Election
1B alice24-7.com Sunday, February 16, 2014 Vol. 3, Issue 16
Elections Office ready for Primary races Early voting begins Tuesday
By Brenda Poe alice24-7.com
Jim Wells County Elections Administrator Tonie Kuhlman said Friday that she and her office staff are ready for the March 4, 2014 Democratic and Republican Party Joint Primary
Election. The Democrat ballot is the most active during this Primary, with the highly contested Jim Wells County Judge race, two contested commissioner’s seats and the newly formed County Court At Law judge seat up for grabs. As the new Elections Administrator, Kuhlman holds the responsi-
bility of overseeing the 2014 Primary. There are several contested races on the Democratic Party side, but Kuhlman is confident that all of the election office’s ducks are in a row and ready to start counting votes. “We have prepared for the Primary,” Kuhlman said. “Our electronic ma-
chines have been programmed and delivered to our early voting locations.” Kuhlman said the machines have been secured until Tuesday, Feb. 18, when early voting begins. “Our judges are all in place as well,” Kuhlman said. While Kuhlman says there has been a slight
increase in voter registration, her office is prepared. “I anticipate that there will be a higher voter turnout because of the number of contested seats in our county,” Kuhlman said. “But we are fully staffed and ready. I am confident that my staff is qualified to conduct this election.”
Kuhlman said she is feeling good about her first election, and has met all deadlines she had set for herself. Kuhlman reminded voters that a valid form of identification will be required to vote at every location. “Just bringing your voter registration card will not be enough to vote,” Kuhlman said.
Q&As with the candidates Jim Wells County Judge L. Arnoldo Saenz, incumbent
Age: 61 Family: married to Gretchen Saenz, two daughters and one son. Please indicate what experience you have that qualifies you to serve as Jim Wells County Judge: I have served as County Judge for 19 years and also served as an assistant county auditor and County Auditor for Jim Wells County. My experience in budget preparation, personnel issues, contract negotiations are attributes that have prepared me to be a county judge. As a sitting judge I am familiar with judicial matters such as civil and criminal matters, probate and guardianships which are handled within my court. I enjoy an excellent working relationship with other
elected officials of the county, 79th district as well as our state and national congressman. What do you see as the major challenges facing Jim Wells County in the next four years? Major challenges facing Jim Wells County include our deteriorating county roads and bridges. Continue to expand our tax base, keep our tax rate low to attract new businesses, provide adequate housing and have a trained workforce. With increasing financial demands from the state and the oil boom tapering off, how do you propose to best continue to provide services while maintaining a budget and low taxes? Continue working with our Economic Development Corporation, streamlining operations throughout the county. Encourage all entities to consolidate services when possible, such as a central dispatch for our law enforcement. Working with TxDot in obtaining surplus materials to help repair our county roads. What do you consider to be Jim Wells County’s best assets, and how can they be used to increase
business ventures here? Jim Wells County best assets are its employees. People who put in hours of work and try their best to provide good services to the residents of Jim Wells County, and the people themselves, low taxes, a business friendly environment and exceptional quality of service from the county allows motivated individuals, entrepreneurs and enterprise of all kinds to call Jim Wells County home. Incoming businesses and citizens expect basic services such as: • Law enforcement protection • Clean water • Emergency management services that provide protection and direction during emergencies. • Ambulance services • Fire services Larry Martinez, challenger
Age: 56 Family:
Wife: Celina Martinez Daughter: Clarissa Martinez; Son: the late Lawrence Martinez, III Please indicate what experience you have that qualifies you to serve as Jim Wells County Judge: For over 11 years, as either a city council member or mayor, I have been working with as well as improving municipal budgets. This includes prioritizing taxpayer money to get the best use for our entire community. I have had to with budgets when our sales tax revenue was low and when sales revenue was high. Each budget year is different and my 11 years of budgetary experience give the experience and knowledge on how to work with fluctuating budgets. I believe the job of the county judge is to facilitate communication between the taxpayers, commissioners’ court, sheriffs office and all other county offices in order to best appreciate taxpayer money. In these 11 years I have had the pleasure of working with finance for budgets, administration for contract negotiations, and public works to implement new ways of making city government more efficient. I spearheaded the implementation of the “Public Works Special
Crews Department”. There was a gap in trying to find contractors for the smaller public works projects such as small water lines, sewer lines and a few other small infrastructure projects. We were able to fill two crews labeled “Special Projects” and have since been able to save the taxpayers several millions dollars in infrastructure work. I will bring a tested but fresh perspective on how an efficient government should work and how to best look out for our taxpayers money. As The Mayor of the City of Alice, and with the previous years of City Councilman for 10 years, I believe my track record speaks for itself in balancing the budget, dealing with contracts, and negotiating various aspects of agreements for the city gives me the professionalism I need to do this job. What do you see as the major challenges facing Jim Wells County in the next four years? One of the major challenges facing Jim Wells County is going to be our roads and bridges. As blessed as we are with the oil boom, we are faced with deteriorating roads throughout the county. We must find a more proper and equitable method of allocating
BE INFORMED! Attend Alice24-7.com’s unbiased political forum
Featuring the Democratic candidates in the following county races: County Judge County Court-at-Law Judge Pct. 2 Commissioner Pct. 4 Commissioner
Candidates will give introductions and answer questions from the moderator as well as questions from the audience.
Monday, Feb. 17 • 6 p.m. Activity Center - Alice High School
road and bridge money to each commissioner. We also need to work with our grant writers to find monies that either the state or federal government is allocating for roadwork. Another major challenge is the increased oil field waster business that is trying to come into Jim Wells County. As stewards of our county and charged the safety of our citizens, we must be diligent when certain types of business are trying to enter our county. We welcome business but not at the expense of the safety of our citizens. Another issues or challenge is to make sure our citizens are protected when it comes to our water resources. I will work closely with Corpus Christi, the City of Alice and the Brush country water district to make sure citizens of Jim Wells County are protected.
With increasing financial demands from the state and the oil boom tapering off, how do you propose to best continue to provide services while maintaining a budget and low taxes? By identifying and examining our budget to allocate the monies in the most efficient
Q&A, Page 2B