The Southlake City Council has welcomed its two newest councilmembers and said goodbye to some of its former ones. After councilmembers Kathy Talley and Randy Williamson won in their respective races earlier this month, both members were sworn in to Places 1 and 6 during the city council’s regular meeting on Tuesday, November 17. They took over the seats from outgoing councilmembers Shahid Shafi and Chris Archer.
A councilmember since 2014, Shahid Shafi was already on the council when Mayor Laura Hill was elected in 2015. Shafi served on several boards and committees, including the Southlake Parks Development Corporation, the planning and zoning commission and the strategic planning committee, and he volunteered for organizations such as the Southlake Chamber of Commerce and the Carroll Medical Academy.
“As an immigrant who came to this country 30 years ago with very little, where I’m sitting today is a living testament that the American dream is alive and well,” Shafi says. “Have faith in ourselves, have faith in our country, in our values and what we stand for. We should never forget that.”
Before he was sworn into the city council in 2017, Chris Archer was the president of the Carroll ISD board of trustees. As a current advisory board member of the Carroll Education Foundation, Archer says he’s grateful for the passion that councilmembers have for the city and he will miss working with them.
“Everyone up here has so much care and love for the city,” Archer says. “The decisions we make aren’t just decisions that affect us today — they’re decisions that affect the city two, three, five years down the road. It’s been an absolute pleasure and joy working with everyone here. I’m really gonna miss the times that we’ve had together.”
Talley and Williamson were sworn into Shafi and Archer’s positions shortly after. For more information on the newly-elected councilmembers and their terms, visit CityOfSouthlake.com.