City of McKinney

Citizen Oversight

It is so difficult to be an informed citizen. After all, local government isn't one of the most exciting subjects. Citizen apathy is the biggest barrier to good citizen oversight because citizens have busy lives, no time to learn complicated truths, and some just do not care. 

McKinney has a very bad citizen apathy problem--in our last city bond election and in our last McKinney ISD bond election, only about 11,000 people voted in each. That is pretty depressing for a city of about 170,000 people.

Citizens who do vote should know as much about an issue as possible. They should not to rely on unverified word of mouth either. Voting for or against a candidate, issue, or bond measure should not depend on what your friends say, nor should your vote depend on emotional pleas either. 

The city itself is becoming more and transparent. When we want to find out about a city issue, now we can more easily pull up time lines and meeting links to learn about the issue than ever before. But, the city needs to work on making city information easily understandable to regular people. The way a city--any city--presents its information is usually to blame for much of the disconnect between citizens and government.

Here’s how to become at least a bit more informed:

• Sign up for the City of McKinney's Notify Me system
• Join various McKinney citizen groups on Facebook. The more information you get from many sources, the better.
• Bookmark Legistar and review the agendas of the City Council Meetings (at the very least). They usually post on the Friday before the Tuesday meetings.
• Many people don’t have time to attend city meetings. Watch the recorded meetings online or live on TV.
• Ask questions of the City Manager, Mayor, City Councilmen, and city employees as needed. City employees are usually very nice…although they often require further prodding or very direct questions for the right information (which can be hard if you don't really know what question to ask).
• City government is made up of people. There are good people, bad people, agenda driven people, misguided people, and confused people who are in office and work for governments. You don't necessarily have to be suspicious...maybe just verify everything you're told and find multiple sources.

Mayor & City Council:
To email all of them with questions, comments, or concerns, copy and paste:gfuller@mckinneytexas.org, ffrazier@mckinneytexas.org, cphilips@mckinneytexas.org, lshemwell@mckinneytexas.org, rrogers@mckinneytexas.org, selliott@mckinneytexas.org, rfrankli@mckinneytexas.org

Mayor Fuller (elected 2017, 4 year term)
gfuller@mckinneytexas.org

City Council At-Large (they represent everyone in every district)
Frederick Fraizer (elected in 2019, 4 year term)
ffrazier@mckinneytexas.org

Charlie Philips (elected 2017, 4 year term)
cphilips@mckinneytexas.org

District 1La'Shadion Shemwell (elected 2017, 4 year term)
lshemwell@mckinneytexas.org

District 2 (Mayor Pro Tem - acts as mayor if needed)
Rainey Rogers (elected 2019, 4 year term)
rrogers@mckinneytexas.org

District 3
Scott Elliot (elected 2017, 4 year term)
selliott@mckinneytexas.org

District 4


Rick Franklin (elected 2019, 4 year term)
rfrankli@mckinneytexas.org

How the City Operates

McKinney is a City Manager-centric city. The City Manager is in charge of the workings of the city.  City Council gives the City Manager and employees direction. Boards and Commissions seem to give some insight to City Council, maybe.

Find out who represents you - click here
. 

·       City Manager, Paul Grimes http://www.mckinneytexas.org/Index.aspx?NID=141

·       Boards and Commissions http://www.mckinneytexas.org/Index.aspx?NID=136
       City Council and Mayor info   https://www.mckinneytexas.org/138/City-Council