New HP Mayor Not Focused on Making History
Electing a woman as mayor is not all that unusual in 2018 America, but mayoral portraits on the back wall of the Town Council Chambers serve as a reminder that doing so is a first in Highland Park.
Just don’t expect new Mayor Margo Goodwin to get all excited about making such history.
“I have had people ask me if I was excited to be the first female mayor,” she said after getting more than 87 percent of the vote in the race to replace Joel Williams, who was term limited.
“I’m very excited to be mayor, but I’ve always been female, so that’s not an earthshaking revelation for me,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin got 447 votes in the May 5 election, while her opponent, Sam Tamborello, got 66, according to dallascountyvotes.org. But the new mayor isn’t divining any special meaning to her margin of victory.
[pullquote-left]“I’m very excited to be mayor, but I’ve always been female, so that’s not an earthshaking revelation for me.” -Margo Goodwin[/pullquote-left]
“I don’t know what that means,” she said. “I just know I’ll do the best job I can for 100 percent of the people in Highland Park.”
Goodwin said she isn’t coming into the job with a particular agenda, but rather a process for addressing issues and town needs as they come.
“In everything I’ve ever done, I just like to do as much research and listen to people’s opinions and make up my mind as to what I want to do,” she said. “There will always be another challenge up ahead.”
But after serving on the Town Council, she faces at least one significant adjustment as mayor: Unlike their counterparts in many other Texas municipalities, Highland Park mayors don’t get a vote.
“I am used to having a vote,” Goodwin said. “It will be different, but I also love talking, so I’m sure I will have my fair share of time to voice my opinion. But it will be up to the council whether they see things the way I do.”
