Wyndi Veigel-Gaudette Content Editor
“The state of Erath County is strong and it’s strong because of the people, the partnership and the collaboration. Together we have built something special and it’s our duty to keep it that way and to provide that for the future generations,” County Judge Brandon Huckabee said.
Huckabee, along with other county leaders took time Monday, Nov. 17 to participate in the annual State of the County hosted by the Stephenville Chamber of Commerce. The event hosted at City Limits provided lunch and information to more than 250 people in attendance.
Huckabee, Sheriff Matt Coates, EMS Director Cary Jackson, Precinct 1 County Commissioner Dee Stephens, County Treasurer Angie Shawver, County Clerk Gwinda Jones, Director of Land Development Jason Gardner all spoke during the event.
“It has been exciting to see the collaboration between all of our different organizations with his [Huckabee’s] leadership … We just appreciate our leaders’ time, their leadership and their passion for Erath County,” Stephenville Chamber Executive Director July Danley said during the opening remarks.
Huckabee addressed several items including strategic planning, unified county emergency dispatch, better emergency radio systems, more effective county offices, partnerships and collaboration.
“Every success story in our county begins with the hard work of our citizens. The small business owners who invest in our local community. The educators that are shaping our leaders of tomorrow. Our first responders who answer every call and the volunteers and organizations that give their time to make our community so much stronger,” Huckabee said. “A focus I’ve had since coming into office is partnerships and collaborations, and I think that captures the very heart of what makes Erath County successful and thriving.”
Huckabee gave details of the unified emergency dispatch, a huge project for the county and something that has been discussed since 2017. The project is currently being constructed in the old tax office and is expected to hopefully go live in June 2026.
The unified county dispatch will put all county emergency dispatching in one central location including Dublin PD, Stephenville PD, Tarleton PD, Erath County Sheriff’s Office, all fire departments and volunteer fire departments along with EMS.
Along with the dispatch, the county for the first time ever will have all first responders on the same radio system, tremendously aiding on scenes.
“These are huge projects. We have never, as far as I know, all been on the same radio system. The city has worked on that multiple years ago, the county is working on that now,” Huckabee said. The radio system is also expected to go live in June 2026
Sheriff Matt Coates
Sheriff Coates also discussed dispatching and the radio system during his portion of the event.
“If the city has a call, let’s say they get into a chase, we still can’t hear each other on the radio, so we have to do telephones,” he said. “When we get into the same building, we will all be on the same computer-aided dispatch and all on the same radio frequency so if something busts off in the city and we know that they don’t have the numbers for that or they need someone to help somebody cover calls while they’re dealing with that, we’re coming.”
The sheriff emphasized the departments do that now, just by telephone which requires extra time and efforts.
“It’s been a lot of hard work with Chris Brooks [Emergency Management Coordinator], Ashley Anderson [Communications Manager],” Coates said. “It is a thing and it’s going to be great. It’s what we need and I cannot wait to see it come to fruition.”
County Treasurer Angie Shawver
Also, during the State of the County, the county treasurer gave an update on the county’s financial department.
Shawver detailed her role in the county including:
being chief custodian of the county’s money
receiving, recording and disbursing county funds received from all departments on order from commissioners’ court
liaison with the county’s depository banks
reconciling bank statements and investment accounts monthly
serving as one of three investment officers for the county
reporting monthly to the court the amount of money owed by the county, debt of the county and the total receipts and disbursements made in a month
working with all departments, receiving and recording monies from any source of revenue
preparing quarterly reports to the comptroller for any money collected for the state and remit it to them
works with all members of the financial team including every elected official, department head, clerk and employee that has a role in receiving and spending money all in compliance with the annually adopted budget
“We are so fortunate to have so many folks working in the county who truly have a heart for serving and respecting the financial resources provided to us through our citizens,” she said. “Erath County is financially strong and we currently have no debt with $40 million in reserve.”
Shawver said about 50% of reserves for the county is not derived from tax dollars and are for restricted use such as records management, technology, security, grants and capital improvements.
“Reserves are a valuable tool for the county and the taxpayers,” she said. “Having reserves allows us to smooth out the flow of revenue and expenses throughout the year.”
In the past three years the county has used reserves of about $13.5 million on county projects, such as the new annex and unified dispatch center, without having to take on any debt.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Dee Stephens
Commissioner Stephens, who represents the south side of the county, gave a brief update about his precinct including his seven full-time employees.
Stephens addressed population growth of the county which was around 42,000 at the 2020 census and may surpass the 50,000 mark at the next census.
“The justice center, where we have the courts, and the annex is full,” he said.
Recently, Precinct 1 through the county purchased 9.13 acres off FM 847 for a future county barn in that precinct.
When that step eventually occurs, it would allow for the current building next to the jail to potentially become an expanded justice center for county use.
County Clerk Gwinda Jones
Jones, who has been county clerk for 27 years, talked about a free product being recommended by the county called Fraud Guard.
The program, which is free to anyone who wishes to sign up, allows property owners to monitor if any documents with their names are filed for the county helping eliminate property fraud.
If your name pops up, you will get an email with the document so you can take a look at it. You can also do it for elderly parents to help them combat fraud.
“If you are confused you can come to our office and we can help you,” she said.
To sign up go to https://tyler.co.erath.tx.us/web/fraudGuard/
Jones also detailed her department adding that she has nine employees – six full time and three part time.
Director of Land Development Jason Gardner
Gardner addressed the significant growth that Erath County is currently facing.
He explained the county was allowed to add regulations to what the state mandated but could not take anything away.
Currently, the county is revising land development regulations every two years simply to deal with the influx of issues they have never dealt with before.
Gardner said the county will have a presentation specifically for realtors when the revisions are done.
He also addressed a couple of numbers – 10 acres and 2 acres. Anything less than 10 acres must be platted, which will include additional costs for a land owner. For the county, if you are cutting out property, it must be 2 acres or more to help ease with setback requirements for septic and well.
“I would highly encourage everyone to go to our website to land development, or come see us, show us what you have going on so we can help you,” Gardner said.
The land development director said a lot of things are changing as the county is growing, they are getting things they haven’t seen before, especially in regards to commercial.
When the land development department started three years ago, they had 14 projects in the beginning. Now they have 260 projects currently.
EMS Director Cary Jackson
Jackson gave a brief update on the county’s EMS department, including 20 full-time employees and 30 part-time employees.
Recently, a county ambulance was moved to the fire station near Lingleville Highway to reduce response times.
The county also recently took over Dublin EMS at the city’s request and are working to get critical care paramedics, which can perform higher skill sets such as IV pumps, ultrasound and ventilators on all ambulances.
The county is also working to get blood for emergency transfusions on all ambulances, currently a function of its Community Response Paramedicine program.
A new ambulance is expected next month and another one has been ordered since it takes about a year and half for an ambulance to get built.
“We couldn’t do this without the help of the public, the cities and the county,” Jackson said.