Jimmy Stathatos | Flower Mound’s Public Spaces — And Why They Matter
In this episode of Around Flower Mound, we chat with long-time Flower Mound resident, and town manager, Jimmy Stathatos. Jimmy has been the town manager of Flower Mound since 2013, after being a city manager in other Texas communities.
As you know, this podcast is about shedding light on community leaders in our fantastic community of Flower Mound, and this episode is no exception! I’ve had the pleasure of working with Jimmy, and he is one of the most articulate and detail-oriented professionals I know— truly amazing!
We’ll chat with Jimmy about what he loves most about Flower Mound, who he wants to be a hero to, as well as…
Why he believes that the people of Flower Mound are the town’s backbone
What makes Flower Mound a town
Why he thinks positive, public spaces are so important for the Flower Mound community
The technology and team behind the town
And more
Mentioned in this episode:
Transcript
Nicole Smith Woodard: Today, I am so excited to introduce you to an absolutely fantastic Flower Mound resident. As you know, Around Flower Mound is all about bringing light to community leaders, business owners, parents, and charities within our fantastic community. We in Flower Mound are so blessed to have a wonderful town, and today, we are joined by the town manager of Flower Mound. Welcome my friend Jimmy Stathatos.
Jimmy Stathatos: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. It's good to talk with you today.
Nicole: Absolutely. Well, and a little bit about Jimmy--Jimmy and his wife Michelle have been residents of Flower Mound for over seven years, and they are actually one of the original homeowners in the Flower Mound Riverwalk area, which is just coming along beautifully. Together, they have five children: three boys and two girls.
Jimmy took over the reins as town manager in January of 2013. Prior to that, he was city manager and/or assistant city manager of several other communities--not nearly as wonderful as Flower Mound--in the Metroplex. He has a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M. I pause there in case you wanted to--
Jimmy: Woo!
Nicole: There you go. And a master's in public administration from the University of North Texas. I have had the pleasure of working with Jimmy, not only through different town activities but also as a fellow member of Cross Timbers Rotary. Jimmy, you are one of the most articulate, detail-oriented, and, the truth be told, hilarious professionals I know. So, thank you. I'm so glad you're here today.
Jimmy: Thank you. And thank you so much for the nice comments. I really appreciate our friendship, and I'm flattered to be able to speak with you. And thanks for picking me.
What Makes Flower Mound a Town?
Nicole: Absolutely. So hey, let's start off with this. What is your favorite thing about Flower Mound?
Jimmy: My favorite thing, I think, is the people. I mean, I really, it sounds a little trite, but the people are so nice. You know, they are. Ever since I got here, people have been very welcoming. You know, a lot of people, they make you feel like you've known them forever. There's that spirit of compassion and collaboration, and it's just very, very comforting.
Nicole: No doubt. Now, when I moved here, this became apparent to me, and I want to ask you to speak to this. We are a town. We are not a city. We are not a village. So give us a little bit of the 411 on what is the difference? What makes us a town?
Jimmy: That is a great question. And I get asked this a lot because, most of the time, when you think of a town, you think of a small city or a small rural area or what have you. But what happened basically is that, several years ago, as the town began to grow and exponentially grow, I think there were some concerns that the town would grow so much and kind of lose its roots of being, you know, quaint and having that small-town feel. And so it was actually put in the town charter, voted on by the residents, to be called a town. And so, legally, it is a town.
Now, from a legal perspective, in terms of the connotation or what have you, there's not a big difference. I mean, towns and cities generally are the same in terms of their powers and what have you. Now, if it's a town that's under five thousand, then it's different because they wouldn't have a city manager or town manager. But if we changed the name from town to city tomorrow, it wouldn't change any of our laws or anything, but there'd be a lot of upset residents.
Nicole: Well, half of the residents would be upset. Right?
Jimmy: Exactly.
Nicole: Well, tell us more about your role as the town manager of Flower Mound. What do you do? And who do you want to be a hero to?
Jimmy: Thank you. I want to be a hero to the residents. And I really do, because you're... And here's the deal. I mean, I got into public service to serve people. I mean, I know that's kind of self-explanatory, but I really want to have an impact on people's lives.
You know, local government, in my opinion, I'm biased, is the most critical branch, I mean, the most critical level of government because you're always impacted by local government, whether it's taking your kids to the park, and now, as you know, we've got over fifty parks, but if you take them to a park, if you drive on our roads or what have you... I mean, you're always impacted by local government, so for me, I always want people to have the best experience and the best perception. That means we're doing our job.
And, you know, basically, my job, I work for the mayor and the town council. And so they hire me. And then I'm responsible for carrying out the mayor and the town council's vision. And also, I'm responsible for all the day-to-day responsibilities. The police chief, fire chief, parks director, you know, they'll ultimately report to me and then, you know, I make sure that we're all working together to implement the mayor and council's vision.
Nicole: Well, you have a wonderful team assembled. I can't speak highly enough. And just the overall sense of the community that these individuals bring to us are just amazing, and I'm sure if they were to go anywhere else, they would see how different and how wonderful... We're like this little Mayberry, I don't know. I'm very grateful to the people that came before you and the people that continue to set the vision for this town because they're doing a lot of things right.
So you mentioned a little bit about your goal and wanting to be in public service. So tell us a little bit about your background, and how did you get to this stage in your career?
Jimmy: When I was seventeen years old, I was a congressional page in Washington, D.C. And so that really inspired me to want to go into government. But at the time, I was thinking, you know, I'm going to be very trite and go to law school and then eventually go into politics and all that stuff. But I quickly learned that I felt like I could have a better impact by, you know, being a public servant in terms of staff, not necessarily elected.
And so I decided to, you know... I grew up in a very small city, and so I literally did not even know what a town manager or city manager was until my sophomore year at A&M, and my fraternity advisor worked for the city of Bryan as assistant city manager, and ever since then, it was like, "I know this is what I want to do." And so I went to grad school for public administration.
And then, ever since then, like, you know, I previously worked for the city of Roanoke, and I was there about fifteen years and, you know, this one experience really epitomizes my whole reason for getting into local government. But, you know, when I got there, it was a very, very small city, and they did not have any public parks-- literally didn't have one public park. And so we were able to buy some land, the city was, and then we built a park, and it was an eight-acre park, but you would have thought we built Disneyland.
I mean, just really, I mean, people... You literally improve people's lives. And it's that way with every time you put in a new park, but just to not have a public park, the before and after. It's like, where do people go to swing? And I mean, you know. And so I always think about that, and I've had a lot of those "aha" moments in Flower Mound as well. But it's just... That was the one that really was a validation that I made the right decision to enter public service, you know?
Nicole: Well, that is awesome. Well, and, to your point, I've been in this area in North Texas forever, primarily--truthfully. But twenty-five years here in this northern part of the Metroplex, and even just speaking to the evolution, even of Roanoke, as a community, and not to take away from our Around Flower Mound podcast, but literally, you've made an indelible print on that part of the Metroplex. And that's, I mean, that will certainly live on. And speaking of parks, and then bringing it back to Flower Mound, talk a little bit about our parks and trail system.
Jimmy: First of all, thank you so much for the comment about Roanoke. I had a great team, and I just tried not to mess it up. But, you know, Flower Mound, we are known for having one of the most extensive trail systems in the state. And the trail system is incredible. I mean, it's so intertwined in our parks, in our neighborhoods, and we're always adding to it, always adding, you know, miles upon miles upon miles. And so, we're so proud of our trail system and the parks that, like I said, they go hand in hand.
Our parks, we have, I think, fifty-four parks now, and it's so cool because every year we pick parks that we want to update and add a new theme, like we've got a park called Gaston Park that has a fire station theme. You know, we've got a park that has a dinosaur theme. And so we really want to give our parks personalities and, you know, and amenities that make people want to come and visit the parks, but we're always making sure that it's the best equipment, very manicured, very safe, well-lit, and everything. And I think that's one of the reasons that people love our parks.
I mean, each one is an experience and you can get a different experience by going to a different park, not just with the equipment, but just the looks, you know, whether it's a rural feel or if you want more of an urban feel adjacent to, you know, busy ballparks. I mean, there's just, there are ball fields. So it's just really... There's parks for everyone, regardless of your interest. And I get very, very excited about it because that epitomizes a great quality of life in Flower Mound. I mean, I tell people this is like Pleasantville. It really is.
Nicole: Yeah, I totally agree. And you know, things that you kind of just almost take for granted. You know, I had the opportunity to serve all over the Metroplex. And that truly is one of the real differentiators here in Flower Mound, that it's so easy, not that I need to sell it, if you will, but just, it's just such an easy thing that brings so much value and so much of a community to the community, if you will, and of course, Riverwalk falls into that category as well.
And you know how much I love Lakeside, so even within these pockets, though, to create those public spaces that all of our citizens can use just adds to the lifestyle that we have here, just immediately north of the airport. So now, you are an expert, obviously, and leading a team and creating this positive environment for our town. Why do you think that is so important to our community?
Jimmy: Because I think happy people are productive people. And, you know, I tell people, we don't, you know, live to work, we work to live. And there's a lot of times where we actually will spend more time at work some days than we do at home with our family. And the last thing I would want is for someone to pull up to the parking lot, you know, an employee, and just dread walking into work.
And so, for me, I kind of look at it from that perspective because I want to be happy when I'm at work. And so I want, you know, everyone has dependents, everyone has family, everyone, you know, has someone that depends on them. And so, you know, life is too short. And I think that people being happy or, you know, more enthusiastic, they treat other people with that same, you know, compassion, if you will.
And I just think that's so important, especially, I think, in any job, but especially in the public sector, when we're serving the public, it's, you just, you never know what someone is dealing with or what kind of day they've had. So I think it's important that we always put our best foot forward.
A Tech-Friendly Town
Nicole: Absolutely. Speak a little bit to the technology that the town uses, whether it's the council meetings or the information that is broadcast to the community. What's your role in that?
Jimmy: A lot of times, I'll be involved with, you know, if it's something that's council-driven, then it'll go through me and kind of trickle down. But honestly, our staff is empowered to kind of do their own thing, if you will. We all, you know, everyone coordinates. We've got an award-winning communications staff. I mean, we just built a new town hall, and we joked that we might need to add on to it just because of all their awards. I mean, they're, they do some cool stuff, and I just... They never cease to amaze me.
But, you know, we have so many opportunities that we can reach residents, if you will, you know, we've got, you know, for if there's an alert in terms of, like, an emergency or what have you. I mean, we could automatically text, call everyone the same information. You know, we can put stuff on the website. If you want to be automatically notified as soon as we update the construction page or the utility, just whatever, we can do that.
But then we also have, you know, when you look in the parks, we have, back to technology, we've got these, I think it's called Thor Guards, that are basically lightning detectors where it'll tell you when lightning is, I think, five or six minutes away, but it gives you advance notice so you can, you know, take cover.
And then when you look at our council meetings, they're very interactive. We were one of the first cities in the area, probably the state, to broadcast our council meetings on Facebook Live. And you know, people could be very interactive, and it's the same thing now that we're going to have virtual town council meetings through Zoom.
And there's five ways for people to be a part of the meeting, to interact with the town council, with their leaders. And so we're always trying to find the newest and best ways to just, to handle our business and, you know, and also, in Flower Mound, there is a demand to be very tech-friendly, if you will. And so we always want to stay ahead of that.
Nicole: Well, you definitely are. And that's quite brave, too. Having been in some town council meetings where there is a lot of differing opinions, and it's respectful, you know, everyone gets an opportunity to say what they need to say, and I think, you know, whereas maybe in some of those more heated debates that maybe some would prefer to be behind closed doors.
But the fact that y'all welcome interaction, I mean, I think that goes to your leadership and certainly to the mayor and the council members for being really a true forum and not just... And you don't have to just go there to see it to participate, you know, you have that opportunity. So that's, that's really awesome.
Another thing that tends to come up repeatedly throughout any given month or a year is all of the recognition that Flower Mound gets for being the safest city, or, you know, Money Magazine always puts us somewhere near the top as far as towns. So how much, if any, of those awards are a reflection of things that staff does intentionally? Or is it just by the sheer nature of who we are as a town to yield that type of recognition?
Jimmy: I think it's both, you know, because I think, you know, I think Flower Mound is, like I said, I joke, it is Pleasantville. So I think, as long as we continue to be Pleasantville, and not just maintain, but continue to set ourselves apart, I think the accolades and recognition will continue. And so we have our staff, they know that we have high expectations for them. And we know that the residents have high expectations for myself and staff. And so we will go the extra mile.
I mean, you know, I joke, with all of the special things or extra things we do for the residents, in terms of maybe putting door hangers on about something that isn't, it might be important to them, but it's not super urgent. We're probably one of the only cities to do it for certain instances.
I always think about, "Man, when I was in Roanoke,” or just fill in the blank, “We never did any of this stuff." And here, I mean, we really go the extra mile, we really pamper our residents, to be honest. But I think there's that expectation. So I think if we don't continue, then we'll lose some of that luster.
Nicole: Yeah, but as it is now, shine, and shine bright. And I loved the police department lip-sync contest. We have the best first responders in... Anywhere. I mean, they're just good guys. And ladies.
Jimmy: Yeah.
Nicole: Right. But I mean, they're just good people that you can tell enjoy coming to work here.
Jimmy: Well, and it's funny you mentioned that, because everyone has known a police officer or a firefighter that, you know, had that negative stereotype that's kind of like, oh, just like, you know what I mean? But when I'm talking to all of our departments, and you know, I'll go individually, obviously, and I tell them, I was like, "You guys and you ladies," I just use guys kind of as a neutral gender, and I'm like, "You're awesome. You're not even like real cops or like real firefighters." You know, and they get it because no one wants to be generalized based on the bad apples in our profession.
I mean, I can tell you some horror stories about some other town managers, but the thing is that, with our police, fire, our public works, all of our staff is there. I mean, they're all rock stars. They're really cool.
And, you know, there's a lot of times you don't hear that, you only hear the negative or what have you. I can't tell you how many positive emails or calls or texts that I'll get from things that I wouldn't have even known that our employees did. So it's just the servant's hearts, you know.
Why Flower Mound’s Leaders Succeed
Nicole: Absolutely. Well, I feel very, very fortunate, very blessed to live here for sure. Now, back to you. You've had some real successes in your life. What do you believe makes some successful while others struggle?
Jimmy: I think, especially in local government, it's important to realize that it's not the town of Jimmy, you know, it's the town of Flower Mound. And I think, a lot of times, leaders get wrapped up in their own identity and they forget who they're working for. They forget whose vision and whose goals, character, all that stuff is most important, if you will. And so I think, you know, people that fall into that trap, they're not flexible. And then they just get married to it. And it's stubborn, it never ends well, but I think that's one of the things.
But also, I really try to surround myself with good people. And not just good people that are talented because, you know, when you're trying to hire a fire chief or police chief or just fill in the blank, you know, there's a multitude of people that can do the job, but you want someone who has that "it factor" that, you know, that just fits well, chemistry-wise.
And so I think that's the thing. You surround yourself with good people, and don't micro-manage, let them do their job. I, you know, when I hired our police chiefs five or six years ago, I said, “You know, Andy, if I know more than you about law enforcement, then I don't need you.”
And that's true. And so I'm not gonna go do his job. Now, I'll know when he's not doing his job, and he's always doing his job. But I think that's the key. I mean, I can't do everything by myself. Right now.
Nicole: Well, awesome. Okay, so what books or podcasts are you currently engaging in that you would recommend to others?
Jimmy: Thank you. I have become such a podcast junkie. I mean, I really, I get addicted to it, and it's almost like my audio Netflix, you know, when you're finished watching, binge-listening. And I love, and I don't know what this says about me, but I love the true crime ones. And so I like criminal and serial ones, I think it's called Serial, obviously s-e-r-i-a-l, but I do like eating cereal as well. But I love the true crime ones. I mean, they are just so cool. And like I said, I probably need to see a therapist for my obsession. But I love, yeah, those are probably my favorite ones, so far at least. I'm always looking for new ones though.
Nicole: Exactly. Well, and I'm the same. I know that more and more people are engaging with podcasts. Just like, here we are, here on the Around Flower Mound podcast. So, Jimmy, thank you, thank you, thank you so much. I know how busy you are. I just appreciate you taking the time to join us today on the Around Flower Mound podcast. How can people connect with you if they want to do so?
Jimmy: Awesome, thank you. Well, obviously, I'm on Facebook, I'm on Twitter, but work-wise, you know, my phone number is just (972) 874-6089, or if you come to our website, it's flower-mound.com.
You can obviously email me. It's jimmy.stathatos@flower-mound.com, or if you ever just want to come to town hall, as long as I'm not in a meeting or what have you, I'm always interested in meeting people.
So anyway, but I just appreciate your time, Nicole, you are just the hardest and busiest working person I know. And it just means a lot to get to talk with you, so thank you for including me.
Nicole: Thank you so much. Take care.
