06):
there was a hearing at Wyley HighSchool. I don't know, maybe I
missed it. And here I am, mister plugged in, mister political,
mister communications director, and somehow Imissed I totally missed it. Now,
how did I miss that? That'sto my sagrin, But that's also a
motivation that if I missed it,how many other people missed it? So
I think asking the questions and followingup and seeing, Okay, where's the
demand and where are the people askingthe questions? Where are they right now?

(35:29):
How do I go to them rightAnd that's how we get them to
listen, That's how we engage them. So there may may not be one
clear answer to that, but communicationshas to be active. You can't just
you know, yak, yak,yak, and someone's going to say,
hey, you're doing a great job, keep it up, you know.
Yeah. No, And to thatagain, I think you know, public
notice and you know, providing foryou know, mechanisms for people to comment

(35:54):
and whatnot. That's all well andgood, right, but I think keep
bringing up a really, really goodpoint, and I'm happy to hear it.
Actually is that you have to youhave to take some initiative to meet
the people where they are, andthat goes beyond the election cycle, right.
I think what unfortunately happens is that, you know, the election cycle,

(36:15):
there's a lot of that engagement.There's there's just natural you know,
the bloom of the political signage.You know, it's it's just it happens.
You can kind of count on it. Yeah, guilty, it's just
part of the process. But itdoesn't require any water. Good point.
Good point. All right, that'sthat's actually you're the first one to say
that that's actually funny. But yeah, I mean, but but you do

(36:37):
get that during this period of time, you know, and then not so
much. I'm not saying not atall by any stretch, am I saying
that that's not the case. Thereis plenty of opportunity to engage after the
election cycle. But it again,to me, it's like, well,
this is a volunteer position, right, So yes, there's a cadence to

(36:59):
the way that you do the workthat you do, and there's a lot
of other stuff that you end updoing as well. Like I've had the
conversation with multiple candidates that you know, you frame it as bi monthly for
three years, right, that's along commitment. But then that turns into
you know, bi monthly for threeyears plus you know, ribbon cuttings plus

(37:22):
additional meetings, plus you know,the phone working, the phones, engagements,
and so you quickly and I don'tthink it's anything that's necessarily malicious,
right, I don't mean it thatway. You just quickly get sucked into
that world and you forget or don'thave time for the outreach, the one

(37:45):
on one conversations. You know,just you know, I'm going to be
here and y'all come and give mea chat, you know, let me
know, let me know what you'rethinking. I'd love to see more of
that. That's a very somber point. You get so involved with the in
world or forget, Yeah, andit's everything do everything. Everything gets that
way, right, and everybody's busy, and everybody kind of goes about their

(38:05):
own thing. But at the endof the day, you know, if
you want to be again speaking strictlyfor myself, if you want to be
involved in something that is that isthe nature of the city, like the
Civics, of the city. Youhave to make that time right and at
the least vote right. I thinkyou would probably know this probably better than

(38:30):
most. I mean, it's it'sa paltry number that show up to the
polls given the population and the factthat in Texas it's like seventy I want
to say, seventy three to seventyeight percent of the population is registered to
vote. Like they are registered,they just don't show up, that's right.
Well, even if you take outyou know, people with felonies and
Jounder eighteen and those who just movedhere and immigrants, you still have you

(38:53):
know, a city of ninety onethousand in less than ten thousand are going
to show up for the selection.Yeah, and then on top of that,
we've got the primary run off laterin May. So Texas has uniform
elections, but we also have youknow, times, the things that need
to stretch out. So people aren'tgoing to know about the mayor fourth election.
We're having to say may the fourthbe with you, you know at
that start right again, right,But people still aren't going to show up.

(39:13):
And that's that's a challenge, itI mean, And as a candidate
you have to you have to obviouslyyou understand that, right, Oh right,
that's the first thing I say anymore, especially when people are busy,
you know, working in the drivewaysand they don't want to talk to me
there, especially Easter weekend many werethey were annoyed. You know, I
said, Hey, I just wantto know there's an election coming up to
go, I know, like noneof you know it's May fourth, it's

(39:35):
May twenty of them May fourth,there's two. Really, thanks Mike,
You're welcoming, you know, andsometimes get off my line, okay,
sorry, I mean I give youkudos there, because that takes that takes
a lot of hook spot, youknow, to just get out there and
and and you know, again you'representing yourself, you're making yourself a public

(39:55):
figure and and that, you know, I admire that, I really really
do, because I mean, that'sthat's a lot. I don't know that
I would ever put myself in thatposition. Just a lot of self introspection
too, and yeah, yeah,you have to be right, yeah right,
all right, Well let me see, let's see how we're doing on
time. We started a little early, right, just a little bit,

(40:19):
just a little early. Yeah,My kids decided in the spirit of April
Fool's Day, which is the daywe're recording this, and set my clocks
forward. So I came here anhour early. Yeah, that's that's funny.
When did you realize that? Justa while ago? Why am I
here at two thirty? I waslooking all around for this place. That's
funny. That's funny. Yeah.So, I mean I left the office.
I wanted to make sure I washere on time because you had mentioned

(40:42):
that you had some stuff this afternoon, and I wanted to be you know,
cognizant of that. Catching off guard. Yeah, it's like here,
he's already here. That's pretty crazy. Thanks for taking me here a little
bit earlier. No, No,absolutely, happy to do it, Happy
to do it, Happy that youwere able to, you know, make
the connection and spend the time withus here. So before we wrap,
I do want to tell me onething, Like if and I asked this

(41:07):
question, that I really liked it, So I'm going to come back to
it, all right, So,one thing that you've done, either in
your professional life or your personal life, that you felt so good about whatever
it was that you accomplished in thatin that job or in that project,
that you would want to do thatagain, Like you felt so fulfilled,

(41:31):
for lack of better terms, fromthat experience that if you ever did that,
that's the one thing you would goback and Okay, yeah, I
want to do that again. Yeah. Well it's got to be a ministry
work. I mean it has tobe. There's nothing that touches eternity more.
Obviously what we're doing here is tendingin the garden, but when you
look at the overall picture, that'sthat's big. When you see somebody go

(41:52):
from drug addiction and hopelessness to hopeand productivity and worshiping God, it's an
amazing transformation. If there's anything I'dwant to do again is to repeat that
over and over and over again.And yeah, I do my share of
ministry work on the side, Ido. I feel the pulpit. I
got a little house meeting we arepretty fond of. We open the Bible
and we pray a lot. Butyou've got to take it from this orthodoxy

(42:15):
to orthopraxy they call it, andpractice what you preach. And so that's
the one thing I'd want to domore often. I have a conviction about
not making it a career not torun anybody in the ground that does make
their money off of ministry. Ithink that serves an important role, but
it can't be just that. SoI haven't pursued that as a career,
but I found a lot of meaningon the side and doing it out of

(42:37):
the passion from my heart. Andjust like we are with the council,
it's not going to pay a centeither. But again, if we're tending
in the garden here, if that'sGod's will for us, then we've got
to do it. So but yeah, nothing really jazzes me up more than
sharing the gospel with somebody. Ohthat's nice, that's nice. But again,
they are very servant oriented, andthat's kind of I come back to
that theme again and again and againbecause I think, to a person,

(43:00):
any of the candidates that I've spokenwith have that have that in them.
Right, there's I refer to asas servant leadership. Right, there's there's
a there's a and I mean Ididn't make that term up or anything like
that, but that's what I frameit as. Oh, good old Ziggie
boy. Yeah yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. Maybe maybe Simon Sinek

(43:23):
might, but I don't know aboutzig anyway. But I think it's really
important, and it's an important partof the process in that you are putting
you again, you're putting yourself forthand as a public figure, but you're
also saying, look, I'm hereto help serve your needs, right,
I'm representative from that perspective, right, and not to proselytize, not to

(43:44):
turn Leander into a Republican city,which, hey, I'm Republican, I'm
conservative. I'm not gonna make anything. I don't think anybody doesn't know that.
That's pretty that's pretty clear, right, It's been kind of a fear,
you know, like no, wait, wait, I'm for everybody.
I've done this before, and I'mactually glad you brought that up, because
that is something that I think alot of people would look at and say
and and it cuts both ways,right, it does cut both ways,

(44:07):
so you know, and policy doesmatter, of course, absolutely, yeah,
But if you're if you're coming atit from a from a from a
nonpartisan perspective, you know, youcan have partisan feelings, right, you
can have partisan thoughts, but whenit comes to actually serving in the role,
you should pursue it from a nonpartisanperspective, right, you should be

(44:27):
listening to everyone and not just agroup that you may favor. Right,
there's nothing wrong with that. Ihonestly feel that way. I I you
can paint yourself into whatever political cornerthat you want to and and and and
and have a fundamental understanding of policyand ideology, and that's fine, there's

(44:51):
nothing wrong. It's the same asreligion in my opinion. You know,
it's the same as education. Inmy opinion. You're gonna get color from
that. But to grow, youmust understand that listening comes first, and
you have to take into account everybody'sperspective because it's the only way that you
find community and unity. At theend of the day. Again, community

(45:15):
is unity, right, It's allpart of that whole process. I'm no
way have I ever thought that youknow, my way's the right way or
my way's the best way, right, and have my thoughts no, But
the point there is that you know, I want to try to at least
sure you take that into account,right, Like, yeah, there's things

(45:36):
that I but I also realize thatthere's things that you want and sometimes we're
not going to necessarily be looking atthat same issue with the same lens,
right exactly, But in order toget to where we can both be comfortable
with it. I have to takeyour perspective for a minute, and I
would hope that you would take mineso that we could figure that out.
Right. Well, yeah, Andthere's two types of people in the world,
seekers and non seekers. People whoare seeking the truth, seeking the

(45:57):
common ground, and those who arerunning from it, seeking themselves. Right,
No, I think that's part ofit. Yes, So if you're
a seeker, you're a friend ofmine. I don't care if you disagree
with me. If you're a socialistor Buddhist or even you're completely just not
sure what you believe at all,that's fine. As long as you're seeking
it, I will find common groundwith you. And furthermore, I think
was it a I think it wasf Scott Fitzgerald that said it that the
true test of a first rate intelligenceis the ability to hold two opposing ideas

(46:22):
in your mind simultaneously. So Ithink you have to do that. You've
got to step into the other person'sshoes for a second. You put your
biases on the shelf. Even ifyou're absolutely hundred percent right and got a
rush Limbaugh like view on the world, just put it to the side for
a second. Why does this personfeel this way? Why is it important?
And maybe learn something in the process, God forbid we do that.
Yeah, no, I agree.I currently work in a role supporting an

(46:45):
analytical group. Right, I'm businessdevelopment, but they're analysts, right,
right, So I have learned.I think I had a natural affinity for
it, but now I'm better atit. It's to set aside those bias,
right. You have to understand thatit is a bias. Right.
You can't take a sample set that'sjust the group that you're familiar with.

(47:07):
You have to take your sample set, you know, randomized across everything,
everything, even to prove your ownhypothesis. Even to prove your own hypothesis.
That's correct, correct, correct,excellent. Well, this has been
fantastic. I really have enjoyed thisconversation. I want to give you an
opportunity to tell folks where they canfind you. So like your social media's
you know, websites, et cetera. Where can people find more about Andy?

(47:30):
Yeah? Google me? Hollering yourphone say hey, Siri, find
Andy. Hope find me on Facebook? I found you. Yeah, it's
easy. I could give you theU R L. But why just find
me on Facebook, look for mecalling my numbers. Ever, go to
the city council website to look forthe council biographies. Mine should be up
shortly. Okay, you know you'vegot all our information up there. But
yeah, I'm an easy man tofind. I'm all over the place being

(47:50):
a communications director, So just doesgoogle me. I'm there. Okay,
I'll make sure. And because Iusually do a little crawl when you're talking
about that, so I'll put theactual Yeah, I'll up there. We'll
send it to you. All right. Well, Andy, it has been
truly a pleasure and I really reallyappreciate you taking the time here. Again,
folks, the purpose of the VotingLeander series is to just give you

(48:13):
the opportunity to do what I justdid and to hear the conversation just you
know, person to person with thepeople who are presenting themselves again for your
votes. So I hope this helpswith that conversation. You can, of
course go to Voting Leander dot com. You can go to Leaningleander dot net.
You find me on all of thesocial media's as well as podcasts.

(48:34):
Subscribe like them. You get thosealerts and it definitely helps keep you at
least informed of what's going on here. We'll run the series. I think
I've got potentially two more interviews todo, but as soon as I can
get everybody who will participate done,we'll put them all on one spot so
you can kind of go and findeverything in one place. So I appreciate
it. Again, Andy, thankyou so much for your time and for

(48:57):
you out there. Thank you fortaking a minute to listen to what I
have to say and what we haveto say. And again Andy pointed it
out earlier. You got the baseballpractice and other stuff, so I find
the podcast is really easy to listento on the drive into wor Yeah,
that's a good idea of it.I try to keep it right at about
a thirty minute timeframe, so thereyou go. Yeah, or just kind
of put two times on there.Yeah, you could do that. You

(49:20):
could do that anyway. Thank youagain, and thank you and we'll see
you at the next one. Myfavorite lovely fa