By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post

With Ellis County facing difficult economic times, county commission candidate Ron Adams has set his eye on the budget and says it’s time to “tighten this belt up.”

Adams is a longtime Ellis County resident and is running for the District 3 county commission seat against incumbent Dean Haselhorst.

If elected, Adams says his top priority would be to work to get the county out of debt. The county began the 2017 budget process facing a $3.7 million shortfall, but the current commission and department heads were able to balance the budget.

Adams said he will look to find places to cut spending and said the commission needs to start working with and listening to department heads to find more areas to save after already cutting their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year.

“I listen to what people have to say and will listen to what those department heads would have to say,” said Adams. “I think I can get everything going smoother than it has in the past.”

Adams is now retired but previously worked as a building inspector for Fire Marshal’s office for 11 years. Prior to that, he served he was an environmental technician for the Protection of Ground Water. Adams is also a licensed land surveyor and work for Haliburton Services in Hays.

He says believes his background in a number of areas will be a benefit if he is elected to the commission.

“I feel that I can help out with all of my background in the environment,” Adams said.

Adams said that, as someone who inspected bridges and building in the past, he has seen the deterioration that can happen if they are not well maintained and said he does not want to see the county cut back on road maintenance.

“That’s where you start running into trouble, when you start cutting out maintenance on roads, bridges or buildings even. I’ve seen deterioration happen pretty quickly when you start cutting maintenance out,” said Adams.

He also said he would “like to see the roads stay maintained for the oil people and the farmers that are out there.”

Adams also expressed concern with the current appraisal process in Ellis County. He said a member of his family recently had a real estate agent look at their house and the listed price was two-thirds of the appraised value the county has on it and said he believes that is common in the county.

Adams said he would also like to see more people get involved in politics.

“It’s surprising how many aren’t involved with politics,” Adams said. “They complain about it, but there’s very few that actually are active.”

Adams was elected to serve as an alternate at-large delegate for the Republican National Convention this week in Cleveland.