Mayor Matthew Poole

Thank you to Black Rifle Coffee Company for this beautiful video and for reminding me to always remember those brave men and women who have selflessly given their lives and their families who they have left behind.

On Memorial Day, we must stand united as a nation to honor and remember the indomitable spirit of sacrifice that flows through the veins of our heroes. It is a day when we humbly acknowledge the immeasurable cost paid by those brave souls who selflessly laid down their lives, so that we may cherish the freedoms we hold dear.

Their sacrifice echoes through the annals of history, resonating in the hearts of grateful generations. They fought not for personal glory or gain, but for the ideals of liberty, justice, and the pursuit of a brighter future. They bore the weight of duty, shouldering the burden of protecting our nation's honor and paid the highest cost. For that, we are forever thankful, and we will never forget.

Find the Special Operations Warrior Foundation here: https://specialops.org/

Remember the Fallen On Memorial Day, we must stand united as a nation to honor and remember the indomitable spirit of sacrifice that flows through the veins of our heroes. It is...

Congratulations to our Ponder ISD Class of 2023!

Do not let the memories of your past limit the potential of your future. There are no limits to what you can achieve on your journey through life, except in your mind. May God bless each of you today and always!

At the recent Ponder Chamber of Commerce candidate forum, there were several questions and comments regarding the Towns infrastructure and how it needs to be improved. To be clear, under my leadership, improving the Town's infrastructure has never not been a priority or actively being improved. Here are a few examples of the work that has been and is currently being done.

1. Water -
The Town has purchased additional land for its new water treatment facility and our engineers are already in the design and engineering process of the new facility. This new facility will allow the Town to take advantage of it's longtime membership in the Upper Trinity Regional Water District when it switches over to surface water too meet the current and future demands of our water customers.

The Town is currently completing a bore under FM 156 which will allow the Town to create a more effective loop in our water system. This loop along with the soon to be completed upsizing of our water lines along FM 156 should significantly reduce the likely hood of water disruption in the event of a line break or other issue.

Additionally, we have purchased generators for our pump stations to ensure we can continue to provide fresh clean water in the event of an emergency or prolonged power outage.

2. Waste Water Treatment -
The Town is preparing to file it's permit application for upgrading the capacity of its waste water treatment facility. The Town is near 75% of it's capacity and this expansion will more than double our capacity. It will also move us away from a package facility to a permanent expandable concrete facility which will accommodate new growth for the foreseeable future. We are also moving forward with negotiations for the land purchases necessary for the expansions and our engineers are working on the design and engineering process. We have also explored the possibility of becoming a regional partner with the Trinity River Authority in an effort to promote the conservation, reclamation, protection and development of the natural resources in and around our area.

3. Roads -
I just recently completed discussions with Denton County and was able to secure $5 million in bond funds from the recently passed Denton County Road Bond which will be used to construct a four lane road that will connect FM 2449 and January Lane on the west side of the new high school.

My staff and I have also been working with TXDOT on plans for improvements to the FM 156/FM 2449 intersection. And the possibility of an additional controlled intersection on FM 156 to assist with the additional traffic being anticipated from people entering/exiting the new Sonic.

4. Trains -
I, along with the Mayors of Justin and Dish have been in discussions with BNSF on a plan that would see an additional line constructed from south of Justin to US 380 along with a siding line that would run from the north side of TN Skiles up to US 380. This would give Ponder two active lines running through town and all but eliminate the need for trains to block any intersection in Ponder for extended periods of time except in cases of an emergency.

5. Growth Plan -
Updating our Master Thoroughfare Plan and our Master Land Use and Development Plan was included in our budget this year. This will bring the Town's growth plans up to date with the current growth being experienced and the anticipated growth expected for our region of the county. This will be done with input from our citizens in the form of committees and public forums.

Growth doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and it isn’t free.

Did you know that I advocated for, and the Town Council adopted a ½ acre minimum lot size in 2019 to give the Town more control in the size and scope of residential growth? Why would we do this? To give the Town time to expand the capacity of its water and sewer infrastructure to catch up after a time of growth.

After the completion of the final phase of Re*****on Park, with the Clairmont development starting soon, the ISD planning to build a new high school we were going to be a lot closer to being at capacity than I was comfortable with.

So, after discussions with our Town staff and engineers, I proposed and the Town Council adopted the zoning changes, along with some other changes to our sub-division ordinances, to give us the ability to have more control and say in discussions with developers, to ensure we had the capacity for the new high school and any new industrial/commercial development, and to give the Town time to expand its infrastructure capacity and keep pace with growth.

And that has been what the Town has been working on since then. We are in the process of purchasing additional lands for the sewer treatment plant expansion, we are finishing the engineering to expand our water treatment facilities as we prepare to move from well water to surface water through our long-standing partnership with Upper Trinity, and we are replacing outdated water lines in town and adding lines to complete the loop between all of our storage facilities to ensure that water pressure stays consistent even in the event of a water line break.

Because of the zoning ordinance change, people like TCCI Land Developers are now trying bully the Town into favorable development deals by using Texas’s very developer friendly Municipal Utility District (MUD) laws to circumvent the Town’s growth plan and current zoning laws to build huge subdivisions with large multi-residential (Apartments) sections just outside of our corporate city limits in the Towns ETJ. These MUD’s as being proposed would do nothing but discourage residential development inside the city, lower neighboring home values, and place an extra burden on our first responders, as well as the Towns infrastructure. All without the town being able to collect any property taxes to offset these costs unless the Town annexes the development and assumes all its debt.

So, as we approach election day and hear people tell us that growth is inevitable and we should just cut as good a deal as we can with these developers, is this the strategy the Town should be pursuing? Should we be subjecting our Town and our school district to unplanned and uncontrolled expansion?

I say no. The Town should be doing everything possible to make these developers pay their own way or work with the Town to draft development agreements that meet or exceed the Towns planning standard, are mutually beneficial to all parties, and forgoes the developer’s annexation and condemnation rights. All of which these developers refuse to do.