Ben Bumgarner is running for the Flower Mound Town Council Place 3 seat. He is running against Mike Wallace. Community Impact Newspaper sent Bumgarner a set of questions about his candidacy. His answers have been edited for publication style.

Why did you decide to run for this office?

I’m young; I’m 35 years old. I grew up in McKinney, Texas. I’ve seen the changes that community has gone through. Long story short, I don’t want Flower Mound to turn into McKinney, where you go from a small town with a great country feeling to rat-race suburbia.

What do you think is one of the biggest issues facing Flower Mound today, and how do you plan to address it on council?

Traffic/infrastructure. I plan to address it by following the master plan [and] by not allowing any more amendments to the master plan. For example, roughly 75,000 cars pass through our southern corridor on [FM] 2499 every day. With the proposed building developments on the Lakeside [development] addition, that number will rise. Also, I plan to work with our wonderful town staff and friends over in [the] traffic [department] to get the lights on [FM] 1171 to be more synchronized. This should make for a better traffic flow east to west and west to east.

If elected, what would be your top priorities?

To stop rubber-stamping all the development. To make sure we are taking care of homeowners and small businesses. To focus on our green spaces and making sure they are properly cared for.
Make Flower Mound a sustainable environment for our future.

What experience—professionally or politically—do you have that would prepare you for this position?

I am a business owner and have leadership/management experience working with a Fortune 500 company. I am a voter. I have voted here as long as I’ve been a resident since 2013. I have been vocal on social media on local issues. I’d love to serve this town from the perspective as a citizen and not a politician.