Tiesday Marked One Year Of A Dramatic Change In The Houston County Commission

Rickey Stokes

Viewed: 2213

Posted by: RStokes
[email protected]
13347901729
Date: Nov 09 2023 9:24 PM

HOUSTON COUNTY:    8:51 PM       This past Tuesday, November 7, 2023 was the mark of one year ago the General Election in Alabama.

That date also marked a major change in Houston County.

After 36 years on the Houston County Commission, beginning as a Commissioner in 1986 then appointed as Chairman in 1997, Mark Culver's tenure on the Houston County Commission was ending.

After 8 years on the Houston County Commission, D2 Commissioner Doug Sinquefield ran for Chairman of the Houston County Commission. Having lost the election as Chairman, November 7th marked the end of the tenure of Doug Sinquefield as D2 Commissioner.

The year 2022 marked a dramatic change in the commission. Two of the four voting members of the Houston County Commission are employees of the Houston County Sheriff Department. Something many feel is a conflict of interest. One of the four votes is Dr. Curtis Harvey who is the senior member of the Houston County Commission. And the last vote is a newcomer to politics, Tracy Adams.

And then the former D4 Houston County Commissioner, Brandon Shoupe, was elected as Chairman of the Houston County Commission. A major dramatic change inthe Houston County Commission.

Many had hoped for a positive change in the commission. A change of a new vision and leadership. But that hope quickly faded in the new commission and many have been disappointed in the 5 serving as Houston County Commissioners and Chairman.

One of the two deputies who serves as a County Commissioner has received three raises, one 15% as a Houston County Commissioner and as a Houston County Sheriff Deputy. 

The commission forced Dothan-Houston County Emergency Management Director Chris Judah to resign or be fired over a terminated Dothan Fireman accessing Computer Aided Dispatch. Even made then Director Judah walk home from the Administrative Building and did all they could do to humiliate him. For the record, the Commission FORCED Judah to resign and Chairman Shoupe lied about what he had told Judah.

But D3 Houston County Commissioner Ricky Herring wanted Chris Judah gone since the date Herring became a commissioner.

D3 Commissioner wanted the Farm Center Manager, Pam Kirkland gone. She was moved from Farm Center Manager to Maintenance. They made her go cut parks with a push lawn mower rather than a riding lawnmower which sit under the shed. Kirkland liked two years being able to retire but the commission wanted to run her off and they were successful.

While Shoupe, Herring and Harvey voted to sell the Houston County Farm Center, once they took office they negotiated with the City of Dothan to back out of the sale.

The commissioners, two include two Deputy Sheriff's, made sure their rank of Sergeant and Captain received pay raises. But URINATED in the faces of the Houston County Jail Correction Deputies and refused to give them a raise. They also included patrol deputies, excluded the rank of Corporal in the deputies.

D3 Houston County Commissioner Ricky Herring once again started fighting with the Houston County Healthcare Authority. And he was quickly followed by his fellow Deputy Sheriff, Captain James Ivey in the fight on who to appoint to the Hospital Authority.

In the end, D2 Commissioner Tracy Adams and D4 Commissioner James Ivey have been lap dogs to D3 Commissioner Ricky Herring. The decisions made it is obvious that D3 Commissioner Herring, a bully in my opinion, controls Adams and Ivey.

The Chairman has done podcasts in the Houston County Commission Chairman office. He makes TIC TOKS or FACEBOOK on things like what he is going to eat at the National Peanut Festival.

But the Houston County Commission has not improved the economics or jobs in Houston County. Only enriched their pay.

Next week on Larry McKee he is going to play the tape from Brandon Shoupe's promises he made as a candidate and we will see what he has accomplished.

The good thing is, a commissioner serves four years. Well year one concluded this week which leaves three years until the voters can replace all 5 Houston County Commissioners. And if the voters don't replace them, then the voters get what they deserve ... NOTHING.

<- back