By Canadian Record Editor/Publisher Laurie Ezzell Brown

REPRINTED FROM FIELD NOTES, MARCH 27, 2003

IN REMEMBRANCE

THERE’S REALLY NOT ENOUGH INK to write about Dean Looper’s legacy to the City of Canadian. As City Manager for the last fifteen years, and a City employee for the last twenty-one, Looper has ushered Canadian from an era of relative chaos and unrelieved controversy in City government, into a new one marked by thoughtful planning, thorough preparation, fiscal efficiency, personal accountability, intergovernmental cooperation, and—last, but by far, not least—civility.

He has not done it without a great deal of help from other City officials, from his staff and from the citizens who care so deeply for this community. But he has done it—with a poise and eloquence that few who have not attended City Council meetings will ever fully appreciate.

Perhaps the highest praise we heard of Looper when preparing this week’s feature story was the comment by one citizen, overheard by Councilman and former Mayor Micah Lewis: “He never does anything.”

It was not intended as a compliment, but we think it is one. That he did his job so well—guiding this City’s progress and guarding its assets—with so little fanfare is a tribute to his accomplishments.

Looper leaves an indelible mark on Canadian in the streets that have been paved, in the vast rehabilitation of its water and sewer system, and in the sustained attention to short- and long-range planning. Along the way, Looper has been a staunch advocate for the interests of the public in negotiations with City franchise holders like West Texas Gas and Classic Cable, the latter of which has violated its contractual agreements at nearly every turn, flouting its responsibilities to its customers. That has been a thankless job, but one that he assumed with a single-minded determination.

Looper spoke of his two decades in the employment of this City with an undisguised sense of satisfaction. Only once, did he admit to having been disappointed—when a public meeting with Classic Cable representatives fizzled. In increasingly difficult negotiations leading up to the meeting, Looper had warned the cable company officials that their Canadian customers were angry with the poor service they had received—anger that he and his employees often have to field on Classic’s behalf.

“This is a public meeting, and these people hate you,” he warned company reps. “They’re angry, and they’re coming, so get ready.”

No one showed.

The Cable Company came en masse, armed with a half-dozen buttoned-down lawyers and other company officials, and not one of those angry customers showed.

“That took all the wind out of my sails,” Looper said, as he remembered the moment. “I just sat there,” he said almost seriously, “adrift,” he added, a slight grin beginning to appear, “in a sea of stupidity and apathy.” By then, he was laughing, the experience just one of many in what he said, simply, “has been a success story for me.”

It has been a success story for us, too—one that we have every reason to expect will continue under the guidance of Looper’s successor, Beth Briant. Dean has prepared for his retirement with the same foresight he has given to all City matters, and has paved the way for a smooth transition.

We don’t expect this will be the last Canadian sees of Dean Looper who, in addition to his grandchild-visiting plans, has signed a contract with the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission to help communities in the Texas Panhandle prepare and update their emergency management plans. It is a job for which he is singularly capable, and one which he will no doubt perform with the same attention to detail he has graced Canadian with these last 21 years.

“Dean brought stability and an open door policy to the City,” said Lewis. “That’s what I always admired about Dean. He never hid from anything. If it had to do with the City, he’d take the brunt. He stood in the front lines.”

“I’m going to miss Dean,” Micah concluded. “I can’t think of anybody that I’ve served with—maybe with the exception of Jim Pollard—that I respect more.”

That puts Dean Looper in mighty good company—a tribute he more than deserves. We’ll miss him, too.