Ronald “Ronney” Reynolds served as a member of the Austin City Council from 1991 to 1997. He was born in Austin and is a fifth generation Austinite. He attended the University of Texas at Austin where he majored in accounting and graduated with a BBA in 1969. He spent two years in Houston working as a CPA before he decided to return home to Austin. Here he and his wife, Mary, raised their two children Nancy Michelle and Ronald Jr. (Bo). In 1973, he started his own accounting firm, and in 1979 he entered in a partnership with John Lawson. Reynolds was very active in the Austin community, and he held a number of leadership roles in local organizations.
Reynolds decided to run for city council in 1987 due to his love for the city, and he believed his experience as a CPA would be valuable to the Council. While his first run for City Council, Place 2 ended in a loss to Smoot Carl Mitchell, he ran again in 1991. This time he won in a run-off election. After a successful first term, he ran for re-election in 1994 and won with more than half the vote. While in office he worked to improve Austin in a number of ways. In order to make Austin a safer place, he increased the number of police officers on the streets and tried to reduce juvenile crime rates by suggesting increased communication between AISD and the Austin Police Department. He also sought to improve child care options within the city by expanding the child care voucher program and creating a child care resource center. Reynolds responded to a number of neighborhood needs. He headed projects to build new libraries for the Milwood and Oak Hill Neighborhoods and expanded the Windsor Park library as part of this effort.
When Bruce Todd announced he was not seeking re-election in 1997, Reynolds decided to make a bid for mayor. Although the race went to a run-off, Reynolds made the decision to withdraw his name from the race because he did not want to participate in a negative campaign to win against Kirk Wilson. After his mayoral run he returned to being a CPA and continues to be active in the Austin community.
The bulk of collection consists of printed material from Reynolds' first term in office. The majority of the items are newsletters from various neighborhoods and organizations within in Austin. There is little to no material created by Reynolds himself. However, his notations can be found on documents throughout the collection.
This collection is one series and the folders are arranged alphabetically by topic.
AF Biography File: Reyonlds, Ronney.
City reports and publications were removed to the General Collection.
This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.
Records transferred from the Office of City Clerk.
Austin (Tex.) City Council. Ronney Reynolds Records (AR.2009.061). Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, Texas.
Finding Aid and Encoding: Kathryn Garvey/2009 October
Open to all users.
Donor #: Office of the City Clerk
Donation Date: 2005