Monday, May 19, 2008

New McKinney City Manager Frank Ragan looks forward to helping city grow, while maintaining charming atmosphere

By Minnie Payne

Image provided by McKinney, Tx

Frank Ragan at his welcoming reception.

MCKINNEY — When McKinney City Manager Frank Ragan was a boy working in the tobacco fields of North Carolina, he knew that he wanted to better his life, but he never dreamed that one day he would be helping cities chart their course.

Ragan grew up on a tobacco farm seven miles from Apex, N.C., where he graduated from Apex High School in 1970. He earned an undergraduate degree in Parks and Recreation in 1974 from North Carolina State University and a master’s degree in Parks and Recreation in 1976 from the same school. A little over four years ago he began a second master’s degree program in Public Administration at the University of Colorado/Health Sciences Center, on which he lacks two courses completing.

“I worked in the tobacco fields to fund my undergraduate degree and received a scholarship during my first master’s degree program,” he said.

“The city of Aurora partially paid my tuition at the University of Colorado/Health Sciences Center in return for the projects that I did for the city.”

He took the reigns of McKinney City Manager on Feb. 29, having just come from the position of Deputy City Manager for Operations for Aurora, Colo., where he was instrumental in coordinating all city-support services for the multi-billion dollar Fitzsimons Redevelopment project. The project, rehabilitating and retooling a closed Army Medical Base, has been transformed into the new homes of the University of Colorado/Health Sciences Center, University Hospital, Children’s Hospital, the area’s first Bio-Science Research Park, a residential/commercial mixed use area in the core of the site, and other health-related agencies.

“The project actually stemmed from a Criminal Justice class that I was involved in while pursuing a master’s degree in Public Administration at the University of Colorado/Health Sciences Center four years ago,” Ragan said. “The professor handed over the class to me and seven other students, and we worked to develop a grant to study how to help people in the community to be in a better position to secure jobs in the health field.

“I wanted people in the community to get some of those jobs, particularly low-income people who would be prone to crime if they weren’t doing something constructive.”

He said that over the course of time approximately 35,000 jobs within one square mile will be created as a result of the Fitzsimons project.

“When I was going to school, I was constantly trying to do worthwhile projects for the city [Aurora], so I was always giving back.

Ragan has 32 years experience in local government, starting his career in Henderson, N.C. in Parks and Recreation while finishing his master’s degree at N.C. State University. He then went to Bloomington, Ind., home of Indiana University, where he held the Parks and Recreation Administrator position with the city while simultaneously being appointed to teach at the university. After ten years in Bloomington, he went to Aurora, Colo. to head up one of the highest-awarded parks, recreation and open space departments in the country. After serving four years as Director, he was offered the opportunity of becoming Aurora’s Deputy City Manager for Operations. He served 16 years in Aurora.

Ragan, 56, long ago proved that he has the brain power, tenacity and determination to succeed. His goal is to continue in that same path as he helps lead the city of McKinney during rapid growth.

Ragan said that he really believes in having very open and honest communication with the approximately 700 staff members that he supervises.

“I believe that people should have an opportunity to voice their opinion whether you agree with them or not, and I think that a good manager should be willing to listen as well as have mutual respect toward his employees,” he said.

“I have a strong work ethic, and I expect others to have the same in order to succeed.”

He said that he relies on a lot of different people, depending upon the issue, and that he tends to talk to a lot of different people to get their feedback.

“I look for support from all my coworkers and friends, and my main task for the last three months has been to do as much listening and observing as possible,” he said. “I’m trying to learn where the citizens want McKinney to go.”

He said that the one big thing he enjoys most about his job is working with people.

“I love to lead in a way that helps a community grow and become a better place for people to live,” he said. “The biggest thing presently going on in McKinney is growth and as it relates to me, management of that growth.

He said that there’s a great deal of funds in business in McKinney and a great deal of pride in the beauty of the community.

“Being able to grow while maintaining the town’s atmosphere is a real challenge and that makes it a great place in which to live and work,” Ragan said.

Mayor Bill Whitfield said that he believes McKinney has the right man for the job and the right man for the city.

“We are now in a position to move forward and develop into a 350,000 to 375,000 population city at build out in about 25 years,” he said. “We will be the largest city in Collin County.”

Ragan and his wife, Jackie, have been married 26 years, and have a son, Bryce. A stepson, Ryan, resides in Raleigh, N.C.

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