On the road with a County Commissioner

by admin

TownTalk Media took to the roads recently to ride along with County Commissioner Precinct 4 Ernesto “Ernie” Elizardo. Precinct 4 covers mainly the southwest portion of the County, in the Wellman area.

We wanted to find out just exactly what is the job of a County Commissioner.

The county commissioner is responsible for roads and bridges within their precinct and makes policy-making budget decisions. Four commissioners, elected from a quarter of the county’s population, serve along with the county judge on the commissioner’s court.

A county commissioner in Texas has the following duties:

  • As member of the commissioners court, exercises broad policy-making authority
  • Represents one of four precincts within the county
  • Typically responsible for building and maintaining county roads and bridges within the precinct

Commissioners Court

The commissioners court conducts the general business of the county and consists of the county judge and four commissioners.

The court:

  • Adopts the county’s budget and tax rate
  • Approves all budgeted purchases of the county
  • Fills vacancies in elective and appointive offices
  • Sets all salaries and benefits
  • Has exclusive authority to authorize contracts
  • Provides and maintains all county buildings and facilities

The four commissioners in Terry County are:

Precinct 1 – Mike Swain

Precinct 2 – Kirby Keesee

Precinct 3 – Martin Lefevre

Precinct 4 – Ernie Elizardo

Ernie took us riding over the southwestern part of the county and showed some of his crew at work, moving sand off the roadways and clearing ditches. “When we don’t have roads that we need to work, we have areas where we clear out some sand that has built up,” stated Ernie. “We all try to keep our crews busy on projects when they are not working on the roads.”

Each precinct has three employees, and three graders. Ernie stated, “We meet once a week to establish our goals for the week. We talk daily. We have a plan to work each roadway each year. Of course, when it rains or the sand blows hard, we have to adjust for those things.”

In Ernie’s precinct, there are roughly 230 miles of dirt road to manage.

Ernie stated that having knowledge of costs of products and materials is vital to keeping up with things. “I often have people who want certain things done. We share that cost with them. If they will pay for materials, the county will provide the labor and equipment. I had one guy who wanted his road black topped. I told him what it would cost. So he agreed to pay for the materials, and we did all the work. That road doesn’t just serve him, it serves the county so it is a win-win situation.”

One thing Ernie has been doing is installing culverts in areas prone to washing in a big rain. “The land owners are happy to pay for a culvert, if we will get it installed and do it right. We have put in about 35 culverts in this precinct and really reduced the washing out of roads, and it helps the farmers by keeping their field from flooding or washing.”

Another things seen as we traveled were “barricades” placed here and there to also stop some of the washing away of roadways.

Precinct 4 also has a fantastic new barn that was the product of “thinking outside the box.” “We needed a barn in this area and the Wellman Volunteer Fire Department was about to build a barn for their trucks. We were able to work together to get the barn built and share costs. It helped both of us, and we felt like it was a good use of taxpayer dollars.”

The barn has a meeting room area, an office space, small kitchen facilities and a bathroom with a shower. “Sometimes our guys get into a situation where they need to shower off quickly. We wanted to have a place for that.”

All the commissioners pretty much work this same way. They are in it to serve their constituents, as best they can, as well as trying to make the best use of County tax dollars.

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