Incumbent Mayor Jeff Landrith puts one goal above all others when he talks about his plans for the city.

A fifth-generation Mustang resident, Landrith, 38, wants to get more people involved in politics and wants everyone to have their chance to speak.

He lists those goals at the forefront of why he decided to run for a second three-year term as mayor. In 2006, he defeated then mayor Chad McDowell vowing to “build a better Mustang.” McDowell and political newcomer Cleo Springer are challenging the incumbent mayor in the Feb. 10 city election.

“I want to keep us going in the direction that is family oriented,” Landrith said. “I want this to be a place where you can take your kids to the park and enjoy it as a family. Mustang is a family community.”

But the mayor’s first term has not always been smooth. A decision to place an automated call to voters the night before a 2008 bond issue vote drew fire from some residents and fellow Council members. The bond issues on the ballot included a $5 million “total rebuild” of two miles of Czech Hall Road and $2.9 million for a new baseball complex in Wild Horse Park. Fellow Council members who backed the measures said Landrith had seemed supportive of baseball effort and had never let them know he was planning the automated call to voters. Also in the substance of his call, his critics said Landrith failed to mention any of the benefits the projects would have brought.

The mayor said he has no regrets regarding the call, saying he never has to get the permission of others to talk to voters. He said he wished the Council could have agreed on a single set of numbers to use regarding the cost of the project and its impact on residents when discussing the baseball complex. In the end, it was the cost of the project that tipped the scales for him.

The defeat of the baseball complex was the most controversial for the mayor. It was a scaled down plan from a $4.5 million sports complex plan that was defeated by voters in 2006. The latest version of the plan included seven baseball fields, six soccer fields, a centrally located concession area, restroom facilities, irrigation systems, tournament-grade lighting and roadways and parking lots.

“I don’t think I would have done that (automated call) differently,” Landrith said. “We would have been better served to talk more as a Council. We got divided over costs and how to pay for it.”

In the wake of its defeat, Landrith offered his own plan to resurrect the baseball complex proposal using a 1/4-cent sales tax for seven years. He then took the idea in the form of a petition to area residents and said it garnered positive reactions.
However, when the national economy faltered in late-2008, Landrith said he decided to put the plan on hold. He does not expect to bring the issue back before Council in 2009.

“There will be no petition in 2009 because of the economy,” he said. “I played at those fields. I know exactly what condition they are in.”

Among the accomplishments he is most proud of, Landrith lists progress on upgrades to the city’s wastewater treatment plant, rebuilding of the city’s annual Easter egg hunt, resurrection of the Crime Stoppers tip line, improvements to the firefighters’ annual bean supper celebration and creation of DVDs for the public to watch city meetings.

If re-elected, the mayor wants to push for the creation of a sinking fund in the city budget that would allow money to be set aside for the building of more sidewalks across the community.

Growing up in Mustang on a street where former mayors lived helped shape Landrith’s life. He said he watched former Mayor Ross Duckett interact with residents, listening to their issues. He said seeing that made him want to one day become mayor. He also credits former Mayor Richard Riley as being a role model.

“When people don’t get a chance to talk, it just gets worse,” Landrith said.

He said keeping the small town community atmosphere is important, and that is why he believes Town Center is the city’s “crown jewel.”

“Town Center is where people come to get together,” he said. “It used to be places like coffee shops or Old City Park. Now you can find something going on every day at Town Center.

He said Town Center will not be a moneymaker for the city and some of its programs such as the Aquatic Center must be subsidized by taxpayers while others need to have any red ink erased by those using the programs paying more.

As for fireworks, Landrith supports their legal use in the city but is concerned City Council may have glossed over concerns about their use, which were expressed in a survey sent out to residents. Of 6,300 households in Mustang, 2,161 surveys were returned. Results on questions posed included:

• Continue allowing fireworks with no ordinance change: 830 (38 percent).
• Do not prohibit fireworks but ordinance changes should be considered: 746 (35 percent).
• Fireworks should be banned completely: 585 (27 percent).

Some Council members said the results vindicated the desire to keep fireworks legal even though 62 percent either wanted changes to the fireworks ordinance considered or banned outright.

Landrith said to help minimize the impact of fireworks, he pushed for the ban on alcohol use in Wild Horse Park during the fireworks’ celebration and pressed for warning signs regarding fines to be posted. He said he has also gone to homes of people who called him with fireworks’ complaints to learn what issues exist and then solve them.

He said he would like to see people not use fireworks in the street that can impede the flow of traffic. He said he would also like to see a volunteer group help clean the roofs of elderly peoples’ homes where debris from fireworks have landed.

“A volunteer group to go out and clean it up would go a long way to easing tensions,” he said.

Landrith and his wife Kelly have two children, Waverly and Wilder.