Hollywood Park council candidates emphasize streets, public safety and budget at forum

At a candidate forum in Hollywood Park this spring, candidates for City Council presented competing priorities and repeatedly raised the condition of local streets, funding for the town’s police and fire departments, and long-term budget planning.

The forum brought together Jim Rodriguez (incumbent, Place 1), challenger Alan Sale (candidate, Place 1), Dale Randall (incumbent, Place 3, running unopposed) and Glenna Pierce (incumbent, Place 5, running unopposed). Stan Hartzler moderated the event and Janette Huggins served as city secretary during the forum. The election is scheduled for May 3, 2025, and, as was announced at the forum, early voting begins April 22, 2025.

“The deterioration of the streets… I thought I needed to do something about it,” said Jim Rodriguez, describing why street repairs are a top priority. Rodriguez, an engineer by training who said he has lived in Hollywood Park for more than three decades, said he supports a program of crack sealing and targeted repairs to extend pavement life and plans to back larger street projects later in the year.

Alan Sale, who moved to Hollywood Park in 2021 and serves as the town’s EDC president, said public-safety equipment and park facilities are central to his platform. “One would be to ensure that our police force… has all of their, especially their vehicle needs met,” Sale said, adding he would also pursue improvements to Triangle Park and maintenance for non-ambulance first-response services.

Incumbent council member Dale Randall framed his priorities around fiscal planning and protecting the town’s public-safety services. “My number one priority… is fiscal responsibility,” Randall said, noting that Hollywood Park has a street fund with about $100,000 and that the city has used general-fund dollars for unplanned facility work such as the current roof replacement.

Council member Glenna Pierce highlighted process and organizational improvements she has pushed while in office, including a council onboarding manual and a revised approach to budget review. Pierce pointed to specific actions taken on taxes and benefits: “We worked to increase the property tax exemption for over 65, we took it from $5,000 to $20,000,” she said, and described efforts to keep the property tax rate steady in recent budget cycles.

Forum participants also discussed parks and recreation uses. On whether to add pickleball lines to existing courts, candidates noted competing user groups and limited space. Pierce reviewed past community engagement on the subject and said the town previously considered using the sports court with a movable net as a lower-cost experiment; she warned that adding lines to the tennis courts could create parking and scheduling conflicts.

Short-term rentals and litigation were raised as governance concerns. Sale described the risk of broad prohibitions that can invite legal challenges, citing San Antonio’s approach of regulation rather than outright bans; Randall and others defended Hollywood Park’s action to prohibit short-term rentals, saying it stopped problematic rentals in the town even after an ensuing lawsuit.

On staffing and pay, candidates said pay decisions should balance market competitiveness and fiscal restraint. Pierce said raises should be justified with documentation and recommended reviewing pay annually; Randall described recent budget cuts and department-level reductions made to avoid tax increases.

Candidates proposed several revenue and expense strategies for the town’s limited tax base: encouraging taxable businesses near the commercial corridor, exploring creative uses of EDC resources and signage revenue, and closely scrutinizing departmental budget requests. Sale suggested exploring amenities such as electric vehicle charging to attract shoppers; Randall emphasized careful, line-by-line budgeting and protecting core services.

The forum closed with two-minute summaries from each candidate and reminders about voter information. Early voting dates and polling locations, candidates said, are posted on the city website and the community bulletin board.