County Redistricting

All Politics Is Local

The McLennan County Commissioners are considering which, if any, Justice of the Peace and Constable positions should be redistricted. Two public meetings were held, Tuesday and Thursday evenings, where citizens could comment.

The Waco Tea Party, Inc. does not have an opinion on which ones should be kept or consolidated, we are not redistricting experts and keeping in compliance with the Voting Rights Act is more complicated than the average person understands.  We simply provide you with the information supplied by the Commissioners Court. Each citizen is then better informed and can make up their own minds and weigh in on the issue.

If you missed the notice:

"In accordance with the requirements of Article 5, Section 18(a) of the Texas Constitution, the McLennan County Commissioners Court is charged with the responsibility from time to time, for the convenience of the people, to consider the division of the Justice of the Peace and Constable Offices. The Constitution provides that the County shall be divided into not less than four (4) and not more than eight (8) precincts. There are currently eight (8) Justice of the Peace Offices and seven (7) Constable Offices. The Commissioners Court of McLennan County, Texas is considering reducing the number of its Justice of the Peace/Constable Precincts to more effectively and efficiently serve the public. Public hearings will be held before the Commissioners Court for the purpose of receiving community comment upon the potential redistricting of the Justice of the Peace/Constable Precincts."

If you missed the meeting and would like to contact the County Commissioners to voice you opinion or learn more about why and how they will be redistricting the county their contact information is below.

County Judge, Scott Felton	dustin.chapman@co.mclennan.tx.us	254-757-5049
Precinct 1, Commissioner Snell	chrissy.brault@co.mclennan.tx.us	254-757-5061
Precinct 2, Commissioner Gibson	lester.gibson@co.mclennan.tx.us	254-757-5062
Precinct 3, Commissioner Jones	will.jones@co.mclennan.tx.us	254-757-5063
Precinct 4, Commissioner Perry	ben.perry@co.mclennan.tx.us	254-757-5064

The Waco Tea Party, Inc., as an organization, has not taken a position on the redistricting. We believe in Constitutionally Limited Government, that does not mean "anti-government" or "no government". We expect elected officials to follow the rule of law, and to act inside their bounds of the United States and Texas Constitutions. The County Commissioners are acting within their responsibility, whether you agree with the outcome or not, the process is within their authority and duty. 

That being said, we also find the amount of information for citizens to make intelligent and informed decisions is almost non existent. If the Commissioners would like people to understand their positions they must better communicate with the public. Fact sheets which should include costs and projected savings, process description, and other pertinent information should be readily available on their website. In an age of increased social media and technology there is no reason why they cannot be more informative. If they were a business and wanted their customers to understand a change or product they would fail miserably. If they want to shove change down citizens throat they shouldn't be surprised when there is blowback. 

If they really want their constituents to "buy in" to the change they need to learn how to communicate more effectively. Holding precinct meetings where questions could be asked and answered rather than only holding a public hearing for comments would have been more helpful and caused less fear mongering and misinformation to go around the county. The city of Waco has had many meetings for the public on various topics in the past that have been much better received, perhaps the Commissioners could learn a few lessons from them for the future.

We also believe in fiscal responsibility, and the county hasn't been as fiscally responsible as they could have been in years past. Hopefully, they will continue to improve upon their budgeting process and try to correct past practices that have caused spending to go up year after year which in turn, causes our taxes to go up too.

Cutting the size and scope of government in the county is going to be necessary if we do not want to see bigger and bigger property tax bills in our mailboxes. We also know that it has to be balanced cuts and means reduced services at times. Commissioners are tasked with making decisions that are most effective an in an unemotional, and sensible manner. It means inconveniencing some citizens at times. It is uncomfortable, especially when it means eliminating positions of elected officials and employees that do work hard for the county and its citizens. 

There have been numerous complaints about "how" and "why" the Commissioners are addressing this issue. While we appreciate citizens frustrations, we must stress that emailing us or calling us will not accomplish as much as you contacting your elected officials, they represent you in these matters. 

The Waco Tribune Herald has written a story about the redistricting, and being that one of our officers was quoted, we felt it important to give you her complete testimony.  Carol Waddell was there as a citizen of West, and not representing the Waco Tea Party, Inc. at the public hearing. Carol was exercising her right to address the Court, and has every right to do so. We encourage everyone to participate in the political process, whether their position is the same as the organization or any one of our officers personal opinions or not, what matters is that citizens are involved in the process.  

If you have a differing opinion or supporting letter we invite you to submit it to us by email. (We ask that you send the response as a Word document, limit it to 600 words or less, keep it family friendly, and on topic.)

"Good evening, as everyone in this room knows at every level of government we are buried in a sea of debt and if we plan to continue to function as a country, state, and county then there are tough decisions to be made to rein in spending and have more cost effective government.  So to that end, I applaud the commissioner’s court for looking for avenues to make those tough decisions and cut costs of county government that is paid by the tax payers.

However, there are necessary services that governments are charged with providing to the taxpayers and that we as taxpayers should receive.  The problem with the plan you are proposing is that it cuts services to rural taxpayers appears that once again in McLennan County if you don’t live in Waco you get crapped on.  Maybe you have done your homework and done a cost/revenue analysis of the county’s justice of peace courts.  If you have, why didn't you preface this plan by providing that information to the taxpayers and the communities that would be affected by this plan?

Are these offices in West and Mart truly losing money in the services that they provide to the respective communities?  Are there other JP courts in McLennan County that could be consolidated that would save money but not require the affected citizens to have to drive 45 miles to get the services or serve on jury duty? You seem to forget that you are the employees and the taxpayers of this county are in fact your bosses so the burden is on you to show us what is being done inefficiently, what is costing more than the revenue it generates, and then come up with solutions that still offer the services in a reasonable manner to the citizens but in a more cost effective manner.

Believe it or not, there are in fact citizens in the rural areas who do not drive to Waco or across the county and or do not have the means to do so.  Our JP offices do much more than just hold court and fine people in our communities, they help citizens young and old with a variety of issues and provide valuable services to the taxpayers.  So having people get up in a public hearing and accuse citizens of this county of being unpatriotic, greedy or needy doesn't do anything but cause animosity and contention where none should exist.

Except for our JPs and constables, the rural cities of McLennan County rarely see anyone from the county government unless there is a criminal act to be policed by the sheriff dept., a tragedy like the West explosion to deal with, or the presence of federal or state officials to have a photo op with.  So to propose cutting services on the heels of raising our taxes is another slap in our faces.  The county continues to spend money on things like Waco Chamber of Commerce dues, the Baylor football stadium, and the Economic Development Board, none of which benefits the outlying cities. According to your own CAFR report from 2012, 15.2% of the general fund is for economic development.  This increased from $1.15 million in 2011 to $2.295 million in 2012 and is the highest it has been in 10 years.  The main problem with that is that you only partnered with the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce and the City of Waco in this endeavor so once again, the rural cities of the county are not being served with the tax dollars we are paying.

I implore you as elected officials to do your homework, obtain some accurate cost/revenue analysis, and then come up with a common sense solution to our budget woes that doesn't negatively affect tax payers and put unnecessary burdens on them."