By Traci Chapman
Published on August 9, 2008

Mustang’s familiar horse underwent a makeover Tuesday, as City Council members approved a new city logo.

“The Chamber of Commerce roads and legislation/economic development committee worked really hard to get this image,” City Manager David Cockrell said. “They came up with this image, which we felt was stylistic, yet readily identifiable for Mustang.”

Chairman Robert Crout said the committee came up with the idea after seeing several other suburbs develop a unique image to help attract commerce and new residents.

“The reason for it is I travel around a lot, and I see these small suburban communities around Houston and Dallas. Each one of them that is growing commercially have their own logo, their own identity — they’re catchy, they’re upscale and they’re modern,” he said.

Members turned to Ryan Tate of Tate Publishing, Crout said. Tate gave the project to his graphic designers, who proposed designs.

“The people who work at Tate are very sharp, and they’ve been attracted to Mustang — what better people to ask to come up with a logo,” he said. “They also have a different perspective than many of us who’ve been here for a long time — they are new to Mustang. We wondered, ‘what’s their perception,’ and they told us with this different look.”

City Manager David Cockrell worked with the group to come up with the image, Crout said.

“David was part of this from the start,” he said. “He brought his perspective from the city, then worked with us to present it to Council members for their review.”

The change is in line with Mustang’s strategic plan, developed earlier this year by city leaders. Developing an “economic brand” for the city was a goal of that process, and City Manager David Cockrell said the logo reflects the image determined during those planning sessions.

City leaders and staff attended the three-day strategic planning conference — the first held by the city — in February, in an effort to formulate the city’s image, its goals and how to “move into the future,” Cockrell said at the time. The program included creating a “brand image” for the city, something officials and staff could integrate into future growth.

“We want to look at where we are today, what we want for the future, identify what we’re all about as a city, what are our core values and establish a plan for the next five years — growth, economic policies, how we can best service our residents and our employees,” Cockrell said then.

The first item generated in the process was the city’s mission statement: “The city of Mustang is a safe, family-family place to work and live. We lead the way in balanced growth while preserving our small town appeal. Mustang — a quality of life like no other city.” The logo is another step in making the city “uniquely identifiable,” Cockrell said.

In other business, Council:

-Accepted a $41,250 bid from Salazar Roofing for a new roof at Mustang Fire Department. The bid was almost $9,000 less than the cost projected by city staff, Fire Chief Carl Hickman said.
-Renewed the annual agreement between the city and Mustang Public Schools for two officers assigned to school campuses. Police Chief Monte James said the school district pays the city $76,116 for the officers’ time, and this is the 13th agreement signed by the two entities.
-Approved seeking bids for the installation of pedestrian signals at three itersections on state Highway 152 at Mustang Road; Morgan Road; and state Highway 92. The $25,000 cost for the project was included in the city’s budget, James said.