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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBill Cooley TranscriptionCity of College Station Heritage Programs Oral History Interviewee: William Cooley Interviewer: Unknown Transcriber: Brooke Linsenbardt Date: 2013 Place: College Station, Texas Project: Mayors & City Council Interviewer (I): Serving council people too. Uknown: Okay. We’re ready. I: Are we ready to go now? Okay. With us today is Mr. William Cooley. He served on the city of the College Station’s city council in the 60s and 70s and then went on to two terms in the commissioner’s court. We really appreciate your being with us today Mr. Cooley. 00:28: William Cooley (WC): Glad to be here. I: This is being done for our Project HOLD which is the Historic Online Database. And we think that these interviews will be invaluable for current people living here, but certainly for people in the future. 00:47: WC: Very likely. I: Let’s begin by asking about your decision to run for office. What motivated you to take on something like that? 00:58: WC: We had a very small business community at that time. And I felt like I’d make an im-, an impact on the council regarding the business community. And I think we did that. I: How did you do that? 01:15: WC: Well just being on the council as a business man was a, was a big thing. None of the other councilmen at that time that I can remember, had any experience with business. And our business community was just beginning to grow a little bit at that time. I: The rest of the council were from the university community? 01:37: WC: They were most. I believe, without exception, yes, they were all university employees to some degree. I: Now was your interest in representing the business community what, what kept you on the council and then what led to your moving on to the commissioner’s court? 01:59: WC: Well you know, politics it kind of gets in your blood so. It was easy to run for a second term and yeah, that kept me on council. I felt like I did some good. And, met a lot of good people. I: When you ran for office, did your family participate in the campaigns? 02:17: WC: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. I: What’s your most vivid memory? 02:22: WC: Well campaigns then were a whole lot, different than what they are now. I, uh matter of fact, I wrote down a list of all the people in College Station that I knew would vote for me, without question. And then I checked to see if they were registered to vote. And it surprising enough, very few of them were. I: Oh really. 02:41: WC: So we got them all registered and that was probably the, about all the campaigning I had to do. There wasn’t anything like it is now. I don’t, I made a few phone calls on election days. And, I don’t believe I knocked on a door. I: Did you spend any money at all? 02:59: WC: Not, not a penny. Best I remember, no. No. I: No posters? 03:07: WC: I don’t believe I send out any of them. I’m, I went to see them and they, or called them on the phone. I don’t believe I spent a penny. I: What do you think gave you the edge to win? 03:22: WC: Well I worked really hard at it. And my family helped me a lot. We were you know, the church people I knew. It was. I knew a lot of people. And all of them were college oriented people. They weren’t, weren’t business people. There just wasn’t much business community here at that time. And of course, they all voted for me, without any prompting. But I was friends with all the, all the faculty members. I had the only garage in College Station. And at the Northgate. And so sooner or later, if your garage [chuckle], you’re the only garage in town, you’re gonna see everybody. I: That’s true, absolutely. Now all politics is local. We take that as a, a given. Tell us how you think the city’s politics has changed from when you were directly involved till what you see it to be today? 04:22: WC: I think it’s the same thing, only much, much bigger. Our population is just out of sight. I probably knew the names of ninety percent of the people in College Station when I was running for office. Today I don’t even know the names of the whole people who live on Glade Street. I: [chuckle] Talk some about the relationship you had with other people who served on the council. 04:51: WC: It was all good. All very positive. I don’t think anybody resented me being on the council because I was in business and wasn’t part of the academic community. But no, I don’t remember any conflict at all there. Andy Anders was the mayor at that time. He was, he wouldn’t on the, work for him, but he was, was a forest service. And an excellent mayor. I: How did you resolve disagreements? Within the group. Or did you? 05:27: WC: Well. I was a pretty negotiator. Maybe we’d call the city council up and tell them about something we maybe disagreed on. And we work out, work out something. But it was a very simple city at that time. City manager pretty well run the city and, did an excellent job. I: So you truly viewed yourselves as the policy makers. 05:57: WC: Exactly. I: Do you have any specific advice that you’d give to someone who, who came to you today and said that, that he or she was thinking about running for city council. What would you tell them that they’d have to consider? 06:16: WC: Well try to find, personally I’d try to find a whole lot about ‘em. Then encourage them to, to run. You know, it’s everybody’s prerogative. And, and matter of fact, it’s a lot of people duty to run if they think they can do some good. I: City employees sometimes feel that they’re precluded from an opportunity to interact with city council members, or with the mayor. Now was there any of that feeling? And did the city council reach out to employees? 06:56: WC: I, as a city council, I don’t whether we did or not, I can’t remember. I did. I, I knew all of them. I knew all the city, city employees. And visited them from time to time on the job. I: Did that make the department heads a little nervous? 07:14: WC: I don’t, I don’t think so. I: Talk about the relationship of the city council with the city manager. Was it good? Was it? 07:29: WC: Yes. (Name of city manager) was city manager at that time. And he had me in for some time. And I don’t remember any, any problems at all that we had with him. He, we’d set policy and he, he’d follow through. I: Now let’s go back to your campaign. You said that you made a list of all the people whom you knew and then followed up with them. Is there something that was an occurrence on the campaign trail that, that comes vividly to your mind? 08:11: WC: Oh a few people thought I was crazy for trying to do it. But outside of that, I don’t remember anything. It’s been a long time ago. I: The university’s been central to College Station since its beginnings and, and most of the services came to the city through the university. And, and we can look at the history of utility and public service partly as, as weaning ourselves away from being dependent on, on the university. How would you characterize the, the relationship between the university and the city? 08:57: WC: Oh it was great. Earl Rudder was president of A&M then I believe. And uh, we, we depended on them for a lot of things. Water, particularly. I: How about the fire department? 09:13: WC: Definitely, definitely. Fire. I: And emergency services? 09:16: WC: Yup. Yes. We did have a police chief, but we didn’t have. We depended on the university, they had a volunteer fire department. We depended on them. I: Do you think there are any special issues that the city council had to deal with simply because of the, of this being a university town? 09:47: WC: Well, not being familiar with any other town other than this town. I, I, I don’t remember anything. I: Growth is critical to expanding the tax base and therefore the money that the city has to work with. How much did the services for citizens expand during your time that you were on the city council? 10:17: WC: Well while I was on the city council, we brought in the sales tax, which was new at that time. I: That must have been a struggle. 10:27: WC: It was. No it wasn’t a struggle to get it. Everybody wanted the sales tax. I don’t think anybody was opposed to it. And, but of course, we didn’t have much business here so the sales tax was pretty small. But we built this city hall at, at that time. I: It’s unusual that you say that everybody was for a tax because that’s so, that’s so different from what we expect today. What was, what was different about the time then from now? Were the people better educated about the issues and what, what the tax would be used for? 11:14: WC: I don’t know if there is a difference. I, I know what you’re driving at. Any tax is ordinarily. I: Really tough. 11:25: WC: Real tough. I: To pass. 11:26: WC: Even this, even the tax that we just got off of here. And so. It, but. No I don’t think, I don’t remember any of the opposition to the sales tax. I: That’s much, very unusual isn’t it. There’s always a dynamic tension between the developers and neighborhoods. At least there has been as long as I can remember here in, in the city. Was that true during your time that you were on the council? 12:12: WC: I think there always is a little bit. Developers, by their very nature, don’t like anybody telling them what to do. But they also know they’ve got to follow the rules. Of course we didn’t have much developments at that time. So I’m wasn’t, I’m not real familiar with that. I: Were there large numbers of students from the university living in the neighborhoods back then? 12:29: WC: Very, very few. Most of the students I: So most of the students were still 12:33: WC: They lived on campus. I: Living on campus. 12:35: WC: Yeah, they was. Military was not an option at that time. WC: So the Corps was still, still compulsory? 12:45: WC: Right, right. I: Okay, okay. Overtime do you think that College Station has been handicapped by not having an identifiable downtown? 13:02: WC: I don’t think so. It makes us very unique, but uh I don’t think there’s any, any handicap of not having a downtown. I: Was transportation a subject of interest when you were on the council? 13:27: WC: Well, we didn’t have. We didn’t have many automobiles because a lot of people depended on bus to get back and forth from Bryan, or the train to get back and forth to Dallas and Houston. Didn’t have you know, two and three car families like we do now. I: Did folks just hop on the, on the university bus? 13:51: WC: Hmm-hmm. I: And it essentially, carried everybody around where they wanted go. 13:55: WC: Yes. Oh yes. I: College Station has a really strong parks and recreations system now. What surmise was the, did, did we have parks when you were on the city council? 14:19: WC: Nothing of course compared to what we have now. But it was in its infancy just like everything. I: But you have to start. 14:24: WC: Exactly. And, I remember, I don’t remember a city park, I, I’m sure we had one. Younger people spent a lot of time at Hensel Park which was university owned you know, but they spent a lot of time there. But I don’t remember city park. I: Was there any interest in, in preserving any historic buildings like the, the first uh, city hall, which is now Café Eccell? 15:00: WC: Yes ma’am. Um. No I don’t think there was. I think, I think anything that happened like that which was quite by accident. I: Okay, okay. What, was the library still being used, either the library on campus or the library in Bryan? 15:21: WC: Both were used. We didn’t have a library, a city library. I: Was there any discussion? 15:27: WC: I don’t remember any. I: Let’s talk about the relationship between College Station and the city of Bryan. It, it goes, it’s gone up and it’s gone down. 15:43: WC: When I, when I was on the city council, it was down. I: Tell us about that. 15:46: WC: Our, our. Yes. We were friendly enemies with Bryan. Jack Connelly was mayor of Bryan. We depended on him for water and electricity. And we felt like we was paying too much for electricity, but they wouldn’t let us get loose for that unless we, unless we had our own water system. Um. So we, had to stand for it. We just had, had to live with it. Until one day I was standing in line with Earl Rudder to vote. And he told me, he said the university is fixing to build a water line out to the oil fields. And if y’all would upsize that line you know, you got a free ditch. That’s the biggest part of putting that water line is not the pipe, but the ditch to get in. [Inaudible] So we jumped on that and that’s when we got free from Bryan with water. And then of course, we, we got freedom from electricity. I think we still buy electricity from G.M.P.A., I’m not sure. I: How did Bryan react to losing? I, I’m sure the city was the one of the biggest customers? 16:57: Well. It was quite a. It, the biggest company and we felt like we were paying too much for it. And I’m sure it had, had an effect on their budget. I’m not sure of that, but I never heard anything about it of course. I: Now let’s talk about the relationship between College Station and Brazos County and what led you to make the jump from being on the city council to going on the commissioner’s court. 17:33: WC: I don’t remember us having any problem with the city, from the county, county government. The reason I had decided to go for city, run for city council. We, College Station didn’t have much representation at that time. The four commissioners were basically road commissioners. They, they, they took care of the rural roads and didn’t, didn’t spend much time on the county. And I was asked to run by people on the city council, to maybe correct that some. I: Do you feel that you were able to? 18:09: WC: Oh yes. I feel like we did. Yeah, we. I: As you look at your career in public service with serving in College Station and then serving two terms on the county commissioner’s court, how would you characterize your achievements? 18:36: WC: Well I don’t know the city council whether I’ve achieved anything or not. I always tell everybody that when I had a commissioner’s court, my biggest job was getting College Station put in Brazos County. And it worked. I: [laughs] Now that must have been difficult because you were trying to introduce something that had been outside of their, their field of vision. 19:02: WC: Right. I: How did you do that? 19:05: WC: Well it was. They had to put up with me, that was a fact. And, I guess it just sooner or later that, that finally dawned on people that College Station was very big part of this county. And growing. I: And was it primarily the road system that you wanted. I mean, the, you wanted to uh increase the awareness that College Station is here and to increase the quality of the roads that were available to our community? 19:41: WC: I did the best I could. But I, I probably was only com-, only county commissioner at that time that didn’t know how to drive a main [inaudible]. I couldn’t even start a tractor. I: Oh my. 19:51: WC: And. But I had, I had good people. And they took care of all of that and I didn’t have to. And then eventually we went into the unit’s system, the county road maintenance where the commissioners don’t, don’t have to worry about roads now. They have an engineer that takes care of that. I: Now, as you look back on your career of public service is there anything that you wished you’d gotten accomplished? 20:24: WC: No I think, as a councilman and commissioner. I: You finished everything right? 20:29: WC: I think so. I: Okay. When that time was over, and you had spent a lot of time at ribbon cuttings and all kinds of public functions and meetings and meetings and meetings. Did you find it difficult to make a transition back to a quieter life? 20:53: WC: It really was. When you’re on the city council, you know everything that’s gonna happen before it happens. And then after reading, reading the paper after it happens, so. Yeah, it took a little while to get used to that. I: Did you ever call up any of your friends? 21:10: WC: Exactly, yes I did. I: Okay, okay. And how’d they like to hear from you? 21:15: WC: Oh they was always glad to hear from me. They acted like they did anyway. I: Okay. What are you proudest of in terms of your, your career in public service? 21:27: WC: I think this city hall right here. I: What we’re sitting in today? 21:31: WC: I still call this new city hall. And I, we was very proud of that. It made ci-, College Station stand out. It was good location, very visible. And it, I think that’s, I would say that’s one of the greatest achievements. Not, I didn’t do it, I was a part of it. I: Was it tough to get this much land just right across from the university? 21:55: WC: No. Best I remember a developer that developed College Hills. Culpepper. And I think that he wanted this city hall here and I think we got a pretty good price on it. I’m not sure of that land. But I feel sure he gave us a good price on it. I: So the, the land was a complete parcel? 22:23: WC: Hmm-hmm. I: At the time. 22: 23: WC: Right. I: Okay. 22:24: WC: Right. He de-developed all of College Hills the best I remember. I: How long did it, did, did it take from the time that people began to talk about having a city hall, a new city hall as you put it, to the point where? 22:42: WC: It, it probably was a four or five year ordeal, just getting everybody used to it and accustomed to it. And I think most of the people in town wanted it. I: So that that would contribute to the city’s identity? 22:53: WC: Right, right. I: Okay. Now, tell us about, do you have any current projects you’re working on now? 23:06: WC: No, not really. I, I’ve completely retired from public life. I: Okay, okay. Are there any questions that you wish I had asked you that I didn’t? 23:19: WC: Well I can’t think of any. You pretty well covered the gate. Congratulations to you. I: [chuckle] Well I, I’m sure that’s not necessary. But we appreciate your coming Mr. Cooley. This is wonderful. 23:31: WC: Well I’ve been looking, ever since I got this letter, I’ve been looking forward to it. I: That’s great. Now, did you make notes of things in there that I didn’t get to ask you about? 23:40: WC: No I don’t think I did. I, I. [Looks at paper] No. I don’t see anything. I: I appreciate so much your taking the time. We’re very grateful to you for your service and, and for your willingness to come talk about it. 24:03: WC: I’m glad to be here. I: I thank you so much sir.