Mood shift in Keller is behind recall of mayor

Keller needs stability at City Hall.

Years of turmoil among several petty political factions have left the city deeply divided and almost unmanageable. Voters swap rumors and gossip instead of focusing on economic development or on building community spirit and success.

For the moment, the question before voters in the May 7 election is whether to keep Mayor Mark Mathews in office or recall him a year early. His current term officially ends in May 2017.

The more important question is not whether the complaints against the second-year mayor are of enough substance to require his removal.

The important question is whether Keller should switch leadership again and so abruptly, solely because some of the 1,808 voters who elected Mathews might have changed their minds since 2014.

Mathews, 59, has owned a crating-and-packing business and is a former international business logistics executive. In May 2014, he ousted seven-year Mayor Pat McGrail by 239 votes in a city of 42,890 residents.

The election divided the city, north against south, with Mathews overwhelmingly winning north Keller and McGrail winning almost as overwhelmingly in the south.

Some of those same voters and supporters now find fault with Mathews’ votes on a development proposal; on city business involving a company where his wife, Angela, works; and with a company settlement that benefited his Marshall Ridge neighborhood.

Mathews is not accused of violating any law.

Still, he would have been better served by abstaining in any matter involving a family member or a settlement benefiting the neighborhood association where he lives.

Mayors and council members work under closer public scrutiny than ever. That is by design.

Online video archives and public records give voters the tools to keep watch over elected officials and the people’s business.

But those tools are meant to help voters take a role in city matters and make wise decisions at election time, not to subject public officials to a weekly thumbs-up, thumbs-down threat of recall.

If nothing else, this controversy should make the point that Keller elections are a big deal, and they deserve attention from more than just the various factions that have made civic unrest and political turmoil into a sick personal hobby in recent years.

Filing for the 2017 election is eight months away.

The Star-Telegram Editorial Board recommends voting no on the removal of Keller Mayor Mark Mathews.

This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Mood shift in Keller is behind recall of mayor."