A new season

“Oh, it’s a long, long time From May to December And the days grow short When you reach September.” -- September Song

For County Judge Darrell Cockerham, those days in May and throughout the summer may have seemed long indeed as he and the county’s four commissioners labored on a new fiscal year budget, trying as they always do to keep the growing county running without a tax rate increase.

But now the days are short, and getting shorter.

After eight years in office, Cockerham will end his career as a public servant on Dec. 31 and go home to his wife, Carole. Together, they hope to do a lot of traveling, starting with a flight to Santiago, Chile in January, where they will board a ship for a 14-day cruise.

Cockerham opted to hang it up and not seek a third term. Fellow Republican Ron Massingill will take over as county judge on Jan. 1.

Will Cockerham miss the job?

No.

Will he miss a lot of the people?

Yes.

“I’m afraid I have a character flaw,” the judge said Wednesday as autumn sunshine streamed through his office windows and, outside, workers decorated Christmas trees on all four corners of the square. “I really like people, and I want them to like me.”

Many of them do. When Cockerham has traveled around the state to trainings or meetings with other county officials, he has made it a point to tell each one he meets something interesting about their county. He has memorized a plethora of historic tidbits about counties throughout the Lone Star State.

When it comes to politics, though, it is impossible to please all of the people all of the time. Cockerham learned that years ago when he was mayor of Italy in Ellis County.

Cockerham isn’t just leaving the county judge’s office. He’s also putting politics in general behind him.

“I’m going to be involved on social media” but that’s about it, he said.

“The reason is because I think the Republican Party has, in a lot of cases, gone too far to the right,” he explained. In Cockerham’s view, that is true both nationally and locally.

“I’m turned off by the local (group),” he said. “It’s the ideology that has forced people too far to the right.”

He added, though, that he does not place all Hood County Republicans in that category. Most of them, he said, are just fine.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

“Some of the challenges of the past eight years have been solved,” Cockerham stated when asked about his accomplishments in office.

Among those accomplishments: a new Animal Control facility that has “greatly reduced the transmission of disease” among adoptable pets.

Another achievement was the building of the Emergency Operations Center. County officials realized the need for the growing county to have such a facility after the deadly tornado of 2013. Several state agencies sent representatives to help in the aftermath.

Other accomplishments include: the voter-approved YMCA building; expansion of the Hood County Library, which is currently underway; converting to a new accounting software that allows for growth without the need for additional employees; and a county that is better off financially than it was before, with increased services to citizens.

TEAM EFFORT

“It has been a team effort between the commissioners and the judge’s office,” Cockerham stated. “The top priorities were to improve the financial condition of the county, keep taxes low and improve the county infrastructure.”

Together they developed and implemented a fund balance policy to comply with government accounting standards and to have 120 days of the budget sitting in the General Fund.

In addition, Cockerham said, the court “worked very hard” to fund the county’s Texas County District Retirement System (TCDRS) to a level above 95 percent.

“In doing so we also improved the retirement benefit amount for our employees, a two to one contribution,” he said.

The county grew from 52,000 residents in 2010 to more than 65,000 now, the judge said, yet the Commissioners Court has managed the county’s government without adding positions in the auditor’s or treasurer’s offices.

“All in all, we pooled together the resources and wisdom of our elected and appointed officials, along with our employees, to work together and make county government the best it could be,” Cockerham said.

“Just as there was a foundation when I came in office, the future has a good foundation to continue helping our county grow and move in the positive direction we all desire.”

Rushing to make an 11 a.m. appointment, the judge donned a long black coat and headed out the east door of the courthouse.

Autumn leaves drifted in the chilly breeze as workers in a nearby bucket truck struggled to wrap a red-and-white buffalo-checked ribbon on a Christmas tree near the statue of former Nutt Hotel owner Mary Lou Watkins, a beloved part of Hood County’s history.

It may be a long, long time from May to December, but December always comes. And it’s almost here.

kcruz@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 258