Pub. 60 2019-2020 Issue 2

21 WINTER 2019 economic development, traffic and flood mitigation, and protecting our Shenandoah quality of life. What prompted you to run for mayor? Well, my sons, to some degree. From the minute we moved into the city eight years ago, we just knew that we wanted to serve in some capacity. We started off helping to do the civic club newsletter and then I became co-chair of the civic club. From there, I was asked to be on the planning and zoning committee. So it just continually grew. I don’t know that I ever started off thinking I was going to become mayor, but it was one of those deals where as soon as we moved into the city, we just loved it so much that we wanted to help out and pitch in and be a part of it. What are some challenges Shenandoah is facing? We don’t have a lot of challenges; we have opportunities — we’re only going up. One of the things I want to make sure that we do as we are in this growth pattern is to stay true to our roots. Our opportunity is to continue to grow and get even better, but at the same time, use that growth to stay true to our roots and be a small community. What do you think makes Shenandoah unique? If you take a look at our footprint, we straddle I-45, and we are in one of the most economically advantageous areas in Texas for sure, if not the country— I mean, we are booming. We have great businesses, hospitals, we are centrally located to a major airport, the fourth largest city in the country and we’re centrally located to The Woodlands. At the same time, we have this small-town community where our residents get to know their police officers, their city staff, and each other. So we have this interesting mix of this cutting-edge economic growth and development, and we also have this small-town feel. It’s that really cool balance that makes us unique.  Whether serving the needs of Texas franchised dealers or the city government of Shenandoah, Texas, Ritch Wheeler works to make others successful and provides the same value and leadership that family owned, community-based dealerships provide to Texas and Texans.