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Thursday, June 26, 1997

80-year-old mayor and all-female council keep town prospering

By HOLLY BECKA / The Dallas Morning News

SHADY SHORES, Texas - Call the official number for this town beside Lewisville Lake and the phone rings at the home of the mayor, Olive Stephens.

If her honor isn't home, there's a fair chance the 80-year-old is out filling potholes, chopping weeds along the roads or mowing town property.

Or she might be out with the all-woman Town Council - a rarity in Texas politics - planning the pancake-breakfast fund-raisers that help take the place of property taxes.

Or explaining the town's platting process to developers and dispensing building permits. Or talking up her town at a Chamber of Commerce meeting.

"People always say, 'The mayor will take care of it,' " said Nancy Ustickcq , a 12-year Shady Shores resident amazed by the octogenarian mayor. "We're just so fortunate to have her to take care of us. She doesn't do it for power or glory or publicity.

"She just does it because she loves the town."

The same can be said for the five women who serve on the Shady Shores Town Council.

The residential community of 1,350 has been governed by an all-woman council for two years.

"Working at this agency for 20 years, I don't know of another all-female city council," said Edwina Shires, director of public affairs for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. "That's extremely rare."

Nearly as noteworthy is Ms. Stephens' tenure: With 24 consecutive years as mayor and 10 more as a Shady Shores Town Council member, she is one of the state's longest-serving elected officials.

Ms. Stephens jokes that her town is "just lucky" to have an all-woman council. "I'm proud of them," she said. "But to me, it's just the same as if it were all men. I treat them the same way."

The mayor and two council members were up for re-election in the spring, but no one filed to run against them.

The women joke that there are two possible explanations: Either people are scared of them or they truly appreciate the job they're doing.

Many residents say it's the latter.

Men and women praise the council as efficient and creative - traits reflected in their ability to run the town without collecting property taxes.

Instead, the women take care of about $70,000 in bills each year by relying largely on franchise fees, sales taxes and building fee revenue.

They make up the balance through residents' donations, which they seek through annual letters setting out the town's needs, and with fund-raisers such as the new monthly pancake breakfast.

"I think they're doing a real good job - probably a better job than men would do, and you can put that in your newspaper," said Bob Falkenberg, a retired general contractor who has lived in Shady Shores for four years.

"I think they've got a lot more talent and business ability than most of the men in this town."

The mayor and most of the council have served long enough to have worked with some male colleagues on previous councils. They say what distinguishes the all-female version is sisterly cooperation. The women say they work better together, value residents' opinions more and earnestly weigh all long-term ramifications before making a decision.

"My council really digs into things to get all their facts together," Ms. Stephens said. "Some men I've had on council have just wanted to make a quick decision."

Of course, Ms. Stephens and the council members add, the differences may be attributed to the specific personalities involved rather than gender.

The neat thing about the current council, says longtime council member Nita Watkins, is that people of different backgrounds and ages can work together so well.

"Working together, you each make contributions and come up with a composite that hopefully is forward-looking and appreciated by the people," she said. "It's just fun to be there when the ideas are tossed around."

The women's backgrounds are indeed varied. Mayor Pro Tem Kim Meier, 41, is a full-time mom and student studying interior design. Council member Kathe Strantz, 48, is a retired Air Force colonel who served as an operating room nurse in Vietnam and Desert Storm. She now makes jewelry and pottery, raises her 13-year-old son with her husband and flies her own Cessna.

Ms. Meier, who has been on the council 11 years, said there's only one disadvantage to the all-woman council.

"Sometimes guys building a subdivision or something will try to pull something on us," she said. "I guess they think this is just a bunch of country women, but we're well-researched, and we don't just let anything go through.

"We're not a bunch of dumb women sitting on the council doing a hen session."

The women have helped add three subdivisions, repave West Shady Shores Road, restore a bridge next to the Community Center and introduce curbside recycling.

They have also increased the number of community-oriented activities, an accomplishment that makes two-term council member Susan Strieter proud.

"It's a big family," she said of the 4-square-mile community. "We all keep together and pitch in, and I think that's what you should do, especially when you don't have taxes."

No one pitches in more than Ms. Stephens, council members and residents said. In more than two decades as mayor, she has also served as de facto city manager, city secretary and maintenance department.

Council members say Ms. Stephens so inspires them that it's almost a tribute to her that the council is made up solely of women.

"She is a great role model as a selfless public servant," Ms. Strantz said. "When you look at her and think of all the years of dedication and love she has lavished on this town and the fierce loyalty she has for Shady Shores, it's amazing."

A recent sunny day found Ms. Stephens, who'll be 81 in August, clearing drainage ditches with a shovel, filling potholes and chopping weeds.

Ms. Stephens has been challenged for the mayor's seat only four times. Along the way, she raised a son and daughter and now has seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

She and her late husband, Fred Stephens, were among the residents who incorporated Shady Shores in 1960. When the town formed a council, Ms. Stephens decided to run for office. She's been working for the community ever since.

"She's the dean of Denton County's delegation of elected officials," said County Judge Jeff Moseley. "From Majority Leader Dick Armey on down to the commissioners, constables and city council and school board members, she has served longer than any elected officeholder in the county.

"She has a distinguished record of service, and she has provided tremendous stability to a high-growth area of our county."

Ms. Stephens said her philosophy has been to encourage residents to work together, upgrade the town through ordinances and treat people the way she likes to be treated.

"When you do something for someone, they keep passing it on," she said.

Ms. Stephens has missed only one of the monthly council meetings in 34 years - to attend her father's funeral.

"That's one of my hang-ups," she said. "If I belong to a group, then I'm going to go to the meetings."

Ms. Stephens has also attended almost every weekly county commissioners meeting since the early 1980s. In her spare time, she serves on the county's historical commission and historical foundation and dispenses answers from an information booth once a week at the courthouse on the Denton square.

Shady Shores residents organized a surprise thank-you for Ms. Stephens in 1994. They built a gazebo and installed flower beds on a triangle of land near the town limit. They called the small park Olive's Garden.

It's a joy to serve such supportive residents, Ms. Stephens said. She says she'd like to continue as mayor as long as she feels up to it "or until they kick me out."

"Hey, you have to have somebody to take care of things, and I guess I'm just the most crazy person for the job," she said, laughing. "As long as I can go, honey, I'm going."

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