After serving for eight years as a city council member in Missouri City, Jeffrey Boney is going for the top spot in the municipal government.
Boney, the District B council member in the Fort Bend County city southwest of Houston, is challenging Mayor Robin Elackatt in the Nov. 4 election, with early voting starting Monday. Boney said he was inspired to run against Elackatt because he wants to rebuild and redevelop Missouri City into the bustling city he views it as.
Boney said he has devoted his civic service to the city's businesses, particularly uplifting women- and minority-owned businesses.
"We're no longer a rural community," he said. "We're a thriving community, becoming more of an urban community."
Because Boney is vacating his council seat to run for mayor, there also is a special election to determine who will complete his unexpired term. The at-large 1 and at-large 2 seats on the Missouri City Council also are on the ballot.
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Serving as the city's mayor for nearly five years, Elackatt said he wants to continue his administration’s efforts in infrastructure and public safety. During his terms as mayor, he's devoted resources to pour into the Parkway/Cartwright road corridor revitalization, created a public safety annex to enhance public safety and upgraded the city's fire stations.
These efforts escalated when Missouri City was hit by Hurricane Beryl in July 2024, amounting to more than $2 million in damages.
"Trying to manage something you don't have control over, but it affects your city, it's probably one of the toughest things I've dealt with," Elackatt said.
If he's reelected, to continue ensuring the growth and protection of the city's infrastructure and safety, Elackatt plans to devote his resources to the city's drainage issues and older, run-down roads for safer neighborhoods.
"My biggest focus, public safety, is an ongoing focus, but it'd be the infrastructure piece of what we needed to do," he said. "And then also, we have old streets and things of that type of nature and we want to continue to do that."
Boney said he's also committed to supporting and elevating the city's infrastructure, along with its businesses. He hopes this will draw in visitors and tourists, increasing Missouri City's sales tax revenue.
"I want to reduce our overall dependence on property taxes, and the only way we can do that is by driving up our sales taxes revenue," Boney said.
James Davidson and Sharita L. Thompson are running in the special election to succeed Boney on the city council.
Sonya Brown-Marshall, the incumbent city council member in the at-large 1 position, is being challenged by Shad Bogany. Lynn Clouser is seeking reelection as the at-large 2 council member and faces challengers Dinishi Abayarathna and Bruce Zaborowski.