Cresson crossroads

On her first day of first grade, Teena Putteet, now Teena Putteet Conway, occupied a desk at the historic Cresson School, which is now a museum.

After May 2, Conway will occupy the mayor’s office at Cresson City Hall.

She will follow in the footsteps of longtime Mayor Bob Cornett, who is retiring after about two decades of city service. The former mayor pro tem has served as mayor since 2003.

During his tenure, Cornett worked with other Hood County officials to convince state authorities to build the Cresson relief route, conferred with developers on 1,500 new single family homes that are expected to be built within the next five years, and secured grant funding for a 23-acre multiuse park with ball fields and five fishing ponds.

That park will eventually bear Cornett’s name. The City Council voted to name the grounds Bob Cornett Park at the suggestion of Cresson Crossroads developer Ike Thomas, who donated the land.

“My hat’s off to him,” Conway said of her soon-to-retire predecessor. “Between the park and the relief bypass, those are two big projects that Bob has worked years on and that I get to inherit. So, he’s leaving some good footprints here for the city.”

Conway’s parents, BM and Rose Putteet, owned ranchland in Cresson and the land remains in the family today. BM is now deceased, but Rose, now 87, continues to live on the land.

Conway graduated from Granbury High School and went on to attend Baylor University, where she met her future husband, Jerry. She graduated from Baylor with a business degree in marketing and management.

The Conways settled in the Metroplex, where they raised a daughter and two sons. Two of the Conways’ children are now in their 30s, and they have a 10-year-old grandson.

The couple moved to Cresson from Keller a couple of years ago to help look after Rose. They are active in the Methodist Church there.

Jerry is a retired program business manager for Lockheed Martin.

Conway, too, is retired. Most recently, she was an account manager for CompuCom, an IT outsourcing company. One of her clients was Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer.

“My focus there was call centers,” Conway said of CompuCom. “So, I consider myself to be an expert in customer service. I’m almost fanatical.”

Conway said that after moving back to Cresson, she and her mother talked about how much the town of about 2,000 was growing and changing. That was when she decided to talk to Cornett about running for mayor. It worked out great, she said, because Cornett, who is in his late 70s, wanted to retire at the end of his term in 2020.

Conway said that her brother, Larry Putteet, who lives in Pecan Plantation, supported her goal of being mayor of their hometown even though her tenure will come at a time when there will be difficult issues to navigate.

“He said, ‘You know, Teena, you love a challenge and you’re not afraid to work through a problem,”’ Conway recalled. “And, really, in my corporate career, I would tell my children, ‘I’m a high-paid problem solver.”’

Conway ended up gaining City Council experience sooner than she expected. Early last year, she was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Place 4 council member Ron Pyles, “a sweet man” who died unexpectedly.

Cornett has been wonderful about sharing his knowledge of city administration, Conway said, and has been forthcoming about “the good news and the bad news.”

The longtime mayor has taken Conway to meetings in Granbury, where she has learned about the importance of such things as: Cresson’s participation in the Hood County Clean Air Coalition and maintaining compliance with federal standards, which is important for drawing industries here; the recently cemented economic partnership headed up by the Granbury Chamber; and Visit Granbury’s efforts to promote regional tourism, which can help put heads in beds at Cresson’s Scottish Inn hotel.

Conway said that her experiences thus far have been “very positive.”

GROWTH AND PROGRESS

Conway is excited about the new Dollar General that is coming to Cresson. Ground has been broken for the 9,000-square-foot store, which will be located across 377 from Henson Lumber and will boast 40 parking spots.

“When you get a Dollar General, you’ve made it,” she said, laughing.

As for the $61 million relief route, also referred to as the Cresson bypass, the San Antonio-based Zachry Construction Corporation, which has a contract with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), is finally moving dirt.

The four-lane divided highway will veer off 377 one mile north and one mile south of the Cresson intersection of 377 and SH 171. A bridge will take motorists above the train tracks. The project is slated for completion sometime in 2022.

The Cresson City Council is planning “feeder roads” on either side of the bypass where stores, restaurants and other businesses will hopefully locate, adding to the city’s sales tax base.

Cresson imposes no property taxes, and city officials hope to keep it that way.

“That is our goal,” Conway said Monday morning as a soft drizzle fell at Cresson City Hall. “We’re going to ride that out as long as we can, obviously, because that makes us more attractive. Who knows what the future will bring?”

There are no plans right now to fund a police department, Conway said. Cresson receives law enforcement help from the Hood County Sheriff’s Office, state troopers and constables.

City staff is now up to three - City Secretary Katy Froyd, City Administrator Rachel Shelly and Municipal Clerk Shane Shearman - but City Hall closes at 1 p.m. on weekdays. Conway said that full days are coming but probably not for another year or two.

For now, she said, water and trash fees are funding city salaries and services.

One of Conway’s goals is to help guide the city to a more attractive, cohesive appearance. Some properties are run down, she said, with trash that can be a fire hazard and vehicles parked on lawns.

She said that the City Council will have a workshop with the city attorney later this month to discuss how to move forward on code enforcement that will help make and keep Cresson an attractive place to live.

That could be important for the additional developments by Thomas and developer Peter Malin, who plans to sell 400 acres of frontage along 377 for residential and commercial use. Malin’s Cresson One North and Cresson One South developments have both been platted.

Both Malin’s and Thomas’ developments have their own Municipal Utility Districts (MUDs), according to Cornett.

The taxing entities allow developers to be paid back for infrastructure. MUDs are typically financed through bonds and are approved by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to provide sewage, water, drainage and other services within districts where there is no city infrastructure.

All things considered, it’s a lot to oversee - and proof that Cresson will soon look far different than it does today, or back when Conway rode Bus No. 1 to school in Granbury.

“I’m not nervous,” Conway said of the challenges bearing down on her like a train at the Cresson intersection. “This is a great community with a lot of heart and soul. And my heart’s in it. I’ve got a lot of pride in this little town.”

kcruz@hcnews.03m 1817-573-7066, ext 258

`This is a great community with a lot of heart and soul.’ Teena Putteet Conway