Caldwell enters Heath City Council race

Sharon Caldwell formally announced her candidacy for Heath City Council Place 1, for the May 2023 election. The seat had been held by Frank New, who was elected Rockwall County judge in November.

Caldwell now serves as a member of the Heath Planning and Zoning Commission, first completing the unexpired term of Darren Kameyer, who passed away. She was later appointed to a full term.

Prior to being appointed to the Planning and Zoning Commission, she served as a member of the Architectural Standards Advisory Board for the Towne Center overlay chaired by Councilman Paul Ruffo in 2017.

Caldwell grew up in a large family in Tyler, where she married her high school sweetheart, and thereafter graduated from Texas Eastern University (now the University of Texas at Tyler) with a business degree.

She later graduated from Southern Methodist School of Law. She and her husband have two adult children and four young grandchildren.

A lifelong volunteer based upon her father’s influence from the book of Luke that “to whom much is given, much will be required.” Caldwell has served as a volunteer assistant district attorney for Rockwall County Criminal District Attorney Kenda Culpepper for seven years. She retired after 23 years as a career criminal prosecutor in California.

“I first volunteered at 12 as a staff assistant in a local hospital in Tyler, Texas.”

Her history of community involvement and volunteer activities have included work with a battered women’s shelter, teaching phone advocates at a rape crisis center in a large metropolitan area, legal aid for the poor, serving for a decade on the board of a bar association, counseling and teaching troubled teens failing at education due to truancy, serving as a member of church council and Sunday school teacher.

“Community does not just happen; it is an investment in other people with a commitment to common goals. My husband’s railroad career took us to Colorado and then to California on a 26-year trek, before coming home to Texas. We made Heath our home in 2015. This rural haven is perched so near to Dallas that the negative influences of Dallas are a looming concern. This city has shown a responsible stewardship of taxpayers’ money, which I would strive to continue. My only agenda is to serve the citizens of Heath to keep this community exceptional.”