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Richard Franks: The Woodlands Township Candidate

Please note that Hello Woodlands is an unbiased, nonpartisan news source that does not endorse or support only one party or candidate. We do not accept or receive advertising or funding from any candidate, party or group.

Hello Woodlands gave the opportunity to candidates running for The Woodlands Township Board of Directors to complete a written interview including the same 7 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 8, 2022. Voters must be registered to vote for The Woodlands election.

THE WOODLANDS TOWNSHIP BOARD OF DIRECTORS – 2022 CANDIDATE

Richard Franks is running for the Township Board Position 3.

Richard Franks is running for the Township Board Position 3.

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

I was raised in a family devoted to public service.  My grandfather and father were very involved in the government of a village in Illinois where I was raised. Both served as Village President and School Board Members. I graduated from the University of Illinois, and was commissioned as an officer in the United States Army. I served in Vietnam, and was awarded the Bronze Star and Army Commendation Medal, First Oak Leaf Cluster.

Upon leaving the Army, I returned to the University of Illinois and received my Master of Public Administration. My first professional position was as the first Chief Administrative Officer of the city of Urbana, Illinois where I was responsible for all departments, budgets, federal, state and county relations and relationships with surrounding communities, the University of Illinois and the nearby Air Force base. I also initiated and managed a Federal Neighborhood Development Program and worked with the Chamber of Commerce as well as several developers on economic development projects.

After five years, I was recruited by the daily newspaper in Columbus, Ohio as Director of Employee and Labor Relations, where I oversaw 1400 employees and was chief negotiator with five labor unions. I was promoted to Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Newspaper and the Chief Executive Officer of several subsidiaries.   At that time, the Dispatch had an annual budget of $225 million dollars, not including the subsidiaries, and I oversaw the construction of a new $180 million dollar production plant.

During this time, I also served on the Board of United Way, where I was Chairman of the Allocations Committee, the Veterans Theater and Museum, and served on several business promotion committees.

I was also Chairman of the Franklin Park Conservatory and served as Chairman of the Management Committee of Ameriflora ’92, a $200 million dollar International Horticultural Exposition with over 20 international exhibitors.

In 1997, I joined BancOne Capital to acquire and manage newspaper companies around the United States. One of our targets was Westward Communications, headquartered in Dallas, with properties in Colorado, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas.   While traveling to complete due diligence, I traveled to Texas for a majority of the properties were in the Houston area.  Among them was the Conroe Courier and The Woodlands Villager. My family and I fell in love with The Woodlands, and we moved the headquarters and my family here. Even though I was recruited to Massachusetts several years later, we were so taken with The Woodlands that we bought what would become our primary residence in 2006 but did not move back until 2015.

Richard Franks and Family
Richard Franks and Family

2. Why do you enjoy living in The Woodlands?

The Woodlands is a very special place. As a former City Administrator, I have a unique perspective on the special governmental structure, low taxes, great schools, and many great retail and recreational offerings. A talented community in the arts, very caring and giving, with great medical facilities.

3. How have you served and/or how do you currently serve and contribute to our community?

When we lived here earlier, I was on the Board of YMCA and also a member of Rotary, and very much enjoyed the charity work we were involved in. I especially enjoyed our Christmas “bell ringing”, coming up soon, as I am now once again in Rotary.

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

As a former City Administrator, I have a great appreciation of the special government form we have here. There is not another like it in Texas or elsewhere as far as I know.  The push by the current board to incorporate was ill conceived and would certainly have a very negative effect on our community.  We do indeed have the “best of both worlds.” This motivated me to become heavily involved in the battle against incorporation and gave me great impetus to become genuinely involved in our local government to ensure that we will continue to protect, preserve and prosper in this special place.

5. What 5 things you want voters to know about you (personal, point views, experience, etc.)?

  • I have strong leadership skills which have been demonstrated in my City Administration Days, Newspaper Days, and as a Vietnam Veteran who was proud to serve during tumultuous days.
  • I have a Master Degree in Public Administration.
  • As a former newspaper executive, I have very strong feelings about the need for real transparency.
  • As a former labor negotiator with 5 very strong unions (who I got along with very well) I feel there is a strong need to improve our relationships with our surrounding communities including the cities, the counties, the State and all governmental entities who have or should have a relationship with the Township. I feel my communication skills and forward way of thinking will help improve these relationships.
  • I am a part of a strong dedicated slate of candidates that is committed to serve openly and ensuring we not only maintain our desirable government form but look for meaningful way, with the very real input from our citizens, of other improvements or enhancements we should consider. We have a very talented and educated community that I believe we should utilize and promote for more involvement in Township activities and committees.

6. 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?

The first and most important challenge is to have a board that listens and responds to the people of The Woodlands. We need to focus more than ever on Transparency. We have a very vibrant and educated community and we need to utilize those talents. As I have said, we need to create a Formal Village Presidents Council Advisory Board so we can have genuine community involvement and input. This would include the expectation that the Presidents of the Villages would also participate in the many committees that the Township has. We need to work on establishing, positive, collaborative relationships with other communities (Oak Ridge, Shenandoah, Spring), counties (Montgomery, Harris) and intergovernmental partners, including relationships with businesses within the Township. We need to restore relationships with residents, local businesses and government partners like county officials, a big change from the unnecessary bickering of the last several years.

The second would be; Currently the Woodlands Township has a surplus of over $115 million. In the past 6 years, from 2016 -2022, there has been an increase in the reserves from $57 million to approximately $115 million. Much of this reserve was tied into the incorporation fight. In three different surveys of the residents, it was shown that the residents were not interested in the Township to Incorporate.  It is important to understand this large reserve and if the residents were overtaxed during this period. The residents should decide if this large fund should be returned to the residents or if they have other priorities on how this extremely large fund should be used. Incorporation was risky, rushed, and expensive and it would have put in jeopardy much of what makes The Woodlands unique and successful. It would have expanded the size of our government and increased local taxes to support a growing bureaucracy. I feel the residents were not listened to and correspondingly have been overtaxed for the last 6 years. We need to listen to the residents on how THEIR money should be spent. I will work to responsibly ensure we are not over-taxing residents to generate unnecessary surpluses.

Third is what I like to call Basic Land needs issues. Like most places in Texas, growth in and around our community is one of the biggest challenges we will face in the next five to ten years, and probably longer than that. The Woodlands is strategically positioned between Harris County and Southern Montgomery County. As such we have natural issues that cross our township boarders both overland and subsurface that will be critical moving forward. (Water usage, subsidence, supply, drainage (flood), Regional Mobility and Police Support (Harris County and Montgomery County. These pose a significant problem for us going forward. Imagine 200,000 more people moving to Montgomery County over this time period. We cannot sit in isolation with all this growth around us and these numbers don’t even speak to Northern Harris County growth. The Regional Participation Agreements are contracts with the Cities of Houston and Conroe that were instrumental to the creation of The Woodlands Township by ensuring no efforts by either city would be made to annex The Woodlands until 2057. We are protected by state law from annexation without our consent, but the original contracts remain in place and should be honored as required by law. I will represent the Township and the residents who elected me. That said, the development company and counties play a vital role in our community, which is why it is so important to maintain strong working relationships with both.

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

“Protect, Preserve, Prosper.”

Thanks for this opportunity and your vote.

Respectfully,

Richard Franks

Learn more about Richard Franks:

Visit the Hello Woodlands 2022 Election Guide for The Woodlands Township Board of Directors Candidates to view all candidates, interviews, and voting information here.

Please visit the November 2022 Election section on The Woodlands Township’s website for additional information about the November 8, 2022 election at https://www.thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov/1521/November-2022-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.

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