Cleveland’s new city manager shares on young citizens who “skate” the issues, his track to city management, and growing pains for the community.

What’s been the best surprise in Cleveland so far?

When we had our first parks and recreation commission meeting, we had about 30 kids show up to share their desire for a skatepark in Cleveland.  I have never seen a large group of kids with that kind of constructive involvement.  That’s a blessing.  John Busa with Cleveland ISD, who is a skater himself, is helping the kids.  We are working with that group.  We have designated an area of a park, just approved some rules for the skatepark, and approved that group to go out and raise funds on behalf of the city, as well as partnering with the school district on some aspects.  That’s super exciting!

So, are you the “fun” city manager because you got your start in Parks and Rec?

I like to think so. <chuckling>  I had over 20 years experience in Parks and Recreation.  I worked my way up to director and worked in Brenham, Midland, and Deer Park.  I was also heavily involved in the state association.

Being in Parks and Rec, you get to deal with every citizen.  You’re doing programs from toddlers all the way to senior citizens, and you get to participate and be involved.  Whether sports leagues, at the swimming pool, or in the gym, the community center, or classes—you have hands on experience with all your citizens.  Special events and tasks also lead to extensive interaction with other departments like public safety and public works—when building new facilities, you’re working with engineering and community development.  The benefits gained from all these interactions helped grow me into wanting to move into a city manager’s role.  I transitioned and worked as assistant city manager in Mont Belvieu before accepting the city manager position here in Cleveland six months ago.

How has working in Cleveland been different than working in Mont Belvieu?

Mont Belvieu had more funding due to higher property values and more industry.  Cleveland is more like most cities, where you have tight budgets and you can’t fund every project—but, you’ve got a lot of great people.  People are community strong—they want to support the community, and they want to see the best.  But they want to see maximum efficiency with their money because funds are limited.

Mont Belvieu had an explosion in 1985, which resulted in damage and decisions to relocate downtown—so they are getting a “do-over” in a sense, getting people, schools, businesses away from that industrial area.  Cleveland is an older city, and needs some revitalization, but it’s more of a challenge to accomplish that.  It is needed, however, to be able to attract new businesses to come in—and growth is coming!

Expand on that growth.

Cleveland is the fastest growing school district in the state of Texas.  There’s huge growth, and it’s coming up the Highway 59/69 corridor. 

With limited resources to plan for and adapt to growth, it’s imperative that entities like the cities, the county, the school districts, and the citizens work together to be on the same page and maximize the resources we have.

We have a great airport and just completed over $1 million in updates and upgrades.  This can help attract more business here.  We always are seeking out cooperative efforts and available grant funding. Many grants are competitive, so it takes effort.

There are new housing developments.  We have Grand Oaks Reserve on the east side of town, and Pinewood Trails on the west side, which is in the city limits, but actually in Montgomery County.

BNSF Railway is constructing a logistics center in Cleveland, their fourth in the country, and their largest to date. This will be a large industrial and business park with immediate access to the rail line. It will accommodate up to 39 customer sites with sizes ranging from 6 to 60 acres.  This will be a gamechanger for us, because it will bring more business, more jobs, more value to our community.

Talk about bringing people and entities together.  How do you do that?

Largely through building relationships.  We have an economic development council that works to recruit new businesses, and we work with the chamber of commerce to maintain relationships and communicate with existing businesses and entities.

Share about your education.

I got my bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M in the field of Parks and Recreation.  My interest in the field connected back to church.  I was a youth minister and had a friend who had the same major because he wanted to direct a church camp.  My calling evolved and expanded into the municipality side of things as I got into it. 

When I was in Midland, I decided to pursue my master’s degree in public administration at University of Texas of the Permian Basin.  I did one class per semester year-round for three years.  When I moved and took the Parks and Recreation director job at Deer Park, it went on hold for three years.  By that time, they had online classes available, and I was able to complete my last three courses.  That was in 2015.  It was a great year, because I received my master’s, my oldest son graduated high school, and my twin boys graduated from kindergarten!

Tell us more about your family.

My wife Jennifer is a homemaker and does part-time childcare.  We have three boys, all adopted.  My oldest, Kaleb, was adopted from Kazakhstan at age 9.  He lives in Baytown and works as a security guard.  The twins, Jayden and Kayden, have been with us since birth and will be freshman in high school this fall.  The family stayed in Mont Belvieu to finish up this last school year and will be moving over the summer.  It’s a good time for the transition, and my family is excited about coming to Cleveland!