KEENE — Keene Mayor Roy Robinson is seeking re-election for a second term Nov. 4. Robinson, who previously served on the city council, sat for an interview Friday.



Q: Was the decision to run again difficult given Keene’s recent economic troubles?

A: Actually, I thought about not running again, but my wife put it this way, “You had some things you wanted to accomplish when you ran the first time and you haven’t completed those. And you need to finish the job.” And I said you’re right.

Being mayor of this city takes much, much more time than I had any idea. But, I’m a citizen. I want the best for this city. I’ve been involved with the city since 1999, and it’s become a labor of love.

Keene is a unique community, and we have our warts and strengths, which are different from other cities to some extent. For instance, most cities would do almost anything for a university. Because where there’s an institution of higher learning there’s usually a lot more activity, a higher scale of living, intellectual activity, better school systems and so forth.

You know, you can go here and get an MBA here, which is kind of rare in a city of 7,000 people. But at the same time, that also brings some shortcomings. Like we have 22 or more percent of the city’s property that is tax exempt.

And, being an Adventist community, a lot of folks don’t shop on Saturday. That has given rise to the idea that Keene is not open for business on Saturday. And that’s really not true because the businesses that are here do quite well.



Q: Discuss your plans if re-elected.

A: One thing we have to do is change our mindsets about our shopping habits. Because there have not been a lot of places to shop here in Keene, people are in the habit of running to Cleburne.

So what we need to do is figure out ways to support the businesses we have. And, as new businesses move in here, jump on them and start supporting. Because if we don’t support the businesses that come here, they’re not going to be here for long.

What we at the city need to do is be proactive and forward thinking and make innovative plans now to create the infrastructure that will attract the kinds of business, residential areas that we want. So when we get down the road 15-20 years, we have what we want rather than what happens to us.



Q: Share your thoughts on the alcohol vote

A: Proponents say Keene will never grow until we get alcohol sales. While it may be true that will attract some additional business, it’s open for question as to how much and when. Then you have to ask at what cost to the city.

I’m not just talking about the cost of alcohol-related negative things like accidents and so forth. I’m really talking more about the cost to the culture that is here that most people enjoy. I think bringing alcohol sales in here is just completely contrary to the mores of most people.

Many people live here and enjoy living here because there’s not alcohol sales on every corner like there is in Fort Worth for example. And, it’s not just the drunk who may be down the street, it’s the whole idea of a different mind set, a different way of approaching life. So, I do not support the proposition. I do not believe that alcohol sales are necessary to the business growth of Keene.



Q: Regarding the recent financial hardships, has Keene turned the corner or is there still a way to go?

A: I think we turned a corner on our difficulties last year. That point came when we hired Bill Guinn as our accountant. Prior to that we had a bookkeeper, and I’m sure where most businesses are concerned that would have been perfectly adequate. But municipal accounting is different and much more complex.

We were largely in the mess we were because we didn’t know where we were, what our assets were, and consequently we spent unwisely. We thought we had more money than we did. After Mr. Guinn began working to straighten out our books, now that we’ve gone through that, we’re on a more secure financial footing than we’ve been, maybe ever.

We rolled back our own tax rate because of the economic panic and the fact so many have been hurt in the market. We rolled back to the rollback rate to try to give our citizens a break. At that rate we have a balanced budget. But we have almost no fallback money in contingency. We have about $19,000 in an almost $7 million budget.

But, in our favor we have sold more water to the gas driller than we anticipated. That brings in a little extra revenue.

One thing that hurt us last year was the rapid escalation of fuel costs. In this budget we projected fuel costs at an increase over what it was [at the time of budget workshops]. Obviously in the last month or so fuel costs have come down. If it stays down, that will give a little extra cushion in the budget.