Closing Remarks

Candidates Make Their Cases in Final Forum Before Voting Begins

The third and final candidate forum hosted by the Fayette County Republican Party took place Saturday, Feb. 7, at the Flatonia American Legion Hall.

Four of the County Judge candidates were in attendance: Josh Homan, Josh Vandever, Michael Zweschper and William Bernsen.

For one of the questions, the moderator Steven Harker asked the candidates what problems in the County they would immediately address upon taking office.

William Bernsen spoke about improving transparency and communication on the Commissioners Court.

“First and foremost, there’s a lot of animosity in the county government right now,” Bernsen said. “So the first thing that we’re going to have to do is we’re going to have to get everybody back to the table in a civil manner and communicate with each other. Second, I would say there’s not a lot of public discussion going on right now on, really, any matters. A lot of things are being discussed behind closed doors.

“According to the Open Meetings Act, more than two members of the court cannot discuss a matter behind closed doors,” Bernsen added. “It has to be in a public setting. So if they’re not discussing these matters in a public setting, then either they’re not being discussed or they’re being discussed illegally behind closed doors. And so we need to have more public discussion on every matter.

“The third thing that I would say is probably salaries and benefits to employees,” Bernsen continued. “All employees are always looking for more money. And there’s still a lot of people in this county that feel like they’re underpaid.”

Josh Homan said he would start with the County Budget.

“The first thing is we’ve got to understand that any problem, anything that’s labeled a problem, likely takes a budget cycle to address,” Homan said. “The county judge doesn’t have the authority or the practical ability to fund things or make some big change outside of the budget. There’s a process there, which means really what the county judge is looking at is setting some priorities and setting the stage to address problems.

“So when the county judge comes in in January, the budget discussions will start a few months after that,” Homan went on to say. “And so what I would do is start inside out. Start inside the government and work your way out. Ensure that the county government offices know that they’re supported. Ensure the elected officials know that if I’m county judge, they have a voice. I value their opinion. We may not agree, but that’s OK. And then, you know, largely we got to look at what is going well. It’s easy to say we have all these problems, but there’s a lot of things that are going well. I think our law enforcement agencies are doing a tremendous job. So I think that’s a strength and we need to double down on that.

“So we can’t just focus on the problems,” Homan added “We can’t forget about some of the great solutions that we already have.”

Josh Vandever spoke about his experience working for the County and the need for comparable data when setting the budget and salaries for County employees.

“When you take office, you have about five months before your first budget starts,” Vandever said. “Luckily, I’ve been a participant in the county budget for the last five years, so I have a little bit of a leg up in being able to start working in the first year. One of the problems I had, that I was pretty vocal about in the last budget cycle, is we do a lot of budgeting by feelings.

“We have a pretty good budget. We’re not wasting money left and right,” Vandever added. “There’s not this big, bloated bureaucracy that some people like to use as a really fancy talking point. We have fantastic county services. Our sheriff’s office does a great job, and you can see that’s appreciated by the citizens. Our EMS department, if I do selfishly say, is doing a fantastic job. We have a team of 40 amazing people that are doing a great job every day, and we need those people to feel supported. And even though we can’t always give them everything they ask for in their budgets, we need to at least let them know that they’ve been heard.

“We need better data,” Vandever said. “We need better comparative data. What’s a police officer making in comparable counties? And what’s a deputy county clerk making in comparable counties? We might not have a parity issue in the county clerk’s office, but we might in the sheriff’s office. And we need to determine which of these positions is going to get our attention first. Where are we going to prioritize? And do those priorities we’re setting align with the priorities of our community and the people that put us in office?”

Michael Zweschper said he probably would not make any immediate changes.

“Anytime you step into a new role, unless there’s something illegal, immoral, or unethical, I do not believe in changing things immediately because you have to establish buy-in,” Zweschper said. “You have to establish relationships with your new team. So again, unless it’s something truly out of bounds, I will say this: if elected county, your next county judge, I will spend the remainder of the year after the election trying to get to know the people that work in the various departments so that when I do assume office, we’re ready to hit the ground running.

“I think the one thing that we need more than anything in this county is to find a way to get the community more involved and understand what’s going on,” Zweschper went on to say. “I don’t think the answer to that is trying to get everybody to Commissioners Court because I don’t think anybody likes to sit in meetings. But people like to be informed. So we need to sit down as a community and find out how we share what’s going on in the county. How do we get your community’s feedback so that we can make educated decisions that truly reflect the people that we were chosen to represent, that chose us to represent them. So I think that’s where I would start is community involvement.”

The fifth county judge candidate, Craig Moreau, did not attend. Moreau was also absent at the previous two forums due to a conflict with the terms of his community supervision, which states that he may not be present anywhere with an on-premises license to serve alcohol. The Flatonia American Legion Hall did not serve alcohol during the forum. However, the hall does have an on-premises license.

At the beginning of the forum, Moreau’s daughter Reagan delivered opening remarks on his behalf.

In part, she said: “As Craig Moreau’s daughter, I find myself uniquely qualified to speak not only to his lifetime of dedication, but to the traits that make him an exceptional leader as well as an exceptional father. For the past 17 years, I’ve had the privilege of holding a front row seat to his vision, accountability and passion for serving those around him. Public service does not just describe his career, it is what defines his character.”

The Fayette County Record livestreamed the entire forum, which lasted about three hours. Watch it on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook. com/fcr.news.