Q&A, Part II: Adams County Commissioner candidates Mike Garza and Terry Thompson

The Ritzville Adams County Journal conducted interviews with the two candidates running for the Adams County Commissioner District No. 3 position, Miguel A. “Mike” Garza and Terry Thompson. Over these last two issues, The Journal has shared what the candidates said during these separate interviews as the Nov. 6 general election nears.

Garza, who prefers the Republican Party, is an insurance agent in Othello. Thompson, who also prefers the Republican Party, is a business owner who was appointed to fill the vacant commissioner seat earlier this spring after former commissioner Jeff Stevens vacated the position.

Both candidates were asked the same questions in their separate interviews. The following transcript has been edited lightly for clarity. The first half of the interviews appeared in the previous Oct. 18 issue.

Ritzville Journal: What would your top priorities be, and why, if elected as county commissioner?

Mike Garza: Fiscal accountability: we have a responsibility to taxpayers to exercise fiscal restraint whenever possible.

Budget preparations is another big thing. Our budget must reflect our priorities. This doesn’t mean free rein for everyone. It entails financial stewardship and conviction to determine what are your priorities. And once you’ve established that your budget needs to reflect that. You can’t say that you’re all for this and you’re not allocating proper funds for it.

And just the continued economic growth of the county. Just doing whatever we can as the board of commissioners to facilitate and make it easier for these folks and make Adams County attractive. We’re going to have to cooperate and collaborate with everybody, every town and every city. You’ve got to involve as many people as you can to come up with the best solutions.

Terry Thompson: One of my top priorities is every year the three commissioners have one of the hardest jobs, and that’s balancing the budget. We’re not a rich county, and so we don’t have the revenue that Franklin County, Benton County and Grant County have, and we don’t have the industry. But our goal is to bring in more industry to the county.

So my goal, No. 1, is to always balance the budget. No. 2 is to bring more industry into the county. No. 3 is to have the citizens of Adams County. And to go along with No. 3 is our roads. We’ve got a couple thousand miles of roads in Adams County, and that’s a big department to take care of. It’s a juggling act to help the juvenile department and the police department and also maintain our roads. So we’ve got a big responsibility.

RJ: As capacity in the jail increases and the facility continues to age, what plans can be made for the future of the Adams County Jail?

MG: That should be near and dear to anybody coming into this position. I would strive to make sure we’re exhausting any potential monies from the government--from the state or at a federal level--utilize any local monies that are available to us for this. We absolutely need to consider alternate programs available to alleviate the overcrowding and building conditions. What I’ve heard is that some folks are being shipped elsewhere as a cost-saving measure.

You consider all of these things, but at the end of the day if the money that you’re spending on those things that can be spent adding here, you just look at all of those things. You don’t make decisions based on the right now. I’m a firm believer in bringing everybody together and trying to find results.

TT: Well, we probably down the road need to have plans to maybe expand the jail in the future. But that would be me and two other commissioners deciding that, not me just alone.

RJ: If elected as Adams County Commissioner, what role do you think you should play in promoting and/or facilitating economic development within the communities of Adams County?

MG: To me, hands-on. I think we need to be at the forefront of these projects when they’re announced. We need to be out there stating why it’s a benefit to Adams County, stating the financial attributes that comes with this, that it’s giving us some tax revenue. I don’t want it to be a photo op, with us holding a shovel. What we should be trying to do is make Adams County a better place.

TT: We’re doing that right now. We as commissioners are proud of Adams County Economic Director Stephen McFadden, because Stephen is working hand-in-hand with the Adams County Development Council. We think we’re in good hands in promoting growth.

RJ: What do you feel is the county’s No. 1 weakness, and as a county commissioner how would you make improvements in this area?

MG: We must continue to evolve our technological infrastructure. I was at a meeting where they said we’re not totally digital in our Assessor’s Department yet. Do we need to go out and get some GIS mapping software? We need to get up to date with technology. The more you lag or stay behind, the harder it is to catch up.

Our departments, our employees and our people are our greatest asset. I strongly believe that. Does that mean that we cater to every one of their demands? No, not at all. I’m saying that we need to lend an ear, and to whenever possible provide a solution to their inquiries, and at the same time being financial stewards of the taxpayers’ money. But I believe communication is key. Sometimes they just want to be heard, and know that ideas they’re bringing to the table is heard, and they’re not just getting lip-service.

TT: One of our weaknesses is water. And there’s deep wells here that are going dry and they’re re-digging them and some of them are going down to 2,500 feet. And not just the water for the farming. These aquifers are going down. I’ve been to some water meetings and 20 to 25 years down the road we’re going to be worried about enough drinking water. Water is one of our biggest issues that we’re facing right now.

RJ: Fiscally the county commissioners have been very conservative and have been able to maintain the basic level of service in most county funded areas. Are there any county services that you feel are underfunded and why?

MG: We need to make sure and do whatever we can for the Sheriff’s Department. I’m not trying to say that they have an open checkbook¬—I wish we could. But staying within our budget, being fiscally conservative and just reaching out to everyone involved. Maybe there’s some opportunities from other entities, maybe there’s some nonprofits or other corporations that are willing to help us. Maybe there are monies out there that we’re not aware of that would help us with this, without touching our reserve or anything like that. Just having people in place that are researching all of this and trying to give us the best bang for our buck.

TT: The biggest problem is to maintain decent roads and also maintain a good criminal justice. And it’s kind of a juggling act to take care of both.