Name as it appears on the ballot: Dylan Hedrick
Note from the Candidate to the Voters: As your next mayor, I will serve to improve lives and communities by building trust and relationships in the City of Garland and beyond. I am a professional civil engineer, experienced businessman, and dedicated family man who has been endorsed by current Mayor Scott LeMay and former Mayor Lori Barnett Dodson. As a servant-leader dedicated to my community, I have served six years on the City Council as District 7 representative, and previously on the Plan Commission, chair of the 2019 Bond Study Committee, and as President of the Oakridge Neighborhood Association. My goal as mayor is to make Garland’s future as bright as possible for my children and all families in Garland.
Ballotpedia Link: https://ballotpedia.org/Dylan_Hedrick
Campaign Website, Social Media, Endorsement Links: www.hedrickforgarland.com
Campaign Contact Information: dylan@hedrickforgarland.com
Dallas Morning News Questionnaire Link: (Not yet available)
Candidate-Submitted Bio:
Dylan Hedrick is a dedicated public servant, engineer, and community leader with a vision for a stronger, more prosperous Garland. Born and raised in Texas, Dylan developed a deep appreciation for hard work, service, and integrity—values that continue to guide his leadership today.
After earning his degree in civil engineering and a Master’s of Business Administration, both from Rice University, Dylan built a successful career as a professional engineer designing land development and infrastructure improvements across Texas and the Mid-Atlantic states.
Currently serving as a City Councilman for Garland’s District 7, he has been a champion for smart growth, improved infrastructure, fiscal responsibility, and public safety. His work has directly contributed to revitalizing neighborhoods, enhancing city services, and attracting new businesses to the community.
Now, Dylan is running for mayor to continue his mission of delivering transparent leadership, innovative solutions, and a city government that works for its people. With a focus on economic growth, infrastructure improvements, and community engagement, he is ready to lead Garland into a brighter future.
Dylan and his wife, Katie, live in the Oakridge neighborhood with their two daughters and son. Beyond his role in government, Dylan is actively involved at St. Joseph Catholic Church as a Sunday School teacher, usher, and volunteer with the Knights of Columbus in their charitable causes. In his free time, he enjoys watching his daughters on the soccer field, training for half-marathons, trying new local restaurants, and spending time with family and friends. To learn more about Dylan’s campaign and vision for Garland, visit HedrickForGarland.com.
Awards and Honors
- Office of Neighborhood Vitality Exemplary Neighborhood Communications Award for Oakridge Neighborhood Association Newsletter – 2018
- Garland Citizens Police Academy Graduate – 2018
- Plan Commission – First Vice Chair – 2018
- Oakridge Neighborhood Association President – May 2018 to May 2019
- Bond Study Commission – Vice Chair – August 2018 to January 2019
- City Council Mayor Pro Tem – May 2021 to May 2022
- Garland Citizens Fire Academy Graduate – 2024
- Camelot Neighborhood Association Chili Cook-off Best All Around Winner – 2024
Questionnaire Answers:
1) Have you held any positions within the city/ISD, either with the city/ISD itself or with non-profit / community service organizations?
I currently serve as the city council representative for District 7, for which I have served since 2019. Before being elected to council, I served two and a half years on the Plan Commission and chaired the 2019 Bond Study Committee.
Upon moving to Garland, I joined the board of the Oakridge Neighborhood Association, first serving as Communications Director in 2016-2018 then as President in 2018.. I also serve on the leadership team of the Knights of Columbus Council #8954 as the Advocate at St. Joseph Catholic Church.
2) Have you attended a city council or school board meeting in person?
I have attended every City Council meeting (work session, regular meeting and special meeting) since 2019 with the exception of one meeting in August 2021, which was the night my son was born.
3) Have you read the city/ISD budget? If so, did you have any takeaways from it?
I have read, debated, amended and approved the past six city Operating and CIP budgets. My biggest takeaway is that 45% of the overall budget goes towards salaries and operations alone–both vital components just to keep the city operating day-to-day. Because the City of Garland owns and operates a municipal electric company (GP&L), approximately the same amount of spending goes towards fuel and demand charges as does servicing the City’s debt (about 20% in each case).
After these and other miscellaneous expenses, there is generally very little room for new items in the budget without significant increases to revenues or taxes. I laud the city managers I have served with as they have presented conservative budgets which meet the needs of the city while incrementally expanding services as revenue to fund these is available.
4) What would you say is your primary responsibility in the position you are running for?
My primary responsibility as mayor will be to run council meetings in a manner that encourages healthy debate and discussion among council members, while moving to achieve consensus on any item presented before the council. The mayor is only one vote out of the nine members, and he should not force his will on any members. As a council member for the past six years, I have strived to present and discuss items for consideration in a compelling way as to move Garland towards growth and prosperity while being a good steward of the taxpayer’s dollars.
5) What other responsibilities do you believe come with this role?
Besides striving to achieve consensus, the mayor has the responsibility to serve as the ceremonial head of the city at community events. Therefore, he must conduct himself with dignity and respect worthy of the office at all times.
The mayor also helps advocate for economic development, infrastructure improvements, and city initiatives while ensuring transparency and responsiveness to community needs. He serves as the key liaison between the city government and residents, businesses, and regional/state officials. As a council member over the past six years and throughout my 20 year engineering career, I have worked hard to build relationships in the Garland and business community necessary to move Garland ahead towards greater prosperity and growth. Finally, the mayor serves as a communications conduit between citizens and staff. As a member of the city council, I have been committed to being available either by phone or email whenever I am needed, day or night. Callers are amazed that when they call my phone number, it rings the phone in my pocket and is not answered by a secretary. When people contact me, they can be assured that I will address their issue by connecting them to the appropriate city department and providing them with an honest answer to their inquiry.
6) Name three things that you want to accomplish while in office.
The first thing I want to accomplish as mayor is to bring a hospital back to Garland. We are one of the largest cities by population in the country not to have a community hospital. I will use all my authority as mayor and my connections within the development community to bring a hospital to Garland.
Second, I am focused on improving the condition of the streets and alleys in the city by following our streets improvement plan that was approved in October of 2024. I have spent my entire career as a civil engineer building streets and infrastructure and will bring that experience of delivering infrastructure projects to the table as mayor.
Finally, I am committed to ensuring that every area of the city receives equitable treatment when it comes to city spending. We cannot solely focus on one area of the city at the expense of others. To this end, I have successfully advocated for the expansion of TIF #1 to include additional areas north of the Forest-Jupiter DART station, which will bring much needed funding to improve this area. I will do the same for all areas of Garland including South Garland and the areas around IH-635 and IH-30 (Harbor Point).
7) Are there programs or services you want to see reduced in size or canceled? Why?
Garland already has a much smaller city staff per capita than surrounding cities, and reducing current staff levels would result in a reduction in services. However, one area we can focus on is reducing overtime expenses. By hiring more personnel in some areas, especially in the Fire and Police Departments, we can reduce overtime expenses and the stress, fatigue and possibility of errors due to an overworked force.
8) Are there programs or services you want to see created or expanded? Why?
Our Homeless Taskforce outreach program has already assisted countless individuals by connecting them with services to get them off the streets and into permanent housing. It is simply inhumane to allow individuals to live in squalor out in the elements. I want to see more funding for this worthy program to allow the members of the Police, Sanitation, Code Enforcement, Stormwater and Transportation Departments to care for these individuals and clean up the areas where they are found. Also, we need additional mental health care professionals on city staff to address the mental health needs of our city workforce. Currently there are two mental health clinicians serving the Police Department and one serving the rest of Garland staff members through the CityCare clinic. I would like to see the Fire Department add a dedicated mental health clinician to their staff and another added at the CityCare clinic to make sure our staff’s mental health, in addition to their physical health, is as healthy as possible.
9) What are your strategic objectives for your district, the city, or the ISD?
One of my strategic objectives is to streamline the permitting and development process. As an engineer, I have worked across the Metroplex getting projects through the permitting process and approved for construction. Other cities often have a long and arduous process that serves to stifle growth and restrict development. Learning from others’ mistakes, Garland should be the friendliest city to do business with in North Texas.
As a council member, I have already removed steps from the zoning entitlement process, which reduces the time required for developers to receive zoning entitlements. This allows developers to bring new and exciting projects to market significantly faster. As mayor, I will call for a comprehensive review of all of our permitting processes so that we make Garland the easiest city for businesses to grow and invest in.
Secondly, I want to grow and diversify our tax base through strategic public-private partnerships and through new revenue sources. The seed money from the proposed 2025 bond program will be a great incentive to bring new growth to strategic areas we have already identified in our city. The next mayor needs to be someone who has experience negotiating, dealing and working with developers to bring the highest quality development to our city. The new developments should be focused on building destination locations which attract visitors from outside Garland to spend their money in our city. This will raise our sales tax revenues and reduce the financial burden placed on our residents.
In 2023, I led a local option petition effort to allow for the voters to decide whether or not to allow packaged liquor sales within the city limits. Although we were not successful, the effort lives on in the Texas legislature as our local representatives have picked up the torch. If they are successful, it will add an estimated $500,000 in tax revenue to our budget–enough for four additional police officers or firefighters.
10) What are the city’s/district’s biggest challenges, and how do you want to address them?
The biggest challenge facing the city is what has been dubbed “Garland’s Challenge” by city staff and council. This is the fact that we as a city receive lower revenues collected from property taxes and sales tax per capita than surrounding Metroplex cities. This means the city must have a higher property tax rate to receive the same amount of revenue as other cities.
Additionally, Senate Bill 2 from 2019 only allows for a 3.5% annual increase in property tax revenue, which means the city’s ability to provide the same level of service is reduced each year by high inflation levels.
I want to address this by expanding economic development through the use of public-private partnerships to bring in and diversify city revenue sources, which I detailed above.
Secondly, many areas of Garland, particularly in older neighborhoods, have aging roads, water lines, and drainage systems that were originally built in the 1960s to 1980s. The infrastructure in these areas have reached the end of their life cycle and are in need of repair or replacement. On the city council, I advocated for using stormwater fees as a method to finance drainage improvement projects rather than having to raise taxes, and this year got the Gatewood Drainage Improvements project added to the Capital Improvement Project budget. As a professional civil engineer, my focus as mayor will be on improving the streets and infrastructure of the entire city.
Campaign-Related Filings
Treasurer Appointment
2025_mayor_hedrick_dylan_campaign_treasurer.pdf
Application and Petition for Office
2025_mayor_hedrick_dylan_ballot_application.pdf
Campaign Finance Reports and Disclosures
2025_mayor_hedrick_dylan_cfr_20250115.pdf