Pantego mayor pro tem earns praise after stepping in to lead town

BY ROBERT CADWALLADER - Special to the Star-Telegram - Oct. 11, 2009

PANTEGO — As Mayor Dorothy Aderholt lay dying of brain cancer in August, many found it difficult to see Pantego’s most energetic booster suddenly immobilized.

"I told her that I thought her legacy would be that she was always an incredibly hardworking mayor," said Mayor Pro Tem Jason Williams, who had filled in for her when she couldn’t attend council meetings. "I plan to be the same way."

After Aderholt’s death, the Town Council appointed Williams to the role full time. His council colleagues voted unanimously to forgo a hurried special election in November and gave him the office until the May election, when Williams can run to keep the seat.

The council also decided, for now at least, not to fill Williams’ Place 4 seat before May.

The appointment also saved the expense of the special election, about $4,000.

Harriet Irby, who challenged Williams’ re-election bid in the past May election, said providing residents a choice would have been worth the cost.

"We’re not going to go broke in Pantego," Irby said. "There would have been a campaign and a discussion. I’ve had calls from people saying, 'So, who’s the mayor?’ "

'We did what’s best’

Councilman Don Surratt, who was elected to Place 5 in May, said the continuity brought by Williams’ appointment is even more important than the cost savings.

"Jason has visions for Pantego that are similar" to Aderholt’s, Surratt said. "He runs a tight meeting, a very organized meeting. We get in and get our business done. Right now, I think he’s doing an outstanding job for the town."

Surratt said the council would have had to rush its application to get on the Nov. 3 general election ballot by the deadline.

Although Williams and Aderholt both were re-elected to two-year terms in May, Williams will have to run for re-election in May and only to serve the remaining year of Aderholt’s term.

"I would essentially have to run three campaigns in three years," Williams said. "But I think we did what’s best for the town, because we’re not going to pay for a special election."

As mayor, Williams had to give up his vote. He now can vote only to break a tie, which could occur more often because the Place 4 vacancy leaves four voting members.

Plenty to do

In exchange, Williams takes a leadership position in the city of 2,600 people and has plenty to do.

Among the priorities: recruiting businesses to fill vacant storefronts on Park Row Drive, Bowen Road and Pioneer Parkway to support sales taxes, which provide more than one-third of the town’s budget. The 1-square-mile town has 680 businesses.

"We have to continually be thinking of economic development," said Williams, 40, a director and adjunct business professor at the Dallas Baptist University Hurst-Colleyville campus.

The town is also kicking off a "Shop Pantego" campaign and pursuing a $1 million grant to install sidewalks, landscaping and streetlights to make Park Row more pedestrian-friendly, said Williams, who has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in marketing.

He’s no stranger to leadership roles, also serving as vice chairman of the North Texas Collegiate Consortium and as a board member for the Colleyville and H-E-B chambers of commerce.

"It’s a natural position for me, to take a team of people and lead them in a direction to keep things good and make things better for the organization — in this case, the town," he said.
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