DESOTO—In August, the DeSoto City Council held a Special Meeting to consider the resignation of Place 2 Councilmember Virgil Helm, who resigned on August 13, 2018.
This resignation created a vacancy on the DeSoto City Council. Per the Texas Constitution and the City Charter, the City is required to fill the vacancy by the majority vote of qualified voters at a Special Election.
Two candidates vied for this seat: Kay Brown-Patrick and Patricia Ledbetter. Brown is a three-year resident and Economic Development Specialist while Ledbetter has lived in DeSoto 26 years and is an office manager. Ledbetter previously served as Mayor Pro Tem on the DeSoto City Council. She retired in 2014.
In a close race Brown-Patrick prevailed with 8,589 votes (53%) to Ledbetter’s 7,585 votes (46.90%).
Plans For The Future Of DeSoto
“DeSoto is a great city and protecting our quality of life is my first goal,” said Brown-Patrick. “I desires to be a new, fresh voice for the citizens of DeSoto. I am forward thinking and would be progressive and open-minded to ensure we are addressing the future of the City as much as we are addressing the now. In order to elevate from dialogue to action we need strong, progressive thinking leadership on council.”
Business development, housing and property valuation are on the rise in DeSoto. Brown-Patrick made it clear that it is not enough to make these great strides if no one know about them.
“We have a lot of great things happening in DeSoto. The City of DeSoto has an opportunity to brand itself and tell its story with the facts,” she explains. “We have to be more aggressive and intentional in branding ourselves outside of the Best Southwest. We have to be unrelenting in overcoming the negative perception of cities in Southern Dallas County.”
