Martin Heines Quote

Tyler Mayor Martin Heines is handed a classified briefing packet each day. Well, now it’s handed to him by email.

He looks over the stats and notes concerning the coronavirus pandemic and prepares for a joint meeting.

But he doesn’t open the last page of the report.

Ever.

That page lists the names and addresses of the people who have tested positive for COVID-19. There are 82 today in Tyler and 101 in Smith County. Two have died from the virus.

“I stopped looking at the names … I saw them and I cried,” said Heines. “Everyone is so valuable. Each name and address reminded me of a great story about these people. And they are all great people.”

He stopped looking. And he made a decision to change the way he faced the virus and led the city through maybe the biggest crisis in history.

COUNTING THE DAYS TO RETIREMENT

These were the days in April Martin Heines was supposed to be taking a small box at a time from his office in Tyler to his home.

After all, he put in his notice a long time ago. This was his last term. He’d reached the end of the maximum three term limit as Mayor. After 10 years as an elected official, he was supposed to be done.

Heines oversees a city that was swelling to 250,000 during the work week and was recently touted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for the outstanding economic growth.

The old camping adage goes, “Leave your campsite in better condition than when you arrived.” Martin Heines did that for Tyler government.

A full-time position that pays $0. Volunteer.

As a proud University of Texas graduate, Heines has been a successful businessman in real estate. As a dual major in real estate and finance, he was looking forward to spending a little more time on business and a lot more time with his wife and daughters.

In January, he would put in his time at the office and give a tip of the cap to City Manager Ed Broussard and head home. It was almost time for the boxes.

Suddenly, not only did the coronavirus pandemic sweep the nation, Tyler, with the state-of-the-art hospitals, became one of the few selected places in the state for official testing. Thanks to NET Health, all of East Texas was watching. And now a collaboration between the UT Health Science Center at Tyler and a lab in El Paso could pave the road to a vaccine.

And as they watch, Heines realized that May retirement wasn’t going to happen. In fact, the elections have been postponed and his days are now over eight hours long. He finally put in a new self-imposed rule, no more emails to health and city and county officials at 2 a.m. His new deadline to ask questions is 10 p.m. But like the rest of us, his mind races until 2 a.m. and he is back at work in the morning.

Mayor Heines didn’t change a thing. He continued to wear the same type of clothes, his golf shirt or dress shirt, sometimes a plaid shirt, jeans and his City of Tyler sleeveless jacket. The public saw someone in press conferences filled with experts in suits and lab coats they could relate with.

A neighbor they could trust.

When the positive cases started being announced, the public had a million questions. The press had a million questions. And behind closed doors, Heines had those same questions. When he didn’t get an answer, he asked a little louder.

Like the rest of us, Heines figured out because of federal privacy laws, there wasn’t a lot that could be announced. So he took a deep breath and thought about something his dad told him.

“Don’t spend all your time worrying about things you can’t control. Focus on what you can control and make a difference on.”

THE MESSAGE

Mayor Heines has no problem talking about his faith and how God is testing the world right now. He also sees it as a reason to be strong.

“I’m working off the theory that God puts the right people in the right places and the right time,” said Heines. “God wants me here right now and I’m going to do the very best for the community and the people I love.”

During the next 65 minutes, it’s the last time the Mayor uses the word “I.” He then boasts about “we” and the work being done in Tyler and Smith County.

In one of the most watched press conferences of the year, Heines told the live audience, “I’m not that smart of a guy, I’m not a doctor.” The public listened to their leader who was humble and ready to give advice from the doctors. He preached social distancing.

Because numbers are all over the place, here is one way to see how keeping hands cleaned, shopping as needed, isolation and social distancing is working.

The population of Smith County is 227,727 with 101 cases and two deaths.

In another section of the nation, a rural, farming area, there are four counties with a total population of 127,300 and 139 cases and seven deaths. In those four counties total there are two cities and a collection of villages and towns. No major retail hub like in Tyler.

“We are asking a lot of the public. it is really difficult to stay home and do the essential services,” Heines said. “Especially on such a holy weekend like Easter, it’s hard not to congregate. I really do think it’s made a huge difference in our community. I just know the light is at the end of the tunnel.”

Heines had to go through a water quality issue in Tyler, a Legionnaires’ Disease issue and recently, the death of his friend and District 6 councilman Criss Sudduth. It’s those things that keep him going.

“It was important, when our friend Criss died in office there was no time for me to take ‘separation time’ away from being mayor,” Heines said. “While I’m a volunteer mayor, I’m a hands-on mayor. I’m elected by everyone in the community, I need to stand up when topics come up … During a crisis, I’m a volunteer, even if I wasn’t mayor I’d be standing up in some sort of capacity to help the community.”

One thing the public did not see was the work between NET Health, the hospitals, Smith County and the City of Tyler to take 50 employees, 25 from the city and 25 from the county, to make sure the coronavirus did not spread. Employees who may have been laid off now were assisting the healthcare industry in one of the most important tasks, finding out who infected residents were in contact with, where they shopped, where they went to church and what they did.

The public did not see this. But it gave Heines hope.

“Public Health organizations are not funded to handle pandemics of this size,” said Heines. “We have been able to help back-fill a lot of positions for them and do contact tracing for them. That is very important to a community this size.”

WORKING TOGETHER

Heines finally smiled. On Friday, a partnership with local restaurants the East Texas Meals Foundation and the Smith County Medical Association was able to deliver meals to emergency rooms at Christus Health and UT Heath East Texas in Tyler. Additional donations of over $20,000 came in. Also, colleges working with the city will have a place to house medical professionals who are working in intensive care units with infected patients and they will have the option to live there instead of going home to their families. The healthcare employees are willing to risk months away from family to help save lives.

And save lives they are. Another set of recovered cases will be announced today.

“I do know that this crisis is a limited time in our lives,” said Heines. “Our emergency command center, I couldn’t be more impressed with how this has come together. We are so fortunate to have (Tyler Fire Chief) David Coble who was so involved in mobile command centers in Fort Worth before he became our fire chief and (Smith County Fire Marshal) Jay Brooks at the county who has done a wonderful job.

“When (Smith County) Judge (Nathaniel) Moran and I started the joint emergency command center, it was important the community did not get a bunch of different messages. We were going to work together,” Heines continued. “It is not a time for the community to get mixed messages. The more I’ve gone through this, I have learned I am not a good politician. I look at things more as a business person and a citizen. A lot of my questions are what I would be concerned with as a citizen. That is what we are focused on. I am really proud of everyone who has worked on this thing.”

When asked what he means, you get a vintage Mayor Heines answer.

“Look, Dr. Jeff Levin is brilliant, he has an amazing level of knowledge and understanding of this,” said Heines. “But when he’s talking to us before a press briefing, I’m like, “Dude, you’re talking Greek to me, you have to break it down. Break it down to where my brain gets it.’ We have all learned a lot, and I mean a lot, about each other the past month!”

WHERE IS THE HELP?

During a flood or hurricane, a city like Tyler can look to the state or federal government for help. Not during a pandemic.

“Nobody was coming to our rescue,” said Heines. “So we had to ask, ‘What can we do for ourselves?’ Who are the partners we have in this town and region to come up with a collective plan to do the best we can to fight a pandemic that appears to be no cure?”

He said no one argued about a lack of help, especially when they looked out the window.

“Other parts of the country do not have the best there is right here. We have amazing people in Northeast Texas. The hospitals, Christus, UT Health, are you kidding me? The sophistication level these people have. Those organizations combined and with the Trinity system, there are smart, incredible people here. The talent we have in the entire healthcare field, public and private in Tyler and then there’s the spirit you get out of Tyler Junior College and UT Tyler,” he said. “Everyone has been so happy and excited to help.”

Heines is now on a roll.

“I’ve lived in Tyler all my life and I’ve never seen a cooperation level like this. It’s just been important. This went on from the beginning. The talent level in Smith County … the level of work that’s going on, the different nursing and pharmacy schools, it’s really unbelievable,” he said.

Heines then asks the reporter a question, the same two questions a lot of us have asked the last month. He said, “What day is it and what time is it?”

It’s late and he has four more calls to make.

He tells one more story about sacrifices his mother has made and how he appreciates the sacrifices residents of Smith County have made.

Mayor Heines, the county and the city also appreciate you. Since you aren’t running for reelection, consider this an endorsement for a job well done.

John Anderson is the editor of the Tyler Morning Telegraph. He can be reached at janderson@tylerpaper.com