Meeting with the new Mayor: Johnson plans to keep moving Texas City forward

Dedrick Johnson made history on Tuesday when he defeated fellow candidate Phil Roberts to become the first black Mayor in the 109-year history of Texas City. Johnson, who will be officially sworn in this Wednesday evening at the Doyle Center, talked with The Post Newspaper Editor Brandon C. Williams about how he plans to get Texas City moving forward.

The interview, which occurred on Friday afternoon, is a two-part Q&A. The second part will run in the Wednesday, November 11 issue.

Q: Three days into it, how does it feel? Has it sunk in yet?

Dedrick Johnson: It sure has. It will probably sink a little deeper soon. I hit the ground running (Wednesday), had a couple of meetings to meet the executive committee here in the city and familarize my face with there’s…I’m looking at things through a different lens. That was interesting, and there will be more meetings to come.

Q: Describe the feeling when it was confirmed that you would become Mayor.

DJ: I was excited, but I was excited more for my campaign committee, who had worked so hard. I didn’t want to let them down. I could see their excitement as I was surrounded by family and friends at the time. It just felt good to see that all of our hard work had paid off.

Q: What does it mean to you in becoming the first black Mayor of Texas City?

DJ: You know, it’s something we’ve heard a lot over the past 72 hours, and it’s something we’re going to continue to hear throughout the next couple of years. It’s bittersweet. It’s sweet because you’re a part of making history, but it’s bitter in the sense that it’s been 109 years since this city been in existence, and in 109 years we’ve not only never had a black Mayor but we’ve never had one run for Mayor. In 2020, first black accomplishments should be very few, but there’s still a few out there, and I’m grateful the citizens entrusted me enough to lead Texas City.

Q: What is the first big challenge you feel you’ll face?

DJ: I don’t want to prioritize the challenges, but the city has a lot that needs to happen. A lot of people believed in me with their vote, but the challenge is to get the citizens to unite with me. Not just believe in me, but to unite with me so that we can work together to make the changes we want to see in Texas City.

I want to invite our public to come to our public city council meetings. I don’t want it to be packed in only on the swearing in ceremony. I want those meetings to be packed all the time so that we could have positive input from citizens who want to learn how city government works because this whole electoral process has been a great educational process for many people.

Q: With Texas City set to expand beyond 50,000 residents, how important is it to further enhance the city’s first responders?

DJ: It’s absolutely important. As we continue to grow westward with the inclusion of Sea Crest subdivision and Lago Mar, It’s imperative that our first responders have the ability to access our residents in a reasonable amount of time. If it takes a fire truck 20 minutes to go down the highway and then have to come back on Highland Road, that presents a serious issue. We still have to delve into fiscal matters, so if that’s something we can afford to do at this time and how we can use certain funds to get them what they need.

Q: How do you plan to address the challenges of drainage and sewage?

DJ: We want to continue to work with our engineers and consultants to see how we can pump our rainwater from our retention ponds into the Gulf. That is of great priority right now because we’ve had 2-3 potential hurricanes that we dodged the bullet with. That’s not to say that’s going to happen every hurricane season. We want our citizens to feel safe knowing we’ve done everything we can possibly do.