Brown County Commissioners appointed former Constable C.T. Ham Monday to fill the position of Constable Precinct 3 after the recent resignation of Keith Varner.
Wayne Coffman, a retired game warden, stated his support of this decision due to Ham’s experience.
“I’d like to say that with C.T.’s background and training, it’s only logical. It won’t cost the county anything to train him; he knows the county better than probably anybody, especially that precinct, so I am in favor of it.”
An audience member and citizen Bob Steger stated that he agreed with Coffman, “I agree with the gentleman, one because Mr. Ham can hit the ground running at no expense to the county.”
Constable Precinct 4 Jim Byars made a statement supporting the decision as “best for the county.”
“I think I speak for most of the constables, we sometimes are faced with making decisions we don’t necessarily want to make, but there is a right decision and in this case, to appoint C.T. would do just that,” said Byars. “A lot of people are not aware of how much training you have to have and how long that takes and everything. If we don’t put him back there so that he can just take off running, which would alleviate a lot of work on the rest of us, then we are going to be stuck with two or three months that we are having to take up the slack in that workload so that someone gets trained. Even licensed and certified, they would have to be trained.”
Precinct 1 Commissioner Gary Worley stated that he believed the citizens should have the right to choose who fills the position.
“There was an incumbent and a challenger that ran in the primary and the incumbent was defeated. It doesn’t really matter who or what or where or what the office is, it’s the way our country is founded,” said Worley. “The right to vote, each person gets a vote, and it would be very hard for me to vote to negate what was done by more than 50% of the voters last May.”
Precinct 2 Commissioner Joel Kelton stated that “the other side of the story” is that there was only one person interested in the position and that was C.T. in the election. West questioned commissioners if they inquired of anyone with law enforcement certification for the position, to which Commissioner Precinct 3 Wayne Shaw stated that they had looked into asking others privately about the position. No public inquiries were made however.
The appointment was approved in a 3-1 vote with Gary Worley voting against the appointment.
Varner won the May 2012 primary election after narrowly defeating longtime constable C.T. Ham by 26 votes and took office at the first of the year. His resignation was tendered effective April 30th and moved to Bay City where he took a job with the Texas Department of Transportation, according to Justice of the Peace Precinct 3 Brian Thompson.
In other matters on Monday’s agenda of the Brown County Commissioners’ Court:
*Commissioners took no action on implementing a burn ban.
*Commissioners voted in favor of naming the Juvenile Justice Center the “Ray West Juvenile Justice Center” and its conference room the “J.R. Williams Conference Room.”
*Precinct 3 Commissioner Wayne Shaw received approval of an application to install a private line on County Road 321.
*Precinct 1 Commissioner Gary Worley received approval of an application to install a private utility line (Brookesmith Special Utility District water line) on County Road 232.
*Brown County Jail administrator Becky Caffey received approval for an exemption for sealed bids under section 262.024 (d) of the Local Government Code for purchase of all food items to be served at the Brown County Jail. According to Lieutenant Les Karnes, this exemption will allow the jail a more efficient use of funds in the food service to inmates. Chief Deputy Bobby Duval stated with this approval, the jail will be able to have a better food service, better food and better cost, making it more efficient.
*Commissioners approved an interval for solicitation of bids for food items by the Brown County Jail pursuant to section 262.024. This approval will require jail administration to price items from food suppliers annually beginning in May 1, 2014.
Pictured at top, Ham (left) takes the oath of office administered by Justice of the Peace Precinct 3 Brian Thompson
