West Texas Region Welcomes New Board Member

I would like to say a very special thank you to everyone who helped with my election to the West Texas County Judges and Commissioners Association Board of Directors. The letters of support meant a great deal to me, and I thank each of you. I am really looking forward to working for and with those currently serving on the board, along with the Association membership. I am also eager to meet many of you for the first time.
My hometown is Sunray, which is north of Dumas about 17 miles. I was actually raised north of Sunray, which is in Sherman County. I was raised in a house that was built by my Grandfather Cartrite, who was also a commissioner in Sherman County in the 1920s. My dad was born in that same house and lives there to this day!
I am a commissioner in Moore County, which is located in the north central part of the Panhandle, bordered by Sherman, Hutchinson, Potter and Hartley counties. Moore County has 910 square miles. Dumas, the county seat, is located about 60 miles north of Amarillo. I have been the Pct. 4 commissioner since 1995. My precinct has approximately 5,000 residents. Sunray has approximately 2,000 residents, and Cactus and Etter have approximately 3,000 residents.
I have served on the Moore County Historical Commission since 1999 and the Texas Association of Counties Employee Benefit Pool Board from 1999-2000. I was elected vice president of the Panhandle County Judges and Commissioners Association in 2006, and I served as secretary for the same association in 2007 and president in 2008. I was appointed to the Panhandle Transit Board in 2004 and currently remain on the board. I am also a current member of the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas Education Committee.
Moore County is on the unit system. We have a road supervisor who is in charge of the entire county with each commissioner helping in his precinct. I like the unit system very well. Moore County was using the unit system when I started as commissioner. I appreciate the fact that we can utilize all of the manpower and equipment for all of the precincts. In my opinion, it saves on duplication of equipment and speeds up the work process.
We currently employ 17 men and women in the road and bridge department. There are 424 miles of county road in Moore County that consist of dirt, caliche and black top. In my precinct I have 41 miles of road, which is 34 percent of all county roads. My precinct is unique in that I have a county barn in Sunray. All of the other road and bridge employees from the other three precincts report to the main barn in Dumas.
In the past we have had numerous fires in our county as well as across all the state. We have sent our blades and operators to assist with the fighting of fires in neighboring counties.
I truly enjoy my job as commissioner. I like to think that I have a good working relationship with all of the employees and elected officials. I feel it is important to try and visit each office in the courthouse and let others know that I care about each one of them and appreciate the job they do. When you have good employees it makes your job as commissioner much easier.
One of my most memorable experiences as county commissioner to date happened on April 21, 2007, when a tornado ripped through Cactus late in the evening. By the time I reached Cactus it was very dark due to no electricity. I was there until early the next morning trying to help get the people of Cactus loaded onto buses to be transported to the Sunray Community Building and also the Moore County Community Building in Dumas. The next morning the operators from Precinct 4 were on hand to help clear the roads so the rescue workers could come into Cactus. I was there every day for the next three weeks working with the men and women from the Moore County Road and Bridge Department and employees from Sunray, Dumas and Dalhart.
We could not have cleaned everything up as fast as we did had it not been for the inmates and volunteers. We had inmates from four different prisons including the Clements, Neal, Dalhart and Pampa units and volunteers from the surrounding counties as well as across the state. I called on my commissioner friends from Dallam and Sherman counties. They sent trucks and drivers to help with the cleanup. I’m grateful to have such a good working relationship with the commissioners in neighboring counties.
Commissioner Lynn Cartrite