Coppell Chronicle Vol. 3, No. 48
Aspiring State Legislators Detail Their Finances • Coppell Incumbents Aim to Keep Their Seats • Irving Voters May Consider Replacing City Hall • DART’s Silver Line Project Keeps Chugging Along
I dropped by the Coppell High School Arena on Friday night to root for the Cowboys basketball team and to see how the Coppell Chronicle’s sponsorship of the program had been manifested. Man, did I get my money’s worth. Here are two examples of my smiling mug in a single photo:
The girls and boys basketball teams will host doubleheaders on Friday and on Jan. 30, and the latter date will be Senior Night. Let’s jam the gym, Coppell!
Aspiring State Legislators Detail Their Finances
Three candidates are competing for the Democratic nomination in Texas House District 115, which encompasses the vast majority of both Coppell and Coppell ISD. Their campaign finance reports for the second half of 2023 were due last week, and what follows is my analysis of those reports.
I normally list candidates in alphabetical order, but because this article is about money, we’re going to start with the one who raised the most — by far.
Cassandra Hernandez is an attorney and a resident of Farmers Branch. She was a candidate in House District 70 in 2022, when she lost a runoff to Mihaela Plesa, who would go on to prevail in the general election.
Hernandez reported $169,921 worth of monetary contributions in 2023 — $109,150 in the first half of the year and $60,771 in the second half. She had more than $88,600 on hand at year’s end.
Nearly $104,000 was contributed by entities as opposed to individuals. Those 24 entities included more than 10 law firms, and the Hernandez Law Group — where the candidate works with her father, Juan Hernandez — was among them. Their firm pitched in $10,000.
The Hernandezes specialize in representing people who have been injured, and at least seven facilities that treat injured people contributed to her campaign. For example, Texas Healthcare Neck & Back Clinics and Holistiq Spine & Orthopaedic each donated $10,000.
Hernandez’s campaign also raised more than $66,000 contributed by 161 individuals. The most generous contributor was Victoria Fernandez, the marketing director for ASP Cares Pharmacy who also happens to be engaged to Dallas City Council Member Jaime Resendez; she donated $10,000. The next largest amount was $3,000 from Dallas attorney Kristina Kastl. State Rep. Julie Johnson of Farmers Branch — whom Hernandez and her rivals are competing to succeed — was one of five contributors to cough up $2,500.
(Johnson is vacating the District 115 seat after three terms because she’s running for the District 32 seat in Congress. That position is available because U.S. Rep. Colin Allred is running for the Senate.)
One of Hernandez’s rivals is Kate Rumsey, an Air Force reservist and former federal prosecutor who now practices law with the Sheppard Mullin firm. This is the Coppell resident’s first run for public office.
She reported $57,081 worth of monetary contributions from 246 individuals and two entities — all in the second half of 2023. She had nearly $40,000 on hand at year’s end.
Rumsey received $5,000 from the campaign of Sharon Hirsch, a two-time candidate in House District 66, and $1,000 from the political action committee of the Texas Pharmacy Business Council. Her father, Louis Rumsey, is a retired pharmacist.
Rumsey’s most generous individual contributor was her dad, who is also her campaign treasurer; he gave $2,615 to his daughter’s effort. Two people — Dallas attorney Michael Lynn and Les Sherman, a Realtor from Georgetown, Texas — each donated $2,000. Eleven other individuals, including Coppell attorney David Thompson, contributed at least $1,000. Nearly a third of Rumsey’s funds came from non-Texans.
Rumsey also reported $37,000 worth of in-kind contributions from a pair of consulting firms — $25,000 worth of services by Siren Consulting, which Tina Sohne of Euless formed last year, and $12,000 worth of work by Austin-based Blue Victory Communications. The rest of her in-kind contributions were $5,728 worth of web-related services from her brother Scott Rumsey.
The third Democrat in the race is Scarlett Cornwallis, who resides in South Haven, a Coppell ISD subdivision I wrote about last year in “Isolated Neighborhood Stuck in Fast Lane.” Hey, if Cornwallis gets elected, maybe she can help secure that deceleration lane her neighbors have been seeking for years.
Cornwallis reported a grand total of $60 worth of contributions in 2023 — $50 from Dallas College Trustee Catalina Garcia (who also gave $350 to Hernandez) plus $10 from Albert Davis of Carrollton. Cornwallis, who is employed as a customer solutions manager for Amazon Web Services, said she loaned her campaign $20,000 of her own money.
(Her husband, Alex Cornwallis, is one of nine Democrats competing with Johnson in Congressional District 32. In 2022, he was the Democratic nominee in State Board of Education District 12. Scarlett was the treasurer for that campaign, but now David Smith of Plano serves that role dually for both of the Cornwallises.)
Early voting for the March 5 primary will begin on Feb. 20; I plan to publish these three candidates’ answers to a short questionnaire in my Feb. 18 edition. The victor will face Coppell Mayor Pro Tem John Jun in November, because he is the only Republican candidate in District 115.
By the way, Jun’s campaign finance report was even shorter than the one Cornwallis filed. He loaned his campaign $5,000 and reported a single $100 contribution from a City Council colleague, Biju Mathew.
Coppell Incumbents Aim to Keep Their Seats
Wednesday was the first day to file a candidacy for this year’s municipal elections, and the six incumbents on the Coppell City Council and the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees wasted no time turning in their paperwork. If any of them draw challengers, I expect that won’t happen until Feb. 16, the final day of the filing period.
Coppell ISD Board of Trustees
Nichole Bentley posted the customary photo of herself signing on the dotted line, while Jobby Mathew shared a picture of his family flanked by a formidable lineup of supporters. Mathew’s campaign treasurer is Court Newton, who served the same role for Ranna Raval’s successful campaign last year. Mathew’s team also includes Julia Albright and Rosie Stevens, who both supported Anthony Hill when he ran for reelection in 2022.
Because Election Day is May 4 — also known as “May the Fourth Be With You” — Mathew proved he’s a bona fide geek by posting a Star Wars-themed video announcing his reelection campaign.
Coppell City Council
Mayor Wes Mays and Council Members Brianna Hinojosa-Smith, Biju Mathew, and Kevin Nevels all filed their paperwork at the first opportunity. Mathew brought several supporters with him for a photo op, including Coppell Parks and Recreation Board member Maureen Corcoran and Coppell Library Advisory Board member Mathew Ittoop. Additionally, Mathew and Mays both issued press releases touting their reelection campaigns, which you can download if you please.
Despite the lack of challengers, Coppell voters will have at least one contested race on the ballot this spring. Mayor Pro Tem John Jun has to give up his council seat due to his candidacy for the Texas House, and two city volunteers are already running to replace him: Planning and Zoning Commissioner Freddie Guerra and former Smart City Board Chair Ramesh Premkumar. This will be Premkumar’s second time competing with a zoning commissioner for an open City Council seat; he lost to Jim Walker last year when they vied to succeed Cliff Long.
Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD Board of Trustees
Coppell’s Riverchase neighborhood and about half of Valley Ranch are within the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district, which conducts elections via cumulative voting. There are two seats on the ballot this year, so each voter will get two votes. You can give both of your votes to a single candidate or divide them among two candidates.
The seats are occupied by Sally Derrick and Cassandra Hatfield. Hatfield filed her paperwork on Wednesday, but nobody else is in the field yet.
Irving City Council
A big chunk of Coppell ISD is in Irving. Surprisingly, neither Dennis Webb nor Al Zapanta has filed reelection paperwork yet. Zapanta represents District 6 — which includes Valley Ranch, Hackberry Creek, and other neighborhoods north of State Highway 114 — while Webb occupies the at-large District 8 seat. In fact, nobody has filed a candidacy for either seat. I might have thought Irving’s elections webpage was on the fritz if I didn’t see three candidates listed for the District 4 seat representing the city’s south side.
Irving Voters May Consider Replacing City Hall
Irving’s City Hall is nearly 50 years old, and officials have been discussing whether the building needs to be renovated or replaced.
The initiative has a dedicated page on the city’s website. That page says Irving’s population has more than doubled since City Hall was dedicated in 1976, and so has its municipal workforce. The page also says City Hall has 110,000 square feet of space, but a building with 190,000 square feet would be ideal.
If you’d like to see the condition of Irving’s City Hall for yourself, you may want to attend one of two open houses scheduled this week. Residents are invited to tour the facility at 6 p.m. on Tuesday or 10 a.m. on Saturday.
The Irving City Council will discuss “City Hall Complex Site and Space Planning” on Thursday afternoon, according to the agenda for their work session. If they’re going to put some sort of City Hall-related proposal on the May 4 ballot — which the aforementioned webpage says is a possibility — they must do so no later than Feb. 16.
DART’s Silver Line Project Keeps Chugging Along
DART hosted a community meeting regarding the Silver Line last week, and your correspondent was one of the few people in the room not employed by the transit agency or its contractors.
Because some of my neighbors recently expressed concerns about how long it will take Silver Line trains to cross East Belt Line Road — where the tracks will not be elevated — I asked about the frequency and speed of those trains. Coppell resident John Hoppie, who is a DART project manager, said each crossing should take about 45 seconds. He said we should expect four of them per hour during peak periods (6 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m.) and two per hour during the rest of the day.
Work on that specific set of tracks is underway right now, which is why traffic along East Belt Line has been reduced to one lane in each direction. The lane closures are expected to continue until the end of March. (See “East Belt Line to Lose Lanes for 3 Months” in Vol. 3, No. 45.)
Another Coppell resident, Niko Cantu, is a project manager for Archer Western Herzog, the contractor overseeing the Silver Line. He told me and the handful of other attendees at Tuesday’s meeting that six of the 12 bridges in Coppell have been finished; two others are about 50 percent complete.
Here are a few more odds and ends from the DART newsroom:
• I learned during Tuesday’s meeting that the south end of Coppell Road was fully closed this weekend for Silver Line construction. I would have mentioned that in last Sunday’s edition, but Archer Western Herzog didn’t email me a heads-up, as they did for the recent closings of Royal Lane, Moore Road, and East Belt Line. I assume that’s because South Coppell Road doesn’t get nearly as much traffic as those other thoroughfares.
• Feb. 29 is the entry deadline for the annual DART Student Art Contest, which is open to kindergartners, high school seniors, and all kids in between. In the 2022 edition of the contest, Coppell ISD students and siblings Agastya Singh and Navya Singh won first place in their respective categories.
• DART is collaborating with musician Erykah Badu, who is designing wraps for a few buses and trains. Meanwhile, if you submit your contact information here, you may win VIP tickets to the Dallas native’s birthday bash on Feb. 24.
Given that this DART-Badu collaboration was announced last Monday, I was hoping my fellow Booker T. Washington High School graduate might make a promotional appearance at Tuesday’s community meeting. Alas, my hopes were dashed. I guess I’ll see her next lifetime.
Chronicle Crumbs
• TRAFFIC ALERT: The span of Bethel Road between Freeport Parkway and Royal Lane will be reduced to one lane in each direction this week, but this has nothing to do with the Silver Line. These lane closures will allow a contractor to replace valves on a water line.
• Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law last year that requires all Texas school districts’ trustees to take recorded votes on whether or not they will authorize each of their campuses to hire a chaplain. Coppell ISD’s trustees will take that vote during their meeting on Monday evening.
• As you may recall from “Council Likes Simplest Design for Vets Plaza,” some members of the Coppell City Council didn’t like the idea of the future veterans memorial evoking the obelisk in Town Center Plaza. The council is supposed to see some revised designs during Tuesday’s work session.
• The elected leaders of Grapevine and Lewisville approved new regulations for short-term rentals this month. Click either city’s name to read a summary published by Community Impact.
• For many years, Dairy Queen was Coppell’s only restaurant. Unfortunately, its current owners can’t figure out how to keep its doors open. No matter how much you’re missing the home of Dilly Bars and Hungr-Busters, UPS drivers are missing it more.
Community Calendar
9 to 5: Coppell High School’s Cowboy Theatre Company will present four more performances of Dolly Parton’s musical based on the 1980 film: 2:30 p.m. today, 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 28.
House District 63 Candidates Forum: Michelle Beckley and H. Denise Wooten are the Democratic candidates in House District 63, which includes the Denton County portion of Coppell. They will be at New New Buffet in Addison at 7 p.m. on Monday.
Congressional District 24 Candidates Forum: Sam Eppler and Francine Ly are the Democratic candidates in Congressional District 24, which includes most of Coppell. They will be at The REC of Grapevine at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Dallas Symphony Orchestra: The musicians from Big D will venture to suburbia for a performance at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Coppell Arts Center.
Recycling Fundraiser: The Coppell Community Chorale will happily accept your unwanted items between 9 a.m. and noon on Saturday in the Coppell Arts Center’s parking lot.
Be Your Own Boss: Want to learn how to start your own business? Justin Runyon of Runyon Coffee and Kevin Henderson of SMB Law Group will discuss their entrepreneurial journeys at 2 p.m. on Jan. 28 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons.
KCBY Film Festival: Productions by Coppell ISD students will be showcased at 7 p.m. on Jan. 31 in the Coppell High School auditorium.
Coppell Chamber of Commerce Annual Awards & Community Gala: The theme for this event is “A Night in Paris,” but it will actually be a night in Grapevine — specifically the Embassy Suites on Bass Pro Drive — starting at 6 p.m. on Feb. 3.
Be Mine Valentine Dance: The Coppell Arts Center will host an event for dads and daughters at 5 p.m. on Feb. 4. Registration is required.
Community Summit: Coppell civic and service organizations are invited to share details about their missions and plans for 2024 between 6 and 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 6 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons. RSVP via the link.
Coppell Lions Club Pancake Breakfast: The annual fundraiser will happen from 8 to 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 10 at First United Methodist Church. Tickets are $5 for individuals or $20 for families. That price gets you all the pancakes, biscuits and gravy, sausage patties, coffee, juice, and milk you want.
Caribbean Nights Gala: The Coppell Arts Center Foundation will host an event featuring a buffet dinner, casino games, and live entertainment. Wear your best “resort cocktail attire” to the Arts Center at 7 p.m. on Feb. 10.
As the adage goes “follow the money”. Your financial report is fascinating. Thank you for all the information.
Regarding school chaplains, I am concerned about the entanglement of church and state. I hate to write “in my day” but “in my day”, counselors helped students and families in need of social intervention, a much better solution in my opinion.
HI Dan! Really appreciate the quality of this newsletter! I didn't realize there would be 4 trains an hour crossing Beltline! Would you be able to find out how loud the Silver Line trains are (guessing somewhere in between cars and freight trains), and if they plan on blowing a whistle when they cross East Belt Line Road? I live near Bethel School in Northlake Woodlands and hear the freight trains at night.