Jason Laumer, The Life Connected Man In The Arena

Ron Lyons (00:01):
You've got little duck sized horses running around and you've gotta fight them. What do you do? Tell

'em, like footballs, what do you do?

Jason Laumer (00:10):
Yeah, I mean, just a hundred times. And you know,

Ron Lyons (00:13):
Because they're attacking you, but

Jason Laumer (00:15):
Maybe they're nice horses, you know, is there's some food around that. You can feed 'em. You know,

Ron Lyons (00:21):

You're such a city manager. Look at you looking for solutions here. I like it. Welcome to CelinaRadio.com. Recorded right here in Celina, Texas, A quiet, little dusty, sleepy town that has absolutely nothing going on.

Ron Lyons (00:47):

Of course, I'm kidding, because Celina, Texas has everything going on, and when I say everything, I mean a little bit of everything. Of course. The majority of it is amazing. And today we've got a fantastic guest, somebody who I believe has really contributed to making the city amazing. And that's Jason Laumer, the current city manager for the city of Celina. Somebody who has brought a vision, the ability to hire staff, and a mindset to Celina that we haven't had in the past that has set us on the track to go wonderful and amazing places in the future. So I got to sit down with Jason and really kind of understand an awful lot about what he does, his philosophies, his past. And we even had a little bit of fun along the way. Now, I didn't push any issues too far, as far as the fun stuff, because Jason has told me for weeks and weeks that he's not gonna play any games or do anything like that. So we didn't do anything crazy. I may have pushed it just a little bit with some questions. Just sit back and see what you think about it. I, for one, am a huge fan of Jason Laumer and his vision and accomplishments in the city of Celina. I think you are going to agree. And by the way, definitely listen all the way to the end. I've got an amazing song that I'm gonna play in its entirety for you, something I think you're gonna like. But just before that,

Ron Lyons (02:34):

I've got a little message that you're gonna want to hear for right now. Let's get into our interview with Jason Laumer. Guys, I am here right now with Jason Laumer. You know Jason Laumer because he's the city manager of Celina Texas. Jason, how you doing

Jason Laumer (03:06):
Today, man? I'm doing great, Ron. Thank you for having me on.

Ron Lyons (03:08):

Absolutely. It's cold outside right now, so thank you for We're, we're in the blue house right off the square and the heat is not turned on, so we got this little heater going over here. So what, what do you think about, are you loving or hating the change in the

Jason Laumer (03:23):

Weather? Um, I think it feels good. I like the change. I just wish it would be more gradual. But, you know, this is Texas, you know, it, you know, tomorrow it will probably be like, you know, 80 degrees and today it's cold and rainy and you know, there's something about Texas weather where when it gets rainy like this, it feels colder than what the temperature eats. Right,

Ron Lyons (03:41): Right,

Jason Laumer (03:42):
Right. And I'm always amazed by that, cuz you know, you go up north, it's cold, but sometimes I think,

you know, 50 degrees in Texas feels colder than 35 Absolutely. Up

Ron Lyons (03:49):

North. Absolutely. And it's true today we're all wearing jackets and we're all wrapped up and bumbled up tomorrow. We literally could be in cargo shorts and flip flops, <laugh>, that is Texas for you. But, but man, thank you for being here. There's so much amazing stuff going on in Celina and we're, we're gonna cover a lot of different things, but one of the things that just kind of foremost on my mind right now is we've, we've got the Christmas event coming up on the square. So tell me a little bit about that. Do you just love that event?

Jason Laumer (04:18):

Oh, Christmas on the Square is amazing. I mean, you know, so many people tell me it's almost like a Hallmark movie, you know, that it gets that same feeling of, of family and community and being in a really special place. The the squares just amazing. It's gonna be decorated. We're gonna have the tree lighting, you know, Santa's gonna help light the tree. Um, we'll have choirs there singing also, and it's just, and of course, vendors and Christmas vendors that you can buy stuff. Um, hot chocolate. It's just a, a really amazing event and I really, um, welcome everybody to come and, and really enjoy it.

Ron Lyons (04:48):

So, and, and I've been to them in the past and it is exactly what you're saying. It's just like a Hallmark movie. It's awesome. And if it's, if it's a little chilly outside to me that's a little better cuz it kind of makes it seem more Christmasy. But, um, but, but that's, that really does, that draws a lot of people here. So do, do you have an idea of like, how many people can we expect to come to Celina for something like that?

Jason Laumer (05:10):

We, we typically have several thousand. It seems to grow every year as, you know, people move to the city and wanna come out to the events and experience 'em themselves. Um, you know, last year we had a huge surprise cuz uh, the character Forney from, uh, Yellowstone was there, which was a complete surprise. You know, he knew, uh, Punk Carter. Uh, I think he might have talked to him about him on the show before. And, uh, you know, he, he brought Forney and, uh, he helped like the tree also. It's

Ron Lyons (05:34):

Very, very cool. And I remember that it was a big, huge thing. There was a, a lot of people that were very, very excited about that. But you know what, one of the things that really makes Celina unique in my mind is the downtown. So, you know, we've got all this growth coming and, and anytime you've got a city like this, and I, I experienced this back in the day with Frisco back in the late nineties. Um, it's, it's a tough deal. It's a, it's a hard deal because, you know, the very thing that attracts all of us to Celina right, is that, that small town feel. But by the very nature of the fact that it's drawing all of us to Celina, that means we're growing. So how do you feel about all the growth?

Jason Laumer (06:15):

Well, you know, I think my job, you know, and this is really the direction from council who my bosses is that we wanna manage the growth. We want it to work for us. We want to figure out ways to, as we grow, to still maintain that small town charms and, and feel. And I think the downtown is one of the key aspects of that, because we can continue to have events downtown where you get to know your neighbors, you meet people, you know, it just feels, uh, like community.

Ron Lyons (06:39):

So one of the, the connections and, and what I love the, the vision that I've invested in this city and that so many people have, is that we do have an anchor to our heritage into our past, which is this downtown square. We're literally setting one minute off the square right now. And it's amazing. And I, and I'm not gonna say anything negative about our, our, our, our cities to the south, but we've, we've got an amazing square. And, and we may be a little more blessed in having a better square than, you know, you just, you have to go pretty far down there before you get to something like this. This is pretty amazing, isn't it?

Jason Laumer (07:13):

No, it's, and it's really been amazing for over a hundred years. I mean, if you look at some of the original founders that help create the Square, you know, we're very unique. We're one of the few, uh, downtowns that have a square that doesn't have a courthouse. And that square's always been a gathering spot. I've talked to, we have an employee, um, that's, you know, grew up here and she would tell me stories about how as a teenager, every, you know, this is before, you know, cell phones and, and Facebook and you know, how they met up with their friends was like, everybody just hung out at the square and then they would, you know, catch up and, and visit each other. But it was always like, Hey, I'll meet you on the square.

Ron Lyons (07:49):

And, and, and now obviously technology is taking over. So now you can do all these things. So I, I know they, there's a, there's a new app, uh, it's like a life connected, uh, app. Help, help me, help me understand.

Jason Laumer (08:02):

Yeah, so we really, you know, we work, we work every day to try to figure out ways to help our residents out. And so one of the ideas we had a few years ago was to, you know, if you go to the, the app store, you can, uh, type in Celina Life Connected and the the app should pop up. Um, it's a, we try, we we're continue to grow it, but we want it to be a place where you can see the events going on. Um, you can report an issue. So a lot of times, you know, people might have an issue with a, a stop sign being down or a pothole and, you know, you can go on the app and report the issue and it drops right into our work

order system and it has to be tracked. And so it's really great because, um, you know, right now when someone reports a pothole, we're about about one week out from filling that pothole with our Amazing Streets department. And we've really come a long way, you know, really since, uh, winter Storm Erie, uh, happened and Erie happened in, uh, in, uh, tore up a lot of, of our roads with the freezing for, you know, seven days. But I think we've come a long way in trying to repair that and the app's part of that process.

Ron Lyons (09:02):

So it's not, so we, we have such a unique blend of everything going on here in Solana. We've got this amazing downtown square that has all these events that people just love and come out for, like you said, hallmark movie. That's the literal best way to describe it. If I'm telling my family and friends, Hey, come to Celina, check this out. They're like, well, what is it? Yeah, a lot of cities put a lot of different things. Nobody does anything quite as amazing as Celina does. There's just a field, there's just a, it's a, it's a whole experience and, and I obviously I love Celina, so, so it's very, very easy for me to, to say that. But when people come here, they experience that as well. But we're not just stuck in the past. I mean, well, you've got an app right now, a life connected app where people can literally have some sort of an issue and report it virtually in real time, and it gets integrated into the system. Like I said, it gets a work order or whatever, and it's repaired quickly and there's a tracking part to it. So, so that's, that's a very unique blend of, we've got an anchor to our past. We're in a unique location right here on Preston Road in the hallway, and we've got, uh, a lot of talent, I'm assuming, in order to make things like this happen. Is there, is that important to you as the city manager to have a lot of talented people here?

Jason Laumer (10:16):

Oh, it, it, it really takes a team, you know, so we really focus on having great team members, you know, taking advantage of their strengths. You know, the, our GIS director, you know, OGI is the one that really works on the app. Um, this year we're gonna have, uh, you know, we have the fire Santa around town, so you know, Santa will be on a fire truck driving through the neighborhoods, and the app's actually gonna show you, uh, almost real time where Santa's at. So if you wanna stay in the house, if it's cold, and wait until Santa's close and bring your kids out and say hi to Santa, it's a, it's really an amazing thing that I think our fire department

Ron Lyons (10:47):

Does for our, so let me, let me just be sure I understand this. So, so on that app, is it on that app that that's gonna happen? Yes. Okay. So on that life connected app, people will be able to track Santa Claus on a fire truck as he drives through the streets of Celina, Texas. He's not driving the truck, I

Jason Laumer (11:04):
Assume? No, he is not driving the truck. He's on top of the truck. Okay.

Ron Lyons (11:07):
He's on top of the truck. And, and it's kinda like the ice cream truck's coming, except you see it on your

app and then you get to run out in your front yard with your kids and Santa comes buying the

Jason Laumer (11:16):

Fire truck. Yeah, it's really amazing. I mean, uh, I remember my kids when they were, were young and, uh, being able to see Santa is just so special to them. And we love providing those memories for our residents. Um, it's something, you know, I think they, they'll cherish even as they grow older.

Ron Lyons (11:31):

So, so that's, that's what I'm talking about. That's part of what I love about this city is the fact that people like you and the staff and the, the city council, everybody takes that sort of thing into account and tries to make this city even more amazing. Like, I'm happy with it right now, but things like that just make it even better and better and better. We just had the Troubadour Festival out here. There's always different events and I just see things improving and improving and improving. But, but let's, let's, let's kinda shift gears just a little bit. Let's talk about you. So how long have you been in Celina?

Jason Laumer (12:05):
Um, I, I've been in Celina since 2017. I was hired as a city manager in August of 2017. So I've been here a

little bit over five years.

Ron Lyons (12:13):
Okay. And, and what'd you do before

Jason Laumer (12:15):

That? Um, you know, I, I, I graduated from Texas a and m. I'm a, uh, what I like to say, an engineer by trade, a civil engineer by trade. So I know infrastructure very well, uh, which comes in handy in a, uh, high growth city that has a lot of infrastructure challenges. Um, but I'm really a, a planner by heart. And so I love, uh, helping cities, you know, manage growth and really make things better for residents. And when I say that, I mean, um, you know, you watch people use a park and you can see how the kids use it and how the moms use it, and then you can improve from there. But it's, it's neat to create these areas that you create experiences for people, people, you know, our residents. And so when they come downtown, you know, you see kids playing on the square, um, sometimes you'll see people pick up dinner and eat at a picnic table on the square and kind of watch everybody, you know, we call it kind of call it scene and be scene, you know, kind of experience. And people just really love that.

Ron Lyons (13:05):

Right. And it's super, super cool. One of the things that, let me, let me just go back in time a little bit. When I first got here, I came up outta Dallas, um, and my first night in a police car here was right there in front of Papa Ga. I was pulling onto the square, okay. That was still two-way right there at the time. And there was a pickup truck with some high school boys in it. Some were in the cab of the truck. There was I think three in the bed of the truck. And then there were a couple of, few guys on the ground running through the square blue jeans, no shirts, cowboy boots on. They had a rope in a lasso, and they were trying to lasso each other through the square of Celina, Texas from, uh, an old pickup truck. And it was, I literally had, I was like, what in the world is this place? Like, I, I'm used to seeing homeless people and I'm used to seeing different things that are kind of unique to Dallas, but I've never seen people try to rope each other out of a pickup truck before. And let me tell you, oddly, from that moment on, I literally have loved this city. It's so unique. It just, it just grabbed me and I can't, I can't even explain why, but what is it about what, like why do you love Celina?

Jason Laumer (14:16):

Oh, I mean, Celina's just special, like I was saying earlier. I mean, you just, you just feel it. I mean, the, the people, the community, they're always willing to help each other out. You see people post on Facebook that I need some help here, and people respond. Um, you know, the residents are just, you

know, very positive. Um, you know, we call it, you know, faith, family and football, you know, it's kind of faith,

Ron Lyons (14:36): Family and football. You

Jason Laumer (14:37):

Know, it's, uh, you know, and, and you know, I, I think people, you know, really understand that, you know, I think it's why it's been attractive for people who wanna move here. They wanna raise their children here. Um, they want the history and tradition that both the city and, and this this line of school district offers,

Ron Lyons (14:52):

Right? And this is very much a Friday night Lights kind of town. Football is, it's just a big, big part of who we are. It always has been. I I go all the way back to Ga Moore and all the championships back in those days. And now, once again, here we are just a amazing football team. And, you know, what's super, super cool to me is sitting down with the football coach and hearing that the values that they instill in the, in the boys that are playing football and how critical that is to them, I, I'm just blown away by it. So almost everywhere you turn into line, it's like we're all just a part of this really great, awesome experience. And I'm not saying that we don't have our growing pains and that we're, you know, perfect. We're not. But by and large, what an amazing city. So that's gotta be amazing for you sitting in the position you're in, getting to see all of this growth and kind of, kind of having the inside track on everything. So is that, is that not just like a, a complete blessing and amazing thing for you?

Jason Laumer (15:55):

Oh, it's, it is. I mean, Celina is a blessed place. I'm blessed to be able to work here. I think, you know, it's, it's what attracts a lot of our employees. You know, they feel the same way about, you know, helping our residents, you know, helping the city accomplish its goals. And that's really, you know, at the end of the day, we want, you know, high engagement with our residents, want them to feel involved. We want them to feel special. And it's just, you know, it's just amazing. So you, you know, you know, we recently expanded, you know, old Line Park and just, you know, you watch the kids play on the fields, enjoy it. And, you know, they didn't have the opportunity before we expanded it. You know, we're working on, uh, bringing a, a huge playground, toine apart, old line apart. And I, I can't wait for moms to be able to take their kids after that playground and enjoy those moments and memories with their kids.

Ron Lyons (16:37):

And, and there's a large plan. Um, I've personally invested in lots of properties around downtown and, and, and so I'm, I'm a a big fan of the plans that this city has for the future. When, and, and that means being able to like, make it a destination. You can park, you can do this. There's so many, there's so much thought into all of that. So do you, do you feel like the staff here is just like really topnotch because that, that stuff doesn't just happen by accident, that stuff is by design, that means that there's talented people making critical decisions and good things are happening because of it. Would you agree with that?

Jason Laumer (17:12):

Yeah, definitely. And I, I think, you know, we wanna be the, the best planned city and whether that's, you know, downtown's a perfect example. So, you know, we, we have a, we did a downtown master plan in 2019. We had a lot of residents input and what they wanted the downtown to be. And then, you know, we use that plan so we don't just finish the plan and put up on the shelf and go mission accomplished. You know, we use that plan to make budget decisions to buy property. You know, we're, we bought, um, we worked with the school district to take over the, transfer the Bobcat field into the city so we can incorporate it into a new linear park downtown. You know, it's gonna be called Ley Park to respect the Ley family that's been here for forever, several generations. You know, they originally donated land to the school district to have the football field. And, and now they're gonna let the city take it over and, and really turn it into a park that will really enhance to downtown. You know, we, we buying, we have bought land for future parking garages, cuz we hear it from our residents that they want more parking downtown. And so we're planning that. We're in the middle of, you know, about to start design on our first parking garage, uh, right behind city hall.

Ron Lyons (18:16):

So give me an idea. We're gonna, we, we've talked so much about city stuff and, and we're just in complete agreement that the City of Celina is amazing and it's, it's taken a lot to get here. There's a lot of talent, there's a lot of people, um, obviously you're a part of that talent and, and, and I, for one, can literally sit here and say thank you for everything that you do, everything that you have done. I don't think we'd be where we are right now had you not been in this position. So thank you for that. And I, and I speak for many, many people out here who feel the same way as I do. But, but give me an idea. I wanna know what, what does Jason do? And Jason comes to the square. Okay, let's just, let's just say when you come to the Square, like, what do you like to do? Where do you like to eat? And you know, like, where do you like to go? What do you like to do,

Jason Laumer (18:59):
Ron? I like, I like all the places you can't make me, you can't make me pick a favorite. That's like trying to

pick your,

Ron Lyons (19:05):

Well, let's child, you know? I agree. I agree. Very, very, very good safe answer. <laugh>, let's just, let's just pick a place because everybody loves to hear other people's recommendations. And I'm in full agreement. There's not one place down here that I don't like. Yeah, I love 'em all. But if somebody said, well, you know, pick a place and tell me what you like from there, I would say, I like to go to Loosies and I love their chicken fri steak, or I love their punk cutter meatloaf or whatever. But I could do that for all the places. Um, there's rarely a weekend that you'll see me at Papa

Jason Laumer (19:34):
Gaos. Yeah. Do you know what I'm saying? I think I usually ask people like, what you in the mood for?

Right? Right. And then, and then try to fit the restaurant to what they're in the mood for.

Ron Lyons (19:41):
So, so let's just say that I'm in the mood for something from, let's just say toasted Walnut. Do you go to

Toasted Walnut? Jason Laumer (19:48):

Yeah. I love, I love Joey and Toast and Walnut, you know, so like, you know, the first time I had his burger, the, you know, the, the

Ron Lyons (19:55): WA

Jason Laumer (19:56):

Burger, I was like, it just like melted in my mouth. I was like, this is the most amazing burger I've ever had. I mean, it just, it's just, I mean, epic. I mean, it is just, and he has several great items, but it's really hard not to get the burger when I go there.

Ron Lyons (20:10):

And, and in speaking about Celina and how, like I said, everybody's kind of, we're, we're all in like this same family, so to speak. Like we're, we're, we're all pulled together here in, in this, and Joey Dawkins, he's been on the show, um, he has a passion for what he's doing there. He loves being a part of this community. He loves the direction that everything's been going. He, he loves everything about this just like I do. And, you know, he, he goes above and beyond in his own little way. He knows that when you go to toasted wall in a square, you would really like for the chef to bring your food to the table. That's a little personal touch that he, that he chooses to do. Now he, he can't serve everyone, you know, and he's not there 24 7, but how many times have you gone there? And Joey literally brings your food. And, and, and it doesn't matter if you're the city manager or, you know, uh, a real estate guy like me or, or, or anything else. That's amazing. And that's the kind of stuff that goes on the line of Texas

Jason Laumer (21:06):

That, you know, Joey, we have a lot of amazing people. Joey is one of them that, that makes Celina different, makes it unique. He really cares about his business and Square and downtown and Celina. I mean, so, you know, it's really people like Joey, you know, that contribute, you know, in groups to, to make us unique and different and awesome. Right on. And I, I can't say enough about those type of business owners.

Ron Lyons (21:32):
If you, if, if you're going into Loosies now, give me an idea. What is Jason gonna order at Loosies?

<laugh>, I,

Jason Laumer (21:40):
I, I have two things I always order and the waitress is always like, which one are you gonna get today?

Ron Lyons (21:45): And

Jason Laumer (21:46):

It, it's usually, um, either the, uh, loosies chicken salad. Okay. Um, you know, it's just a simple salad with either grilled chicken or, or fried chicken. Right. Um, sometimes I get it with buffalo chicken. Okay. Um, which is really good.

Ron Lyons (21:59): Right, right.

Jason Laumer (22:00):
Um, and then other times I'll, I'll just get a burger and, uh, a salad.

Ron Lyons (22:03):

Nice. Very, very nice. And I've, I've seen Loosies loosies, uh, back in the day was called Bill e Bob's Cantina. And it's, it's grown. And I'm, I'm very happy that it's, that's done what's done. They, they have things like, they have karaoke night, they have trivia stuff. Do you ever go for any of that stuff? Or you like one of those guys that can get up there and sing karaoke or do the, uh, the trivia stuff?

Jason Laumer (22:26):
I like listening to karaoke, but you really don't want to hear me sing. And I don't, I think it'd be like, Hey,

is this guy gonna finish

Ron Lyons (22:35):
<laugh>? Can we, can we, can we go ahead and just like, get to the next guy

Jason Laumer (22:39):

On trivia? I've done trivia and I've also done trivia to Little and Penguin. Right, right. And I always feel like I'm pretty smart until, until I don't know any of the trivia questions. And then I'm like, man, I I, how do I don't know these questions. Right. <laugh>. Right.

Ron Lyons (22:54):

That's exactly me too. I, I literally sit at the table with my wife and my little girl in whatever the topic is. Dad will know this, dad knows this, and then the pressure's on. And I'm like, dad doesn't know this. <laugh>. I hate to say I don't know everything. So, yeah. But it's awesome. And speaking of the little wooden penguin, don't you love the fact that we have places like that coming to Celina right

Jason Laumer (23:15):

Now? I, I still remember the first time I talked to Katie and Taylor, the owners of Little and Penguin, and, you know, uh, speaking of amazing people. I mean, they've really invested in the, in the city. You know, they're, they're behind some of the designs of many of the businesses, um, in ACelina in the downtown. And they've, they've really invested. And, you know, the first time I met 'em, they, they're like, we want to do a coffee, beer, wine. Why We make furniture <laugh>? Um, and you know, for a lot of cities, they're like, no, you can't do that. And we're like, man, that

Ron Lyons (23:44):

Sounds awesome. Let's do it. Let's do it. I like it. I like it. I love that we can do it and we're gonna all work together to get it done kind of mentality. It's huge because, and again, not to disparage any cities to the South, but I was very involved in Frisco back in the day. Um, and it wasn't quite as easy to get things accomplished there. And I'm talking about, I don't, I'm not talking about today, different leadership, different everything now, but it was a different world back then. And it was commonly known that it was a a a, you literally almost couldn't do it. And so I love the fact that this city, you, the staff, the city

council, that you embrace people like me, small businesses, and let me tell you, it's huge. We love that. So it's, it's amazing. I can't, I can't, I can't thank you enough for that and say how much we appreciate that. And it makes a world of difference having experienced a different version of growth before and then now this, it's huge. So it's that time of year again. That's right. Christmas is upon us.

Ron Lyons (24:57):

And what a fantastic place to celebrate Christmas. A Celina, Texas is truly an amazing place to experience the holidays. I'm not talking about Christmas on the Square, that's incredible by itself. I'm talking about the people who live here, your neighbors, your friends, your community. And there's so many different ways to help celebrate Christmas. And the Christmas on the Square happens on Wednesday, November 30th from five until 9:00 PM And it's, it's just amazing. It really is. There's all kinds of different things that they do. They have, of course, Santa Claus, what would any Christmas event be without Santa? They've got a kid zone, they even have live reindeer.

Speaker 3 (26:01): There's

Ron Lyons (26:02):

Gonna be local performances, there's gonna be crafts, and there's gonna be food and vendors and maybe a few other surprises as well. Now on December the seventh at 6:00 PM in front of Celina City Hall, none other than Santa Claus himself

Ron Lyons (26:28):

And a few Good Marines and our amazing Celina Rotary Club will be hosting a Toy drop event. And last year it was incredible. It was the best experience ever. We were blessed enough to get to go and buy some toys and pull up and drop 'em off. And Corbit Howard and so many different people who were out there, and they were so grateful and so thankful, and you just got such the spirit of Christmas. It was amazing. So I would encourage you to go check that out, grab a toy and go drop it off. These guys are incredible. The experience is amazing, and it's part of what makes Celina so incredible. And something else that you might want to get involved in is the Blue Santa program put on by the Celina Police Department. Now this is essentially a method to actually adopt a needy family and help them meet some of those needs at Christmastime. Now you can reach out to my friend Chase Guara at the Celina Police Department to get more information about this. But it's a very worthy cause and a way that you can help give back to the community and make Christmas super special for a Celina family.

Ron Lyons (28:02):

And of course, there's gonna be so many other things going on in and around Celina during the holidays. And if you'll go to CelinaRadio.com, we'll have a list of all of these things and so many more things where you can participate, have a good time, make a difference in somebody's life. Just be a part of this incredible community that we call Celina, Texas. And remember, the most important part of this holiday is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the greatest gift that God has ever given to man. And we celebrate that birth, that incredible gift this Christmas. Find yourself a good local church, or reach out to me and learn more about this amazing gift called Jesus Christ, Christmas on the Square and those things, the Friday night and the movie, the market and stuff. Does your family love to come out and participate in all of that stuff? Oh

Jason Laumer (29:40):

Yes. We rarely miss an event. I mean, we just, I just love watching the people enjoy it. You know, I, I just, you know, our, our event staff does such an amazing job, you know, that they, they just, you know, they just really hit it on the nail on the head and just really create great events and special moments and, um, you know, you can feel it when you're there. You know, you walk around on Friday Night Market and you know, there's several vendors that are repeat vendors and you're like, oh, that product's awesome. We need to pick some up. But

Ron Lyons (30:08):
I love doing these events. I love people coming by. I love meeting the people out here and very, very

similar to your situation. Um, it's just, it's amazing. The people are what makes the town.

Jason Laumer (30:18):

No, I agree. I mean, so amazing. You know, I think it was a Friday night before the last one, you know, I picked up some Papago, like you talked about. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> took it to go and, uh, ate on the picnic table out on the square. And it was just great to meet some papagos out on the square and watching everybody walk by and, you know, I saw several people I knew and got to say hi to him. And it was, it's just a really nice experience.

Ron Lyons (30:41):
Absolutely. And, and I wanna learn a little bit about you. So I know you went to Texas a and m, you

worked at Little Elm before you came over here.

Jason Laumer (30:50):

This job, I was in the private sector for civil engineering where I helped a lot of small cities with their engineering needs. Right. Um, and that, you know, eventually turned into a job at the town of Little Elm as the city engineer. And, uh, eventually grew. Like, uh, all cities have been growing in Texas into a, a bigger role with, uh, planning and development and, um, you know, capital projects and really helping the, the city grow.

Ron Lyons (31:12):
Right. And, and so being in the position you're in, what does Celina need right now?

Jason Laumer (31:19):

Well, I think, you know, when we talk about Celina, you know, being 80 square miles and, and growing you, you think about what, what are those needs that our residents want, um, for it to be a complete city? And so, you know, one of 'em that we identified a few years ago was healthcare. And then, you know, we helped recruit, um, Methodist Hospital. Now they own, you know, 48 acres on the tollway in 4 28, and they're about to start their phase one. So Celina will soon have a

Ron Lyons (31:45): Hospital. Very nice.

Jason Laumer (31:46):

And I think other things are, you know, offices so we can really be a true workload play city where people can, residents can be close to their place of work. And then of course, the other thing, you know, keeping the theme of the family is, you know, family entertainment, you know, whatever that is, where it's throwing ax, is that throwing ax or, you know, I'd love to bring like a, a full service, uh, mini golf place. Um, we've joked about maybe even having the old school family like skating rink. I don't don't know how that would work, but, um, I remember those memories as a kid, you know, places that you could really be with your kids and your family. And I think we're gonna try to encourage those type of local businesses.

Ron Lyons (32:23):

I like it. I like it a lot. That would be fantastic. Because what you do is we, we all kind of draw on our own past things that were, you know, great experiences for us. We wanna share those now. That's why my child sits down with me and watches Charlie Brown Christmas, even though Charlie Brown is probably not her favorite thing, but it's because I have such great memories of sitting down at Christmas and watching that. But I, I wanna ask you some kind of fun questions too. I wanna get to know you a little bit better than just, you know, uh, Jason Luer, the, the the city manager. And, and one of those questions is, if you could sit down and have coffee with any historical figure, anyone from history, a lot of times I'll let people say just anybody, I'm gonna hold you to history, someone from history, who would you like to sit down and have a cup of coffee with?

Jason Laumer (33:13):
Um, you know, I'm a history buff, so, um, if I have to say the first thing that comes to mind, probably like

Theodore Roosevelt. I really like

Ron Lyons (33:20):
Roosevelt. Tell me, tell me about that.

Jason Laumer (33:22):

Well, I mean, I just think he had a unique time and history of, you know, of the country. And, uh, one of my favorite quotes is, is on my wall that he did is called The Man in the Arena, you know, really talks about, you know, it's easy to be a critic, you know, on the, on the outside. Um, but the people that are trying, you know, trying to do something, trying to make something better are the people that are really in their arena fighting, uh, to improve.

Ron Lyons (33:46):

Bingo. Man, you just nailed that. Absolutely. And so if you're gonna sit down with him, let's just go ahead and say that you're gonna go over here your summer moon. Okay. <laugh>, are you, are, I should ask you this first though. Are you, are you a fan of coffee?

Jason Laumer (34:01):
Oh, I, I, well, you know, the funny story is my, my parents didn't drink coffee, so I didn't drink coffee till

about five years ago.

Ron Lyons (34:08): Really?

Jason Laumer (34:09):
And now I drink coffee all the time. <laugh>, they, they say it's healthy for you though. Um, I'm, I'm

Ron Lyons (34:14):

Really hopeful. Let's, let's go with that. Let's go with that. Yeah. I should be very, very healthy then, because I, I think I have coffee instead of blood running through this body. But, so, so you go to Summer Moon and you're going in, going in there with, uh, tell Roosevelt, right? What, uh, what is he, what do you order him? Because remember he's not seen this before. You know, in his day, coffee was just, you know, something you poured out of a percolator and, and that was it.

Jason Laumer (34:41):
I mean, I'd probably just order him what I order, you know, a a quarter moon, you know, and, and, and

see if he likes it or not. You know,

Ron Lyons (34:49):
What would, what would he think about, cuz he was a tough guy, <laugh>, what would he think about

that? Would would it be too sweet for him? Would it just be,

Jason Laumer (34:55):
Maybe it would have to be a less than a quarter? I don't know. I mean it's, uh, yeah, he'd probably think

it's way too sweet.

Ron Lyons (35:01):
Oh man. That's crazy. And what do you think he would think about Celina, Texas today? You think he'd

be a fan of everything going on here?

Jason Laumer (35:09):

Uh, you know, that, I don't know. That's a, that's a good question. I, I mean, I like, I would give him a tour and talk about what we're working on and you know, I know he was a, a big fan of, of, of Parks and open space. He's one of the ones that helped create the National Park system.

Ron Lyons (35:21): Absolutely.

Jason Laumer (35:22):

And so I, I probably talked to him about, you know, how we're trying to create trails and, you know, we continue to buy park land to preserve it, you know, to develop in the future for our residents. Cuz you know, if you don't buy it now, the, the land will be there. And I think he talked a lot about that with the National Park system, making sure that, um, some of that land was preserved for open space and for, for people to enjoy.

Ron Lyons (35:41):
Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and tell me this, what was your favorite subject back in high school?

Jason Laumer (35:48): I mean, history. I

Ron Lyons (35:50):
Just, I just love that makes sense. Love

Jason Laumer (35:51):
History. I mean, I'm, I'm really good at math, but that's, you know, that's what kind

Ron Lyons (35:55):

Of led me to engineer. I don't, I don't think you and I can be friends anymore cuz I can't, I can't know people who are good at math. It just doesn't work for me. I don't know. I don't understand how your brain works.

Jason Laumer (36:03):
I took an extra elective in college cuz I thought it would be fun. Um, so that's how much I love math.

Ron Lyons (36:09):
You took an extra math class?

Jason Laumer (36:11): I do.

Ron Lyons (36:12):

<laugh>. Okay. There, there might be a problem going. We were good on the coffee. I love, I love the parks. Yes. We're all, and then you just lost me on the math man. But No, that's awesome. God bless you for being good at math. I literally wish that I could be good at math, but it just, for some reason that doesn't, you think being in real estate, like I'd be really good at, I'm really good at real estate math, but you give me any kind of math outside of real estate, you might as well just go ahead and go ask my 10 year old because she's gonna know it way better than me.

Jason Laumer (36:44):

Well, you know, I often joke with my staff cause we'll be working on projects and I'll, I'll quickly, you know, kind of what I call napkin math in my head, Uhhuh. And you know, they'll go and run it through a whole spreadsheet and figure out all the numbers. And my napkin math comes really close to their final number.

Ron Lyons (37:01): Nice. That's

Jason Laumer (37:01):
Awesome. They're always a little amazed by that.

Ron Lyons (37:03):

<laugh>, my, if I did napkin math in my head, it'd be so far off they'd be like, what are you doing? Or did you even hear the question? So if, if, um, if you had to say what your favorite movie is or one of your favorite movies, it's hard sometimes to nail it down to just one calling me. I've got, I've got a bunch of favorites, but gimme an idea. What's, what's a favorite movie of Jason Laumer?

Jason Laumer (37:24):
I I would say my favorite movie is Star Wars and

Ron Lyons (37:27):
Oh, okay. And so we just became brothers again.

Jason Laumer (37:31):
It's really not that hard for me and it's not because it's a, you know, Oscar winning, you know, but I

would say that as a child that probably influenced me more than any movie in my life.

Ron Lyons (37:41): Absolutely. The whole, the

Jason Laumer (37:43):
Whole story, you know, farm Boy, you know, being raised to fight the GL empire and, you know, do good

for the Republic. I mean, it's just Oh

Ron Lyons (37:53): My

Jason Laumer (37:53): Goodness. A classic hero story.

Ron Lyons (37:55):

Yes, yes. And, and, and just, and let me just side note this real quick. I'm still such a Star Wars fan that as of yesterday on the, uh, I think it's the Facebook marketplace deal. I literally just bought an album from 1977. It's a, it's an activity book and, and, and record from Star Wars from 1977. And I collect that stuff. I literally still collect it.

Jason Laumer (38:23):

I, you know, I went through some collecting phases I think a lot of guys do. And, uh, star Wars at one point was a, a collecting thing of mine. And, um, I can't throw it away. It's all in storage right now. I actually actually rent the storage to not just for Star Wars, but for some of the Star Wars stuff. Right, right. You know, it's just a lot of memories.

Ron Lyons (38:42):

That's so awesome. I love that. And it was, it was epic for that time period. If you grew up back then, that was incredible. So if, if you were to say, do a lot, and I don't even know if you do lotteries or not, let's just pretend you do lottery stuff and you got 10 million, what would you do? $10 million right now?

Jason Laumer (39:00):

Um, you know, honestly, I'd probably put half in the bank and then figure out what I could use to other 5 million on to help people out. You know, I like that. And so it's just, uh, you know, you look, uh, I always talk about, you know, we're really trying to encourage volunteering in the city and we, I always say, you know, people have time, talent, or treasure, it's very common. And it's not like I created that. Um, but you know, some people have time to volunteer and some people have a talent that they can help you use to volunteer. And then some people really don't have the time, but they're willing to, you know, donate Right on. And so I think, you know, trying to find out where that money would do its best, and I

Ron Lyons (39:33):
Love that. So you take half half of it to help maybe your future, et cetera, invest it or whatever. And half

of it you would basically use to enrich someone else's life. I like

Jason Laumer (39:44):

That. Well, like, you know, right now I'm a board member of the Line Education Foundation and the, the work they do is amazing. I mean, to help the teachers out, they have projects that, you know, if teachers have a great idea to help fund it, um, they give a lot of scholarships out to the slim is s d uh, students, you know? Right, right. And, you know, you think about how much that could affect their

Ron Lyons (40:02): Lives. Absolutely. It's life

Jason Laumer (40:05):
Changing, really working on trying to grow that. And, um, you know, education's one of the most

important things, you know, tied back to the city.

Ron Lyons (40:12):

Very, very good. So I, I'm gonna have some fun with a few questions and in, I I'm just gonna tell everybody, you, you don't, you're not a big fan of me asking you silly and goofy stuff. And I, and I I get that. I may reserve that for interview number two down the road. Okay. So all bets are off on that one. But if, if you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life

Jason Laumer (40:34):
Oh, that's easy. I mean, I, I get made fun of all the time. I mean, my go-to is peanut butter and jelly toast

made you, I mean, and if, and if, and if I can throw a glass of like half milk in there too,

Ron Lyons (40:45): Uhhuh

Jason Laumer (40:46):
Uhhuh, that's my, that is my go-to. I can, I can make it in a minute. Has a little bit of protein, it keeps me

full. You know, Ron Lyons (40:53):

Like

Jason Laumer (40:53): That's my go-to.

Ron Lyons (40:54):
I believe it or not, I, I've guessed before I asked the question, I was like, I bet peanut butter and Joey, I I

didn't get the toast part, but

Jason Laumer (41:02):

Yes. You know, what's terrible is my, my, my daughters are allergic to peanuts. Ah. And so I have to like make it when they're not around. Right. Because they don't even like to see it out. Right. You know, and so, so like when they're at school, I'm like, Hey, they're not back yet. I can make some, I can make some peanut butter toast

Ron Lyons (41:19):
<laugh>. Oh man. That's awesome. I love it. So you've got your secret stash of peanut butter

somewhere. What's, what's a common myth about your job as a city

Jason Laumer (41:26):

Manager? Yeah, I get, you know, I have coffee with our employees, you know, to try to touch base and, you know, one of my questions questions is, you know, do you have any questions about, you know, city manager? And really they, they really just ask, you know, well, what do you do all day? You know, what's your, what's your average day like? You know, my typical day is I probably have six to eight meetings a day with different people and then emails and phone calls and, you know, really trying to, you know, set the operations the way council wants, you know, follow their strategic plan. And so I think sometimes people think that, you know, uh, city managers just, you know, sit around all day and wait for problems to happen. But, you know, I I really try to be proactive to prevent problems from happening. Right. You know, and I, I talk about it all the time, you know, that I don't really want the city to be, you know, led as like a fire drill. So every time there's something, you know, happens that, you know, stop everything, you know, you know, let's put out the fire and, you know, we need to put those fires out. But I think if you're proactive, you can engage and, and put 'em out without, um, sounding all the alarms, I guess.

Ron Lyons (42:29):
Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and so what's one of the most, um, necessary personality traits or

characteristics that a person needs to have in order to do your job?

Jason Laumer (42:41):
Um, I think a lot of patience. You know, you have to, yeah,

Ron Lyons (42:44): I can imagine.

Jason Laumer (42:45):

I say it all the time. You know, we, we really preach servant leadership, you know, a lot. And, you know, it's a common term, but it's not just for, you know, good customer service, but it's also, uh, making sure our employees are taken care of. So I think the biggest leadership trade that I talk about to people is to not make assumptions. You know, because I think often you, you go into an issue with assumptions, and often if you really take the time to ask questions, um, you find out those assumptions are wrong. And so if you can go in with a clear head and not, and with a set of questions and not a set of assumptions, it, it really helps aid in the communication.

Ron Lyons (43:19):

Absolutely. And do you, do you have like a, um, I guess something that you use in your job every day that just you, without it, you'd be in trouble? Like, you know, for example, <laugh>, he's pointing to his phone. <laugh>. Okay. Let, let me give a, let me give a little bit of hindsight, a little behind the scenes here. Before we started, he said, let me get on my phone and make sure that everything is okay in the world. Basically make sure there's no fires, make sure that everything's peaceful, that everything's good. And, and I'm very grateful that you were able to carve out some time. What's up? Another question. And I, and I, I just kinda ran with that, but if you had to give up the internet for the rest of your life, or give up air conditioning and heating, <laugh>,

Jason Laumer (44:15):
Where do I live on the air conditioning,

Ron Lyons (44:17):
Heating <laugh>. You live right where you live right now, so pick it. You give up internet or you give up or

you give up ac and heating for the rest of your life.

Jason Laumer (44:27):
I would give up internet. I mean, honestly, I, I mean, you know, don't, I mean, I've lived without internet,

you know?

Ron Lyons (44:34): Right,

Jason Laumer (44:34):
Right. I'm not sure I wanna live in Texas without air

Ron Lyons (44:37):
Conditioning. And today's a prime example of you don't wanna live without heat either. Right?

Jason Laumer (44:41):
Yeah. I mean, most of the time I'm more worried by air

Ron Lyons (44:43): Conditioning, but,

Jason Laumer (44:45):

Um, but yeah, heat's important too, especially when I, it gets freezing, you know?

Ron Lyons (44:48):
Absolutely. Man. Isn't that true? So I wanna pop back to Star Wars real quick. If you had to be one of the

characters at Our Wars, who'd you be?

Jason Laumer (44:55):
Oh, it's always Luke. I mean, you know, who doesn't want to be the hero of the story? I

Ron Lyons (45:00):

Mean, absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. And, and, and if you weren't a city manager, if you could do a totally different profession, maybe even something that you've never really officially trained for, had education in or something like that, I'm, I'm just ta talking like, like far out there dream of anything different to do, even if it doesn't make sense. What other profession or job or occupation would you love to

Jason Laumer (45:26):

Have? You know, I've always liked the restaurant business. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I just, I mean, I, I worked in college, um, you know, as a waiter, a bartender and a manager to help pay through college. And, uh, and I just really like helping people. So, you know, it's neat when you people come into your restaurant and you give 'em great service and they leave very happy and satisfied. And I think that's a really good feeling. And

Ron Lyons (45:48):
Would you be a restaurant owner or would you, what would you do specifically?

Jason Laumer (45:53):
Well, perfect. Like to be the owner who, who doesn't wanna be the owner. I mean, you know, I mean,

that's the American dream, right. To,

Ron Lyons (46:01): You know, it's,

Jason Laumer (46:01):
It's the whole point of us, you know, trying to help entrepreneurs and small business owners so they,

you know, that they, you know, have a, a stake in the

Ron Lyons (46:08):

Community. Right, right, right. And so, so, okay. Some, some really quick fun questions and then I promise I'll get you outta here. So we're gonna do some, would you rathers. Okay. Would you rather be forced to sing along or dance along to every song you hear for the rest of your life? <laugh>,

Jason Laumer (46:26): Um,

Ron Lyons (46:27):
Sing along. You'd rather sing, even though you said earlier that the singings of what you'd rather do that

than the dance.

Jason Laumer (46:33):
I think you could still do things while you sing. I mean, it'd be hard to be always dancing. I mean, could

you imagine like you're trying to eat something while the song's on and you're dancing?

Ron Lyons (46:42):
Oh my goodness. Would you, if you had to pop into the future, would you rather pop into the future five

years from now or 10 years from now?

Jason Laumer (46:49): Um, 10 years.

Ron Lyons (46:51): Tell me why.

Jason Laumer (46:53):

Um, I just, the, I think the further you go in the future, the more interesting it might see to see the changes and what's going on. And it'd be neat to see what slide looks like in 10 years and Wow. Yes. And, uh, you know, uh, hopefully some of our goals and objectives have, you know, been achieved. And

Ron Lyons (47:08):

You know what, and I was just thinking about that some of the things that you have personally been a part of setting in motion and getting these things going in 10 years, you could literally see that. So one of the things I was involved with the alternative subdivision ordinance down in Frisco, which is it requires a certain amount of green space and, uh, different lot sizes and things like that in a subdivision. Right. And it was huge controversy back then. It was a big, big deal. It's nice right now to look back and see how that worked out.

Jason Laumer (47:36):

I, I think, you know, one of the purposes in life is you want to leave some kind of legacy, even if it's a small little legacy of something that you help create. And I think that, you know, drives me, it drives a lot of our team. And so, you know, as we make changes we're, we're trying to improve. And so, um, you know, like I said, you see people use a park, use a playground, visit on the square, see a new restaurant, you know, it takes a whole team, it takes a lot of people. Um, but you know, you play a small little part in it. And that just is very satisfying.

Ron Lyons (48:07):

Absolutely. And we all leave a legacy, be it good, bad, or in the middle somewhere. So it's critical right now, especially in, in, in where we're at in Celina, Texas, to try real hard to leave a good legacy cuz it is gonna matter. Everything that we do right now matters. And, and so we have to be very thoughtful and careful in what we do right now. So, again, to your credit, I appreciate so much of what you and the staff have done so far. Um, as many people know, I have invested greatly in this city and I appreciate that

very much. You've given me the confidence in order to feel comfortable investing here, and I love the future that you guys have helped build for this. I I've got two more questions for you.

Jason Laumer (48:53): Okay. <laugh>,

Ron Lyons (48:54):
I've got two more questions. Would you rather be chronically overdressed or underdressed?

Jason Laumer (49:00): <laugh> Uh, overdressed.

Ron Lyons (49:03):
Okay. Okay. Okay. And then the last, the last question you probably already know, what I'm gonna ask

you is, because we've joked about it before, but would you rather fight

Jason Laumer (49:15): <laugh>?

Ron Lyons (49:17):
I wish you could see your face right now. Would you rather fight one horse sized duck or a hundred duck

sized horses?

Jason Laumer (49:28):

I was, I was, I was pro I was listening to your last podcast this weekend just to prepare and, uh, I thought about, I thought about that question cuz you ask it a lot and I'm right. I was like, I'm definitely the, the hundred duck size horses. <laugh>. I mean, I, I I might be, I might be afraid of a horse. Uh, horse size duck.

Ron Lyons (49:48):
You've got horses, little horses running around and you've gotta fight 'em. So what do you do? Pun 'em

like footballs. What do you do?

Jason Laumer (49:56):
Yeah, I mean, just a hundred times. And

Ron Lyons (49:59):
You know, because they're attacking you,

Jason Laumer (50:01):
But maybe they're nice horses, you know, is there some food around that you can feed 'em? You

Ron Lyons (50:07):

Know, they're such a city manager. Look at you looking for solutions here. I like it. I like it. Jason, thank you so very much for being on the show. I look forward to doing this with you again in the future. I love where you're taking the city. Many, many of us do we respect you, we appreciate you and I appreciate you coming on celina CelinaRadio.com. So thank you very much for that. No, I appreciate the invite. Thank you guys. That is Jason Laumer.

Ron Lyons (50:40):

So guys, what did you think about Jason Laumer? I'll tell you what, I had a unique vantage point in doing this interview with him because I got to see behind the scenes, I got to watch him work a little bit. I got to learn more about his philosophies, what motivates him. And it's all really good stuff. This is a very humble and very smart man, and I feel like we're very, very lucky and very blessed to have him sitting in the position he's in right now. And I attribute so much of not only where we're at right now as the city of Celina, but also where we are headed to the hard work and determination of Jason Laumer. Now guys, we've got some other fantastic guests coming up in the show that you're not gonna want to miss. We've got a lot of great events coming up in the city, and as usual, we'll be out there doing video posting things to the social media and on our YouTube page, things like that. We're certainly gonna be doing live remotes from some of the events, and we're just gonna always try and bring you the very best of Celina, Texas. So guys, I hope you enjoy today's episode and I absolutely look forward to connecting with you again on the next episode. But until then, stay safe and God bless.

Ron Lyons (52:15):

By the way, we've got a very unique change in format coming on the next episode. You're not gonna wanna miss it. I mean, definitely not gonna want to miss it.