Oak Ridge North Mayor Jim Kuykendall announces his run for reelection

OAK RIDGE NORTH, Texas — Hello Neighbors!

This past Tuesday I made it official. I am running for reelection as the Mayor of Oak Ridge North. I hope this comes as no surprise to anyone who lives in our great community. I love Oak Ridge North, Texas! It is my home, I have raised my children here and it has been and continues to truly be “what a hometown should be!” Please take a minute and read through what we have done, and what we face.

In the past five years that I have been Mayor, together with your City Councilpersons we have accomplished a great deal – all to the benefit of you the citizens. Not only to you, but to your children and grandchildren and others who will be our future residents. You and I know that as citizens and leaders we cannot simply keep things the same old way. We have to maintain our roads, waterlines. Sewer system. We have to keep and enhance our security by maintaining the best Police Department in the area. That continues to take money and to keep from raising taxes we need to enhance our business areas so we can continue to benefit from sales taxes.

Consider what we have accomplished in the past five years:


Lowered property taxes six years in a row. From .64 in 2010 to .46 in 2016 – while increasing the quality of life for all residents.

The completion of the total rehabilitation of the residential sewer system · The completion of the total rehabilitation of the city water plant

The repaving of all but one residential city street – with Maplewood scheduled to be done soon.

The rehabilitation of the Marilyn Edgar Park pool and pool house

The creation of a community affairs committee whose activities include planning community special events, resident welcome services and home maintenance assistance

The replacement and extension of water lines along the I-45 commercial zone, along Hanna Road, and through Phase II of the business park

We have nearly 100% occupancy of the business park through our Economic Development efforts which results in lower property taxes.

We have 94 percent occupancy of our retail sector – up from 60% five years ago, also due to our economic development efforts.

We look forward to the Crowne Plaza Hotel and Oak Ridge North Conference Center beginning construction in 2016.

We have revamped our existing business district resulting in new retail businesses opening such as I-Fly, Spec’s, Kirkland’s, Lifeway Christina Books and several more in the works, again helping keep taxes low.

Our small town now has a seat at the table with larger cities and our voice is heard regarding issues and efforts in this large urban area.

This election is going to be about leadership - whether you want to continue to work toward upgrading our quality of life, enhance our property values and be the best place to live, or whether you want to revert back to days of maintaining the status quo. Days when maintenance was almost non-existent, there the water system was condemnable by state standards and problems not handled. Having a “do nothing” attitude does not solve any problems for anyone. Having a wait and see attitude is one reason we have such a traffic problem in our community.

Since 1990 our leaders have talked about traffic issues and yet did nothing, opting to take a “wait and see attitude.” With 16,000 cars going down Robinson Road every day, and 2000 cars diverting down our residential street Ridgewood, I say we cannot wait any longer. It is up to us to work toward any solutions to our traffic problems. The experts are telling us that our area is going to grow approximately 37% in the next 25 years. That means that there is expected to be 21,000 cars a day down that road by 2018 and 32,000 down Robinson by 2025, and so on!

My commitment to the citizens will continue to be:


Keep taxes low

Protect our neighborhoods

Strengthen our ordinances

Work to resolve our traffic gridlock along Robinson Road

I appreciate your support in my reelection campaign. Please take a minute and forward this email to all your friends in our community and enlist their support. Send me their email addresses and I will include them.

It will be very important that we get our citizens out to vote in the election on May 7. I will be sending out regular emails on issues and events to insure you’re getting the correct information. I am available to talk with you and your neighbors as well., just let me know.

Thank you for your support and help on the campaign.

God Bless you and your family – today and always!

Jim Kuykendall, Mayor

Jimkuy@aol.com