By Christina Mlynski
Early voting for the May 10th City Electionbrbegins Monday, April 28 and will continue through Tuesday, May 6.
Earlybrvoting location for all Tarrant County entities conducting anbrelection will be held at Town Hall and take place on the third floor inbrrooms 3A and 3B. Additionally, Trophy Club MUD – Svore Municipal Building, 100brMunicipal Drive, is an early voting location.
FourbrCity Council candidates are running for office, including Martin Schelling andbrShahid Shafi in Place 1 and Virginia M. Muzyka and Gary Fawks for Place 6.
Changebris in the air for Southlake City Council with an open seat and another up forbrelection.
IncumbentbrMartin Schelling filed onbrthe first day to run again for the Place 1 spot.
Schellingbris seeking re-election and has voiced many commitmentsbrto Southlake, including demanding transparency in government, ensuring fiscalbrconservatism and supportingbrSouthlake schools and youth athletics.
"As a recent two-term CISD School Board Trustee, Ibrenjoyed working with Martin for the betterment of our schools and ourbrcommunity,” explains former CISD School Board Trustee John Thane, according tobrSchelling's website.
He continues, “Martin was instrumental in improving securitybrat all of our campuses through his efforts to expand the Student ResourcebrOfficer program. Martin found common ground between CISD and the City ofbrSouthlake and used those common threads to build a stronger relationshipbrbetween the two organizations. "
Surgeon and local resident Shahid Shafi is also running forbrthe Southlake City Council Place 1 spot.
Shafi has voiced various issues throughout Southlake,brincluding apartments, traffic and city-school partnership, and has offeredbrcommitments to combat such challenges.
For instance, Shafi believes that the City Council mustbrpartner with its school districts to efficiently use our tax dollars for thebrbenefit of Southlake's families and their children.
Gary Fawks and Virginia Muzyka both filed for Place 6 on thebrfirst day, and both served the Council in previous terms.
Fawksserved on the City Council from 1996 to 1998 and was involved with the planningbrand development of SouthlakebrTown Square from concept plan to grand opening.
He was also instrumental in securing Southlake's onlybrFortune 500 corporate headquarters, Sabre.
Fawks has various plans within his vision if elected to CitybrCouncil, including stopping the trend of higher-density development, working tobrlower the tax burden on homeowners and partnering with the school districts tobrmaximize tax dollars.
“Gary Fawks has a vision for Southlake that reflects thebrinput I hear consistently from the community,” says City Council member CarolynbrMorris. “Gary was involved in the creation of many of Southlake's ordinancesbrand master plans that have helped build our nationally recognized andbraward-winning city. I recommend and support Gary Fawks for Southlake CitybrCouncil.”
Muzykahas served as the Mayor Pro Tem as well as the chairman of Tax IncrementbrReinvestment Zone #1. Additionally, she was the vice president of SouthlakebrParks Development Corporation.
Muzyka's platform consists of various efforts, includingbrsupporting Southlake's Master Plan to develop quality low to medium densitybrneighborhoods, promoting transparency in the city's government and supporting abrbalanced budget while living within the means with no tax increases.
“Virginia has worked for many years to continue to help makebrSouthlake one of the premier cities in the country,” says Tarrant CountybrCommissioner GarybrFickes. “Her dedication to public service and her spirit of volunteerism isbrunsurpassed in the northeast Tarrant County area. It has been an honor to workbrwith Virginia to help make our community a better place in which to live andbrwork.”