Rowlett Essential Services

Much of the information you see here was from my initial campaign for City Council. As it was in 2022, Essential Services remains one of my top priorities that I want to continue pursuing if I am re-elected this May.

Both people and businesses want and deserve a safe community. We must ensure that our police, fire, and other first responders have what they need in order to provide for the well-being of our community. We must provide the resources that will not only attract but retain the absolute best uniformed men and women who are always willing to rush into harm’s way to keep us safe.

Many components make up what we call the Essential Services for our city. At the top of my list of priorities are law enforcement, public safety and first responders including fire, ambulance services, emergency medical and emergency management personnel. No less important are our health care operations, hospital staff and other healthcare providers.

All of the above must be viewed by our city government as critical in maintaining the well-being and safety of our community. Anything less than focusing our full attention on these critical essential services is unsatisfactory.

I am proud to say that during my first term on Council, I helped secure better compensation for our Public Safety personnel. Part of the problem then, as well as now, is making sure that our public safety organizations maintain parity with surrounding communities. Why is that important? We must maintain competitiveness with other local departments in order to retain our best officers and not lose them when we fall behind in comparison to other departments.

I also realize that the well-being of our public safety personnel is not always secured with financial compensation alone. What I mean by that is that we must ensure that the environment or culture in which they serve is healthy as well. Sometimes a police officer will leave a department to go elsewhere at a lower salary because the morale is not what it should be.

Although as a Councilman I have no operational control over how our public safety departments work, I do have influence, and I intend to exert that influence through the proper channels when I observe things that are troubling to me. Although we have made great strides in providing a good compensation package to our public safety personnel, there remains concern over the morale in our police department. Although I cannot point to

specifics and even if I could, it would be inappropriate for me to do so publicly, I am alarmed at the number of well-trained, seasoned officers who have decided to leave over the past year. I will continue to remain alert to what I hear or told directly and raise those concerns with our City Manager.

This is why I am excited to support my good friend Marvin Gibbs in his campaign for City Council, Place 2. Marvin recently retired from the Rowlett Police Department with 36 years of service. His service and experience will place him in a unique position to help keep our public safety departments moving in the right direction!

Mike4Rowlett