Should the Coach Get a New Contract?

Source: AP Photo.

The season is coming to an end for the team. The coach's contract is expiring. The coach was gifted good enough game plans, but he couldn't deliver on the reason he was hired, which was to bring a championship to the city. When it came time to decide if the team should extend him a new contract for another season, the team decided to go in a different direction. Most fans thought it was the right decision.

That might sound like I'm talking about the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Mike McCarthy, but if you guessed I was really talking about the mayor of Richardson, Bob "Coach" Dubey, I can't say you're wrong. The City of Richardson's "Coach" is in the same boat that McCarthy was. Having a long career on the sidelines can result in enough friendships to win you the job in the first place, but that won't save your job if you don't win championships. Too often, Coach Dubey went with his gut, throwing out good game plans on the fly, and ending up with a string of losses. Sooner or later, a coach trading on his longevity needs to be thanked for his service and replaced. Let's look at the results on the field this term to decide if that time is now.

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Yes Man

As of late February, there were 77 substantive votes taken by the Richardson City Council during the 2023-2025 Council term. I didn't count as substantive things like votes to approve meeting minutes. I also didn't count items on the consent agenda, even though sometimes pretty important things slip by in there without any deliberation by City Council.

Coach Dubey voted "yes" on these votes 98.7% of the time. That was a higher percentage than any other Councilperson. Zoning changes, special permits, variances, it didn't matter. Coach Dubey reflexively voted "yes."

Groupthink

The other Councilpersons voted "yes" less often than Coach Dubey, but not by all that much. All told, there were 70 unanimous votes out of the 77. That could be a sign of groupthink (the practice of making decisions as a group in a way that values harmony over creative problem solving). A management method for keeping groupthink at bay is for the chairperson to encourage critical thinking. Team members should be prompted to question assumptions and explore alternatives. Coach Dubey doesn't prevent Councilmembers from speaking their minds, which is good, but that's not the same thing as making sure all alternatives are thoroughly explored. Coach Dubey's style of management risks groupthink.

Worse, Coach Dubey even voted against receiving any public input at all. A variance is an exception to ordinances passed by prior City Councils. Clay Cooley Volkswagen requested a variance to erect a 39'-7" tall pole sign (City code limits signs to 20 feet in height). The City's Sign Control Board (SCB) approved the request, sending it to City Council. Rather than rubber stamp the SCB's decision, the City Council voted 6-1 to call the case up for a full hearing. Voting "no" was, in effect, a vote to approve Clay Cooley Volkswagen's request without a full hearing. That lone "no" vote was by Coach Dubey. He wasn't interested in hearing the reasons for and against Clay Cooley's request. His mind was made up. He wanted to grant Clay Cooley a variance without hearing from the public.

Once the first variance was granted to Clay Cooley Volkswagen, the door was open to other businesses seeking their own variances. Two more have since scurried in. Expect more. It's reached the point where it's like we don't want to enforce our own ordinances. Each of these three variances were approved unanimously.

• SCB 24-01: Sign variance for Clay Cooley
• SCB 24-02: Sign variance for Toyota of Richardson
• SCB 25-01: Sign variance at United Methodist Church

Zoning Changes

Zoning is an important exercise of municipal power. It's why the City spends so much time and effort on planning efforts, from the City's Comprehensive Plan down to regulatory plans for individual districts. The City hires professional consultants and holds public input and feedback sessions. That's the first part of the Richardson Way: "Plan the Work." Then it's up to the City Council to "Work the Plan." But on the six zoning cases seeking to build apartments, Coach Dubey voted to "Abandon the Plan," relaxing requirements at the request of developers. In just the last two years, Coach Dubey was a "yes" vote for building a total of 5,038 new apartments in Richardson. He never met an apartment project that he didn't like.

• ZF 23-06: 2,821 more units for "UTD/Points @ Waterview PD"
• ZF 23-14: 380 units at Glenville and Central
• ZF 24-07: 210 units for Waterwood Villas
• ZF 24-08: 173 units for ATRE Waterview
• ZF 24-11: 1,175 more units at CityLine East
• ZF 24-31: 279 units at Polk and Greenville

Drive-thru Restaurants

When it comes to requests for special permits for drive-through restaurants, whereas a majority of Councilmembers are, at long last, sometimes deciding that enough is enough, Coach Dubey remains a reliable "yes" vote. In a case (ZF 24-37) for a drive-through "7 Brew" coffee shop on East Belt Line Rd. near Plano Rd. (no indoor seating, mind you, strictly drive-thru), Coach Dubey was outvoted 5-2 by the rest of the Council. The special permit was denied. Coach Dubey would have given the developer what the developer wanted. Like with apartments, Coach Dubey has never found a drive-through restaurant he doesn't like.

Car Dealers, Body Shops, and More

Likewise, Coach Dubey has always been a reliable "yes" vote for auto-oriented businesses seeking zoning changes, variances, and special permits. Besides the auto dealer signs mentioned above, Coach Dubey supported a contentious request by Clay Cooley VW for a special permit to open an auto repair shop, a body shop, and a vehicle storage lot (ZF 24-16) on its property in the Interurban District, an area the City's game plan saw as evolving into an "edgy, mixed-use district." The Council split 4-3 on that request, with Coach Dubey providing a deciding vote in favor.

Coach Dubey also supported a request to allow an auto sales business (ZF 24-33) on a lot at Arapaho Rd and Greenville Ave, just down the street from the Arapaho DART Station. Not a dealer in new cars, mind you. A dealer in salvage cars. The dealer sells "branded titled" cars, which are cars "that have experienced an insurance incident resulting in a total loss." This is the kind of business that Coach Dubey approved at the gateway to Richardson's IQ District. Like apartments and drive-through restaurants, Coach Dubey has never seen a used car dealer he doesn't like.

Storage Yards

Coach Dubey has been a reliable "yes" vote for any business request. He voted to allow an outdoor storage yard for building supplies (ZF 23-16) in the Interurban District where zoning ordinances prohibited it. "It could be lumber, it could be steel, it could be aluminum, it could be, he does a lot of concrete."

Does Coach Deserve Another Two Years?

In May, Richardson voters will decide whether to extend another two-year contract to Coach Dubey. When doing so, Richardson voters will decide whether we are going to blindly approve more apartments, more 40 foot pole signs, more salvage car dealers, and more drive-through restaurants. Coach Dubey has a track record of being a "yes" man, approving anything and everything. Remember, what we approve, we invite even more of. "It could be lumber, it could be steel, it could be aluminum, it could be, he does a lot of concrete." Maybe it's time for the City to go in a different direction.

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"May vote will decide—
more signs, cars, and apartments,
or something better."
—h/t ChatGPT