WHAT TO DO WHAT TO DO

 

Okay, I have said I was back and I am.  I have just been having a REALLY hard time trying to focus on my first topic for my blog.  Should it be on the formal complaint filed against Judge Young in July of 2021 that is being held up by the DA’s office.  Or should it be all of the things that are happening in Milam County that Steve is taking credit for, but actually had nothing to do with.  Yes, he was Judge while they came to fruition, but the fact is that much of what is happening now began long before his election.  He even stated in one of his early commissioners’ court meetings, “there is not a whole lot the county or judge can do to make it happen” referring to the events occurring at the Alcoa property.  Now he is taking the position that he did it all.

 Maybe it should be about the issues with the 2022 county budget which have been brought to his attention yet nothing has been done.  Or perhaps his supporters contacting supporters of his opponent and telling them to urge Whitmire not to run because Steve will spend whatever it takes to win.

 Or maybe I should write about the calls Steve’s supporters are making to candidates for commissioner that basically have said if you support Judge Young your campaign funds will be taken care of.  If you don’t believe me, ask them.  He has already bought one commissioner.

 Or maybe I should share his referring to himself as the “only conservative” candidate.  Check his background in Harris County.  BIG TIME DEMOCRAT, and big time liberal.  Or could it be how hard he has fought crime in Milam County?  Possibly we could discuss how he has kept taxes low.

 How about all the jobs he has created, how he has increased funding to schools, or maybe the “opportunity” he has created.  All of these claims, and they are only claims, not facts are on his re-elect Steve site. 

 Now all this being said I am not anti-Steve.  Take a look at my blogs in 2019 right after Steve took office.  He was truly a breath of fresh air.  I was excited about the potential that was there after eight years of gloom and doom.  However, I now have a much better view of what he is and where he is going.

 Having worked with attorneys for 18 years as a Judge I have learned that attorneys have one goal in mind.  That goal is to convince you of their position.  James Gray Robinson’s October 2021 article in the ABA Journal states, “A great deal of practicing law is persuading someone to believe, act or agree with your client’s position, whether it is in a courtroom, a boardroom, a negotiation or at a dinner table. We seek to persuade juries, judges, colleagues, friends, family or the press that we are right and that others are not”.  This is a guy who has spent the last fifteen years training and researching how to persuade people effectively.  I do believe that Steve took his class. 

 Steve is a smooth operator and can suck you in before you know what is happening.  I truly believe he could sell a load of cow manure to a feedlot owner.  He is a fantastic marketer.  He sells himself well, but once you really get to know him and see him in action you quickly come to believe he is not all he tells you he is.  He banks on people believing his rhetoric and not being aware of the reality we are experiencing in Milam County

 Stay tuned.  I’ll be back with the real story on some of the issues I have mentioned.

I'M BACK!!!!!!!

 Been a long time since my last blog.  Lots of changes and figure it is time for me to start blogging again.  Lots to blog about.  So, stay tuned for those of you who might still be following there is more to come.  I'm BACK..............

TO MOVE OR NOT TO MOVE

I attended a special meeting of the Commissioners Court on Tuesday April 16 addressing the idea of moving county offices to the vacant hospital in Cameron.  It was a very informative meeting.  Judge Young did a great job outlining the proposal.

As most of you know by now both Milam County hospitals have shut down.  Milam County is not the only rural county that has been affected by medical facility closures.  According to Judge Young over 20 rural county hospitals have closed in Texas during the past year..The reality is that rural counties simply do not have the population to support a full service hospital.  We were lucky to have full service hospitals for as long as we did.

So now we have a 30,000 plus square foot building that is vacant and could potentially house a majority of the county offices located in downtown Cameron.  Relocating county offices would accomplish several positive things for Milam County and the city of Cameron.

In the current proposal the county would swap eight downtown properties for the hospital building.  These eight properties would then be put up for sale and eventually get back on the tax roles which would help the city and the county.  By getting rid of eight buildings the county would rid itself of the costs of utilities and maintenance for these buildings.

Further economic development  could occur as these former county owned  buildings house new businesses in the downtown area.  Currently a majority of the downtown square is occupied by county offices.  As new businesses come to the downtown area we would see increased traffic which theoretically would mean increased business for the city and increased sales tax collection for the city and county. 

Another positive for the county is that individuals needing county services would have access to a one stop shop.  All county services being located in a central location would make taking care of county business easier for the general public.  One of the major benefits to the county is that if the deal is done it will not cost the county any cash for the transfer.

However, there will be costs to the county for the renovation of the hospital facilities to make them compatible for housing county offices and county business.  These costs have been estimated to be somewhere in the vicinity of 865,000 dollars.  The real costs will not be known until county officials get together with an architect and determine what will be needed to make the building workable.  Once the required building changes are decided on the county would go out for bids for renovation to get an idea of the real costs.

One of the issues I have heard raised by some folks is that if county offices are moved into the old hospital building then Cameron will never get another hospital.  Let's face it folks Cameron will never get another hospital until population makes it a profitable business proposition.

Another point that has been raised is that perhaps the county and the city could come together to maintain an Emergency Room or Urgent Care center in the old emergency room facilities.  While this idea may sound far fetched to some it just might be workable if the city and county cooperate on the idea.  Hopefully the Commissioners Court will hold a public meeting sometime in the future to discuss this project and get public input.

Bottom line is that there is still a lot to be decided, and as Judge Young stated during the meeting not a done deal just yet.  However, it does have its pros which I personally believe outweigh the cons.  This is definitely a work in progress and the final decision is still down the road a good way.  If it is doable it would be a win win for the city and county.

BREATH OF FRESH AIR

I have made several of the Commissioners Court meetings in the last few weeks and can tell you that Judge Young is truly a breath of fresh air.  His manner during court is positive and optimistic.  While I am not a great fan of power points, I think they are over used; his power points are concise to the point and readable

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His explanation of the agenda items is to the point and not overdone.  Not to be critical of his predecessor, but Dave sometimes lost the average listener by getting off point during his explanations.  Judge Young's comments on economic development are positive.  As he says there are good things coming to Milam County whether we like it or not.

During the last court meeting it was reported that Precinct 3 would be getting 70,000 dollars from Treadstone Oil Company to help maintain CR 358 which has a tremendous amount of oil field traffic on it due to the increased oil production in the area.  There was also discussion on making Milam County a film friendly county.  There is a lot of money that comes along with any kind of film production.  You might say it is CSG economic development.  They come, they spend and they go.

My only real criticism is in the way the meetings are being conducted.  Instead of being seated with the court members like a formal court meeting the Judge moves about the room, more like an instructor.  I must say that it does make everything a bit more informal, but not sure that it maintains the decorum of the Commissioners Court meeting.  Just something I have to get used to. 

The other issue I have is that the agenda items are all listed as if they had already been approved.  The listings are approve this or approve that on the agenda items.  During the last meeting there was one item that was listed as approve, and it wound up being tabled.  Perhaps the agenda items should be prefaced with Discuss and take Appropriate Action.  Just a thought, but then again as they say; 254 counties in Texas 254 ways to do anything in county government.

Judge Young has taken the bull by the horns and is working hard to get things done in the county.  He has the energy and vision to do the job.  We all need to get behind him and his efforts to move Milam County forward.  His positive vision about the county and our future is certainly a change from his predecessor.  Truly a breath of fresh air in the courthouse.

  

THERE IS A NEW JUDGE IN TOWN

There is a new Judge in town.  Newly elected Milam County Judge Steve Young was sworn in on January 1^st.  His main campaign rhetoric was similar to his predecessor Dave Barkemeyer.  His campaign promises were to go after economic development and better roads for the county.  I attended his first Commissioners Court Meeting on the 14^th, and I can tell you I believe he is the real deal.  

He certainly has taken office at a good point in time for the county.  Looks like there will be a lot happening out at the Alcoa property in the future.   I am not speaking of Bitmain, but another new tenant that will be much larger than Bitmain.  My sources told me to think of the biggest thing I could think of and the new resident is going to be much bigger.  Judge Young echoed these same comments at the meeting.  We should know sometime before the end of April just exactly what and how big it is going to be.

Back in October I wrote an article about the serendipity that was occurring and would occur in the future at the Alcoa property.  Judge Young went on to mention that what was happening at Alcoa he or the county had no control over.  He added that all elected officials and citizens of Milam County could help by welcoming whatever new business was to come to the county.  Things will continue to happen at the Alcoa property, and all of Milam County will benefit
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Judge Young's use of the power point during his presentation was excellent and very professionally done.  The text was actually visible in the back row.  Even my old man eyes could read the slides.  His overall approach to the meeting was much more upbeat.  Very refreshing to hear positive things presented in a positive manner.  I left the meeting feeling optimistic about our future.  Only thing that I heard negative was one of the media attending was upset that he did not follow the agenda.  A minor issue for a first timer. 

The energy and enthusiasm Steve exudes is refreshing.  As he said during the meeting there is not a whole lot the county or judge can do to make it happen, but we can all help it happen with a positive and welcoming attitude.  I do not mean to criticize Judge Barkemeyer he served during some tough times and did a good job with what he had to work with.  Judge Young is stepping in at a good time to ride the wave headed our way, and I know he will do a great job at moving Milam County forward.

SUPPLEMENTS

If you are reading this blog I hope you have read the preceding blog on County Judge's supplements.  If you have not read it please do so before reading this blog.  It will give you a better idea about where I am going with this blog.

As noted in the article a total of 219 of the 254 County Judges in Texas receive a annual supplement of 25,200 dollars per year.  They receive it for simply signing a single sheet of paper that states they will commit 40% of their time to judicial work.  This amounts to two days per week, 64 hours a month and costs the state taxpayers over five and a half million dollars each year.

That single sheet of paper is an affidavit.  Affidavit is defined in Texas Government Code 312.011 as a statement in writing of a fact or facts signed by the party making it, sworn to before an officer authorized to administer oaths, and officially certified to by the officer under his seal of office.

When I took office in 1999 the supplement was 5,000 dollars per year.  Nineteen years later it has grown to over 25,000, and according to the article is set to grow again during the next legislative session.

When first taking office I signed the affidavit, and made it a point to put my 16 hours a week in.  I held two docket calls a month that lasted about 4 hours on average.  I also held night court once a month for the first year to dispose of a large docket facing the court when I took office.  Night Court lasted two hours on the average.  Trials were set for two days a month, but there was not a trial every month, and sometimes trials lasted more than a day.  One often referred to by some as the longest misdemeanor trial in Milam County history lasted for three days.  However, most jury trials were completed within five hours or less.

Other judicial activities I was involved in included two probate courts each month one hour each, Juvenile hearings and guardianship hearings as needed often less than an hour each.  I was available 24-7 as a magistrate and alternated with some of the JPs on their weekends.  I also assisted the JPs with inquests when they were unavailable, and handled inquests for Justice Precinct 4 on weekends when the deaths occurred on my end of the county.

I heard each and every request for legal representation within the required 72 hours, and spent a good deal of time on preparation for hearings.  There were also some instances where out of court time was spent on judicial activities doing paperwork and signing dockets.  

Bottom line is it is really hard to account for all the time spent on judicial matters when you consider the variability with many of the judicial activities.  For example a call at two in the morning for an inquest in Maysfield might take two hours or more with travel time included.  On the other hand an inquest call to Cameron when you are in the courthouse might take only fifteen minutes.

    

Looking back on my twelve years as County Judge I can assure you it is hard to account for 64 hours per month of judicial work.  Some months it is more than 64 yet other months it is considerably less, and I worked at it

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Our current Judge does not do inquests or magistrations, but he does follow the same probate, docket call and trial schedule that I did.  That being said it is hard to see how he can even come close to 64 hours per month of judicial activity.  Truth is the majority of a County Judge's activity deal with administration and other non-judicial activities.

  

One of the reasons it has taken me so long to follow up my preceding post is that I was trying to obtain real time figures on judicial time spent by me and the current judge on judicial activity.  This information is available from the Office of Court Administration but not real easy to calculate because of the out of court judicial activities that are not reported.

Now, be assured I am in no way attacking or criticizing our current or future County Judges throughout the state on their taking the state supplement.  As the American Statesman article stated there are judges that do almost no judicial activity and yet still take the supplement. The point I am trying to get to is that Judges in Texas are held to a higher standard than other government officials.  All judges in Texas must abide by the Code of Judicial Conduct, sometimes referred to as the Judicial Canons. 

The Preamble of the code is as follows;

"Our legal system is based on the principle that an independent, fair and competent judiciary will interpret and apply the laws that govern us. The role of the judiciary is central to American concepts of justice and the rule of law. Intrinsic to all sections of this Code of Judicial Conduct are the precepts that judges, individually and collectively, must respect and honor the judicial office as a public trust and strive to enhance and maintain confidence in our legal system. The judge is an arbiter of facts and law for the resolution of disputes and a highly visible symbol of government under the rule of law."

Judges are held to a higher standard and we should hold our state government officials who grant and oversee the judicial supplement to higher standards as well.  Some sort of accounting method, or annual audit should be conducted to insure that judges are in fact committing 40% of their time to judicial activities. Or the Legislature could simply change the amount of time required.  A compromise might be a year end audit of time spent and then supplement the judge on the basis of actual time spent on judicial activities.

As the American Statesman article stated the state is spending over five and one half million of our tax dollars on these supplements, and may be increasing it during this next legislative session.  Not really sure why or how the supplement got started in the first place. 

Bottom line is our representatives in Austin who claim to be conservative should think twice before increasing funding that they cannot even account for, and in the interest of "public trust" a judge should carefully consider whether or not he or she should sign a sworn statement claiming the supplement.