Has anyone ever heard of a County Judge request more citizen involvement from his community??

Henderson County Judge Wade McKinney did just that at the March monthly luncheon hosted at the Cedar Creek Lake County Club by the Cedar Creek Lake Area Chamber of Commerce.

McKinney, adamant about transparency from the local government, encouraged each citizen who has a concern, to contact any one of the officials who were elected by the community.

He expressed his passion for County Government. “Influence and Impact” were the words used to describe how to “take care of home.”

“Rewarding and frustrating at times,” is how he described his position, but, “The County operates like a family.” McKinney also gave a history lesson on Henderson County’s establishment, referencing “who had the most guns at the time, is who ended up with the most land.”

McKinney explained the county has a lot of both advantages and disadvantages in that the “geography limits in some regard” using an example of Henderson County being two counties wide to reference one main difficulty.
The growth found here was generated at the time by the influx of folks retiring from the Dallas community to the Cedar Creek Lake area, which is now dubbed a “retirement community.”

McKinney compared Henderson County to surrounding counties, explaining while having, “one of the lower property tax rates at $.47 and Henderson County also has no debt. Kaufman County voted to raise their tax rate to $ .58 with a total of $88 million in debt and Van Zandt at $.61 with 4 million in debt.”

McKinney explained Henderson County works together to keep cost low because as he tells, “we could raise the tax by $.50 and we would never be able to support the infrastructure.” Each Precinct shares equipment and purchases material in bulk to cut down costs.” McKinney furthered on how they make do with what they have on hand and working as a team.

He got the point across that he felt it takes an, “influx of people…to put things in place.” Citing the 1960’s, when subdivision regulation was taking place is when Cedar Creek Lake came in. Texas is a property rights state and enforced again when re-adopted in 2018. “You have to be able to control growth.”

When asked how the first few months of being the County Judge was going, McKinney chuckled as he explained he has had to apologize to a few people.  He has served on the commissioner court for 20 plus years and admits he tried to get a quick answer from a few judges once or twice.

Today, “we have the best set of elected officials regarding how they interact with each other as well as the County Attorney who McKinney described as indispensable to the Commissioners Court and to Henderson County as a whole.

Although dubbed “the C.E.O.’s of potholes” as he recalled someone labeling once, he explained that no one person can run a County, “It takes many people.” “In our form of government, it’s our job to make sure every citizen is educated!”

McKinney furthered, explaining why education is necessary. “We have a system in which we live in and being educated helps navigate things easier, so people won’t get frustrated.” “Do not be afraid to call ANY elected official at any time.” Encouraging all citizens to get more involved in their community and that which governs it.

JoAnn Hanstrom, President of the Cedar Creek Lake Area Chamber of Commerce praised the County Official and stated, “McKinney you have a good team you run with.”

Monthly Sponsor for this month is Home Instead Senior Care.
Eric and Kim Gassman acquired the business with the mission to “enhance lives of aging adults and their families.” Home Instead Senior Care has covered the Cedar Creek Lake Area for many years and continues to be a great option for senior care.

http://www.henderson-county.com/
http://www.henderson-county.com/departments/county-judge
https://www.homeinstead.com/726/about-us/our-story