Tammy Fogle runs for Abilene City Council, pledging transparency & fiscal responsibility

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – As Abilene continues to grow and evolve, residents are raising concerns about city spending, infrastructure, and community engagement. Among those stepping up to address these issues is Tammy Fogle, a longtime Abilene resident and active participant in local government meetings. Now, she’s taking her passion for advocacy a step further by running for Abilene City Council Place 6.

Fogle moved to the Key City from Grand Prairie, Texas, more than 32 years ago to attend Hardin-Simmons University. In Abilene, she met her husband, built a family, and raised four kids. She shared that her family had the opportunity to serve in Israel before she found her calling in local politics.

“It’s all about people. I began engaging in conversations with members of our community about some concerns they had. I then began to look into politics to see how to resolve these concerns. As I pointed out these concerns that I heard from citizens, I became that nail that sticks out and needed to be hammered in. So here I am now running for city council in Abilene, Texas,” Fogle shared. “It’s all about serving people. I really had no aspirations to be anything in politics, so this is kind of a new venture for me.”

She started attending city council meetings to help people understand local government and feel empowered to use their voices, but as she learned more, her concerns grew.

“I thought by encouraging people to get involved would be very helpful, so we weren’t doing this alone. I found that as I became more knowledgeable about the city government, people would say, ‘Hey, you should run for city council.’ I resisted at first, because that’s not really what I had my goals set on. But as I began to watch and see what was happening in the community, concerns were coming up,” Fogle explained.

Some of her concerns include the cost of restrooms at the Camp Barkeley Dog Park and the closure of city-owned buildings, such as recreation centers and the library.

“The other thing was the end of life for the libraries. I was really shocked. This library that’s been falling to pieces over the last several decades, which is going to be abandoned, and we’re starting a new location, because I know that people live in homes older than the city library, and they don’t just watch it fall in disrepair. They take care of it so they can continue to use it, hopefully for future generations,” Fogle said. “The rec centers being at end of life was also a concern, because as I watched my opponent [Travis Craver] handle these different situations, I realized that he wasn’t the advocate for change that we needed for our city, because I see low voter turnout in city elections, and I know that people have lost hope in using their voice, and I hope to restore that hope to people so that they can see that their voice matters.”

Though not currently in office, Fogle is a familiar face at meetings, including school board and city council. Through her involvement, she has learned that government moves slowly — but to her, that’s a good thing.

“Most people are discouraged by it, but I feel like that gives us a path forward so that we can actually resolve the issues that we have and make change work to our advantage as citizens. I am really surprised about the more I engage in local government is that I enjoy the experience. I enjoy getting to talk to people who are in the community, and they give me positive feedback,” Fogle shared. “Listen to what I’m hearing from the community and letting them know that there are positive things that people are seeing, that they’re working on. I’ve enjoyed building relationships with the people who are city employees here in town. One of the things that I will say I’ve got to enjoy the most is getting to know how the different departments work, and seeing how the city employees actually are working hard to make Abilene a place that people love to live, and I just have been more impressed with getting to know people on a personal level when it comes local government, but it’s been a great journey so far.”

Transparency is crucial for Fogle, as it allows community members to become less distrustful and more informed about city happenings, providing a broader perspective.

“I think when it comes to the agenda and things like that, it should be full of transparency. While city packets are available for each city council meeting, they’re typically between three to 500 pages, and that’s a lot. I think adding more information and including more things to be transparent is helpful, because honestly, by reading those packets, that’s where I’ve learned the most about the city government, how it works, how it functions,” Fogle shared.

If elected, she would consider changing meeting times to encourage more community attendance.

“We look at city council meetings, they’re always in the morning, and most people work a nine to five job and are really not available to take off time. I think by shifting, maybe at least one meeting to the afternoon, where people can actually come to the city council meetings. I know it will take a slow adjustment, and people aren’t going to be flocking to city council meetings, but I think by at least giving opportunity to attend a meeting is really important, so that the citizens can give their feedback when necessary,” Fogle explained. “If we keep doing the same thing over and over again, it produces the same results. So let’s try new things. Let’s look for ways to actually actively engage our community, because it’s actually one of the strategic goals for the City Council is, how do we engage our community better? I feel like it’s a lost opportunity right now that I hope I can bring some change to when I get elected as a city council member.”

Among Fogle’s top priorities is reestablishing responsible spending. She shared that it hasn’t happened with certain agenda items, such as the nearly half a million dollars for a dog park restroom and adding more to the street maintenance fee in 2022 instead of utilizing existing taxpayer money.

“Fixing the streets is a responsible spending. Public safety is responsible spending. Going to build a dog park for $450,000 is not responsible spending. I would think you would say that, if you ask most people in Abilene, the average home price is not even that the price of that bathroom,” Fogle shared. “I think the problem is that most people don’t even know the price of that restroom, so they don’t even know that we’re spending that way. This kind of spending is exactly what has gotten us into the over half a billion dollars in debt as a city. Some of that is interest. This generation is going to be paying for it as well as future generations, and we have to make sure that we don’t put that burden off instead of taking care of it now, when we have the opportunity to do so.”

Fogle also supports the transparency efforts of current City Councilman for Place 5, Blaise Regan, who often stands alone in opposition to council items. She believes in doing what’s right, even if it means standing alone.

“I believe that doing the right thing is the right thing. Sometimes you do it alone, and sometimes you do it with other people. I think part of it is sometimes we get in a rut of thinking that this is what people want,” Fogle said. “I think that it’s important that we don’t just do the same thing, because we’ve always done it, and if the city asks for it and we have the cash on hand, we shouldn’t spend it on things like a dog park. We should spend it on things that need to be taken care of. I appreciate what Blaze Reagan has done because he has actually brought out more discussion about items and allowed the citizens to see more of the transparency that we really long for. I don’t have a problem with standing and doing the right thing alone, because it’s the right thing.”

Fogle also emphasizes the importance of fiscal responsibility, urging city leaders to prioritize essential services over costly projects. She believes that budgeting and strategic planning will help Abilene address its most pressing needs while keeping taxes manageable for residents.

“What’s interesting to note is that the city already put over $7 million last fall on ramps for this air tanker base that’s going to be coming to Abilene. Many citizens don’t even know they were doing that. I think that also, if you look back just a little a few years ago, the airport was in operational deficit, and so we have to look at the numbers and make sure it makes sense for us right now,” Fogle said. “I’m not too old to remember that in 2022 we did a bond for the $8 million for the fire station. In 2023, we did a bond for the $28 million in the rec centers and the $15 million in the zoo renovations. I know that we’ve been spending money, and we really have to keep our eye on what’s important. I think that this is just bad timing right now, and while we’re renovating parts of the airport as we go along, like I know that they had a recent renovation that they were able to do through the FAA grant. Until we have a better source of funding, I really don’t think that we can focus on this, particularly, because we really need our money to be focusing on the things that matter, like streets and this upcoming $300 million that we’re going to have to spend on improving our water infrastructure.”

There’s a lot happening in the Key City, from the new AI data campus to ACU’s nuclear salt reactor and the arrival of the B-21 Bomber. Fogle expressed optimism about these developments but emphasized the importance of supporting small businesses as well.

“I’m interested to see how these different relationships come into play and how it works together. The city partners with these different entities coming in, but one thing I think we have to focus on is we can’t forget about the small businesses,” Fogle shared. “Small businesses are the bulk of growth in our city revenue, and just in our city life. We need to make sure that we remember that small businesses are building the houses we live in. They’re providing the jobs that we need to give us the money to put on our table. We cannot dismiss their impact and value that we have in our city… We just need to make sure that we are also utilizing this growth to make sure the basic needs of citizens are being covered, because the individual citizens matter as well in this process, not just the great new jobs that are the big companies coming in. I think that’s something to keep in mind when moving forward.”

Looking ahead, Fogle wants to see the city prioritize the basics before taking on big projects.

“I’d love to see the city get back to basics, because that’s really what matters, and we need to make sure that we’re providing for the citizens. I think we should be investing in other opportunities, but we have to cover the basics first before we can move on to other stuff. You can catch me on Facebook at Tammy for Abilene, and you can also check out my website at TammyforAbilene.org, and if I didn’t answer the questions that you had on this particular interview, feel free to reach out to me, and I’d love to chat with you. Remember Tammy Fogle for Abilene City Council Place 6!”