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Lupe Gonzalez became the newest member of the Farmers Branch City Council on Tuesday, Nov. 18, sworn in by her husband before a packed chamber as she reflected on her path from PTA volunteer to elected official.
“I had never thought of myself as a leader. I was just being myself,” Gonzalez said during her first remarks as the District 1 representative. “That’s when I realized leadership isn’t about titles or recognition. It’s about heart. It’s about showing up, listening, caring, even when nobody’s watching.”
Gonzalez, elected in a Nov. 4 special election, described initial doubts about seeking office. When first approached about running, she said her response was “Why me? I’m just a mom.
“I live in a small world where I help run our school PTA. I’m a preschool teacher. I didn’t see myself as someone important enough to help run a city,” she said. “But everyone around me kept saying, ‘That’s exactly why you should run.’”
In other business, Mayor Terry Lynne announced what he called “the biggest business win in the history of our city” global technology company FormFactor relocating its corporate headquarters from California to Farmers Branch.
“This is a global company. They have operations and locations all over the world and Farmers Branch was in the running with I think five sites in the United States and one in Germany,” Lynne said.
He credited the economic development department and city manager’s office for securing the deal.
“It’s going to be a huge, huge investment into our city,” Lynne said. “It will be a big shot in the arm not only from a job standpoint but from an investment in property.”
The council unanimously approved two drainage infrastructure contracts totaling more than $620,000 to address flooding risks and creek erosion across the city.
The first resolution authorized a $302,500 agreement with Kimley-Horn and Associates for a comprehensive master drainage study.
Eric Mueller, the city’s stormwater civil engineer, explained that “a master drainage study is a long-term plan that we use to evaluate storm water needs and flood risks.”
The study’s purpose is “to help us develop flood mitigation projects and improvements, estimate those costs, be able to prioritize those projects based on various factors, and help support us in pursuing grant funding opportunities,” Mueller said.
The study will examine Rawhide Creek from Valley View Lane to Webb Chapel Road, the Maybrook Channel, the Bee Street Culvert crossing at Cooks Creek and areas along Midway Road.
The council also approved $320,725 for Freese and Nichols to design reconstruction of eroded creek banks along Rawhide Creek between Tom Field Road and Josey Lane.
Mueller told the council the city in 2022 “contracted with them to do a visual assessment of erosion and structural issues” that identified “damaged gabions, drop structures and creek erosion needing repair.”
The firm will “develop plans which will help reconstruct portions of the banks where gabions have failed,” Mueller said, along with three hydraulic drop structures that “have been eroded around and are at risk of failing.”
Council member Roger Neil said, “I do think this project is very well worthwhile and very well needed. We also have similar issues in district five, specifically east of Marsh Lane and the Wooded Creek area.”
Both projects will be funded through the city’s storm water capital improvement program.
The council also approved three business development items, including specific use permits for a furniture store at Josey Lane, an indoor baseball practice facility on North Stemmons Freeway and a 53,000-square-foot office and warehouse development on Denton Drive.
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