Chris Schulmeister to be sworn in as Allen mayor May 26

Chris Schulmeister took the oath of office Tuesday night at Allen City Hall, stepping into the mayor’s job as the city weighed how fast to grow, where to build next and how much to spend to keep pace. Allen City Council met at 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers for the swearing-in and recognition ceremony, which also returned Tommy Baril to Place 2 and recognized outgoing Mayor Baine Brooks.

Schulmeister won Allen’s mayoral race with 3,300 votes, about 81% of the 4,070 ballots cast. Dave Shafer received 770 votes, or nearly 19%. The mayoral contest was the city’s only contested race in the May 2 Council General Election, while Baril, Allen ISD trustees Polly Montgomery and Bill Parker all ran unopposed. Early voting ran from April 20 to April 28, and Election Day was Saturday, May 2.

Brooks leaves office after a long stretch in city government. He served on Allen City Council from 2012 to 2022, was mayor pro tem from 2021 to 2022, and then mayor from 2023 to 2026. City ordinances made him ineligible to seek another term, closing a chapter that overlapped with Allen’s rapid growth and its next round of planning decisions.

That is why the next 100 days matter. Allen’s 2030 Comprehensive Plan covers land use, transportation, housing, economic development, parks, community facilities and infrastructure, and those are the same pressure points residents will watch Schulmeister confront first. The most immediate test may come downtown, where the city has already pushed ahead with a catalyst project expected to bring about 18,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space around a pocket park. Construction is anticipated by the end of 2026, with opening expected in 2028.

Taxpayer-backed investment will also stay under a microscope. Allen approved a $7.8 million downtown land purchase that was split evenly between the Allen Economic Development Corporation and Tax Increment Financing Zone No. 2, a sign that redevelopment, incentives and long-term city finances are moving together. The question for Schulmeister is how aggressively to keep that momentum going without losing sight of traffic, neighborhood quality of life and the cost of city services.

Allen’s election system is built for continuity. City council seats are elected citywide rather than by district, and members serve three-year staggered terms. The city says it had 109,039 residents and 68,732 registered voters in its FY2021-2022 demographic snapshot, figures that help explain why growth decisions in Allen carry such broad consequences. Residents can follow the new administration through ACTV and the city’s public meeting agenda archive as Schulmeister begins turning a campaign win into a governing agenda.