Custom Text

Bob Milner: The Woodlands Township Candidate

Please note that Hello Woodlands is an unbiased, nonpartisan news source that does not support only one party or candidate. We do not accept or receive advertising or funding from any candidate, party or group. We believe in providing the community with educational information, credible facts, thoroughly researched topics and articles, and to be a voice for ALL members in our community.

Hello Woodlands gave the opportunity to candidates running for The Woodlands Township Board of Directors to complete a written interview including the same 10 questions. View candidate’s responses to our questions, if provided.

Each position has a two-year term, is an unpaid volunteer position, and is elected at-large by voters in The Woodlands Township in both Montgomery County and Harris County. The election is scheduled for November 5, 2019. Voters must be registered to vote for The Woodlands election.

THE WOODLANDS TOWNSHIP BOARD OF DIRECTORS – 2019 CANDIDATE

Bob Milner is running for the Township Board Position 7.

1. Share your background. What originally brought you to The Woodlands?

I met my wife Teresa here 27 years ago and moved here from Walden. We lived here until the early 2000’s when our jobs moved us away. We returned in 2014. We currently own several businesses in The Woodlands and the county. I also teach Entrepreneurship at Sam Houston State University. I was blessed to be named a 2017 Interfaith Hometown Hero, a 2017 VEL Legacy Award recipient, a 2017 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist and received the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Lifetime Achievement Award for our years of community service and support of cancer programs. We have 3 children who are cancer survivors (all in their early 20’s) who are alive today. This brings this cause very close to our hearts and resources.

2. How do you contribute, give back and make a difference in our community?

Teresa and I have been blessed to be able to give back to this great community in so many ways with our time and resources. God has blessed us tremendously and we believe along with that blessing comes a responsibility to use those blessings to serve and assist others. I was raised by my father to live by the mantra “those that can – should”. I have served on 11 non-profit boards and currently serve on 7. I personally drove vans of supplies post Harvey to almost every community distribution center for several weeks. We also support numerous other charities and non-profits with our time and money.

3. Why do you enjoy living (and/or working) in The Woodlands?

The Woodlands is a unique place where the culture is so focused on helping others. It is a great designed community with incredible amenities. We have lived in Grogan’s Mill and now in Creekside. The neighbors in each of our communities have become friends and we all are there for each other. We have lived nowhere else where the camaraderie and service is what it is in The Woodlands. The Woodlands has few peers when it comes to being such a great community.

4. How has The Woodlands helped and impacted you?

The Woodlands has allowed us to raise children and grandchildren here in a culture of service and caring. It has also provided us with a great blessing from our numerous businesses we have owned and currently own here. We have created many lifetime friendships that were maintained when we were transferred away and are still significant still today. We have also been able to serve in so many ways that give more back to us that we could ever hope to give to them. The reward of helping others in this community and seeing the results of such a giving community culture is impactful.

5. What motivates you to run for The Woodlands Township Board of Directors?

I have had many business associates and friends ask me to run for office for several years. I believed the time was right for me to serve this great community in a way I have yet to serve. I believe my experience as a successful business owner provide me with a unique set of skills to help lead The Woodlands into the future with a fiscally conservative approach based on information, data, and input from the residents. As a successful business owner, I have created collaborative relationships with many from all walks of life and philosophies. We may not always agree on everything, but we do work hard to find common ground and build from there.

6. What are 5 things that you want voters to know about you (personal, points, views, experience, etc.)?

I am a fiscal Christian Conservative who believes in low taxes and minimum amount of government influence in our lives. I have successfully worked with and built relationships with parties from every walk of life. I understand the need for great collaboration between development, residents and government. I believe we are facing challenges to our future that the residents of The Woodlands have expressed their concerns and thoughts on in the past couple of elections; such as incorporation and mobility. I believe the voice of the residents is the voice who should lead the decision-making process into the future. We need to build a plan that will continue to build upon Mr. Mitchell’s vision of a community where people can come to live, work, play and pray.

7. What makes you unique in comparison to other candidates?

I believe my approach in representing the approximate 120k residents is different to many of the other candidates. They are saying “we need to stop this, and we don’t need a vote for this”. I believe my position as “1” is less important in the scheme of the future of The Woodlands than the voice of the approximate 120k residents. I would ask myself what they fear in letting the residents decide the path of their future?

8. What are your views on incorporation?

I believe we need to complete the incorporation study in the most conservative method and then present the information to the residents and let them decide. All important decisions in our community should be decided at the polls and not by a small group or 7 public servants. Those who say we should “stop the study and don’t need a vote on incorporation” must know something I don’t? Do they believe they are smarter or more capable to make the right decision than the residents are? Are they afraid of what the residents might decide? Incorporation is about control and influence. The control of our future and influence by outside parties who don’t live in The Woodlands.

For those who don’t see some of the threat from outside influence, just need to go look at the county mobility plan. The Woodlands Parkway Extension, Branch Crossing Road extension and the Gosling Road Extension are all still “purple dots” on the most recent county mobility plan. This means they are still in the county plans. I don’t believe the residents of Windsor Hills, a vibrant over 55 active community would like to have a 4 – 6 lane road cut through the western boundary of their community and through Jones Forest to create a connector to Hwy 105. I understand and empathize with the county as the expansion of this road would help to improve development for them to create new residential development – and thus additional property tax revenue that isn’t capped by the new 3.5% rule.

The residents of Sterling Ridge and voted by super majority against the last road bond which included The Woodlands Parkway extension (92% against in Sterling Ridge and 80% against in The Woodlands).

There are select few who say the residents of The Woodlands are against incorporation. They reference the survey taken prior to the last election. I would submit that a survey of 1,000 is not only not a valid review in a community of 119k, but the residents voted overwhelmingly against every “anti- incorporation candidate for the township) in that year’s election and the previous election. I believe the voice of the residents carry much more weight in an election than in a statistically invalid survey.

Incorporation would also give The Woodlands (and Montgomery County) an additional voting member on the HGAC, which reviews and funds mobility projects with federal, state and local grants. While we currently have one voting member on that board, the representation for both the county and The Woodlands has proven non-existent as that sitting member has missed the past 3 meetings and 9 of the last 12 meetings. The most recent meeting included approximately $95mm in projects being considered and we had not voting representation to lobby for the county or The Woodlands.

The city of Shenandoah just showed the power of being a city by successfully rejecting the county planned $34mm underpass for the I-45 Research Forest connector. The connector would have created a road like The Woodlands Parkway extension and Gosling Road extension creating a thoroughfare through Shenandoah to I-59.

As a Township we do not have the power to prevent these road extensions if they aren’t placed on the ballot such as the road bond was.

9. If elected, what would your top 3 priorities as a Township Board of Director?

How would you work to impact/shape the future of The Woodlands? Work to plan for our future financial needs. Create a fiscally conservative plan for the future that does not compromise Mr. Mitchell’s original vision. Seek input from the residents on what’s important from them through the associations and town hall meetings. Work to create better collaboration with all outside entities that have influence and/or impactful decision-making authority on all things within The Woodlands. Work with local and state authorities to create a flood mitigation plan that will address the issues we face in The Woodlands and the county. Harris County has been able to do this, but their plan does not address the challenges we face locally.

10. Would you like to share any other words or a message to The Woodlands community?

I would ask the residents to do the research themselves and not listen to certain small groups who create their own websites or information campaigns – then make the decisions on the correct information and data about who you want to lead you into the future against the challenges we will face. Exercise your right to have a voice in the future.

Learn more at electmilner.com

2019 CANDIDATE FORUM

The Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce’s Business Advocacy Council hosted a candidate forum for the 2019 race on Tuesday, October 15, 2019 from 4-6 p.m. at the Chamber’s Lakeshore Boardroom, located at 9320 Lakeside Blvd. in The Woodlands. 

Three at-large positions on The Woodlands Township Board of Directors will be elected in the November 5, 2019 election, designated as positions 5, 6 and 7. 

Watch the video of the forum on the Hello Woodlands YouTube Channel below:

Please visit the November Election section on the Township’s website for additional information at https://thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov/1350/November-2019-Election

Please note that Hello Woodlands is an unbiased, nonpartisan news source that does not support only one party or candidate. We do not accept or receive advertising or funding from any candidate, party or group. We believe in providing the community with educational information, credible facts, thoroughly researched topics and articles, and to be a voice for ALL members in our community.

Advertisement