Conroe - Montgomery Edition | July 2024

Government

BY NICHAELA SHAHEEN

Duke Coon was sworn in as Conroe’s next mayor during a special council meeting on June 25.

COURTESY DUKE COON

COURTESY CITY OF CONROE

New Conroe Mayor Duke Coon prioritizing water infrastructure, city debt In June, Duke Coon, former council member and mayor pro tem, defeated council member Todd Yancey to become the newly elected Conroe mayor. Coon rst served as a Conroe City Council mem- ber from 2002-06, and then again from 2014-22. He is a member of the Conroe Noon Lions Club, direc- tor of the Montgomery County Veterans Memorial Commission and involved in other organizations throughout the city. Raised in Conroe, Coon is also a U.S. Navy veteran and the CEO of oil and gas company Hadco International. Why did you decide to run for mayor? It’s about service. My father served as an ocer. My mother was a nurse. It was instilled at an early age to serve. The military was about service to our country, and it was just so important for me to continue to serve. I had been on council previ- ously. I’ve been a mayor pro tem here in the city of Conroe. ... The feeling of serving and helping our community is important. The city is in an enormous amount of debt. Our water infrastructure is failing. We’ve got some serious issues we need to address. This is just about serving our people—those who are marginalized. That’s very important to me—those on

the margins who need our help and our services. I’m going to be a mayor that’s accessible to our people. What are your top priorities and goals as mayor? About a month ago, we found out from our engi- neering department that we need four new water wells that’s going to cost $50 million. We don’t have the pressure on our northern quadrants to continue to develop. ... My rst priority is to x our water infrastructure. ... Along with that is the budget. We are $750 million in debt. ... We’ve got failing water infrastructure. There should have been a progressive comprehen- sive plan. It should have been enacted years ago related to this water issue, right? But there wasn’t. But there will be now. We’re going to immediately try to x this water situation, but we’ll have a progressive, comprehensive plan moving forward so we don’t have this situation again. What are your big priorities for next scal year’s budget? That budget will include an audit. We’ll audit all our departments. ... That budget will allow for a grant writer to be hired by the city of Conroe. I think it’s so important that we go out for those federal, state and local grants that are out there available to municipalities. We don’t do that now. We’ve got to bring as much grant revenue to this city as possible. It’s going to help our parks, infrastructure, and it’s going to help our people. What will your approach be toward the Hyatt Regency Conroe and paying down the bond debt

associated with that project? I voted against the funding for that hotel when I was on City Council. ... Conroe should not be in the hotel business, but we are. We’re going to have to nd creative ways to work with Hyatt to try to x some of the debt that’s burdening our city due to the construction of the hotel. ... We’re paying operational costs for the hotel, and it’s dicult to budget when you don’t know what your operations and maintenance costs are. We’re going to have to work closely with our teams— maybe some external teams—to try to nd out what the best step forward is. We’ve got the hotel that is underperforming. I don’t think that’s a secret to anyone, but let’s hope it opens up revenue. How do you plan to approach new development and growth amid infrastructure needs? So our rst goal is to try to get as much infra- structure in the ground as we can. But where we can’t get infrastructure in the ground that we paid for, we certainly need to go to the developers and say, ‘Partner with us.’ If they’re interested in devel- oping here, then they’re going to need to partner with some of the infrastructure—water and sewer infrastructure—at their cost.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. For a longer version, visit communityimpact.com.

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