Bastrop mayoral candidates hope to heal relationship between city council and the public

BASTROP, Texas - Three candidates are vying for the Bastrop mayor seat in the May elections.

Election day is May 3.

What happened to Lyle Nelson?

The backstory:

It comes after the former Bastrop mayor, Lyle Nelson, resigned after accusations of interfering with a financial investigation and having a romantic relationship with a former city official. 

A Bastrop grand jury decided there wasn’t enough evidence to formally charge him.

Meet Ishmael Harris

What they're saying:

Now, the three candidates are hopeful they’ll be able to serve the remainder of his term as Mayor next year.

"I remember as a kid being able to take this path down this bridge here before they were shutting it down," said Ishmael Harris, one of the three people putting in a bid for Bastrop mayor. "It signifies what I'm running for, bridging the gap."

He’s a fifth-generation Bastrop resident.

For a year and a half, Harris also served as the chair of the planning and zoning commission, helping plan the renovations soon to come to the bridge running along Chestnut Street.

He’s got a much longer to-do list that he'd like to check off as mayor. It includes making more parks ADA-accessible, building a rec center, and better housing options. With the area’s growth, he’d also like to build another hospital.

"That amount of people to me is enough to sustain a regional-style hospital," said Harris. "We have a hospital here, but if it’s anything major, right, a few nights overstay, overnight, ICU, major surgeries, they have to go to Austin."

Meet Willie DeLaRosa

What they're saying:

Willie DeLaRosa also cites his experience working with the city government as his selling point. 

"I’m pro-business, I’m pro-growth, but we need to plan and manage that growth," said DeLaRosa.

He said he is proud to say he helped bring Buc-ees to Bastrop.

"The mayor asked me if I want a shot at it," said DeLaRosa. "I said sure, and so I met with Mr. Aplin, Beaver Aplin is his name, the owner of Buc-ee’s, and by September we had an agreement that at a city council meeting and approved Buc-ees, and the rest was history."

DeLaRosa spent 27 years on the city council, with 12 of those years as mayor pro-tem.

"I think I have a lot to offer from my past years as far as knowledge of the budget and everything that goes on with the city," said DeLaRosa.

Meet Ward Northcutt

What they're saying:

"I want to be kind of a caring mayor," said Ward Northcutt, another candidate. "I want to be a mayor of Bastrop who has the personal interest of the people."

He also wants to help Bastrop grow sustainably.

"[Lost Pines Toyota] is one of our newest car dealerships here in Bastrop, and you know something like this where you know to be a small town. We suddenly have a lot of quality services that in the past we’d have to drive all the way up to Austin to get," said Northcutt.

Northcutt is a retired law enforcement officer. He spent 32 years running the University of Texas' Police Department at its Bastrop facilities. 

"I’d like to see some regular people like a retired police officer like just a regular person to get on our city council and try to make a difference for the people that live here," said Northcutt.

Big picture view:

All three candidates have one big goal in common. They want to heal the relationship between the public and city government after the last mayor resigned.

"The connection and trust between citizens in our city government, which I think that we are getting back to," said Harris.

"The first thing I need to get done is pull this council back together because it’s been in a distraction for a year and a half with all the disruption on the council," said DeLaRosa.

"As a mayor, I would want to be a practice listener and to be a proactive listener, and to be a proactive listener. What that means is I open up my office to people, allow kind of an open door," said Northcutt.

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