Rowlett City Council: Incumbent, challenger face off for Place No. 6

Residents will take to the polls on May 11 to decide several seats on the city council. This year four seats - mayor, Place No. 2, Place No. 4 and Place No. 6 - are on the ballot.

Current Place No. 6 representative Michael Gallops is nearing the end of his first term and will face challenger John Spor to retain the seat he currently holds.

Spor said he decided to run after several of his neighbors asked him to.

"I was asked to run by a circle of my neighbors. I agreed that we probably needed a change on the council," Spor said.

Spor, who currently owns four businesses and is a nuclear physicist by trade, believes his business background and understanding of engineering would be an asset on the city council.

"I have a really good business background. I currently own four companies and have helped start five. I have a pretty good understanding and I served on the Rowlett Economic Advisory Board for the last six years so I have a pretty good understanding about what is going on in the city," Spor said. "I understand the city's financial issues and the fact there are tough choices that are going to have to be made."

Spor believes he can bring a fresh, new perspective to address these issues, if elected.

Gallops said he is running for re-election to help continue the work the council has begun during his first term.

"I think the council is headed in a great direction and I want to help see that those things continue," Gallops said. "[As a current council member] I am familiar with what has been going on in the city and have got three years of experience doing this."

Among the changes he has noticed in the city since he began serving are better communication to residents about what is going on and better cooperation from the city with the development community. He said that the Realize Rowlett 2020 process is one of the things he has been most proud to have been part of during his first term.

"Realize Rowlett 2020 is not just something I did or the council did; it's something we all did together with the city staff and the citizens," Gallops said. "It's truly a citizen-created vision for the future of the city."

Gallops said the city's infrastructure challenges are one of the big things the council is going to have to deal with over the next several years.

"The issues are not something that happened overnight. They are ongoing issues that kept getting kicked down the road. The issue is going to be painful for everyone until we get it fixed," Gallops said.

Spor said that economic development and handling the new transportation sources within the city are among the things the council will have to focus on over the next several years.

"There are going to be a lot of decisions making based on Realize Rowlett 2020 and the council will have to make sure the people are really on board with them. The George Bush Tollway is going to bring more traffic our way and we have to be ready for it," Spor said. "I am passionate about city affairs and my community and would like to see it grow and thrive. If elected I would use my experience in leadership to help my community."

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