|
|
Friday, July 30, 2010 |
Serving Seguin and Guadalupe County since 1888
|
|
|
Marketplace
Sections
Services
Service Center
|
|
 |
|
J.R. Perez running for treasurer
Published December 27, 2009
SEGUIN — A former longtime county employee who once worked in the County Treasurer’s office wants to go back — and this time, he wants to be the boss.
Former Guadalupe County Elections Administrator J.R. Perez has announced he is a Republican candidate for the job of County Treasurer now held by Linda Douglass.
The filing period for elective office in the 2010 general election ends Jan. 4.
The primary election is March 2. The general election is Nov. 2.
The county treasurer is the county’s banker, and receives money due the county from various sources. The treasurer is the chief liaison between commissioner’s court and the county’s banks, and maintains records of deposits and withdrawals, making sure the information is accurate and the county’s funds are protected. In Guadalupe County, the treasurer is also the county’s investment officer, making suggestions about investing county money and making regular reports to commissioners about the status of the county’s funds.
Since Perez and his family returned to Seguin, he said he’s been approached by others — some “inside” the county government — who believe he could run the treasurer’s office better than does Douglass, a two-term incumbent who was unopposed in her last election.
Perez agrees.
“I know what the office can and should do to aid the commissioners in their important work,” Perez said. “I believe I can do a better job. They need advisors who can help them make difficult decisions. They’re not getting that help now, and that’s what they need.”
He learned that, he said, during his time working for former County Treasurer Larry Jones.
The former treasurer, Perez said, understood commissioner’s court lacked the staff to research complex financial and budgetary issues for itself, and he worked to be sure commissioners had the information they needed when it came to management of the county’s funds.
“Larry understood the issues, and he was a very trusted advisor,” Perez said. “We worked diligently to prepare and present to the commissioner’s court the best and most reliable data available for the financial decisions to be made by the court.”
Most who know Perez will remember him in his role of managing the county’s elections, which he left in 2006 to take a similar post in Fort Bend County.
During his tenure, Guadalupe County went from one paper system to an improved optical scan system for voting and tabulating the results. Perez also instituted electronic, touch-screen voting.
“You entrusted me with your most sacred democratic duty, your vote,” Perez said. “Now, I’m asking for you to entrust me with your tax dollars. Let’s bring back sound investment policies and procedures.”
Perez grew up in Schertz, and has been a friend since childhood of Jones and of Precinct 3 Commissioner Jim Wolverton.
He attended Schertz schools, graduating from Samuel Clemens High School, and going to the University of Texas, where he got his bachelor’s degree in business administration with majors in transportation and international business.
He worked for major corporations, including the Missouri Pacific Rail Road, and Albertson’s.
He ran his own business, and when his first child was born, Perez decided to seek employment that had more regular hours.
Larry Jones hired Perez to work as a payroll clerk in the treasurer’s office in the early 1990s, and after the county established the post of elections administrator, which takes the job of running the county’s elections out of the county clerk’s office and places it under supervision of an elections board, Perez was appointed to that job.
He held the post for nearly 14 years before resigning in 2006 to take the job in Fort Bend County.
Perez resigned the Fort Bend post over a difference with commissioners about how to administer his office.
“It was a constant battle over doing the right thing,” Perez said.
He came back home in February 2008 to work as an election consultant — and take more college classes.
“I’m just trying to improve my overall perspective,” Perez said.
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print |
Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|