Meet Judge-elect Win Graham
County Judge-elect Win Graham says he will spend the two months leading up to his Jan. 1 swearing-in learning about his new job and building relationships with his new colleagues in county government. The Young County judge presides over the commissioners court meetings as well as in probate, mental health, and juvenile courts, and is in charge of the county’s emergency response teams. Mr. Graham, whose great-grandfather helped found the City of Graham by selling lots at the 1884 World’s Fair in New Orleans, is an accountant and runs his family’s oil and gas business from offices in Graham. He has served on several governing boards, including the Graham school board, the Young Central Appraisal District, the Graham Industrial Association, and the Graham Hospital Foundation, among others. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, has two sons and a daughter, and has been married to his wife Suzy for 25 years. He was endorsed for his new post by Texas Sen. Drew Springer.
“I’m going to take advantage of these two months leading up to when I start and I have already registered for two training classes,” Mr. Graham said in a Nov. 10 interview. “I’ve already started spending a lot of time up at the courthouse getting to know everybody, reintroducing myself, and getting them to think about things that we want to try to work on together.”
His “most pressing item” is to familiarize himself with the running of the county court. “I do know there are some trials that are coming down the pipeline … and that’s an area where I need to get some training ahead of time. I think that might the first course of business to get to where I can operate the courtroom as quickly as possible,” he said.
He has already begun talking to the commissioners, Stacy Creswell, Scott Shook, Stacey Rogers, and Jimmy Wiley, about their priorities for the coming year. “I’ve already reached out to several commissioners and I’m excited to see what the group of five can start working on,” he said.
Housing remains a “huge issue in Young County,” he said. “Outside of this [county judge’s] office, we have been working on recruiting builders into our county and that will continue. I’ve got a couple of ideas and a couple of leads that might pan out. That problem is not going to go away.”
He also reiterated his campaign pledge to recruit businesses to Young County to expand the tax rolls and take pressure off of homeowners who have seen their property assessments skyrocket. “We are going to try to recruit businesses to the area and that’s not a quick process,” he said.”But it’s got to be a systematic process where we are constantly reaching out trying to identify people, trying to entice them into our area.”
Mr. Graham said he aims to visit Olney and other Young County communities regularly to stay in touch with local leaders. “I’ve already started conversations with [Olney Mayor Pro Tem] Tom Parker and [Olney Mayor] Rue Rogers and I’m excited to get back up into Olney and talk to them about how the county can help Olney,” he said. “A big part of the county’s job is to assist our communities and that’s Graham, Newcastle, Olney, Loving, and Eliasville.”
Another priority is bolstering local volunteer fire departments, which suffered from funding shortages and equipment breakdowns during this year’s busy wildfire season. “I have started researching grant opportunities and the first one I’ve found is one for volunteer fire departments. I’ve got to read up and figure out exactly what we can get and what we should ask for.”