Barbecue, Solar Power, & Immigration in Texas with Louie Minor

David Martin: This is the good government show.

Louie Minor: Started out in law enforcement. I wanted to be a state trooper, a Texas trooper with a cowboy hat and all that. That’s was my goal. You know, I wish I could, you know, just wave a magic wand and and make things happen. But I can’t. And, you know, we have to work together, and build a consensus and try and do things that that are best for the county.

I want to be available at all times for for everyone. So that that’s what I. That’s what I try to do. You’ll be surprised how much weight one email has or one phone call.

It’s going to take a diversity of energy, to meet the needs of a growing Texas. And, that’s what we have. Hey, I know you from somewhere, and I’m like, well, I either arrested you or gave you a speeding ticket, so.

David Martin: Welcome to The Good Government Show. On this episode, we’re going to meet a fellow podcaster, Louie Miner, and he’s a county commissioner from Bell County, Texas. Bell County is in southern Texas, about halfway between Austin and Waco. And Louie Miner lives in the town of Belton. So we’re going to Texas. Louie’s background, it’s pretty impressive. He was a constable in his home town, and then he joined the army.

He deployed to Iraq and served as an officer in an infantry company. When he got out of the army, he went to the Department of Homeland Security and served as an incident management officer at the National Operations Center. But like a good Texas boy, he heard the call to Texas and came home. Politics called him, and he’s now in his first term as county commissioner.

We talked about several issues that are important to him. One of them is the use of solar power and how that’s helping the state’s power grid. We don’t usually talk politics here, but his conversion from Tea Party Republican to an elected Democrat is, well, it’s interesting and it’s Texas. So we haven’t talked barbecue and brisket, of course. And, of course, where to get good Tex-Mex food in his hometown.

Yeah. I might have spent a little too much time talking about food in Texas, but, Well, I hope you get hungry too. So, coming up from Bell County, Texas, you’re about to be Louie Miner and be impressed. I was.

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Welcome to the Good Government show. We are talking today with Louie Miner who is a county commissioner from Belton, Texas in Bell County. Tell us where Bell County is.

Louie Minor: So Bell County is, north of Austin in about an hour. If you think of Austin Austin as Travis County, then you have Williamson County. The next county up is Bell County. So we’re right off of I-35 and Interstate 14 merger.

David Martin: Well, the real reason why we’re talking right now is because you are also a fellow podcaster. Yes. Tell us about what your show and,

Louie Minor: Yeah. So, so so I have a podcast. You know what? I I’m new in office. I just took office. this is the second year of my first term. so I was thinking, you know, how can I get my message out to my constituents, to people know what I’m doing? you know, I started listening to podcast, a couple of years ago.

Good. And I thought that it was a, an easy way for me to to get my message out. But I also find it therapeutic, you know, that I don’t.

David Martin: Know about easy, but.

Louie Minor: Okay, it’s therapeutic to me that I’m able to to let people know what I’m trying to do, why I vote, what, what, how I vote. and and what’s coming up on the next agenda for, for the commissioners court. so, I, I love doing my podcasts and people will tell me that they hear it, that they listen.

And I really think no one ever listens, you know, but, but they do. Yeah.

David Martin: Sometimes you’re sitting alone in a room all by yourself. Yes. What do I do with this one?

Louie Minor: Yeah, exactly.

David Martin: So what’s the reaction, from people today? Do they like what you’re doing?

Louie Minor: They do, they do. I, I’ve had some guest on, you know, some local, local, community leaders and stuff like that. It’s a way just, you know, it’s like a, a way a town hall, almost.

David Martin: Okay. How often you do it?

Louie Minor: I try to do it weekly. Obviously, I’m not able to. Yeah, I’m not able to do that. I wish I could, do it every week. but I do my best. So last year was my first full year, and I think I did 30 something shows.

David Martin: Well, it’s always nice to meet a fellow podcaster. Thank you. What, what what’s your what are the topics you’re discussing?

Louie Minor: I always start off with, you know, what’s on the next agenda, for the commissioners court. Just let people know, I talk about what happened the last meeting, how we voted and what was going on. And then I just pick a topic. I try to stick to local issues, since there’s a lot of national stuff out there and a lot of, statewide, podcasts out there that you get.

So I really want people to know what’s going on, locally in their county and some of the cities.

David Martin: And one of the things that you talked about, which was intrigued me right away, is, solar farms. Tell me what you’ve got and how this came to be.

Louie Minor: Well, this started obviously before I got into to office in Texas, right? Yeah. I take focus in Texas. You know, we don’t have land use authority out in the county. so it’s it’s almost the Wild West. You know, you could do whatever you want with your property. as long as there’s only certain things, that the state requires.

so we we have a lot of solar farms, over 9000 acres in Bell County, that are in the process of development. the only way that we can have any type of say so in, in that process is through the tax abatement process. So a lot of these solar farms are coming to the county asking for a tax abatement and a 312 tax abatement.

we can only grant a tax abatement for up to ten years. And then it goes to the full appraised value of the property, so that we’re able to get some covenants, with that tax abatement agreement on, you know, repairs of roads, use of land barrier screening devices. And that’s really the only way that we’re able to have some control over these, solar farms.

Neighbors obviously complain they live out in the county. Yeah, and they expect it to be, you know, trees and deer for forever. but they get pretty upset whenever their neighbor decides to to put acres and acres of solar panels up.

David Martin: What does it look like?

Louie Minor: It looks like what you would expect. Acres and acres of solar panels out there. Yeah.

David Martin: And how high off the ground of.

Louie Minor: Oh, they’re they’re probably good, you know, 15ft above the ground. but there’s a lot of, you know, dust control, they tear up the county roads, you know, the roads are not, are not developed for that type of traffic, at least for the construction part. Right. then then the maintenance is obviously easy and long term.

but that’s part of our agreement that, you know, once you’re done with the construction and development, then you have to re improve the road that was tore up.

David Martin: And has this brought jobs into the county?

Louie Minor: Yes. Obviously it brings construction jobs into the county, long term jobs. So, you know, it’s it doesn’t take a lot of upkeep on the solar panels. Yeah. but, yeah, it does bring good construction jobs into the county.

David Martin: And has there been an energy benefit for the county citizens?

Louie Minor: It goes to the grid. And if you have, you keep up with Texas at all. You know, a couple of years ago, our grid almost crashed, when we had an ice storm, right.

David Martin: And I heard about that.

Louie Minor: Yeah. There were, there were people out of, power for days. Yeah. You know, over 700 people estimated, died from from the grid almost collapsing. so we need to have a diversity of energy in, in the state.

David Martin: So this is definitely helping.

Louie Minor: It’s helping. Absolutely. It’s helping.

David Martin: Has have you seen or has there been shown to have any impact with all the solar panels on the farms?

Louie Minor: Yes, yes. it I think for the first time, obviously.

David Martin: I mean, I guess my question really is what’s the impact of it?

Louie Minor: Well, our grid hasn’t collapsed. So.

David Martin: So so we’ve had power.

Louie Minor: Yeah, we’ve had power. You know, Texas continues to grow. People continue to move to Texas. So to meet meet that that growth we have to have a diversity of energy. businesses are coming so it’s absolutely imperative that renewables are part of the solution.

David Martin: So I’ve talked to folks from the Fort Worth area and from Austin, and I understand that, you know, I hate to use the word runaway growth, but certainly incredible growth. people moving to Texas. How do you manage that? And how do you manage that and sort of keep the Texas character of, of the land of the area?

How do you handle that growth?

Louie Minor: It’s something that we’re learning to do in Bell County. You know, Bell County, we’re only almost 400,000 people in the county. So we’re we’re transitioning right now from the the rural mindset of the county, and development and land use that, that we do have control over to now we have to start thinking about, okay, do we want our subdivisions to have sidewalks?

Do we want our subdivisions to have, you know, amenities in there? a lot of times the developers still don’t put those in because that’s what people expect. but it’s not mandatory. But whenever they put those in, who’s responsible for maintaining them, maintaining that it’s going to be the county unless there’s some type of homeowner’s association associated with it.

David Martin: But you also want to retain a, feeling like you’re in Texas, right? Right. So how do you do that?

Louie Minor: I guess by your address. I guess by your address? no, it’s it’s.

David Martin: I mean, I know you’re not in the Wild West, but once it was. Yeah, that’s part of the attraction, is it not?

Louie Minor: It is. It is, you know, I guess when I. I’ve been to New York before, and people hear that I’m from Texas and they expect for me to have a cowboy hat and that I own, you know, some horses and cattle. and I don’t. I live in the city, so.

David Martin: Okay. Well, do you have a cowboy hat?

Louie Minor: I do have a cowboy hat. I got some cowboy boots on right now. That’s, boots on. All right. Yeah.

David Martin: So had I not had folks, just boots.

Louie Minor: But, no, I, I think, you know, people are moving to Texas because of the jobs. Because of the cost of living. but you know, that.

David Martin: And and good weather most of the time.

Louie Minor: And good barbecue, I think.

David Martin: Great barbecue, great.

Louie Minor: Barbecue and tacos and tacos. Let me throw that. All right. Sorry, but, so, you know, we have to manage, what, what people are, I guess, paying for. And, you know, Texas has one of the highest property taxes in the country. so managing, you know, our property taxes, versus the needs of the of the, residents.

David Martin: So when people talk about Texas right now, they think about, migrant crisis at the border. you we talked a little bit earlier. It doesn’t affect you. Your town, with, you know, migrants coming in, but it is a Texas problem. How do you how are you dealing with it?

Louie Minor: So I don’t see, a migrant crisis in our county. If you look at, what was being played on TV and talk shows and all that stuff, it’s like we’re being invaded. We’re being flooded. I don’t see that. you know, Texas just recently passed, passed a state law that now they’re going to be able to, deport, someone suspected of entering illegally.

And I don’t know how they’re going to enforce that. I don’t know what’s going to be the probable cause other than the color of your skin, to go and ask someone, are you here legally or not? And that that’s scary to me as a Hispanic person. You know, my family, my grandmother who’s 93 years old.

David Martin: Yeah.

Louie Minor: She doesn’t speak English very well. She she doesn’t read or write very well. And, Yeah, I Spanish. Yeah, Spanish is fine. So I mean, I, I’m concerned for people like her. Yeah. That, you know, hey, you’re here illegally, you know, let me take you down to the border and remove you from the, from the country. Well, that’s.

David Martin: A real that’s a that’s a real issue.

Louie Minor: It is, it is, but, you know, I the people that are here, that that I’ve met, they’re here as, asylum seekers. They’re here legally. They’ve entered legally as asylum seekers. They’re providing, they’re doing jobs and services that Americans just don’t want to do anymore. I had mentioned, you know, tried pouring concrete and a Texas summer and see how long you last.

David Martin: I don’t think I would last very long.

Louie Minor: Yeah, it’s it’s not going to be very long. so so our asylum seekers that are here are immigrants that are here, they’re doing jobs that, Americans just don’t want to do.

David Martin: And you said your grandma is Mexican. She’s. And she came here. So this is your this is your family story kind of right?

Louie Minor: No, absolutely. but, you know, Texas, I guess, is a little bit different that Texas was part of Mexico.

David Martin: That was.

Louie Minor: so, you know, that that we have that, that, that connection, of, being part of, of Mexico.

David Martin: And you were born and raised in Texas, you said and but I was sort of a curious path to get to, county government. You said you were a police officer and the military.

Louie Minor: Correct.

David Martin: So what’s your background that led you to county commission?

Louie Minor: Well, so I started out, in law enforcement. I wanted to be a, a state trooper, a Texas trooper with a cowboy hat. All right, that’s was my goal. But every time.

David Martin: Different than a Texas Ranger.

Louie Minor: yes, it is. Okay. All right. but a state troopers like our state police, right. but, you know, they whenever I initially looked into it, the the Texas Rangers, I think all you needed was, like, 15 hours credit hours to sign up to, you know, to be a Texas Ranger. So I said, okay, well, I’ll go get a couple, a couple of college credits and go get that.

Well, it seemed like every time I was about to meet the bar, the DPS kept on raising their, their, their their,

David Martin: Thank you.

Louie Minor: Yeah. Education requirements. So it went from there to, like, an associate’s degree than a bachelor’s degree. And I’m like, well, you know, I might as well just get my, So I joined law enforcement and then, so I was, doing that. And then I joined the National Guard. And as a National Guard, I commissioned as an officer.

Obviously, we were in two wars at the time, right, in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I was pretty much full time army after that, deployed to Iraq and came back and did two years at Fort Lewis, Washington. And, then once I got out of the military, I went to work for Homeland Security in Washington, DC, in the national operations Center.

David Martin: Wow.

Louie Minor: Before returning home.

David Martin: What brought you back to Texas?

Louie Minor: I politics, okay. At the time, you know, I, I felt that political. My calling. I wanted to come back home and start my own business. and I did those things and got into politics. Now, I didn’t get elected. obviously, for ten years. Ten years I’ve been involved in politics. but but I was able to finally get elected.

now I’m county commissioner for precinct four, which is, Killeen area of Bell County. And, yeah, I love what I do.

David Martin: And what projects have you sort of taken as your, as your causes?

Louie Minor: Well, there we are.

David Martin: The good government show.

Louie Minor: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David Martin: So sprinkle some good government projects in here.

Louie Minor: Well, we’re, we’re doing a couple of things in the county. the main thing that I’m focusing on right now is we’re building a new clean annex. the old one that we have with, I think, built in the 50s. so it’s going to be over 27,000 square foot building.

David Martin: I’m sorry, I what? Annex?

Louie Minor: Annex? Yes. and that’s going to have, all of our services, for office building. Office building? Yes. Then then we’re doing a diversion center. to try and keep people that, you know, continually get arrested for, mainly like criminal trespassing and stuff like that. Usually they have substance abuse problems, mental health problems that, you know, they don’t need to be going to the jail.

so can.

David Martin: You know that firsthand as police.

Louie Minor: Officer? So keeping them out of the jail, trying to get it, getting them stabilized, getting some medication, and try and taking care of that issue outside of jail.

David Martin: Have you run into people you’ve arrested?

Louie Minor: not. Not yeah. Not. Yeah. That’s it’s really. Well, I mean, you know, it’s been a long time since I’ve been an officer. Okay. but I used to tell people because they would say, like, hey, I know you from somewhere. And I’m like, well, I either arrest you or give you a speeding ticket, so, so.

David Martin: And, how’s it working out? Are you are you finding that it. You know, you said you tried for ten years to run for office. Right now, you’re now you’re in office. What do you say now?

Louie Minor: I’m in office. I love it. Thanks. You know, I wish I could, you know, just wave a magic wand and and make things happen, but I can’t, and, you know, we have to work together, and build a consensus and try and do things that that are best for the county.

David Martin: After you get done with this episode, hear more good government stories with our friends at How to Really Run a City. Former mayors Kasim Reed of Atlanta and Michael Nutter of Philadelphia, and their co-host, journalist and author Larry Platt talk with guests and other mayors about how to really get stuff done in cities around the nation. Check them out where you’re listening now or through their nonprofit news site, The Philadelphia Citizen.

Dot org slash podcasts.

David Martin: All right. Now we’re going to get into the heart of the matter here. Okay. This is our questionnaire. You are, two years a county commissioner, but you worked for Homeland Security. And, of course, a military background and, you know, local police. With all that together, define good government.

Louie Minor: You know, I, I actually I answered ad for this. I answered this question a couple of weeks ago on my own podcast because because I was like, you know, that’s one of the questions that you you do ask, you know, what is good government. And I explain to to my podcast, if I ever got the chance to answer this question, I would answer like this I think good government is providing the resources and the needs of the people where the people are.

You know, it doesn’t do any good to have all these resources available to them if they’re not able to find them. So you got to go to where the people are and bring those resources to them.

David Martin: A great answer, but I have to take off half a point because you prepped for this. How do you judge your success? So you’re two years in. How do you decide if you’re doing a good job?

Louie Minor: it’s it’s up to the people to decide if I’m doing a good job. so far.

David Martin: But you have to know yourself, like, you know, am I doing this right? You know. And how do you figure that out?

Louie Minor: Well, I, I stay in contact with with community leaders. they they tell me that, they like what I’m doing. Keep it up. I’m trying to do everything I can to include more people in government. Let you know, raise that awareness of what we’re doing.

David Martin: Do you take phone calls on your show?

Louie Minor: I do, and.

David Martin: they let you know?

Louie Minor: Yeah. Okay. They’ll let me know. They’ll let me know. And, but, yeah, I, I want to be available at all times for, for everyone so that that’s what I, that’s what I try to do.

David Martin: How do the voters, the people in your, in your district, how do they know if they’re getting good government, if you’re doing your the job and how would you like them to hold you accountable?

Louie Minor: Well I like anyone else. It’s done at the ballot box. but you know, getting involved, being involved with your government, you’ll be surprised how much weight one email has or one phone call. you know, we typically don’t get a lot of correspondence from people unless they’re complaining about something, right? And that’s when we that’s when we respond.

but, you know, just letting people know that, you know, your voice in local government does matter. It matters more than you think. So making that phone call, you know, sending a text message and sending an email, does mean a lot.

David Martin: So that sort of leads to my next question. If people feel like they’re not getting the good service, good government, if they feel like they’re their, elected officials aren’t doing what they want, what should they do? What would you like them to do?

Louie Minor: They have to be involved. Being involved is is the biggest thing that you could do to to affect change. whether you agree with the person or not, the elected official or not, that involvement. Do it respectfully. Do respectfully. Respectfully. but, yeah, there’s definitely ways that that, I, I’m eager, to, to hear from my constituents, anywhere in the county they don’t have to live in precinct four.

Okay. Anywhere in the county. I want to hear from, from them and tell me if I’m doing a good job or a bad job. They do. Tell me. And and I tell them. Thank you.

David Martin: Well, where do they tell you? Do they tell you at the taco stand and they tell you at the gas station that I tell you?

Louie Minor: They’ll tell me at meetings. so, and that’s okay, you know that. You know, that’s what we signed up for. And,

David Martin: Is it hard sometimes to go to the grocery store to, you know, run to the hardware store?

Louie Minor: It’s getting more and more difficult. It’s getting more and more. And they keep in mind that, you know, I, I, I’ve been involved for, for a little bit, but now, now that I’m elected and I run into people, they definitely want to, to talk business. And that’s okay.

David Martin: Which leads me to my next question. Now that you’ve been in the office that you are seeking, what would you like people to know as, now, as an insider, what would you like them to know about government and how it works?

Louie Minor: Well, we have to pay for things. And and, the way we pay for that, those things are through, mainly through property taxes and sales tax in Texas. The the sales tax we don’t control, but the property tax, we kind of control it. we don’t do the evaluations. that’s the appraisal districts that do the evaluations of the property.

We just set the tax rate. But, I think if the people understand where their money is going and what it’s for, they may not be happy, but they’re going to be willing to to pay those property taxes. You know, do you want good water? Clean water? Do you want, you know, good roads and bridges? What are you expecting from from your, your your county government?

And are you willing to pay for that? That’s what people need to understand that. That’s that’s what that’s what our money goes is all.

David Martin: This doesn’t come free.

Louie Minor: Correct.

David Martin: Okay. Who’s your political hero? Who inspired you? Said you spent years trying to, you know, running for office. Who inspired you to do this? Who’s your hero?

Louie Minor: LBJ, really LBJ, the Great Society. Okay, you know the new Deal.

David Martin: You’re a young man. I mean, you’re not alive with Johnson.

Louie Minor: No, no, I wasn’t, but I, I, I’ve studied I’ve studied those things and, you know, improving the quality of lives in all aspects.

David Martin: We’re talking about former President Lyndon Johnson. Great. A Texas boy, as well as Texas.

Louie Minor: Texas as well. Okay. so, yeah, just making improvements for quality of life for people that’ll make me successful at the end of the day, did I improve their quality of life? Did I improve their jobs, their education? everywhere that I could help.

David Martin: All right. Did you, did you see there was a LBJ play on Broadway? I don’t know if you caught it.

Louie Minor: I have not, I have not.

David Martin: I’ve spoke with a few people from Texas, but you are the first one, ever to mention LBJ as your political hero. So there you go. So, you know, you said you spent some time wanting to do this, will you? President of your high school class? Was was getting into politics. Some of you always aspired to it, even though.

Louie Minor: It was not it was not, I think where I got, you know, really wanting to do something and, I’ll get a little bit political because I’m a political person. Sure. it was with the Tea Party when the Tea Party started coming around, I think, in the, you know, 2010, 12, something like that. I was a Republican back then, and, I was yeah, I was I was like, this is not the party I signed up for.

and whenever I would go to meetings, you know, when I would go to meetings, the, the Republican meeting versus the Democratic meetings that I would go to, I was like, okay, one of these looks like me, you know, one of these has a diversity of people going to it. The other one did not. so I just felt more included, under under the, going to Democratic meetings.

So that’s that’s that’s kind of a long story.

David Martin: Short, which which goes back to LBJ. all right. Now we talked a little bit before about Texas barbecue. you mentioned tacos. I’m coming to your town. Where are we going? Out. What do we have and what do you serve in? What’s the dish? It’s okay.

Louie Minor: Well, we would go to to Belton, Texas. There’s a great place there called chef’s barbecue.

David Martin: Chef’s barbecue. All right.

Louie Minor: you know, you you walk in, you you’re you’re standing over there, you get the moist brisket. Yup. and you get some some turkey.

David Martin: Okay.

Louie Minor: And and some jalapeno and cheese sausage. And then you, you go in there and that’s outside you, you order it outside and you go inside and you get all the sides. You get some potato salad and they have some Mexican street corn in there. That is the best.

David Martin: All right. Anything else?

Louie Minor: Well, you got to finish it with a sober cheesecake, okay.

David Martin: You didn’t. You didn’t mention any good Tex-Mex.

Louie Minor: Oh, well, I mean, you. I thought you were talking barbecue.

David Martin: We could talk anything. I mean, while you’re. It’s your town. You’re showing me the town.

Louie Minor: So. So then we would go to, one of the Tucker is, I know the family that owns all the market is there in in, Bell County. All right. All of them are great. and, you know, it’s really, really good Mexican food.

David Martin: what is your 93 year old grandmother bake from Mexico? Tortillas like.

Louie Minor: That. And beans.

David Martin: That’s your.

Louie Minor: Thing? that’s the thing. that’s a staple growing up.

David Martin: Or go to grandma’s house, and they’re really.

Louie Minor: Good baked beans and tortillas.

David Martin: What do you cook?

Louie Minor: I don’t get to cook as much as I’d like to. I go to a lot of meetings, go to a lot of events, and, so I have, and my parents just move, you know, they they used to live in Belton. Now they live about 45 minutes outside of Belton. So I’m not able to go to mama’s every day like I used to.

David Martin: Do and.

Louie Minor: Get a dinner real quick.

David Martin: So it is called the Good Government Show. We like to talk about good government projects. Give me an example of a good government project you’re working.

Louie Minor: Good government project that I’m working on. there is a, a county road, that desperately needs to be expanded from two lanes to four lanes. the school district decided in its infinite wisdom, to put a new high school and a middle school and an elementary on that road.

David Martin: Okay. So it’s going to get a lot of use.

Louie Minor: Well, those schools are already there. but the road is not to improve all the traffic there. So, we’re desperately trying to improve that, that street. but it it is a county road. but it’s right on the, city limits. so the city is involved of Killeen. Okay. so.

David Martin: Is that going to make it too busy with all those school kids?

Louie Minor: Well, we need to make it safe. Okay. And and that that’s the priority for both, for the pedestrians and the vehicle traffic. Because it’s not safe, right now.

David Martin: So, Euless, you’ve told me that, you have listened to the show before. what do you think about what we’re doing? And how do you like it?

Louie Minor: I love it, I love it. There’s, like I said, it’s on my list. podcasts that I listen to, and I get, updates whenever it. Oh, good. It gets, a.

David Martin: New subscriber.

Louie Minor: A new episode is available. but, you know, being knowledgeable about what other counties are doing, what other municipalities are doing. that’s key for success. that’s why I come to, these events like this.

David Martin: I was at the NATO conference in Washington, the legislature of the National Association of Counties Legislative conference in Washington, DC. We’re here.

Louie Minor: Correct. All right. I want to learn with what other people are doing. I want to know what what works, what doesn’t work, what funds are available, new funds that are coming out. I want to be the first in line to bring those dollars to my county.

David Martin: And long term, you’re going to be a county commissioner for a while.

Louie Minor: It’s in the voters. Well, I’ll be there for the next couple of years and we’ll see what happens after that. but I love what I do. I love talking to the people. I love being responsive to their needs. And I’ll continue to do that as long as they allow me in whatever capacity.

David Martin: All right. Well, it was a pleasure chatting with you. Thanks for stopping by. you said, oh, the good government show our listeners. So immediately we started talking and, Hey, good news about solar panels. You know, I think anything that we can do to, come up with alternative fuel sources has got to be a positive, right?

Louie Minor: It’s going to take a diversity of energy, to meet the needs of a growing Texas. And, that’s what we have.

David Martin: All right. And brisket and, tacos.

Louie Minor: Brisket and tacos. Come on. Come to Bell County. We’ll welcome you.

David Martin: All right. hey, thank you very much for stopping by. It was great to meet you. And, keep listening.

Louie Minor: Yes. Thank you.

David Martin: Thank you.

David Martin: Where do you get your news from? Where do you get your state and local government news from? Because that’s getting harder and harder. And it’s essential to stay updated with your community. And it’s becoming increasingly important to know what’s going on in other cities and states, because they’re likely facing challenges that you’re grappling with, too, or you’re going to face eventually.

That’s why we’d like to welcome our new partner, route 50, to the show. Route 50 is a leading online publication covering state and local governments across the country. They’ve written about states protecting themselves against the rise in cyber attacks, counties using AI to better support citizens services, local responses to crumbling infrastructure and extreme weather, and much, much more.

There’s a lot there. It’s a one stop shop for issues affecting state and local governments and their residents. That’s you. That’s all of us. Do yourself a favor and go to route 50.com to see the topics and solutions they cover, and learn what other people in government are doing. They also deliver a daily newsletter called route 50 today.

I see it in my inbox every morning. I check it out and you should too. Thanks again. Route 50. We’re excited to have you on board and being a partner here at the Good Government Show.

What is it the county government does? That’s the question county commissioners get asked the most. And the simple answer is everything on the good Government show. We’re so lucky to have talked with so many county commissioners and other county officials that have shown us how effective county government is. County government dates back to get this 1634, making it one of the oldest forms of government in the United States.

Think about it. Roads. Highways. Hospitals. Schools. Recycling. Law enforcement. Water. Sewers, and most of the county. Those services are maintained by the county that’s county government. The National Association of Counties represents all 3069 counties across the USA. Naco helps county government work better together through things like sharing best practices. When county government works well, well, that’s just good government.

When you hear a county commissioner from Texas talk about immigration policies and hear his concern for other people in this family, that’s something we all should pay attention to. And Army veteran, a Mexican-American and a local commissioner. His opinion matters. It’s always good to hear from newly elected leaders talk about what they see government is for and for him.

You have to bring government to the people. That’s another definition of what good government is supposed to be all about. And Louis was the first guest to say President Lyndon Johnson as his political hero. That’s another Texas man who made a big impact. So if you want to hear more from Louis Miner, check out his podcast, Louis Miner Show.

You can find it on his website at Louis miner.com/podcasts. Always a pleasure to talk with another podcaster, so check him out. Well, that’s our show. Thanks for listening. Please. Like us and share this with your friends and reviews right here where you’re listening. And check out our website. Good Government show.com for extras. And there’s a link to Louie’s podcast there.

Join us again for another episode right here. I’m Dave Martin and this is the Good Government show.

The Good Government show is a Valley Park production. Jim Ludlow, Dave Martin, that’s me and David Snyder are the executive producers. Our show is edited and produced by Jason Stershic. Please subscribe, then share and like us and review us. That’s the best way to make sure we’re able to keep telling these stories of our government working for all of us.

Then listen to the next episode of The Good Government Show.

**This transcription was created using digital tools and has not been edited by a live person. We apologize for any discrepancies or errors.