Tunstall for City Council

Quail Valley resident Kevin Tunstall, candidate for Missouri City council At-Large Position 2, says he would like to see a change in the direction of the city, as says if elected he would focus on improving infrastructure and cutting spending in an effort to lower taxes.

“I don’t like the direction our city is going. I haven’t for a while,” said Tunstall. “I don’t believe the city should be doing all this crisis management – I think they should be more proactive in solving the problems before they are a crisis…I don’t like the people who are in charge right now, so I want change.”

Tunstall, who has lived in the city for seven years and owns a health care company, ran and lost against District C councilwoman Barbara Gibson in last year’s election. He faces incumbent Buddy Jimerson as well as candidate Willie Harvey, III in this year’s election. He says the state of the city’s infrastructure will eventually drive down property values if not addressed.

Missouri City resident Kevin Tunstall filed at around 1 p.m. Friday to run for the At-Large Position 2 seat in Missouri City.

Tunstall will challenge incumbent Councilman Buddy Jimerson for the position.

Prior to issuing his official campaign press release, Tunstall shared some of the top priorities of his campaign, including addressing the degradation of city infrastructure, ensuring city ordinances are in compliance with the state constitution, revisiting the landfill issue and addressing disparity in development in certain parts of Missouri City.

“I don’t like the way our elected officials deal with residents. They are here to serve and to represent and they do neither,” said Tunstall.

Gibson, Tunstall focus on sidewalks in Missouri City District C contest

May 10, 2007, 7:13PM

By ZEN T. C. ZHENG
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Candidates running for the District C council seat said their desire to obligate the city to repair sidewalks in front of residents' homes propelled them to run for office.

Incumbent Bob Burton did run for re-election.

Barbara Gibson, 61, president of the Lakes of Brightwater subdivision homeowners association, and Kevin Tunstall, 42, a health-care administrator who lives in Quail Valley, want to change municipal law to require the city instead of homeowners to repair damaged sidewalks.

The issue, which began in the First Colony neighborhood, triggered residents' protest against the law and prompted city officials to form a study group, which has recommended that the city be responsible for repairs.

May 8, 2007, 2:04PM
City delays action on sidewalks due to election

By SESHADRI KUMAR
Chronicle Correspondent

City Manager Frank Simpson told Missouri City City Council Monday night that he has allocated $150,000 in the preliminary 2007-08 municipal budget for sidewalk repairs in anticipation of the city taking over the responsibility of walkway maintenance.

City Council had an agenda item to receive the status report and authorize staff to amend ordinances relating to sidewalks as recommended by the sidewalk subcommittee.

But, the council could not act on the item as outgoing Councilman Bob Burton, in whose district the sidewalk repairs and the infrastructure ordinance have become an election issue, wanted to table the item.

"Both the candidates have some ideas on the issue. As my term ends, my participation won't continue. Let my successor have an opportunity to fully participate in the debate," Burton said.

The maintenance of sidewalks in Missouri City has become an election issue, at least in the District C open council seat, where Kevin Tunstall and Barbara Gibson are locked in a fight to succeed Councilman Bob Burton.

Sidewalk repair grabbed headlines in February.

About 60 people filled the City Council chamber on Feb. 7 to oppose a 1974 city law that requires homeowners to pay for the repairs of sidewalks in front of their properties. Residents say the city should pay. The subcommittee of City Councilmen Don Smith, Jerry Wyatt and Brett Kolaja said it would seek opinions of residents throughout the city.

At a mid-March subcommittee meeting, Wyatt, committee chair, said city staff recommendations were accepted to have the city repair sidewalks and to earmark funds in next year's budget, beginning July 1.

Early Voting Started Monday For City Councils, School Boards, Bond Issue
by Bob Dunn, Apr 30, 2007, 06 53 am

Early voting for the May 12 elections started Monday in Fort Bend County, where a constitutional amendment, $156 million mobility bond and several city council and school board seats are at stake.

Anyone eligible to vote in the election is eligible to vote early. Locations around the county open Monday morning. Check at the Fort Bend County Elections web site for schedules and locations. Voters may check here to find their voting precinct and a sample ballot.

Citizens have the opportunity to vote on a constitutional amendment, Proposition 1, that would give senior citizens and disabled people the same property tax reductions that other Texas property owners received a year ago. Wording in the proposition is somewhat confusing, but voting “yes” for the measure means voting in favor of reducing the property tax rate for seniors and the disabled.

Mo. City Council Candidates Debate Issues At Forum, Reveal Business News
by Bob Dunn, Apr 20, 2007, 08 10 am

Most challengers for Missouri City Council slots called for change and cited complacency during a Thursday night candidates’ forum, while incumbents cited past accomplishments as evidence the city is in good hands.

News, or rumored news, also surfaced during the event:

→ District B incumbent Don Smith and District C challenger Barbara Gibson said a controversial so-called sidewalk ordinance – which makes citizens responsible for repairs to sidewalks, curbs and streets adjacent to their property – has been resolved, with the city agreeing to assume responsibility for repairs.

→ District B challenger Lou Hunter said he has confirmed that the Blockbuster Video store on Texas Parkway intends to leave that location.

→ Smith said he is “working right now” with Fiesta Mart Inc. “and you will see in a very few days that they are interested” in the Texas Parkway corridor.

→ District A incumbent Eunice Reiter hinted that the city is counting on a bill in the Texas Legislature that could somehow have a bearing on its consideration for purchasing Quail Valley Country Club.

The Politics Of Tax Breaks And Land Development
By Bob Dunn

When Kevin Tunstall approached the microphone at Monday night’s Missouri City Council meeting, the District C council candidate hadn’t completed two full sentences before Mayor Allen Owen stopped him.

“Let me caution you,” the mayor said, “I will not allow a political speech” during a council session. It was as if everything that happens before a city council or county commission doesn’t carry political overtones, especially less than a month away from an election.

The subject of Tunstall’s comments, for instance.

He was there to talk about this arcane economic development tool called a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone. And it turns out that the theory and practice of creating such TIRZs is fraught with political implications, since TIRZs go hand-in-hand with land developers. And in Fort Bend County, as everywhere else, it seems land developers go hand-in-hand with politicians.

Tunstall said he’d been prompted to study up on the concept of a TIRZ, after two other Missouri City residents – one a past political candidate and the other a current council candidate – had approached council at consecutive recent meetings to suggest a TIRZ should be used to attract business and development along Texas Parkway and Cartwright Road. Council members suggested the two citizens were short on facts about TIRZs and how they operate.

Kevin Tunstall, a healthcare administrator and six-year resident of Missouri City, has filed for that city's District C council seat.

The position is currently held by Bob Burton, who is not running for re-election. Tunstall said that he decided to be a candidate because he believes that residents are tired of controversy on City Council and that there are "misplaced priorities" in Missouri City's government.
He urged voters to support his platform of lower taxes, increased economic opportunities, and change.

More than 1,000 signatures on a petition from residents opposing expansion of the Blue Ridge Landfill in Missouri City failed to derail the Texas Commission on Environmen-tal Quality's consideration of a permit application submitted by Allied Waste Services.

In a letter dated March 16, the commission deemed the waste company's application as having "met the requirements of applicable law."