Perplexed Leander residents seek transparency in City Council decision-making

Over the past several years, Leander residents have been perplexed at proposals and decisions by elected officials, as well as by city administrators and staff, who have turned a deaf ear to citizen concerns. The results of the recent elections indicate citizens converted that frustration into effective grassroots action in the first phase of replacing the city council.

A review of publicly-available Campaign Finance Reports (CFRs) offers insight on some of the previous council and administrative actions that ran contrary to the best interests of Leander homeowners and taxpayers. Table 1 below contains data extracted from CFRs submitted to the City of Leander Secretary by the named office-holders and the unsuccessful mayoral candidate over the 2015-2018 time period.  All but three of the individuals or entities who donated to the respective campaigns are outside special interests with non-Leander (city) addresses. Note: CFR data for Leander’s new mayor and council members is not contained in Table 1 but can be found in previous posts on LeanderLookout.com.

Table 2 contains a listing of a few entities from Table 1 which have received payments from the City of Leander between January 2016 and May 2018. Further research is required to provide context on those payments.

Table 1

Campaign Donor 
(Past or Current
 Professional
Affiliation)*
Vic Villarreal
2018 Mayoral
Campaign
Former Mayor
Christopher Fielder
Mayor
Pro Tem Jeff
Seiler
Place 1
Council
Member
 Andrea
Navarrette
Place 3
Council
Member
 Shanan
Shepherd
Tommy Tucker
(Crescent Communities)
$100.00 $250.00   $250.00  
J.M. Herrington, Developer $250.00 $250.00   $250.00  
Halff PAC $250.00 $250.00   $500.00  
Bruce Nakfoor, Developer $1,000.00 $1,000.00     $300.00
Thomas Arndt
(Dannenbaum Engineers)
  $1,000.00   $250.00  
      William Pohl        (Pohl Partners) $1,000.00 $2,000.00   $500.00 $500.00
Lance Hughes
(Hughes Capital Management/Hero Way MF Inv.)
    $250.00 $500.00 $250.00
Jeff Musgrove
(American Realty)
   $500.00 $250.00 $500.00 $250.00
James Plasek
(Lookout Group)
    $1,000.00 $1,000.00 $1,000.00
Texas Association of Realtors PAC       $500.00 $1,500.00
Texas Land Developer Assoc. PAC     $250.00  
Susan Turrieta
(Smith Turrieta Engineering)
$500.00   $150.00  
John Lindner
(Walker Partners)
$250.00 $500.00   $400.00  
Willis Connor
(American Constructors)
    $100.00 $100.00  
Kristiana Alfsen
(Pohl Partners)
    $500.00    
Carl Norman       $100.00 $100.00
Andrea Farr
(Texas Pawn & Jewelry?)
        $200.00
Robert Cantwell         $500.00
Brad Pfluger, Architect       $200.00  
       Jim Powers       (J.L. Powers)       $200.00  
James & Christi Herrington       $250.00  
Corbin Van Arsdale (Cedar Park Mayor)       $250.00  
Curt Green
Developer
$250.00 $250.00   $250.00  
   Blake Magee  (Blake  Magee Co. Developers)   $2,000.00    $1,000.00  
Andy Pitts        $2,000.00  
RPS Klotz PAC     $200.00  
James & Shirley Dannenbaum (Dannenbaum Engineering) $500.00      
Vic Villarreal $50.00      
Mitch Fuller (J.L.Powers) $200.00 $50.00      
Martin Burger
(American Constructors)
$250.00 $100.00   $100.00   
Constructors Capital LLC (American Constructors)   $100.00      
Jonathan Escalante (Chasco Construction)   $100.00      
Mark Borenstein (HDR Engineering)   $300.00      
John Thomas (Tom)             Glenn       (Leander Consulting) $100.00 $150.00      
Chasco Constructors $250.00      
           Dale Murphy       (K Friese & Assoc.)   $250.00      
Pix Howell
(Member Congress of
New Urbanism)
$200.00 $250.00      
Tim Haynie $350.00 $400.00      
Joseph Cantalupo (K.Friese & Assoc)   $450.00      
George Walker
(Walker Partners)
$250.00 $500.00      
Thomas McFarling (M&S Companies) $500.00      
James Knight $2,000.00 $500.00      
Jody Giddens $100.00 $500.00      
James Giddens $250.00 $500.00      
AREA Leander LLP /
Tynberg Family Living Trust
$2,000.00 $500.00      
Freese & Nichols PAC $300.00 $750.00      
         Karen Friese        (K Friese & Assoc) $250.00 $1,000.00      
HDR PAC    $1,000.00      
      Frederick Jay    (Jay Engineering) $500.00 $1,000.00      
Mike Elmore, Developer $3,000.00 $3,000.00      

 

Table 2

Vendor Payments
to Vendor
Jan. 2016-
May 2018
Possible
Affliliated
Campaign Donors
Vic Villarreal
2018 Mayoral
Campaign
Former Mayor Christopher
Fielder 
Current Mayor
Pro Tem Jeff
Seiler
Place 1
Council
Member
 Andrea
Navarrette
Place 3
Council
Member
 Shanan
Shepherd
American Constructors $3,907,418.00 Martin Burger
Constructors Capital LLC
$250.00 $100.00
$100.00
$100.00 $100.00
Halff & Associates $1,520,977.63
Halff PAC $250.00 $250.00 $500.00
Walker Partners $802,622.40
George Walker
John Lindner
$250.00
$250.00
$500.00
$500.00
$400.00
Chasco Constructors $1,503,567.75
Chasco Constructors
Jonathan Escalante
$250.00
$100.00
Hero Way MF Inv. $698,237.25 Lance Hughes $500.00 $250.00 $500.00 $250.00
K. Friese & Assoc. $719,264.91
Karen Friese
Dale Murphy
Joseph Cantalupo
$250.00 $1,000.00
$250.00
$450.00
Freese & Nichols $596,343.72
Freese & Nichols PAC $300.00 $750.00
HDR Engineering $240,269.72
HDR PAC
Mark Borenstein
$1,000.00
$300.00
Jay Engineering $247,711.40
Frederick Jay $500.00 $1,000.00
M&S Engineering $208,424.65
Thomas McFarling $500.00
Smith Turrieta PLLC $107,337.71 Susan Turrieta $500.00 $150.00
Bruce Nakfoor $92,890.94 Bruce Nakfoor $1,000.00 $1,000.00 $300.00
Haynie Consulting, Inc. $179,228.00
Tim Haynie $350.00 $400.00
Crescent Communities $180,989.48
Tommy Tucker $100.00 $250.00 $250.00

 

Copyright © 2018 Don Stroud