Mike’s Qualifications to be Wilson County Judge
Roles & Responsibilities: A Texas county judge has a unique role that combines judicial, executive, and legislative responsibilities. In essence, a Texas county judge is the chief executive of the county, though their power is shared with other county officials and the commissioner's court.
Here are some key duties of a County Judge:
1. Presiding Officer
2. Judicial Duties
3. Administrative Functions
4. Emergency Management
5. Election Duties
1. Presiding Officer: They lead the county commissioners court, which is responsible for setting the county's tax rate, policies, and budget.
Mike is passionate about service. Service to our country, our state, and our community; he is a genuine servant leader. He gained extensive leadership experience after serving 28 years, combined, in the Marine Corps and the Navy. He was a US Navy Civil Engineer Corps Officer rising to the rank of Captain (i.e. Colonel). He led construction detachments to Albania and Kosovo in 1999, and to Iraq in 2004. In 2009, he commanded a Naval Mobile Construction Battalion in Afghanistan, Kuwait and the Horn of Africa as well as other anti-terrorism operations in the south Pacific. His military background has afforded him leadership experiences in a plethora of environments and situations.
Mike possesses the experience and leadership necessary to manage the Wilson County budget and all county judge responsibilities, including critical positions in safety and security. He was the Regional Engineer, for Marine Corps Installations Pacific, the Theater Operations Officer, for Naval Facilities Engineering Command Pacific, the Commanding Officer of Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast, as well as the Navy Region Southeast Regional Engineer. Where he, he developed $ Billion Dollar budgets, led over 1,200 blue-collar and white-collar employees, optimized processes and found savings across his organizations to reinvest into aging infrastructure modernization. Knowing the intricacies of federal and state funding, he successfully developed capital programs to build new infrastructure that resulted in congressional funding for his region. He ably maintained the Navy’s infrastructure across the Pacific and in the Southeastern part of the US. As a registered professional civil engineer, he is incredibly skilled in developing policies and master plans that prioritize critical infrastructure and account for their facilities conditions to optimize the county’s return on investment for precious little maintenance dollars and major capital programs.
In Mike’s current job as Regional Vice President, his family of companies provide services for planning and programming, estimating, pre-construction and construction services, as well as project management, security assessments and improvements, asset management and disaster recovery. For example, Mike oversees a team that manages the program for the Hurricane Harvey disaster recovery reconstruction efforts for the City of Port Aransas, Aransas County and Rockport consisting of primarily insurance and grant funding. These skills sets are perfectly suited to qualify Mike as Wilson County Judge.
Mike has skillfully optimized budgets, developed regional master plans and created prioritization processes to successfully maintain existing infrastructure and upgrade below standard infrastructure and oversaw the grant process to successfully obtain funding on behalf of his clients. These are the precise skills required to lead the commissioners court and optimize budgets that enhance safety and security and improve the infrastructure in the county. The ultimate goal being to minimize impacts to the current tax structure by pursuing funding sources such as state and federal grants. Mike is very familiar with the grant process and has personally generated grants and military construction documentation resulting in authorized funding for the programs he prioritized.
2. Judicial Duties: In smaller counties, County Judges may preside over misdemeanor criminal cases, small civil cases, probate matters, and appeals from the Justice of the Peace Court.
As Commanding Officer in various units, Mike conducted non-judicial proceedings, including an assignment as Legal Officer in a Marine Air Support Squadron. While these proceedings are guided by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), Mike has been instilled with the character needed to preside over small civil cases, probate matters and appeals from the Justice of the Peace courts. Mike embodies the leadership traits of judgement, justice, decisiveness, integrity, dependability, tact, initiative, enthusiasm, bearing, unselfishness, courage, knowledge, loyalty and endurance.
3. Administrative Functions: County Judges represent the county in various administrative roles and serve as the chief budget officer in counties with fewer than 225,000 residents.
Mike has led at the executive level for many years and was selected to attend the Stanford’s Executive Business Course in Organizational Management. He is well suited to lead the county’s organization and can confidently serve in various roles and responsibilities. As previously mentioned, Mike has developed and managed $ Billion-dollar budgets that funded employees, prioritized critical infrastructure, provided materiel, equipment and miscellaneous supplies for the functioning of organizations as large as 1,800 military and civilian employees.
4. Emergency Management: County Judges act as the head of emergency management for the county.
Mike has served in numerous Emergency Operations Centers that directed disaster recovery operations for numerous hurricanes and typhoons, wildfires, tornados, earthquakes, airplane crashes (Alaskan Airlines Flight 261 recovery efforts in California), and riots (follow on LA riots in 1993). He has managed emergency management departments and provided defense support of civil authorities in the US. He is confident in leading safety, security and emergency management first responders and ensuring the highest preparation for disasters.
5. Election Duties: County Judges call elections, post-election notices, and canvass election returns.
Having been on the State Republican Executive Committee from 2022-2024, Mike is well acquainted with the State’s election laws and rules from the Texas Secretary of State. He valiantly upholds the constitutional values that afford US citizens the right to vote in elections. Mike considers it a privilege to vote; a privilege that has been paid for by the blood of those veterans who fought and died for our country. He is committed to upholding the laws and election regulations of the State of Texas.
My goals for Wilson County as your judge will be to:
1. Support Law Enforcement
2. Optimize County Budget
3. Support the County Commissioners
4. Develop a County Master Plan
5. Improve County Infrastructure
6. Increase revenue through Economic Development
7. Build relationships
References
[1] The Role of County Judges in Texas - Texapedia
[2] County Judge & County Commissioners - Texas Counties Deliver