Ector County Commissioners Vote to Eliminate Public Works Director Position

During today’s Ector County Commissioners Court meeting, a controversial motion was passed. Commissioner Greg Simmons made a motion to eliminate the county’s public works director position, and commissioners voted 3-2 to get rid of it. Ector County Judge Susan Redford tells Big 2 News she spoke with all the commissioners last week about making additional cuts and none of them ever told her they were looking at eliminating the position. Before the motion was passed, commissioners took great strides to adjust the proposed fiscal year 2011 budget.

"We cut over $720,000 out of the general fund and we cut over $400,000 out of the debt issuance that we had proposed," said Judge Redford. “The effects of this [the elimination of the position] on the budget overall are very minimum. I think this was more of a case of the commissioners cutting off nose despite their face. I’ve never seen a more clear example of it.”

Fred Crawford has been the county's public works director since the position was created 2 years ago. He and his department heads oversee numerous areas, including the county’s engineering and road and bridge departments, the cemetery, their sign shop, and the airport.

"I think it's going to be a mess because there's going to be a loss of communication, there's going to be a loss of coordination," she said.

Without this position, department heads will now have to report directly to the commissioners court, instead of one person.

"Anybody with any business sense understands that one boss is better then five bosses-especially when the five bosses can't make a decision without a public meeting," explained Redford.

Two years ago, the county operated without a public works director. Back then, they decided it was a highly inefficient way to do things. If the budget stays approved, the public works director position will be eliminated on Oct. 1^st, 2010. But there’s still one way this position could be saved. A commissioner who voted in favor of cutting it would have to change their mind and make a motion to place the position back in the budget.