County Commissioner Challenger Zach Maxwell says he's not a fan of sensational politics

The primary election is March 1. How do the candidates plan to serve Hood County once they are elected?

Below is a transcript* of the interview with Zach Maxwell, the candidate challenging incumbent Dave Eagle for County Commissioner, precinct 4.

*This transcript has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity

What unique skills can you offer the office of county commissioner that will leave the community better than when you found it?

Financing, management, communication.

Financing, especially when it comes to government financing because they are a little bit different. People say, “oh, government is like a business.” But it’s not at all like a business when it comes to managing money.

There are certain aspects like-- You have to spend money to make money in business, right? Well that’s not really what you want to do in government. You’re not in the business of making money. You’re in the business of keeping costs low and providing adequate services for those costs.

I think it’s approaches like this that set me apart from, and will provide added value to the commissioner’s court.

I’m an ideas guy, very creative. Because there’s always a way. You just have to figure out what you want. What is the goal? Is the goal to be efficient? Is the goal to be the lowest price possible? Is it a mixture?  What do you want the outcome to be? And you can find a way to do it.

What motivated you to run for office?

I felt as though I had a very unique skill set that our community needed at this time. I didn’t see anybody else who I thought could also provide that unique skill set. That's part of what motivated me to run.

But ultimately, this is my home. I didn’t grow up here, but my kids will. And I want them to stay.

I’ve been to so many different communities in this state, in the country. Hands down, without question, we chose Granbury. We could have moved anywhere, but we chose Granbury.

That is very much the other reason why I chose to run. Because this is such a unique community of people. It is a very diverse community of people. And it is very special. Because there’s not many places left like this. I would like to preserve what we have.

I feel like Granbury and Hood County are the quintessential Texas ‘friendly.’ There are no friendlier people than in this community. Now obviously there’s exceptions to every rule, but in general I feel that this community is a very grace-giving community and a very giving community.

What influences your political decisions?

First of all, need is a big influencer.

Ask, what services, what attention is needed in what areas?

Then you go down from there and say, who knows about this issue?

Those people are typically department heads. People like that. You go to them, you talk to them. You encourage and inspire them to think outside the box.

How has your experience in politics, particularly your recent bipartisan cooperation with GISD's long term research committee prepared you to work on the commissioner's court?

I tend to listen and follow instructions. And then when you do that, things work. How to be effective at anything is just communication and understanding and grace. My greatest spiritual gift is grace.

I also understand culture. In working with those department heads, for example. Any office you walk into has its own culture. And I believe in being a culture contributor. There are negative cultures and positive cultures.

It doesn’t matter what culture I walk in to, I usually am able to fit in because I have that personality where I can fit in. I want to contribute to that culture for a positive outcome.

What's your greatest strength? Weakness?

My greatest strength and my greatest weakness, it's the same thing. It is always seeing the best in people. I try really hard. I’m a fixer. I believe that people are just lost. And they just don’t know. Unfortunately for me-- and for them-- that isn't always the case.

How do you think the current Hood County Commissioners Court could improve?

Budgeting.

Fund 55 is our capital improvements fund. It’s also, I guess, a contingency fund. But it’s also our slush fund. Every year in the new budget cycle they allocate a very large-- multi millions of dollars-- into this account. And then throughout the year they spend it.

This last commissioner’s court. Go back and watch the video when they were about to take money out of fund 55: The juvenile justice department’s 2008 Impala didn’t have heat, so they needed a new car.

Every year every other department head is getting brand new vehicles like it’s going out of style. And selling off vehicles to the auction. And they had a 2008 and they’re carting around children in that thing? Are you kidding?

Granbury currently operates on a recurring budget system. With recurring budgets, there’s a lot of waste, a lot of things go unseen because you’re looking at it from one angle.

With zero-based budgeting you’re looking at things from a different angle. There’s downsides to that too, but less over time.

Because you’re looking at the perspective of, okay, I’m starting at zero every single year. Like I get zero dollars. And obviously that’s not true, but it’s the mindset of it. You have to go through and build your budget every year. Which forces you to go back and look at every single thing. That’s a great example of what good would have come from zero-based budgeting. The fact that you have a 2008 Impala that-- no telling how much maintenance fees we’re putting in.

I’m sure that’s not the first department that vehicle was in. It could have been a police car before that because they get a lot of hand-me downs. Which is an injustice in itself seeing as it’s working with children.

Vehicles? Sorry. That needs to be a budgeted item. Why is that not a budgeted item? But we’re always buying vehicles out of Fund 55. It’s like we run our government off of Fund 55. It’s like, why isn’t it being budgeted? That’s why we have budget workshops! Budget workshops here are budget talks.

I believe I can very effectively turn those budget talks into budget workshops.

Tell us about your small business, Texas Pride Concrete. Do you pay your employees a living wage?

Oh, yes. And he would kill me if I didn't, because he's my brother. I really created that business for him.

I love business. I have files on files of different business plans and things over the years. This was one of them.

We happened to be in a situation where there were not many people who did this type of work around this area. There used to be, but they all left or retired so now there is this void.

And my little brother wanted out of the oil field. I said, well, you want to do something else? I got a business plan. All you've got to do is say yes.

We haven't been able to donate anything yet, but the goal is by the end of this month we'll get to a point where we're growing. And then we want 10 to 15 percent of our proceeds to go to the Hood County Substance Abuse Council.

If you disagree with someone on the Hood County Commissioner's Court, how will you work to come to a consensus?

It’s mutual respect and it’s communication. Just because you disagree with someone does not mean that you throw a tantrum.

Understanding, encouraging, showing, teaching in a meaningful, not assertive-powerful way. You want the limelight for it? You can have it. I don’t care. I don’t care about the limelight. The reason why nobody’s heard of me is because I don’t care about the limelight. I can assure you, I’ve done a lot.

Like there are things that people have had no idea that I’ve had my hands in because it’s not about that. I’ve always been a behind-the-scenes guy.

I’ve always ended up doing all the work. It’s not about the limelight. It’s not about your name on a building. Like I don’t care.

You know what I care about? I care about my kids. I care about them having a future. I care about them being able to go out and have the ability and freedom to do what they want to do peacefully.

I’m not a fan of sensational politics. I have been party to sensational politics unknowingly. I’ve made my mistakes, I’m not perfect. No one is. But sensational politics truly is eroding this country at every level on both sides of discussion.

Thanks to Zach Maxwell for graciously sitting down to answer our questions.

Early voting starts Monday from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. in Annex 1 on 1410 W Pearl St, Granbury, TX 76048.

Hood county provides sample ballots here.