In the balloting for two positions on the Southlake City Council, Shahid Shafi won the Place 1 seat, defeating incumbent Martin Schelling, while Gary Fawks took the Place 6 spot, beating Virginia Muzyka, according to voting results.
Shafi received 1,727 votes in his favor, or 52.02%, while Schelling earned 1,593 votes, pulling in 47.98%.
As a surgeon and local resident Shafi voiced various issues throughout Southlake, including apartments, traffic and city-school partnership, and has offered commitments to combat such challenges.
For instance, Shafi believes that the City Council must partner with its school districts to efficiently use our tax dollars for the benefit of Southlake's families and their children.
During a recent discussion, Shafi explained that he wanted to improve Southlake by attracting high quality residential and commercial development, and maintain superior municipal services for residents.
Fawks tallied 1,806 votes, or 54.96%, defeating Muyzka, who earned 1,480 votes, or 45.05%.
Fawks served on the City Council from 1996 to 1998 and was involved with the planning and development of Southlake Town Square from concept plan to grand opening.
Fawks has various plans within his vision now that he is on city council, including stopping the trend of higher-density development, working to lower the tax burden on homeowners and partnering with the school districts to maximize tax dollars.
He explained recently that he ran for the position because recent council decisions have allowed more dense and less than top quality development in Southlake. This affects property values and quality of life. Consequently, he wants to return to the vision that made Southlake the great community it is today.