Saturday, January 18, 2025
SPRINGTOWN — On Jan. 2, Springtown Mayor Greg Hood announced his decision to not seek reelection after serving seven-and-a-half years in office. At a special city council meeting, Hood spoke to the council and the citizens of Springtown to officially announce he will not be seeking reelection.
“As I reflect on seven-and-a-half years of service as your mayor, I am filled with gratitude for the trust you placed in me,” Hood said. “Together, we have faced many challenges and celebrated successes and worked tirelessly to enhance our community. It has been an honor to lead alongside such dedicated individuals and to witness a resilience and spirit from our residents.”
Hood spoke of how he came to be mayor back in 2018.
“I was grateful to be appointed to this position as a fulfillment of an unexpired term after the passing of the previous mayor, Tom Clayton, and then to be elected to three additional terms,” Hood said. “After much consideration, I am not seeking a fourth term as your mayor. My intention is to retire from my job in two years and I want to dedicate my focus to those endeavors.”
Hood expressed his gratitude to his employer for working with him as he serves his office as mayor and stated he wants to be able to spend more time with his family in the future.
“I am grateful for my employer, Tri-County Electric (Co-op) for giving me the latitude and flexibility in serving as mayor for the citizens of Springtown,” Hood said. “My desire is to lighten the obligations in my life, while focusing on my family and my employer for the remaining two years.”
Hood thanked City Administrator David Miller for working together with him. Hood will continue to serve Springtown until the end of his mayoral term and is excited to see what will happen in Springtown.
“Mr. Miller, it has been a pleasure working with you and your staff and the city employees of Springtown,” Hood said. “As I fulfill my existing term until May, I will continue to work with council through this transition and a special thank you to the citizens of Springtown for your support and understanding. As I step away from this role, I am excited to see how our community will continue to grow and thrive. Thank you for an incredible journey.”
Though Hood was born in Fort Worth, he grew up in Springtown. With two older siblings, Hood came as a surprise to his parents. Deciding to stay in Springtown, Hood has been at Tri-County Electric Cooperative for the last 32 years. Hood says this was the main part of his decision to not run again for office.
“I’m trying to ease my life a little bit where I can enjoy retirement,” Hood said. “I just need to ease up off the required daily duties and focus on my last two years of my job. And I must appreciate Tri-County. They have always been very good about working with my schedule.”
Hood mentioned that serving as a council member again is not out of the question.
Hood’s public service started by serving on the Planning and Zoning Commission in 1999; then he held a spot on city council. But Hood became mayor of Springtown under unexpected circumstances.
In July 2018, former Springtown Mayor Tom Clayton died suddenly. As a result, the Springtown city council appointed Hood to serve as mayor until the May 2019 regular election, due to his prior service on the city council.
“It was unexpected, for sure,” Hood said. Hood also reflected on some of the more challenging moments as mayor.
Hood was only mayor for a year-and-a-half when COVID-19 struck. Springtown City Secretary Christina Derr emphasized the unknown of what to expect during that time.
“The hardest part of COVID was, there was nobody alive who had lived through something like that before,” Derr said. “If we have an issue sometimes, we’ll call another city or we’ll call TML or call our attorney. There was nobody to call. Everyone was winging it.”
But Springtown came around and faced COVID head on, until another challenge came. An historic artic blast arrived in North Texas in the February 2021 and deeply affected the city's water supply as well as electrical service.
“It was very challenging,” Hood said. “The biggest impact was during the week without electricity and therefore the city’s water was not getting pumped from the station to then the pipes.”
“By the time we got it back up and running, it had been enough time for it to freeze the pipes down at the intake,” Hood said. But eventually, the water issue was resolved after everything had melted.
Hood also addressed the magnitude of growth Springtown has experienced in the last few years and his hopes for the city.
“It’s been a challenge in all these cities,” Hood said. “All we can do is try to control it as best we can. We’ve got David (Miller, city administrator) for another two years and I know that he’s going to keep a steady hand on our budgets and meet those expectations that our citizens deserve.”
Tackling local issues, Hood said his goal was always to leave his city better than he found it.
“My goal always was during this time serving as mayor, is to leave Springtown in a better situation than when I came in and I feel like we’ve done that,” Hood said.
And Hood recognizes the strength that Springtown has built with all the challenges.
“Realizing how we can get knocked down and how resilient not only the Springtown community is, but our staff and all the employees rallied and stuck together to get through those tough times,” Hood said.
It's important for public servants to have leadership qualities when holding public office and Hood says listening is the most important.
“It’s less about anything I do; it’s more about listening to what the citizens say and feel and trying to meet their needs through the services we try to provide,” Hood said.
When asked what advice he would give to the next mayor, Hood says it would be to focus on the quality of service while keeping a handle on the town’s growth.
“I think it's just trying to keep a handle with the growth and still provide the quality services required,” Hood said. “Those are expectations that our citizens deserve.”
