Rooney puts down roots in fast growing Mustang

When Tim Rooney arrived in Mustang seven years ago as the new city manager, he was taking over a booming suburban community southwest of Oklahoma City that faced the usual list of challenges for any fast-growing town – a need for more housing, overworked infrastructure and a demand for more retail development.

But Rooney said the task at the top of his list was to improve the relationship between city management and city staff.

“When I first got here there was no trust in management from the staff,” Rooney said. “Absolutely none.”

Rooney said he focused on showing his staff that he had their back and that there wasn’t a task he asked of them he wouldn’t be willing to do himself.

Making staff feel valued was his priority.

“I think you have to walk the walk every day and make sure that when your staff have those difficult decisions that they know you support them without exception 100 percent of the time,” Rooney said. “Once they begin to see you are not going to throw them under the bus in a public hearing they begin to feel like you are on their side and it’s easier to work together on the same goal.”

Rooney’s effort quickly paid off.

“Tim carries sound ethical principles which has won the trust of residents and staff,” Mustang assistant city manager Justin Battles said in 2014 when Rooney was given the Gerald Wilkins Award from the City Management Association of Oklahoma at the annual OML conference. 

After earning his degree in planning, Rooney launched his municipal career in Arizona before later becoming the first full time planner for the city of Owasso. During his 17 years in Owasso, Rooney served as community development director, assistant city manager and sometimes acting city manager.  

“Owasso had just eclipsed the 10,000-population mark when I arrived and it was at 33,000 when I left in 2009, so I got to see a lot of growth,” Rooney said. “I really had the opportunity to develop my approach to planning. I was still pretty young, and I still had a lot of fresh ideas from working in Arizona, a place that also had high growth.”

Rooney spent the next four years in Alaska before he received an offer in 2013 to return to Oklahoma as the city manager of Mustang.

“In Mustang I saw a lot of similarities to what I found in Owasso in the fact that it was a bedroom community that was really growing,” Rooney said. 

After establishing a relationship of trust with his staff, Rooney said his focus was on managing Mustang’s growth, whether it be protecting the city’s retail base or finding ways to efficiently tackle new infrastructure needs.

“Currently the big issue in Mustang, like it is in a lot of cities, is we rely so heavily on sales tax and making sure we protect our retail development so it doesn’t bleed into Oklahoma City,” Rooney said.

Located just west of Will Rogers World Airport and a 30-minute commute to downtown Oklahoma City, Rooney said Mustang embraces its place in the larger metro.

“I don’t think it’s good for our community to try and isolate from Oklahoma City in terms of economic development,” Rooney said. 

“But I think you always remind your residents how important sales tax is to a community like Mustang and its quality of life and how important it is to maintain its current funding levels.”

The Federal Aviation Administration and other large operations near the airport provide a customer base for Mustang, along with potential residents.   

“I like to describe Mustang as the closest attractive residential area to the airport,” Rooney said. “Also, a lot of our lunchtime crowd is tied to the FFA and a lot of employment at the airport.”

That connection will only increase with the completion of a turnpike extension from the airport to Interstate 40 that passes just north of Mustang’s city limits. 

Rooney said he is also proud of a recent upgrade to the city’s wastewater treatment facility.

“(The city) was the number one user of water in our community for irrigation purposes at our ball fields in the town center,” Rooney said. “But now we have a water reuse component so we can reuse water to irrigate and water our ball fields.”

The reused water decreases the city’s dependence on water from Oklahoma City or from Mustang’s own water wells.

“It’s going to save us about $70,000 a year,” Rooney said. “We also have a component where we can sell that water to other industries, like the oil industry or landscapers.”

Last October, Mustang celebrated 50 years since becoming incorporated, a party that included a giant birthday cake and fireworks.

“Fireworks are such an important part of Mustang’s history, as everyone is familiar with,” said Rooney, referring to the city’s status as one of the few municipalities in the area that allow firework sales and use. 

Past city leaders were also honored during the weeklong celebration, which included an animal adoption drive.

With a life largely spent on the move, including as a child with a father in the military, Rooney said he has been grateful to put down roots in Mustang.

“I feel like I am really blessed to be here, and it’s been a really great fit for me,” Rooney said. “I gave a state of city speech recently and one of the things I communicated was that Mustang was probably one of the best decisions I made in my life. I am so happy to be here.”