For about an hour and a half, candidates vying for Ector County judge and Ector County commissioner Precinct 2 answered questions in front of about 75 people during a forum at the Odessa Country Club.
It featured incumbents Ector County Judge Debi Hays and Ector County Commissioner for Precinct 2 Greg Simmons. Hays’ challenger is Dustin Fawcett, while Simmons’ challengers included Ryan Patton and Billy Tripp.
The questions asked to all candidates ranged from detailing items on the agenda to public comment during commissioner meetings to fire and EMS services provided by the City of Odessa to the county to certificates of obligation to healthcare to inmates at the Ector County Law Enforcement Center.
“(The City of Odessa) does provide that service, but the county pays the city $775,000 a year for that service, so it’s not a free service,” Hays said while she was talking about fire and EMS services provided by the City of Odessa to Ector County. “There’s also services the county provides to the city.”
Fawcett said many of the interlocal agreements between the county and city need to be revisited.
“Since we’ve had new commissioners and new city council, we haven’t had a joint commissioners and city council meeting,” Fawcett said. “…We should all be on the same page.”
Simmons used his extra time to talk about certificates of obligation.
“The debt issuance that we did was important for the community,” Simmons said. “It was important for the kids that we need to take care of and for the public that we need to protect.”
Patton spoke about the need for communication between the county, the public and the City of Odessa.
“We have to come together and work together for the taxpayer,” Patton said when he spoke about interlocal agreements between the county and city. “We can’t fight one another and think we are going to have good agreements to take care of the citizens.”
Tripp referenced the need for “checks and balances” numerous times during his answers.
“We need better management on how funds are distributed,” Tripp said. “I think with certificates of obligation the public needs to be involved to some extent, but we can at least have some (townhall) meetings and forums.”
The forum also had members of the audience ask questions that included Wallace Dunn asking how long each has been a Republican and when was the last time they voted for a Democrat.
Odessan Kris Crow asked Hays and Simmons about whether they stand by their decisions to use certificates of obligation for the Ector County Youth Center.
“I still stand by that decision,” Hays said and elaborated on why it’s taking so long for the new youth center to be built, which her answer was COVID. “… Trust me, I wish we had already broke ground and there was already a structure coming up, because we know we need that center.”
Simmons added: “As far as if I would do things differently, I would probably want to clarify more information from our director from the juvenile center before moving forward, but that was the best information that we had at the time.”
