Resident Privacy

What Matters to Roy?

Responsible Growth

Growth is coming; manage it deliberately and protect the quality of life of existing neighborhoods.

Transparent, Fiscally Disciplined Government

Residents deserve to understand where their money is going, why projects cost what they cost, and how major decisions are being made.

Public safety and Individual Privacy

Support police and fire while still demanding accountability about technologies like Flock and how resident data is handled.

The Work Ahead

Responsible Growth

College Station is going to grow. The question isn't whether we grow; it's whether we manage that growth responsibly.

New development has to account for the infrastructure it requires: roads, drainage, water, wastewater, public safety, parks, and other city services. At the same time, we shouldn't make development so expensive or unpredictable that those costs simply get passed along to residents through higher home prices and rents.

I want to look at growth project by project and ask whether the infrastructure is keeping pace, whether costs are being divided fairly, and whether today's development decisions create tomorrow's problems.

Growth should strengthen College Station, not leave existing residents paying to fix what we failed to plan for.

Public Safety

Public safety starts with people.

College Station invests significant money in recruiting and training police officers. We need to make sure we're also doing what it takes to keep experienced officers here. That means continually comparing our compensation, staffing and retention against the agencies we're competing with, and being willing to make adjustments when we're falling behind.

The same applies to fire and emergency services. As the city grows, response capability has to grow with it.

Equipment and technology matter, but they don't replace trained people. When I'm looking at public safety spending, personnel, retention and response capability come first.

Resident Privacy

Technology such as Flock license-plate cameras can be a useful law-enforcement tool. That doesn't mean its use should come without limits.

Residents deserve to know how these cameras are being used, what information is collected, how long it is retained, who can access it, when it can be shared with another agency, and what safeguards exist against misuse.

This isn't an argument to remove a useful public-safety tool. It's an argument that public safety and personal privacy both matter.

Council should periodically review those policies instead of giving any surveillance technology a blank check simply because it was originally purchased for a legitimate purpose.

A Budget That Looks Beyond Next Year

Passing a balanced budget this year isn't enough.

Every major expenditure creates consequences beyond the year it appears in the budget. A new building has to be staffed and maintained. New infrastructure eventually has to be repaired or replaced. New employees create recurring payroll and benefit costs. Debt taken on today limits choices available to future councils.

I want the city looking at major financial decisions through a five- and ten-year window, not just asking whether we can afford something this year. That means realistic revenue assumptions, adequate reserves, understanding future operating costs before approving capital projects, and being willing to prioritize. There will always be more things worth doing than there is money available to do them. Council's job is to decide what we need, what we can afford, and what can wait.

Transparency and Accountability

Residents shouldn't need to become experts in municipal government to figure out what their city is doing.

Major expenditures should be understandable. Project costs should be tracked from approval through completion. When costs increase substantially, council and residents should know why.

The same applies when a program isn't producing the results expected of it. Continuing to fund something simply because we've already spent money on it isn't a good enough reason.

If something works, keep doing it. If it doesn't, fix it or stop doing it.

Infrastructure before Problems

Roads, drainage, water, wastewater and other basic infrastructure aren't exciting topics, but they're some of the most important responsibilities of city government.

We need to identify capacity problems before development overwhelms existing systems. We also need to maintain what we already own instead of allowing deferred maintenance to become a much larger bill later.

I'd rather spend money maintaining something on schedule than explain to taxpayers why we're replacing it early because we didn't.

Community Relationships

College Station doesn't operate in a vacuum. Our relationship with Texas A&M, Bryan, Brazos County and our other neighboring communities directly affects transportation, infrastructure, public safety, economic development and the quality of life of our residents.

Texas A&M is a major part of who we are, and maintaining a strong working relationship with the university matters. But the city and the university have different responsibilities, and College Station has an obligation to represent the people who live and pay taxes here while still listening to the students.

The same applies to our neighboring cities and Brazos County. We share roads, infrastructure, emergency services, economic opportunities and many of the same challenges. When working together produces a better result or saves taxpayer money, we should do it.

Good relationships don't mean agreeing on everything. They mean communicating, finding common ground where we can, and making sure College Station has a strong voice at the table.

Housing, Development Costs & Property Rights

Every fee, regulation and development requirement has a cost. Eventually, somebody pays it.

Sometimes those requirements are necessary. Sometimes they're outdated. Council should be willing to distinguish between the two.

When considering impact fees, permitting requirements, development standards or land-use rules, I want to know what problem we're solving, what the requirement actually costs, and whether there is a less expensive way to accomplish the same goal.

Property owners also deserve reasonable freedom to use their property while recognizing that those decisions can affect their neighbors. Finding that balance requires looking at the facts of each issue rather than automatically siding with either development or regulation.

What matters to you?

If there is an issue that is important to you, I'm happy to listen. I want to prioritize the concerns of our residents here in College Station.