Pct. 2 Commissioner Hopefuls Spotlighted at Political Forum
The three candidates for Pct. 2 Commissioner appeared at the Fayette County Republican Party election forum in Ellinger on Sunday, Jan. 18. Abe Pace, Chad Tiemann and the incumbent, Clint Sternadel, fielded a wide range of questions about their vision for the future Pct. 2 Road and Bridge Department and the County.
One of the questions asked the candidates what changes or improvements they would focus on to positively guide the future of Precinct 2 and Fayette County in general.
“Good leadership, honesty and letting the road and bridge do what they need to do,” Pace said. “I think they’re experienced enough. I think Clint knows that as well as anybody else. They’re a good group of people and they really just need to have the ability to do the job correctly. Hopefully get up their morale and self esteem a little bit. Let them know that they are good at what they do. As far as Precinct 2 goes, the biggest concern in the public is probably the antiques fair. I’d love to see that thing organize itself in some way mainly for our safety and all the visitors into this county. It’s a good thing for a lot of people that raises property values and it is a lot of economic value to our area. A lot of people move a lot in those two months. To do well they need to go forward safely. Otherwise they have pretty much done a good job so far.”
“I think there needs to be a cross training program because you got guys that are on equipment, or work equipment that aren’t really as knowledgeable about the equipment,” Tiemann said. “You have guys that are going to be retiring soon. I think we need to have a training program. If you are going to have new hires because the old guys are gone. And then you’re going to have to have new guys pick up when the old guys leave off. And an emphasis on public safety, on crossroads and stuff like that, have some warnings because as everybody knows the county roads are getting a whole lot busier nowadays than they were back in the past years. And there’s a lot more road traffic. There’s people that move here. They don’t know a lot of the roads like the old people that live around here do. And I think that you need to have a little bit more emphasis on safety. And then also, speak up and voice opinions on Commission Court. People need to go to those things and voice your opinion and see what needs to be done, see if we can get it taken care of, and working with all the other commissioners for it. That’s a good thing. Everybody can get along and you can get stuff motivated.”
“Some of the changes and improvements, starting with the county barn at Precinct 2, I think we need to update some of the routine practices and policies,” Sternadel said. “We’ve already started on those changes specifically with our call out system and how your Precinct 2 employees respond in a storm, whether they’re shutting down a road for high water or responding to a tree down. We started implementing some changes to that kind of dated system that better manage employee overtime and safety when they’re out in the weather. We’ve already implemented changes to that process and added new safety equipment to protect those guys. Like it was said, the roads are getting busier, there’s a lot of interface with traffic. And the employees at Precinct 2 are the biggest asset to them. They’re the guys doing the work. Those guys doing the work are the same as those who have been doing the work for the previous 10 years. And protecting those assets with equipment and safety policy is a big change that needs to happen. And long term planning, both at the county barn and at the courthouse level, projecting costs and how to mitigate those costs for the next year and the year after that will be a big cost savings if we can look ahead and create some type of a schedule for those financial expenses.”
The candidates were also asked what can be done to mitigate damage on county roads caused by heavy commercial vehicles and 18-wheeler traffic.
“My understanding, so far in the past, they’ve been doing road bonds ... that were refunded later, if the road is not damaged,” Pace said. “Sometimes (the County) does keep it occasionally. But that money is intended to help support the roads to hold up under those conditions more than it has to really prepare them. It seems to be pretty effective. I know a few times they actually have kept the money for that. I think the oil companies are expecting to put up that money because they do understand the county gets calls. And it gives us a chance to tell them to use appropriate routes and give us a heads up that they’re going to be doing something on that road. That does help.”
“As was said, there is a road bond that is set up and they need to hold up to what the bond is and make everyone hold them accountable for the actions, for the traffic and so forth that’s tearing up the roads,” Tiemann said.
“The best tool that the county has to mitigate those expenses as others have said is the road bond,” Sternadel said. “That road bond was developed by the County Attorney’s Office with the late Mr. Streicher. When that was all being developed I had a chance to be a part of that conversation. The County sat down with a few oil companies that were very active in the area, and we said ‘How can we meet in the middle? How can we not hold you guys up but how can we take this burden off the taxpayers?’ Primarily with the oil activity, a small couple landowners get the big benefit and everyone else foots the bill. When that road bond is in place, we negotiate the route beforehand, and make sure all the taxpayers are aware of where that traffic is going to happen. Most often our Sheriff’s Office does a great job taking footage of the road in pre construction conditions and the Commissioner will follow up with post construction oilfield completion activities. It’s been a great asset for the County. It’s cut down a ton on taxpayer dollars from all areas of the county, especially when we all know where the oil activity has been focused. The relationship with our local oil and gas production guys has been great. They’re on board with it. As long as we don’t slow them down, they’re more than willing to cut the check. It’s been an immense savings in time for the County and taxpayer dollars.”
On Growth
Pct. 2 has been one of the fastest-growing regions of the County, especially in regard to land divisions and property development. The three candidates spoke about their views concerning growth.
“It’s always good to have population growth that brings in more income for the county and it helps out there,” Tiemann said. “It’s just a lot of things have to be looked at, and you know, revised and so forth with the growth and the population that would be coming in, but like I said it would bring in more revenue for the county.”
“The previous eight years or a little more that I’ve worked for the county, I was in our permitting office and I’m intimately familiar with the growth and the headaches that come with that growth,” Sternadel said. “And I think it’s the Commissioner’s responsibility to positively manage that growth while still preserving the essential heritage of Fayette County and its resources. I had a firsthand role in several amendments to our subdivision ordinance to help protect those things. Essentially we need growth. We don’t want to drive to a ghost town. But that growth needs to be managed in a positive manner so that we get protection of our resources, we get protection of landowners rights without government overreach. It takes a fine balance to protect your neighbors, but to also protect private property owners rights.”
“I think population growth is going to be an indicator of how well the County is and how well it’s represented, how we spend our money, how we take care of each other,” Pace said. “Growth has its drawbacks, I’m sure, but if we keep this a desirable County to be in, I think growth is going to happen. I don’t know that I would be looking for to get growth, but it’s a good indicator that we have a desirable place, that we’re doing the job right, and that Commissioners Court is doing what you’re supposed to do.”
The candidates answered many other questions that we don’t have room for in this issue. The Record livestreamed the entire forum. Watch the recording on YouTube at https://youtu.be/ FzLAPkxRRzw.