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Brownwood News – Two names will be listed on the ballot for Brown County Judge in the March 2018 Primary Election: Incumbent Judge Ray West and challenger Dr. Paul Lilly. As is common with election season, candidate forums abound, with specific talking points presented. In an attempt to offer additional information for voters to consider, the following ‘profiles’ have been published with information offered by both candidates.

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A Candidate Forum will be held on February 19th from 6-8:30 p.m. at the Adams Street Community Center located at 511 E. Adams Street in Brownwood. The forum is open to the public to attend. Confirmed Candidates participating in the forum include: Congressman Mike Conaway and challenger Paul Myers, State Representative Mike Lang and challenger Gregory Risse, Brown County Judge Ray West and challenger Dr. Paul Lilly, Brown County Precinct 2 Commissioner Joel Kelton and challenger Eddie Lord.

Early voting will be held at the Brown County Elections Office located at 613 N. Fisk Avenue in Brownwood February 20-23 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., February 26-28 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and March 1-2 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Election Day will be March 6th. For information about your polling location, please see the following list:

Precinct:

• 101 Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, 1800 Good Shepherd, Brownwood
• 105 Southside Baptist Church, 1219 Indian Creek Dr., Brownwood
• 109 Brookesmith High School, 13400 FM 586 S, Brookesmith
• 113 New Life Assembly of God Church, 1910 Indian Creek Rd., Brownwood
• 202, 204 Brown County Elections Office, 613 N Fisk St., Suite 200, Brownwood
• 212, 214 May Community Center, 19150 Hwy 183 N, May
• 215 Crossroads Baptist Church, 6400 Park Road 15, Brownwood
• 303 East Elementary School, 2700 Vincent, Brownwood
• 306 Early Business Complex, 104 E Industrial Dr., Early
• 307 First United Methodist Church, 517 Main, Blanket
• 308 Zephyr Community Center, 11275 CR 281 (Highway 84), Zephyr
• 316, 318 Northridge Baptist Church, 4875 Hwy. 183 N., Early
• 410 Bangs Community Center, 406 Spencer, Bangs
• 411 Coggin Avenue Baptist Church (Sunday School Building), 1806 Coggin Ave, Brownwood
• 417 Rocky Creek Baptist Church, 4301 CR 557 & HWY 279, Brownwood

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Ray West

• Personal history:

Ray West is a lifetime resident of Brown County. He was raised in Brown county and graduated from Brownwood High School. Ray West graduated with a B.A. from Tarleton State University in 1975, and a J.D. (Doctor of Jurisprudence) from Texas Tech University School of Law in 1978.

West was licensed to practice law in November 1978. He spent two years with Lumpkin, Watson, Barras, and Reavis law firm, and in November 1980, returned to Brownwood to practice law with Massey and Shaw. West has been a partner with the Massey-Shaw law firm from 1983 until the present time.

In 1987, Ray West was appointed City Judge of Early, and continued in that position until January 1992.

In January 1992, he was approached by members of the Brown County Commissioners Court to accept appointment as County Judge to replace Lee Haney, who resigned in order to run for district attorney of Brown County. West was elected to the position in 1992 in a special election.

1996, Judge West was appointed by then-Governor Bush to serve on the Texas Guardianship Alliance, a statewide organization that advises the Texas Health and Human Services Commission on guardianship issues and on less restrictive alternatives to guardianship.

West was appointed by Governor Perry to the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission where he served for seven years, the last five of which he served as chairman of the Commission.

• Why are you interested in serving as the Brown County Judge? 

“Because I have been asked to do so by many Brown County citizens,” West says. “Each time I have run for the office, I have been characterized by my opponent as a “part-time judge”. Quite to the contrary, I spend countless hours in the performance of my judicial duties, whether I’m in the Courthouse, in my law office, or at home. I must work rather long hours in order to accomplish all that is required of me, and I must respond to many late night and early morning calls, but I do so with a great degree of satisfaction and appreciation for the confidence that the citizens of this County have placed in me.”

West also explained he is seeking re-election because he feels it is essential that the Brown County Judge be an attorney, as he considers it more of a Judicial office, and not simply an administrative one.

“I am uniquely qualified to serve as County Judge because I am experienced in the administrative aspects of the position, and I have, throughout my 40 year career, been in the courtroom, as an attorney and as a judge,” West said.

• What is your vision for Brown County?

“As voters and taxpayers have seen from my record, I am conservative with regard to the expenditure of County funds,” Judge West said. “The Commissioners Court is a steward of the County’s funds, because the County budget is funded mostly by property taxes. But it is also the steward for all of the County’s infrastructure. The Commissioners must maintain and preserve those assets, and sometimes replace them.  A delicate balance has to be maintained between spending  for repairs on antiquated equipment, and spending on new equipment to replace the old.”

West shared he wished to see the county continue to progress.

“Maintaining the status quo equates to letting our infrastructure deteriorate,” he said. “Only by continued progress can we maintain the integrity of our roads, our buildings, and all of their component parts. We must make the most of each opportunity to become a more efficient County, but not at the expense of decreasing the quality of service that our County deserves. It Is just as foolhardy to expect lower property taxes from year to year as it is to expect a decrease in the cost of living. Since county government is a business, we should always expect an increase in the cost of doing business, to the same extent individual businessmen experience. If, as this year, the increase in the property tax rate can be less than the increase in the consumer price index, and we can continue to provide the quantity and quality of service to the county that we now provide, then I will be satisfied that the County is making progress.”

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Paul Lilly

• Personal History:

Paul Lilly was born in Fort Worth and now resides in Brownwood. Lilly began his law enforcement career as a patrol officer, working the late night shifts as he attended college during the day. In 1994, he graduated from Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and Law, with an emphasis of study in community policing. That same year, he was selected over 74 other applicants to become the Chief of Police for the Dallas area suburb community of Kaufman, making him the youngest Chief of Police within the State of Texas.

In 1998, then-Chief Lilly was inducted into the American Police Hall of Fame and awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his success in the fields of Community and Problem Oriented Policing. Continuing his education, he also graduated from the Texas Law Enforcement Leadership and Command College at Sam Houston State University in 1999. While still serving as a Police Chief, Lilly achieved his Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice and Criminology from Texas State University in 2002.

In 2004 Chief Lilly was recruited by the United States Department of Justice to travel to war-torn Bosnia – Herzegovina as a part of the International Criminal Investigative Training and Assistance Program (ICITAP). In 2008 Chief Lilly was selected to join the Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas’ team of Police Chiefs to travel to Italy and present western technologies and ideologies to the Italian law enforcement community.

Chief Lilly continued to aid Texas Law Enforcement Agencies until he reached his 20th year of service in 2009, after which he elected to retire from full-time law enforcement service to complete a doctorate degree in Forensic Psychology and Criminology.

Since 2011, Dr. Lilly has served as a full-time Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Howard Payne University, where he also aids in the protection of the faculty, staff, students, and visitors by serving as the Director of Public Safety for the university.

• Why are you interested in serving as the Brown County Judge?

“It’s an area I have an expertise in, through criminal justice and the law,” Lilly said. “I’m not an attorney, but I am very familiar with the office of County Judge. Only sixteen percent of the 254 counties in Texas have an attorney as their County Judge.”

Dr. Lilly explained he’d like to see a more comprehensive approach to the future of Brown County.

“As of right now we have no five, ten, fifteen-year plan, no direction,” he said. “The County Judge is supposed to provide ethical leadership and provide a direction, and we don’t have any of that. We don’t have any feasibility studies of where we are and we we’d like to be in five years.”

Lilly also said he’d work for a unified approach economically for the county with entities like chambers of commerce and economic development boards.

“I think we ought to bring Brownwood, Early, Bangs, everybody in the county into the same room and say, ‘Okay, what are the top businesses we’d like to recruit?’ and let’s all work together to make that happen,” Dr. Lilly said.

Dr. Lilly also shared some concerns for the reputation of the county judge office.

“I have a very serious problem with the credibility currently,” he said. “There’s tremendous suspicion and lack of trust around the county judge office. We’ve got some very dedicated and good commissioners, and it’s not fair that they’re being cast in this shadow and people are looking at the court in its entirety because of the actions of one person.”

“I felt it was time for change, I prayed on it,” Dr. Lilly said. “I feel like it’s something that God said it’s time to do this.”

• What is your vision for Brown County?

“We’re sitting on a jewel up there with our Lake,” Dr. Lilly said. “I would like to see that area developed. I’ve talked to property owners out there and they would love to see more businesses come in and more recreational activities come in. There is so much more that we could be doing with that jewel.”

Dr. Lilly explained he’d like to see more recreational-focused businesses in Brown County in general.

“Since I teach at Howard Payne, I talk to the students a lot and there’s not a whole lot for them to do, and I’d like to see businesses come in to keep them here, and have those students spend their money here. Keeping business here in town benefits everyone. We need to get a coordinated effort to continue to improve our county.”

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