Retiring McGregor mayor’s 24 years marked by growth, SpaceX – Waco Tribune-Herald

Jim Hering clearly remembers the meeting at Ridgewood Country Club with billionaire Elon Musk.

Both men were in their 30s, and Hering was serving his first term as McGregors mayor. A trusted real estate agent, Joe Paschall, had called him about a young mans desire to become a rocket man.

Elon Musk had just sold his interest in PayPal, said Hering, referencing a deal putting $250 million in Musks bank account. He told us about his plans. He was very matter-of-fact, really didnt talk much. But he brought four or five people with him, all with big degrees, and they made it clear they wanted to send rockets, people and payloads to the moon. I dont know that he mentioned Mars at that time.

Musk coveted about 200 acres in McGregors sprawling industrial park.

He was going to lease it, and pay us for it, Hering recalls. There was very little risk involved. Flatlanders like myself wonder why anyone would want to go into space. Beal Aerospace tried and failed. We thought wed give this other company a shot.

Hering last week stepped down from 26 years of service on the McGregor City Council, 24 of it as mayor.

Jim Lilley, a Bluebonnet Water Supply Corp. executive and former planning and zoning board member, was sworn in as mayor on May 13. McGregor Mirror editor Bonnie Mullens replaced retiring Councilman Paul Allison, a friend of Hering who has served with him throughout his municipal career.

Hering, 54, a McGregor native who works as an attorney in Waco, said he never dreamed he would occupy the seat that long. He vowed during the going-away party for his predecessor, Felix Punk Morris, that he would come nowhere close to Morris 19 years at the helm.

The president has a term limit of eight years, Hering said in an interview at his office in Wacos Roosevelt Tower. I thought I could accomplish what I wanted to get done in that time, or the people would have had enough of me.

Giving another aerospace company a crack at making good in McGregor has proved successful, and then some. SpaceX now leases more than 4,500 acres in McGregor, where it employs hundreds who test propulsion systems powering rockets into orbit. SpaceX gained its footing signing a $1.6 billion contract with NASA, and has maintained a steady ascension, hampered only by an occasional failed launch and local public complaints about noise.

SpaceX has given McGregor an international profile.

But Hering can remember the challenging times before SpaceX arrived, before McGregor boasted an industrial park to call its own. Its 9,700-acre neighbor was not something to behold with pride. The military stashed munitions there during World War II, at the Bluebonnet Ordnance plant, and after the war struck deals with defense contractors such as Hercules, Rocketdyne and Beal Aerospace, all of which needed room.

In the 1990s, the Navy began to systematically address the toxic wastes lurking there. It launched a massive remediation project addressing possibly contaminated groundwater, particularly concerned about perchlorate, which is used to produce explosives, fireworks, matches, dyes, lubricating oils, electroplating, rubber and paint products. The goal was to craft a plan to remove, monitor or mitigate the harmful effects of perchlorate and other chemicals, the trade magazine Currents reported in summer 2007.

As environmental awareness increased, the Navy knew they were responsible to mitigate effects of over a half-centurys worth of mission-related byproducts, so they engaged ordnance and environmental experts in 1991 to investigate and identify a plan to address environmental concerns, the article stated, adding, Before a single acre would be transferred, the Navy was required to ensure that it was either free of environmental hazards or had effective and proven remedies in place.

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, who represented the congressional district that included Waco at the time, successfully pushed to have the transfer included in the National Defense Authorization Act of 1998.

Slowly but surely, the Navy would make raw land and scattered buildings suitable for title transfer to the city of McGregor. The process ended in 2006, when title to last tract was transferred to McGregor. Ceremonies included Mayor Jim Hering accepting a replica quit-claim deed.

On that same day, Oct. 30, 2006, the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant, which is how the acreage was designated, received the Navys first Ready for Reuse determination from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

The effort cost $45 million. It involved the removal of 4,500 pounds of perchlorate from more than 400 million gallons of recovered groundwater, all permitted for local discharge; taking 2,200 soil samples, 100 sediment samples and 500 surface water samples; and installing more than 800 groundwater monitoring wells, the Currents article reported.

McGregor had the land that would become its industrial park, and its conduit to recruiting such big-name industrial clients as SpaceX and Ferguson, whose plumbing supplies distribution center served as the cornerstone, telling the rest of the world we were open for business, said Hering.

Knauf, a German insulation company, will open a 600,000-square-foot plant mid-summer that will employ an estimated 150 and use recycled glass to produce fiberglass insulation. Messer will invest $50 million opening an air-separation unit in McGregor. Most recently, Hering said, the city received interest from Electronic Fluorocarbons, also known as EFC Gases and Advanced Materials, which expressed willingness to invest $130 million to $180 million and employ 60 to 120 people in McGregors park.

Yes, I would say SpaceX is our corporate centerpiece, though Ive never thought of it that way, said Hering. Im pleased to say its not the only one.

Hering stressed McGregor has not been alone in its pursuit of good jobs, better educational opportunities, and improved regional image. He heaped praise on the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerces economic recruiting efforts, McLennan County Commissioners Court, city of Waco and McGregor Chamber, among others providing encouragement and assistance.

Raw land without infrastructure has limited appeal, said Hering. The city created a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone that captures newly generated tax revenue to make public improvements within the industrial park, generating capital to ensure water, sewer and power availability.

Were thinking the tax money generated by Knauf will pay for a rail spur, said Hering. Taxpayers around forever wont be left holding the bag.

Hering grew up in McGregor, graduated from McGregor High School, earned an undergraduate degree from Tarleton State University and graduated with honors from South Texas College of Law in Houston.

I loved my childhood growing up in McGregor, Hering said. When I came back, at age 27, my goal was to see it become a place other young people wanted to come back to. I wanted to raise the standard, and I discovered all the community leaders were talking about that. I was encouraged to run.

For whatever reason, said Hering, something gnawed at him about McGregors status in the regional pecking order. He felt some looked down on his hometown, about 15 miles from Waco. The town had a population around 4,700 when he took office in 2000 and has grown by about 1,000 since.

Im competitive, he said. I wanted to be as good as anyone.

True, McGregor did not have enough jobs or quality places to work.

About a hundred homes needed to be built, and about a hundred needed to be torn down, said Hering. McGregor needed more stores and shops, a lively downtown. He believes progress abounds on that front, especially with a newly established retailing presence on the main street through town. Hes excited about The Concourse, a proposed mixed-use development on 88 acres near McGregor Executive Airport that envisions a grocery store, restaurants, retail, a hotel and several residential components.

We cant grow just to be growing. It always has to be for the right reason, Hering said. I believe weve brought value to the city. What weve done the past 25 years tells me were here for the long haul.

At 54, Hering said he has no desire to quit practicing law. He loves McGregor, and will remain active in civic and community affairs. Running for office again is not now an option, but Hering never says never.

Lorna Hering, his wife, teaches English at McGregor High School. Daughter Mara is a senior at Texas Tech, and son Ryan attends Baylor Law School.

Hering said he believes his children will want to come home again.

STREAK IN THE SKY: A SpaceX launch and flight proved to be visible from California to Arizona on March 18 as a Starlink mission was successfully completed.

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Retiring McGregor mayor's 24 years marked by growth, SpaceX - Waco Tribune-Herald