LONGVIEW, Texas — After nearly 10 years in office, Longview Mayor Andy Mack is wrapping up his final term. On Thursday, the city plans to hold a reception celebrating the longtime mayor.
"Well it’s, it’s time. You know, I’ve enjoyed my time as mayor, but it’s time to turn that over to somebody else with new energy, new enthusiasm, new ideas and motivation," Mack said.
For nine years now, Mack has served as the mayor of his beloved hometown. Before serving as mayor he spent eight years representing District 4 as their councilman. Despite his almost 20 years as a public servant, Mack said he was never really interested in politics. Instead, his interest lies solely with the city and people of Longview.
"I wanted to bring Longview back from being a designated retirement community, which we don’t need to be a retirement community. We need to be a progressive young person’s community, where young people have a place to come and live and bring their families and raise their kids and make Longview a vibrant community again," Mack said.
Mack said that 5,000 jobs were created during his time in office, in part because of his help in acquiring a Dollar General distribution center, a Gap distribution center, and a $1 billion Eastman expansion. He was also responsible for implementing the Longview Arboretum, 10 miles of walking trails throughout town and the Lear Park Athletic Complex.
About 83,000 people live in Longview, with four independent school districts within the city limits. So, one thing that Mack really took pride as mayor was his ability to gather diverse and widespread populations and get them to work toward one goal: the betterment of Longview.
"That’s a difficult navigation. You need to erase those school district lines, erase the district lines within our community. We have six council districts, and know that we’re all in one boat, and you’re either going to paddle the boat together or you’re going to paddle the boat independent of each other. And you’re going go a lot further, smoother, faster and quicker if you’re paddling all together," Mack said.
Mack is excited to spend more time with his family and his grandkids. And although he’ll no longer be mayor, he’ll still be an active member of the Longview community.
"I’m not going away. This is still my home. My business is here. My family is here, so I tend to stay involved when I can. I’m still going to push a few projects that I think still need to be completed that I wasn’t able to get completed. So I’m not done, but I’m done with politics," Mack said.