By Shelly Williams/editor-in-chief
TCC board of trustees candidates have more competition this year, compared with previous years, vice chancellor of administration and communication services Bill Lace said.
He said it’s common for two or three candidates to run in a district, like the two running for the District 4 position. But it’s unusual to have five running for a position at one time as in the District 5 race.
At one point, the number of candidates had risen to six for the position currently held by Randall Canedy, who chose not to seek re-election this year. The number went back down after Arlington candidate Terry Meza withdrew from the race a few weeks ago.
“I don’t remember ever having more than three,” Lace said. “And I can only remember specifically one time where we had three run for a seat. I think there may have been more, but my memory only goes back to the early ’80s.”
He said the larger number of candidates may stem from TCC’s higher visibility in the community.
“We’re usually very, very low on the radar. And because we’ve grown so much, and frankly because of some of the publicity we’ve had — we’ve had good and negative with the money we’ve spent on the new campus — we’re on people’s radars.
“Another factor is our tax rate now is much more than it used to be,” he said. “When our tax rate was three cents on $100, TCC’s tax bill was $29. They didn’t care all that much. Now, I think it’s a little more prominent. But we like the visibility.”
Lace said with the board meetings now available online during the month and with the school’s new Web site, TCC has an openness that it didn’t have before, which contributes to the number of candidates.
In the race for west Fort Worth’s District 4, attorney Bill Greenhill will compete against businessman Dick Varnell. Both are running to replace vice president Bobby McGee’s position, who chose not to seek re-election this year as well.
The tight competition for District 5 consists of accountant Patrick Adimire, former Star-Telegram columnist O.K. Carter, real estate broker Gerry Gherring, assistant director of Dallas parks and recreation John Jenkins and business consultant Joe McHaney.
Adimire said he decided to run because he thinks education answers almost every question anyone has.
“If we can get the whole populous educated, it’ll make almost all of our problems go away,” he said. “I’m really concerned about our dropout rates and the fast-changing job market and the changing technology.
“My parents taught myself and my sisters that education is how you can do something for your family. It’s how you can do something for your community. Education is the resource for that. I’m a believer in that, and this is my chance at getting involved in different education situations and give back from what I’ve gotten from education.”
McHaney said his reason to run is to help merge business and education.
“I’m trying to get more involved in the community, and my kids are getting older. One just graduated college. I thought this was more of a fit for me,” he said. “I’d like to be able to bring my background in business to TCC. I’ve been doing environmental consulting and energy consulting for over 25 years. And there are a lot of things going on with the construction that I think we need to make sure we’re doing the best things that we need to do.”
Lace said it will be interesting to see how the race progresses.
The elections take place May 8. If none of the candidates receives more than 50 percent of the votes, Lace said a runoff will take place June 12.
“I think that anyone who wins the positions on the board will see that we’re headed in the right direction,” he said.
