Childers vies for Graff's spot

Early voting starts in a week, but Ector County's candidates for Precinct 3 have been formulizing their battle plans for months.

Democratic incumbent Barbara Graff wants to find ways to cut down on illegal dumping. And she wants more county funding of volunteer fire departments and would like to see county employees paid overtime and back comp time in certain departments.

Republican challenger Dale Childers said his 23 years of experience with the Odessa Fire Department puts him in line to run Precinct 3 best. He's advocating more private funding for the county's volunteer fire departments, creative scheduling to avoid paying as much comp time as possible and wants commissioners to make more of an effort to trim department heads' budget in the future.

"I think it's going back to a creative process that needs to be made in the county instead of hiring more people," Childers said Friday.

Graff is serving her second term as Precinct 3 commissioner. She was one of three commissioners who approved a raise for themselves in August, with commissioner Greg Simmons as the only naysayer. The raise was lumped in with a 3 percent cost-of-living increase given to county employees and marks the fourth straight year commissioners have received a pay increase.

Graff said the increase was warranted because the commissioner job is a full-time one.

"I would be upset about a commissioner who didn't work full time," Graff said. "We have to pay our bills. If you're going to have qualified people in office, you have to pay them. In my precinct, people don't want a part-time commissioner, they want a full time."

Childers said he opposed the raise and will not approve one for himself during his first four years of office if he's elected.

"The reason I have a problem with a commissioner being down there 40 hours a week is because a commissioner by themselves really has absolutely no authority," Childers said, adding that the court has to vote on things as a whole. "It's not like they can sit down there and make decisions on their own."

Childers said he was in favor of the 15 and 12 percent pay hikes for sheriff's deputies that commissioners approved in August, but isn't thrilled about "throwing money" at the county's employee shortage problem.

Payment of back comp time was brought up again last month when commissioners approved paying off a little more than $3,000 worth in owed hours for cemetery employees. The county-funded Rose Hill Cemetery was not allowing Saturday burials because the workers had accrued too much comp time due to staff shortages.

Childers said he's polled other counties and found flex scheduling helpful in dealing with employee overtime problems.

"There are lots of ways that they're getting around the shortage," he said.

Graff said with the oil patch sucking up all the Basin's workforce, paying overtime and owed comp time in some departments is necessary to get the job done and still keep good employees.

"Most of these departments are so understaffed they can't work off their comp time," she said. "When they're understaffed, they need to be compensated."

Graff said that payment process needs to be done with caution because budgets can get out of hand quickly, and she'd like to see the county tout its benefits package more to recruit new employees.

Graff would also like to see more county funding for volunteer fire departments.

"We are responsible for the safety of the people in our county," she said. "We don't fund our volunteer fire departments adequately."

Childers said he'd like to see more donations to fund volunteer fire departments around the county. He said the county already pays the City of Odessa more than three quarters of a million dollars for backup EMS and fire service, and it's a good one to have.

Both candidates are interested in looking into the creation of an emergency services district, where a taxing entity ruled by an elected board would take care of funding county fire departments.

West Odessa Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jimmy Ellis has said a tax rate of around 4 cents per $100 valuation would be enough to cover the needs - and that would take the burden of funding emergency services off the county every year.

But both are skeptical that voters would pass a tax increase without lots of education.

"I think the biggest obstacle will be getting the citizens to pay for it," Childers said.

Commissioners approved a new code enforcement officer position in this fiscal year's budget, something both candidates support. But Childers doesn't want to see the county take on a full-fledged code enforcement department. Graff said she'd like to see a code enforcement department developed to beautify the county, and it shouldn't cost taxpayers a dime if fines cover the operating budget.

She's also in favor of stricter fines for illegal dumping.

"Warning notices are completely useless," she said.

Childers wants to take a wait-and-see approach to how effective the new code enforcement officer ends up being.

"I don't want to see us get into code enforcement in the county," he said. "It's just too big."

  FACT FILE

>> Seat: County commissioner

>> Term: Four years.

>> Salary: $43,827.

>> Car allowance: $5,400 per year.

>> Candidates: In Precinct 1: Republican incumbent Freddie Gardner and Democratic challenger Linda Young Anglley. In Precinct 3: Democratic incumbent Barbara Graff and Republican challenger Dale Childers.