Eleven county officials were sworn in at a ceremony in the district courtroom Sunday. They are (back from left) Precinct Four Justice of the Peace Jody Hettich, Prec. 1 JP Tony Gilbreath, Prec. 4 Commissioner Russell Acker, Prec. 2 Commissioner Jerry Gaskill and Prec. 3 JP Jerry Parker; and (front) Prec. 2 JP Janae Holland; County Treasurer Daphne Carter, County Clerk Kelley Price, District Clerk Susie Wright, County Judge Kevin White and District Attorney Angela Albers. All were elected to four-year terms in November.

(Monitor photo by Larry Tucker)

District Judge Brad McCampbell was a busy man Sunday afternoon at the Wood County courthouse. He swore in 11 elected officials to their posts in front of an overflow crowd in the district courtroom. 

The biggest change is in the office of county judge where former educator and Mineola Mayor Kevin White takes over for incumbent Lucy Hebron. White, who had lost to Hebron in the 2018 election, came back with a strong county-wide campaign to defeat Hebron. 

White was at the courthouse on Monday’s holiday moving into his office. He is ready to get started and has definite plans on what he wants to get done.

“I need to take a look at everything and evaluate where we need to go from there,” he said. “Most obvious is we have to get a new director for the Wood County Economic Commission in place. We need to review policies and plan on doing that the first six months. I want to be available to every department in this county.”

White was happy with Sunday’s swearing-in. “It is very exciting to be there with my family and I am looking forward to the remarkable people who work here in the county either in the courthouse or outside of the courthouse in the precincts,” White added. “My job will be made easier by those people who are already here.”

White believes his past experiences as an educational administrator, a businessman and as mayor of Mineola will be of benefit to him as county judge.

“I actually saw commonalities serving as mayor that will help me as county judge,” White commented. “A big advantage for me will be that there are so many people in the county in leadership roles in charge of things. The judge does not have to be in charge of everything because of the people already in place.”

What does White want to bring to the position? “I want to bring my experience in the past to the office and work with those people who are already doing a great job to find out ways in which we can find ways to do even better,” White informed. “Change for the sake of change is not good. I don’t believe in coming in and just changing things. People need to buy into your ideas, but if they trust you they will believe in you.” 

The new judge is ready for the challenge. “The time was right. I see being the county judge as another way to serve people outside of the sphere I have already experienced. As a coach and administrator in public education I was able to help kids, then as mayor I was able to serve the people of Mineola,” White offered. “Now as county judge I will be able to broaden that scope and serve the citizens of the county.”

Since winning the primary last spring White has been preparing for the job. He wants the county departments to work together.

“Like I said earlier, there are remarkable people working here already,” he said. “I have met a lot of county employees over the course of the past year. Just being able to listen to everybody from their point of view and the things in common we all want to accomplish will go a long way for us all. There are so many resources in this courthouse right now that should enable this job to be done with great efficiency. You must be willing to take advantage of those resources to be able to serve Wood County as best we can. I know I must be willing to listen to everybody.”

What is the most important thing for a county judge to do while in office? “There are so many aspects to this job, but the bottom line is to be a good steward with the people’s money in Wood County,” White pledged. 

Besides White, 10 other officials were sworn in: County Clerk Kelley Price, County Treasurer Daphne Carter, District Clerk Suzy Wright, Commissioner Prec. 2 Jerry Gaskill, Commissioner Prec. 4 Russell Acker, Criminal District Attorney Angela Albers, Justice of the Peace (JP) Prec. 1 Tony Gilbreath, JP 2 Janae Holland, JP 3 Jerry Parker and JP 4 Jody Hettich.