Denton Mayor Mark Burroughs feels many years of volunteering led him to leadership role

by Minnie Payne

DENTON — As the bio of Mark Burroughs, 50-year-old Denton mayor, can attest, he has served in so many volunteer positions they are almost too numerous to list.

“I love public service, whether it’s community service, private institution, charitable or any level,” said Burroughs. “I have been involved in many organizations and had risen to a level in my community service where being mayor was the next logical step for me.

“I felt it was the best way to utilize what I had learned about Denton.”

Burroughs came to Denton by way of Fort Worth.

“I lived and worked in Fort Worth, but had a fair amount of business in Denton,” he said. “My soon-to-be wife lived and worked in Denton.

“We compromised and I moved to Denton four years prior to moving my entire business here.”

Burroughs grew up as part of a middle-income family in the Houston area, graduating fourth in his class of 526 from Klein High School in 1976.

“Dad had a college degree and spent his entire career in sales for the Formica Corp.,” he said. “There were seven children, and I wore hand-me-down clothes.

“We didn’t have a lot, but what we had was nice.”

Burroughs attended Stephen F. Austin State University, earning a full scholarship when he became president of the student body his junior/senior year. He graduated with honors in three years in 1979, earning a bachelor of business administration for select students degree with three majors - business, political science, and history. He earned his law degree from the University Of Texas School Of Law in 1982, working the last two years of law school. Professionally, he is an attorney with the law firm of Sawko & Burroughs, P.C.

One of his goals and one reason he said he ran for mayor was to implement the 20-year plan [Denton Plan] that was created in 1999 with years of community input.

“I want to see to it that the plan continues,” he said. “The biggest challenge to city government is continuity.”

Burroughs said that he was pretty shy until the third grade, when a teacher gave him an opportunity to become more outgoing by letting him act out a book report about Sam Houston in front of the class.

“Something has to trigger ambition, brilliance, vision, and I got a sense of purpose with that book report,” he said. “Speaking out became part of my mission, and I really haven’t changed since.”

Denton’s charm and quaintness is something that he said he wants to preserve.

“To me, Denton is the perfect place to raise a family,” he said. “I’m very much concerned with protecting our identity and don’t want the city to become a city of cookie cutter houses.

“We can’t prevent the growth of the tenth fastest growing city in the United States, but we sure can guide it.”

Meeting and getting to know people of different backgrounds, skills and interests is what he enjoys most about being mayor, he said.

“I marvel every day at the people I get to meet,” he said. “It’s amazing how much diversity is in Denton.

“I enjoy learning, and I enjoy learning from people of different backgrounds.”

Burroughs said that if running for mayor simply meant going out into the community and talking with people, he would love it, but that doesn’t hold true.

“Running for mayor is expensive and unfortunately it has a way of feeding anger, which is a shame,” he said.

Area residents will recall that Burroughs won a June runoff election over former Denton mayor Perry McNeill by a 25 percent margin after having fallen short of winning the general election outright by a scant 46 votes.

He said that, generally speaking, people have the perception that attorneys aren’t very open, but that he’s a pretty open book to people around him.

“I have been successful as an attorney and for the most part have been able to retain my openness,” he said. “I don’t prejudge and if someone has an issue with me or the city, I welcome input.

“There’s no such thing as a bad question – just sometimes bad answers.”

Burroughs has been married to his wife, Diana (“Annie”), for 18 years, and they have two children, Madeline (“Maddie”), 17, and Mark, Jr., 15.

“My dad has always been really very family oriented,” said daughter Maddie. “He loves nothing more than to be around us or take us out or spend family time watching a movie or having dinner.

“He’s always coaching us to do the best that we can and has set a great example for us throughout parenthood.”