Consistent. Principled. Action.

Tracy and I had a restful time this past week on vacation and I am ready to continue learning the issues and challenges of the County Judge position.

Many of you are writing to me, and I appreciate hearing your inputs on various issues. I am contemplating holding a series of town hall meetings in the fall before I take office. Stay tuned for more on this subject as it matures.

I am also starting to speak at more functions, and as January 1 approaches, I will accept all the speaking engagements that I can.

Have a great week. Substantive blog entries will continue next week.

Sincerely,
Keith

Bureaucracy is a term that has not fared well in history. In fact, today bureaucracy carries a faintly unsavory aura that connotes inefficiency or worse. Yet bureaucracies are everywhere as the division of labor increases and we have groups of people, i.e. bureaucracies, to carry out the policies of one organization or another. Collin County maintains a bureaucracy to carry out the delivery of county services such as public safety or a host of other services.

On January 1, I will take the oath of office to serve the interests of the citizens of Collin County. The citizens of Collin County expect me, like all county elected officials and employees, to provide necessary county services in the most efficient manner possible. As a soldier for 25 years, I subordinated my interests and at times the interests of my family to the needs of the nation. As the County Judge, I will do the same for the needs of the county.

The same should apply to the entire bureaucracy that provides county services. We all serve the needs and interests of our county citizens. We do not exist solely to increase our size or our budget. We do not exist to take as much from the public coffers as possible. We do not exist to expand the reach and functions of county government at the expense of private enterprise or private charity. We do not compete with the private sector. We do not exist to enrich our friends. I do not ascribe to the popular philosophy that public funds are quote, free money. The taxpayers work hard for the funds that they entrust to us so that we can provide necessary services in the most efficient manner possible.

I need to make sure that the reader understands that I am not writing about the work ethic, salaries or benefits of our county employees. I am confident that our county employees work hard and I am not addressing the current discussion on salary and benefits; I am only discussing my views on government bureaucracies in general. I believe that we need to be a team that understands our roles as public servants, that we take pride in what we do, and that we provide excellent value to Collin County taxpayers.

Collin County must maintain a county government bureaucracy. In exchange for the taxpayer dollars provided, the taxpayer should expect a lean, efficient bureaucracy that constantly monitors itself to make sure that the needs and interests of the citizens are being well served. How we do that will be a constant point of interest with me. There are a number of ways to make sure that every dollar spent by the county is necessary and I intend to explore every budget method possible to make sure that we are spending public funds wisely, that our bureaucracy is functioning efficiently. I am not questioning any current elected official or employee; I am making a promise to the citizens of our county. There will be points of disagreement on the details of execution, but the principle should be clear; government bureaucracies do not exist for themselves, they exist to serve the citizens.

Sincerely,
Keith

1. I want this blog to be more than just another information source for events and issues. I will start sharing my thoughts about the county with you so that there will be no surprises when I take office on January 1, 2007. You can read the first discussion along these lines in the June 24 blog entry below or in the archives, where I discussed the Health Care Task Force Recommendations. In that entry, I hinted at one of my fundamental beliefs; that public funding should not compete with private funding, that public funding should be reserved for core county government functions. If we allow our county budget to bloat with every funding request we receive, not only do we waste taxpayer dollars, we compete with private enterprise or private charity. I will attempt to focus county spending on those core county functions that require public funding. Spending is growing rapidly at every level of government and maintaining a focus on core government functions is one method to control spending. While I will have only one vote on the court, I plan to vigorously advocate these concepts.

2. The trip last week to DC on the Wright Amendment agreement went well, but we will have to wait for the vote in Congress to see if we were able to halt the blatant free market restrictions that the agreement asked Congress to codify at the expense of Collin County. Congressmen Johnson and Hall are fighting the good fight on our behalf. Let them know that we appreciate their efforts.

3. Thanks to Commissioner Phyllis Cole for distributing the link for the new Collin County email service. This is a good first step to make county government transparent and accessible to every citizen. If you care to receive periodic emails from the county, you can sign up at http://www.collincountytx.gov/public_information/
email_list/distribution_list.jsp

4. Congratulations to Commissioner Joe Jaynes, who was recently appointed by the Commissioners Court to replace Judge Ron Harris on the Dallas Regional Mobility Coalition (DRMC).

Next week: I believe the county bureaucracy exists only to serve the citizens of our county. The usual bureaucracy exists to first survive and then to increase its size.

Sincerely,
Keith Self

Check out the new email feature that allows you to email blog entries to your friends. Please make frequent use of the new feature.

1. Longevity pay is on the Commissioners Court agenda for Tuesday, July 11. I will be in DC working on the Wright Amendment agreement, but if you are interested in the workings of county government, this would be a good session to attend. The Dallas Morning News reports that the votes to terminate longevity pay for all elected officials are available. Commissioners Court is conducted on the 6th floor of the Courthouse at 210 S McDonald, McKinney at 9 AM, Tuesday, July 11.

2. TXDot will host a public hearing on Trans-Texas Corridor in McKinney on Thursday, July 13. The proposed route crosses Collin County, so we have deep community interests in the many decisions that will be made over the next few years. I encourage you to attend if you want to learn the issues and participate in the decision-making process. There are routing issues, business model issues, national sovereignty issues, and many others that we will need to closely monitor as the process moves forward. This will be a big deal with profound implications for Collin County. The hearing will be conducted at the McKinney High School Cafeteria, 1400 Wilson Creek Parkway. The Open House for questions and discussion is scheduled from 5-6:30 PM, with the public hearing at 6:30.

Sincerely,
Keith

I trust that your 4th of July is a wonderful celebration of our freedoms and remembrance of those young Americans protecting our freedoms as we celebrate.

1. Wright Amendment

We have heard and read a great deal of press coverage on the agreement between Dallas and Fort Worth, known in an abbreviated form as The Joint Statement to Resolve the Wright Amendment Issues.

However, paragraph 6 of the joint statement dramatically expands the Wright Amendment, an expansion that does grave damage to the future of Collin County. I quote the applicable portions of paragraph 6 for you.

Quote.
The Cities agree that they will both oppose efforts to initiate commercial passenger air service at any area airport other than DFW during the eight-year period. The City of Dallas and the City of Fort Worth agree to jointly oppose any attempts to repeal or modify the Wright Amendment earlier than the eight-year period. To the extent any other airport within an eighty-mile radius seeks to initiate scheduled commercial passenger service within this eight-year period, both cities agree to work diligently to bring that service to DFW, or if that effort fails, then to airports owned by the Cities of Dallas and/or Fort Worth.
End quote.

This paragraph represents a huge local expansion of the Wright Amendment, one that directly targets all local airports.

Fortunately, this agreement is only signed between two cities and does not yet carry the weight of law. However, paragraph 7 of the agreement states that Congress will implement the terms and spirit of this agreement. If Congress approves this agreement, paragraph 6 will become the law of the land and we will lose all local control to initiate passenger service in Collin County for the next eight years.

The Collin County Regional Airport (CCRA) is one of the key assets for the future of Collin County. Over $20 million in federal funds is programmed to build a new runway at CCRA. As our county population grows toward 1 million, we need to provide scheduled air service in Collin County. The flying demographic in the metroplex lives generally along the Dallas County/Collin County line and will gradually move north as Collin County grows.

Our county has a bright, vibrant future ahead of us. That future requires scheduled passenger air service as we continue to build an exceptional way of life in Collin County. We have an incredible asset in the Collin County Regional Airport. We need to protect our ability to make use of that asset in ways that benefit our citizens. We need the authority to decide when to establish scheduled passenger air service as market conditions warrant.

I need your help.

I will travel to Washington DC next week to speak against paragraph 6. Please do your part by calling your elected congressional officials to let them know that this agreement represents a severe blow to Collin County. Ask them to cut paragraph 6 out of the agreement before they vote. Paragraph 6 represents the harshest possible blow to Collin County. Ask our elected officials to protect our ability to respond to market conditions and provide passenger service to our citizens when required.

2. Happy birthday, Collin County!
2006 is the 160th anniversary of the founding of Collin County! Happy Birthday! Let's push on into a bright future worthy of the vision, dedication, and commitment of our founder, Collin McKinney, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.

Sincerely,
Keith