Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly sat down recently with the Hill Country Community Journal to reflect on the positives and negatives of county issues in 2024 and what issues to look forward to in 2025.
“The biggest issue in 2024 was Ian Collum and county clerk issue. There’s a lot of history behind what’s happened in that office. It’s probably the most important office in county government,” Kelly said.
Kelly said he was unaware of the problems in clerk’s office before the election of 2014 when he took office the following Jan. 1.
“That was the election between Jannett Pieper and Becky Bolin. It was a really nasty election, when an employee was running against the boss,” Kelly said.
Kelly said that the election set off a chain of events in the county clerk’s office that has continued for a decade. Pieper was defeated by Bolin, then Bolin resigned, and Jackie Dowdy was appointed to serve out the term and was elected for a full term in 2018.
Last year Dowdy resigned and her chief deputy, Ian Collum, was appointed by the commissioners’ court to take over the office. He filed to have his name appear on the March 2024 Republican ballot and was unopposed.
“The county clerk is a very complex job. Someone who understands all of those different departments within the department is vital. We cannot absorb that kind of turnover,” Kelly said.
Kelly noted that the county clerk is designated as the county’s bookkeeper who keeps the vital records (birth, marriage and death), land records, county court at law criminal and civil docket records, mental health records, probate records, juvenile case records, handles all elections, and maintains the commissioners’ court minutes and other documents.
“Ian was overwhelmed and got behind and could not catch up. He missed deadlines and we were in a situation of possibly having a forfeiture of grants. He made the decision to resign. He was trying to protect the department and the employees,” Kelly said.
Kelly noted that the county clerk must also be able to handle all dealings with the governor’s office and Office of Court Administration and must provide the reports to the two agencies in a timely manner, which the county’s ability to apply for and receive grants in several departments depends on.
One of the major issues Collum faced was a request for hand-counting of the primary ballots in March 2024 which ultimately cost the county $250,000. Funds were not in the budget and had to be taken from contingency funds.
“That office has not had proper leadership in a decade. Ian was not totally qualified, but was the most qualified that we had at the time Jackie left. He had the qualifications and potential to serve long term in the office. Everyone was excited about Ian taking the job, but there was no transition period. There was an abrupt departure of Jackie Dowdy. This was the perfect storm. We did not know about Ian’s existing health issues and that he did not handle stress well,” Kelly said.
Kelly said the pressure put on Collum by the We the People-Liberty in Action group who bombarded him with freedom of information (FOIA) requests after the primaries impacted his health. Bob Reeves, according to Kelly, was also bombarded with FOIA requests by the group.
“We wanted Nadene to take over the elections at about the same time as when Dowdy left, and Paces began the push for hand-counting the ballots during the Fall of 2023 and Winter and Spring of 2024. Ian fell behind on the required reports to the state, but did not report it to the commissioners’ court. When we found out we were alarmed. We sought help for him, but his health continued to decline and came to a head after the primary,” Kelly said.
To help him they created a separate elections department within the county clerk’s office with Denise Vela in charge of future elections.
“She’s a take charge person with a no-nonsense personality. She worked briefly with Ian before he resigned,” Kelly said.
After he resigned from the county, Collum was confronted by the new leadership of the Kerr County Republican Party who took over after the primary controlled primarily by the supporters of the We the People-Liberty in Action movement.
“They took over that party by storm, but they no longer were willing to work with the commissioners’ court. There was a loss of longtime leadership within the political party,” Kelly added.
According to Kelly, Collum was too concerned about what would happen if he withdrew his name from the ballot and allowed the party executive committee to select someone whose name would be on the ballot.
“Ian was concerned about what was best for the county. He was willing to do what he could to address those needs. He sacrificed himself by not removing his name from the general election ballot in November. What he did was a gift to the residents of Kerr County, a sacrifice, and he was maligned. It was hard for him and for his family,” Kelly said.
“In my humble opinion, the citizens of Kerr County owe him an apology. He has given us the opportunity to finally shore up that office. I am personally grateful for the courage he has shown through the crisis and I’m confident he has a bright future ahead of him,” Kelly added.
Commisioners then talked to Bob Reeves (Tax Assessor Collector) and he agreed to let Nadene Alford’s, his chief deputy who had 36 years of experience in both the county clerk’s office and tax office, be appointed interim county clerk in order to shore up the staff. Bob was very supportive,” Kelly added.
Alford was re-appointed as the county clerk recently after Collum once again submitted a resignation letter after winning the general election.
Kelly also noted that the change in the leadership of the Republican Party executive committee has also changed their procedures for primary candidates. According to Kelly, for future elections Republican candidates will have to be screened and endorsed by the committee before their name will appear on the Republican ballot. Despite the pressure that was put on Collum by the Republican executive committee, he refused to be removed from the general election ballot.
Kelly said the second challenge he saw in 2024 that will continue into the new year has to do with juvenile issues in the county. Kelly serves as the judge in most of the serious juvenile cases handled by law enforcement and the county’s juvenile probation department.
“Most of the youth who become involved in the juvenile justice system in Kerr County come from single-parent families. Rarely do I have a two-parent family sitting in the courtroom to support a juvenile who is in trouble,” Kelly said.
In reflecting on the political climate in Kerr County, Kelly said that he is concerned about the number of people who have moved into the area from out of state or other communities who are focusing on state and national issues rather than the traditional local issues that are the issues of county government.
“One of the biggest accomplishments of 2024 has gone unnoticed and that was the renewal of the interlocal agreement (contract) between the city and county for emergency medical services. For the past 30 years the city has provided EMS services to the entire county, and we just renewed the contract for ten more years,” Kelly said.
One of the biggest fights the city and county ever were involved in occurred 10 years ago, Kelly noted.
“Early in my administration we started to work on the contract issue. This year it went smooth as silk. It is so important to be done by agreement without a fight,” Kelly said.
He praised Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice and his staff for cooperating in the renewal negotiations which will see the county pay $1.5 million a year for EMS and fire response by the city if needed, plus include an escalation after one year based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the ten-year life of the contract.
Another long-awaited success story of 2024 that will spill over into 2025 is the construction of the new animal control facility. The project ran over budget for the amount approved by voters in November 2022 because of inflation and other issues that have developed. The budget shortfall will come from the contingency budget once the initial construction is completed.
“It has been caught in a time warp during an inflationary cycle. Commissioner Letz has been leading the animal control issue in negotiations for the past ten years and more recently he has worked with Kerrville Pets Alive! leadership. He will be missed,” Kelly said.
Groundbreaking for the new facility will likely be in the first quarter of 2025 now that the contract has been awarded to JK Bernhard Construction and issues like floodplain, roads, the rainwater collection system and landscaping along the property line shared by the VA National Cemetery have been resolved.
Another major capital project planned for 2025 is the improvements to the indoor arena at the Hill Country Youth Event Center championed by Commissioner Paces. Electrical, roof and rainwater storage improvements are slated for the more than half-century old building that was built, at that time, primarily by volunteers.
Some ARPA funds remaining have been pledged to the indoor arena project and also to the updating of the county’s 550 Earl Garrett two-story office building that now houses adult probation, environmental health and the veteran services offices. Additionally, the swap of property with the Ingram ISD and relocation of several offices to the West Kerr Annex is on the schedule for the coming year.
Several local government relationships also require the county leaders to work together including the county’s relationship with the Alamo Area Council of Governments, Headwaters Groundwater Conservation District, and the various volunteer fire departments that provide emergency response services around the county.
Also, the relationships with the Hill Country Regional Public Defender Office, the 391 sub-regional commission in process of formation to object to the lithium battery storage facilities, plus the mental health and developmental disabilities (MHDD) office that provides services for 19 counties in Central and South Texas.
Kelly said that with the Texas Legislature meeting in 2025 new laws and mandates affecting counties will be on the horizon for Kerr County to address. Questions about subdivision regulations initiated by counties remain after developers convinced the last legislature to gut many of the previous powers of counties. Other issues the judge pointed out that the county will face in the new year include pending lawsuits plus economic development.
“Threats to the Hill Country lifestyle present challenges. People 30 to 35 years ago had chosen to live here. Friends and neighbors collaborated for the good of the county. Elected officials were largely non-partisan including the city councils, school trustees, non-profit organizations and organizers of charity fundraisers. There was a rare reference to party affiliation. Things were homogenous,” Kelly said.
Beginning in 2016 things began to change, according to Kelly, and the 2018 GOP primary especially saw the partisan politics begin to dominate.
“The 2023 budget cycle saw Commissioner Paces and the Liberty in Action folks lobby for hand-counting of ballots. They paraded ‘would be’ election experts, one with a fast-food background, before the county leaders. As a result, Bob Reeves resigned as the county’s election official, a role he had assumed after all the problems in the county clerk’s office some years earlier,” Kelly said.
The management of elections is an official duty for the county clerk according to the Texas Constitution and statutes. Fast forward to present time and the election duties have returned to the county clerk’s office under the new elections department.
Another challenge the county faced in 2024 was the proposed Twin Creeks Development on Eagle Ridge Road. When the county refused to approve the subdivision plat primarily because of the safety issue of the inadequate safe access to the property on a substandard road, the developers sued the county trying to force them to approve the plat. Eventually the county prevailed in the lawsuit but, in the meantime, lobbyists went to the state legislature and convinced them to change the rules effectively taking away the county’s authority over subdivisions with larger lots.
On the economic development scene, Kerr County saw Killdeer Mountain Manufacturing move into existing property near the Kerrville-Kerr County Airport and, despite a vocal group of naysayers, Megaacreete, a concrete panel manufacturer began construction on their new plant on Peterson Farm Road.
On Jan. 1 two new county commissioners will be sworn into office which could significantly impact county commissioners’ court decisions in 2025 and years ahead. Tom Jones will take the seat now occupied by Anne Overby in Precinct 1 and Jeff Holt will take the oath as the Pct. 3 Commissioner replacing retiring longtime commissioner Jonathan Letz.
Both Jones and Holt were endorsed in the March 2024 Republican Primary by We the People-Liberty in Action and faced no opposition in the November 5 general election.
The town has grown considerably in the 22 years that we have lived here. The people who move here 35 years ago and ran everything so smoothly are much older and less able to do what they did then. It must be difficult, for those of you who have had total “non-partisan” control of everything running Kerr County, to have voters who dare to have an opinion and even worse-to voice it. I’m a senior citizen who has lived other places and been involved and observant! I don’t agree with realtors, builders and bankers running everything. I do not agree with over the top spending of tax dollars and always needing more. I believe we all have a voice, even if we aren’t allowed to share it except among friends.