The Mayor by Nikki Barajas

Roger Van Horn, born in Tulsa, Ok, has come about important decisions in his life by mistake. Following his roommate to an interview for dentistry lead him to his dentist career and his car breaking down in Nacogdoches lead him to live here. But, standing at a podium in front of 20 students, Van Horn’s presence does not seem like a mistake.
His voice boomed throughout the room, drowning out random buzzes of students’ phone’s on vibrate. He stood confidently and spoke with his hands about his position of mayor and frustrations he has.
Van Horn first clarified the type of government that the city of Nacogdoches has.
He said, “The mayor does not operate the town, the mayor is the chair of the city commission.”
Because of this, the mayor is limited in what he can do. Every decision is controlled by a vote of the board. So, to make ends meet, Van Horn has a dentist practice here in Nacogdoches. He manages to be both a dentist and the mayor by breaking up his day into four parts. A few hours in the morning he works as a dentist, then in the early afternoon as mayor, then again as dentist, lastly in the evening he works again as mayor.
The first term Van Horn ran as mayor he was unopposed but his second term he did have someone to run against.
“I didn’t know how to be mayor, I didn’t know how to do that,” he said about his first term, “but I’m getting better at it.” He said that naturally he is more qualified the second time than he was the first.
Van Horn expressed his support of students of Stephen F. Austin to be active in the Nacogdoches government. He urged students to get involved in the community where they go to school in.
When asked about what he plans to do after being mayor, Van Horn, smiling and amused by this question, replied that he did not really know what was next.
“I went through this emotional crisis about getting my medicare card. I was down there at the social security office thinking ‘why am I here with all these old people?’” He joked.
Van Horn has been offered a job at the public dental clinic off Highway 7 as a manager and said that this may be an offer he would like to take. He also considered teaching for a while.
“I committed in my mind to five terms [of mayor] if they allow it. If they don’t want me I’ll have to figure out something else to do,” Van Horn said. However, he does plan to stay engaged and involved after his time as mayor is over and finding some way to keep serving.