Many of you, our wise and learned County Judges and County Commissioners, have announced your upcoming retirement. For years, and in some cases decades, you have found ways to lend a helping hand. You have mentored new officials, shared valuable lessons during conferences, and served as subject matter experts for us here at County Progress. De Witt County Judge Daryl Fowler took office Jan. 1, 2011. We appreciate Judge Fowler for taking the time to visit with us.
History: I was raised in Fort Worth, graduated high school there, and earned a bachelor of business administration from the business school at TCU in 1981. Following graduation, I moved to Odessa where I longed to be a landman. Unfortunately, the oilfield crashed shortly thereafter.
I returned to Fort Worth and became a stockbroker for E. F. Hutton in 1982. My wife, Lisa, is from Yoakum and was attending Texas Woman’s University at the time. We were introduced at my grandparent’s church and married in 1983. We chose Yoakum as the place to live and raise a family. She taught deaf education, and I joined a local bank.
In 1986, I opened an insurance agency. Self-employment allowed me to dip my toes into politics and organizations such as the local taxpayer’s (protest) league which, in turn, occasionally brought me into Commissioners Court as an outsider looking in. Being a husband, father, insurance agent, and rancher seemed to fill the time of the next 22 years.
In 2008, TCU offered a mini-course for people seeking employment as a landman, and I took the class without knowing how it would advance my career. When the Eagle Ford Shale came to De Witt County in 2008, the value of the coursework became apparent to me, so I decided to run for office in 2010 and won.
It has been amazing to look back and see the Lord’s hand in all of this.
Valuable lessons learned: Since there are lessons learned Every Single Day, it would be hard to tag one lesson as the most valuable. Above all, I’ve learned I cannot do everything well; therefore, it is critical to know one’s limitations. In order to overcome overreach, I keep a poster on a file cabinet that reminds me of “What I Can Control” and “What I Cannot Control.” I encourage everyone to find a poster like this and work it into a daily routine.
For the sake of the organization, I have taken great strides to be visible, dependable, and willing to pitch in; perform extraordinary chores; and create goodwill where the investment of a little time and a few kind words can do so much to ease the burden of a struggling employee or co-worker.
We operate in an environment subject to continuous public feedback If the feedback is valid, it is an opportunity to stay the course or change course. If the feedback is not valid, we should not let it weigh us down. I’ve learned that a simple reply of “thank you for caring enough to share” is often enough to satisfy concerned citizens or disarm them if they are looking for provocation.
Connecting with other officials in the courthouse: Our Commissioners have offices at their precinct barns across the county, so visiting with courthouse officials is rare. My office maintains an internal mailbox which draws the Commissioners to the courthouse between our regularly scheduled meetings. Visits with the county auditor, treasurer, and HR director are more common than with other elected officials. I appreciate them bringing issues to me for my opinion rather than requesting an agenda item without seeking input first. Our relationships stay healthy and productive this way.
Connecting With Constituents: A career in sales taught me that I had to circulate in order to percolate. Local government is a people-oriented business. To be successful in sales or government, the customers (or constituents) must believe we care about their needs and that we are addressing them with our product or service. Speaking to Rotarians, Lions Clubs, and Young Farmers, or at Farm Bureau meetings, chamber of commerce events, and political gatherings are all good venues for circulating. I credit all four of my election successes to the premise of being a consumer of my own public policy decisions and to listening more than talking.
Biggest Challenge: Prior to assuming the duties of office, I believed the county was ill-prepared to handle the exploitation of the Eagle Ford Shale Play. I came to this conclusion after visiting with family members who lived on land near Godley in Johnson County and with County Commissioners in Johnson, Hood, and Parker counties during 2009. Those counties had experienced the exploitation of the Barnett Shale and seen cost increases in the road and bridge budgets.
When I assumed office as De Witt County Judge, the road and bridge portion of the county budget was barely above $2 million annually. We hired an engineering firm to conduct a study of the oil field traffic and the potential impacts for us in 2012. The study indicated we could potentially need $432 million appropriated to our road system before the last well was drilled. Raising the funds from local property taxes seemed impossible, so we hired some outside help, documented our experience, and put a plan together; with the help of the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas and the Texas Association of Counties, we worked the 83rd Legislature pretty hard.
Senate Bill 1747 was a landmark bill in many ways. The law helps energy sector counties and continues to help other counties when the legislature decides to appropriate funds for the County Transportation Infrastructure Fund (CTIF) Grant. Fifteen years later I can say we have applied more than $220 million toward the reconstruction and repair of county roads with about 75 percent to 82 percent of the funding coming from property taxes levied on industry assets and mineral values of royalty owners. De Witt County received about $15 million of the $475 million the legislature has appropriated into the CTIF Grant since its inception. The rest of the repairs have been locally funded. Tax Code changes since 2019 are limiting our ability to budget the road damage repairs on a Pay-Go basis, but the legislature seems unwilling to hear our plea.
Hearing how the CTIF Grant has benefited other rural counties across the state has warmed my heart, so I hope state leaders will continue to fund it into the future. Equally rewarding is the overturning of the 1960 Attorney General Opinion (WW-0870) that gave a green light to the General Land Office to lease the minerals beneath a county-owned right of way and deposit the revenue into the state treasury.
Aside from the legislative successes, I enjoy being the mentor to the next generation of our county’s leaders. In the last 15 years, more than 100 years of combined experience in our county government has retired. Those mentors are gone, so the mantel (of leadership and mentoring) is now ours. I continually pray that the lessons we’ve learned in the last 15 years in De Witt County will benefit the new leaders and that all will be well when they reach the end of their terms of public service.
