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| Dewey Ratliff (r) chats up DA B. J. Shepherd (l) |
It
just jumps off the page.
Wearing
the hat of Emergency Management Coordinator, he has done all the
things he wants to do as an elected official, County Judge.
“I'm
crossing over to the dark side,” he says with a chuckle. “I
always said I would never put my name on a ballot.”
According
to his campaign announcement, “expanding the tax base, professional
budget planning and cash-flow management” are goals for what has
become essentially an elected position of county executive.
Tax
base? The truth is, state and federal government has for the past 10
years that Ratliff has held his position of emergency boss pushed
unfunded mandates on a rural county with a limited source of
revenues.
What
to do?
Write
a grant, get it approved, and get funding for the things it takes to
stay abreast of the demands of a 21st century world from
within the matrix of an ancient and honorable system of “Court”
handed down from the days of the Shireve, the Lord of the Manor, and
all the other growing pains that came out of the world of an island
nation far across seas emerging from the dark ages in a cleaner,
greener world managed from blood-spattered castles far from Texas.
His
vision, “to create an environment which allows the county to become
more efficient,” is rooted in his experience as a Wal-Mart manager
who operated retail stores of 125,000 square feet, annual sales of
$50 million and $35,000 weekly payrolls.
Just
in time inventory control, consolidation of employees, and turning
work forces of 300 who had never shopped in a Wal-Mart store are
routine challenges.
Where
does the money come from?
It's
more of an exercise in looking for where it goes, according to a
statement on Ratliff's Facebook page.
“Traditionally,
commissioners are tasked with the maintenance of roads and bridges,”
he wrote.
The
reality is this. They “often delegate that specific duty to their
shop foreman.” The result is simple enough, they are “paid a
full-time salary for part-time work.”
Four precinct road commissioners get paid $40,000 a year to make two
meetings a month. That is a total of $160,000 a year for two days
work each month, he reasons.
Halve
those salaries and hire a civil engineer to supervise road and bridge
maintenance and operations, said Ratliff, when he tossed his hat in
the ring.
He
wants to consolidate the precincts and tables of equipment and
organization into a unified system, sell off the surplus property,
and manage from a single source of supply and resources.
His
background: an undergraduate degree in aeronautics, MBA from Notre
Dame and Mendoza College of Business, experience in the Army, as a
headhunter for industry and finance.
The
challenges: water planning, a viable financing system for emergency
medical services.
His
past track record wearing multiple hats: Homeland Security Director,
Floodplain Administrator, Loss Control Coordinator, Radio and Network
Communications System Administrator, Incident Management Team, and
911 Addressing.
To
get those jobs done, he brought in $4 million in federal grants to
the county. The people paid their taxes, but they had to apply to get
the benefits. This guy handled the process, and it worked.
Ratliff
is “blessed” with three teenagers and a wife named Julie Pederson
who is an emergency room nurse and a certified social worker. They
all live on a family farm in the Norse Community.
The
bottom line: “We can improve the effectiveness of how we spend
taxpayer's money.”
An
evaluation from a former supervisor, Kathie McWherter, Director of
Integration at Wal-Mart International, “Dewey is a well-balanced
individual who knows when to look at the big picture and when to
focus on detail. He is a great leader of people and will always do
the right things in the right way.”
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