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Stathatos looks to make Flower Mound 'unique'
By Chris Roark, croark@starlocalnews.com
With about 8,000 residents, Roanoke could be described as a small city with big ideas.
And the man responsible for those ideas is bringing them to Flower Mound.
Monday, the Flower Mound Town Council named Jimmy Stathatos the new town manager. He replaces Harlan Jefferson, who was fired in October.
Stathatos insists he isn't trying to brag when he describes Roanoke's success -- he reminds everyone that all of the city's accomplishments have been a result of a group effort by him, the city council, city staff and others.
Still, he finds it hard to hide his enthusiasm when talking about Roanoke's economic success.
Stathatos directs and manages Roanoke’s economic development program, which has helped create more than 3,700 new jobs and approximately $1 billion in new development projects including General Motors, Citigroup and other Fortune 500 companies.
During his tenure, Roanoke’s tax base grew from $99 million to approximately $1.7 billion and sales tax revenue increased to more than $10 million a year.
"I'm very agressive in terms of identifying key businesses that fit into our community," Stathatos said. "I recruit them, I attract them and I take away any obstacles. Basically, I don't give them an opportunity to say no."
Some of the success comes from a decision to revitalize downtown Roanoke. It's there that people find retail and restaurant options Stathatos describes as upscale, unique, individual and original.
"Collectively, we said that we have a downtown in Roanoke that people have tried to recreate," Stathatos said. "We have a crown jewel, it just needs to be developed."
Stathatos said the city began working with a planning firm, met with stakeholders and eventually overlayed its new concept with the downtown that already existed.
"It's been incredible," Stathatos said. "The redevelopment has created hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax dollars, and property values have quadrupled."
The Texas Economic Development Department recognized Roanoke’s success with its Community Development Award, and the Dallas Business Journal recognized Roanoke twice for “Best Real Estate Deals.”
Flower Mound Mayor Tom Hayden said it's accomplishments like these that made him a good candidate.
"Flower Mound is completely different from Roanoke," Hayden said. "But what impressed me with Jimmy is that he comes up with creative ways to solve problems. He brings businesses to town. Some people can do all the things they need to do, but others just make things happen. He has figured out how to get these things done."
As he looks at Flower Mound, Stathatos sees a town that, too, could succeed with those types of restaurant and retail options.
Stathatos said once he begins his job in Flower Mound -- he is set to start Jan. 14, though he said it may be sooner -- he wants to get feedback from the council and the community.
He got a taste of what may be available when he watched the discussion Monday night on the Lakeside DFW mixed-use development.
"I think the upscale, unique restaurants we attract [in Roanoke] would commpliment the ideas that are being discussed for Lakeside DFW," Stathatos said. "The reality is that a lot of people eat out, and there are a lot of choices. With Lakeside DFW's restaurant opportunities, unique places could fit in there. The model has worked here, and it can absolutely work there. The difference is that Flower Mound would have the lake view to go along with it."
Economic development is only one part of Stathatos' new role. He said he is also going to work on improving customer service relations in the town, and that goes for when a person pays their utility bill to a developer coming in to do business in the town.
"I love the fact that Flower Mound has high standards," Stathatos said. "I'm confident that we can make Flower Mound an easy place to do business. Then at the end of the day, the projects will still look better than ever. People sometimes think that if you're user friendly, then you don't have high standards. But we can do both."
Flower Mound used the services of Keller-based SGR Executive Search to help find candidates for the town manager position. The firm came back with eight candidates for the council to review, and council members interviewed three of them during two rounds.
“All three finalists are exceptional managers with an outstanding reputation and track record, who are well-known throughout the state,” Hayden said. “The council was confident that any one of the three could be an exceptional town manager for the next stage of Flower Mound’s history. We had an incredibly strong group of finalists to select from and were highly impressed with all three.”
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