WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — It was seven elections ago when Michael Smith won his first bid to serve on the Wichita Falls City Council. Now, nearly 20 years later, he reflects on his service to Wichita Falls.

He served the citizens of District 1 for 15 years and then two terms as Councilman-At-Large.

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“I’ve always been interested in politics, but I never gave much thought to running for office,” Smith said.

He was not initially on their radar during his retirement after 37 years in City View ISD.

“Some people called me and said, ‘Hey, would you be interested in running for District 1?’” Smith said. “That person was going over term limits and I said, ‘Let me talk to my wife.’ And I decided I want to do that.”

The lifelong Wichitain was about to embark on a long political career when he ran for office in 2007, winning outright with 699 votes for a spot on the dais.

“I thought, ‘There’s probably going to be a runoff,’” Smith said. “I think my experience as an educator really helped me do a lot of the city council things. So, it was a new world.”

Smith would win the next two elections representing District 1. He reached his term limit and ran for Councilor-At-Large in 2013.

By then, the city began to face one of its biggest challenges: the infamous drought.

“The lakes were below 20%,” Smith said. “We were about to have a pretty big problem. During that drought, we had the opportunity to recycle sewage water and make it drinkable. That helped us overcome the drought. “I’m not kidding,” Smith said.

Smith said council looked at all possible solutions as the drought worsened.

“We had predicted that if we don’t get x amount of rain, the lakes could get to the point where we can’t pump water,” Smith said.

The council considered purchasing water rights from the Ogallala aquifer in the Panhandle and Lake Texoma. Smith called both options “somewhat viable at the time.”

“When you get desperate, you look for a solution,” Smith said. “At the first council meeting in 2015, it started raining and it rained for a month.”

At the end of his second term as Councilor-At-Large, he resigned after serving 10 consecutive years. But just two years later, Smith appeared on the ballot again in 2019 for the District 1 alderman seat.

From there, he helped the city navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, seeing construction and opening of the Delta Hotel and Convention Center begin and major street projects unfold.

Smith said the city is still feeling the effects of COVID-19 to some extent.

“We were a little afraid if the financial situation got worse,” Smith said. “Some services, none of the public safety services, but some services might have to be restricted.”

The four-star Delta Hotel and Convention Center opened its doors on Sept. 13, 2023. A long-awaited project, Smith said, the city needed it.

“It’s out of this world,” Smith said. “We were talking about it when I first came on the council.”

While he reflected on many accomplishments, Smith knows it wasn’t always a walk in the park.

“Every once in a while, we will have a major problem and a red flag. It’s interesting because you hear a lot of different opinions,” Smith said. “One thing I will say about my tenure: Over the years, a lot has happened.”

Now, Councilman Smith’s time in public service is coming to an end and he feels like he is entering his second retirement.

“I’m going to miss him,” Smith said. “There are so many different projects the city has done in 15 years.”

These projects include renovations to the Memorial Auditorium, which have been proposed many times but rejected in the past.

When the renovations are complete, Smith is looking forward to one thing.

“I told Tim Short the other day: Now when you’re in the (new) council chamber, I’ll be in the front row,” Smith said.

As Smith leaves nearly 20 years of service to the city, he hopes people remember him for both his public service and his time as an educator.

“He listened to us. He tried to make things work where the city could. And I hate to see him go,” Smith said.

Smith said just because his political career is over doesn’t mean he’s stopped serving citizens. He plans to run for a couple of boards, hoping to land an appointment. He’s looking at the Landmark Commission, the Central Wichita Falls Revitalization Committee and others.

Your last council meeting is on Election Day, Tuesday, November 5, 2024.

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