Hays County Commissioner Ray Whisenant addresses Justice of the Peace Beth Smith during a town hall meeting Monday in Kyle. Whisenant declined to say whether he intended to reappoint the longtime judge to a position on the board overseeing the Kyle Fire Department. (Photo by Wes Ferguson)
by JONATHAN YORK
A roomful of people in Kyle got a chance Monday night for something they wanted sorely to do: complain that Beth Smith had not been reappointed to the board that oversees the fire department.
But in their eagerness to praise Smith and to criticize Mark Jones, the county commissioner who declined to reappoint her, they may have missed an important detail: The commissioner who now has the power to reappoint Smith – or to choose someone else – is not showing his cards.
That commissioner is Ray Whisenant Jr. He convened the citizens’ forum, at Old Kyle City Hall, to listen to concerns and recommendations about whom he should appoint. Most of the speakers addressed him directly but clearly were speaking to the audience, who responded to many statements with applause.
With the exception of one speaker who got up simply to express his confidence in Whisenant’s decisions, everyone who spoke was there to support Smith, who is a long time justice of the peace and has been on the fire board since it was formed.
And many of those speakers were current or former volunteers with the Kyle Fire Department.
“I spend many hours volunteering for the fire department,” said Mike Fulton, a volunteer firefighter who is also on the board. “I think that Beth Smith understands the fire department better than I do.”
Fulton even offered to resign from the board if guaranteed that Smith could take his place.
“I would give up my seat,” he told Whisenant. “If it’s nothing more than looking for a seat to assign, I would give up my seat if you’ll keep Beth Smith on there.”
The reason Jones cited for not granting a reappointment was that he did not want an elected official, who might be politically motivated, to be allowed to make administrative decisions for the fire department.
Some of the speakers pointed their arguments accordingly. John Reilly, a firefighter and EMT who has won awards for his service, spoke of how Smith’s duties as an elected judge gave her an intimate understanding of emergency services.
“I was on a medical call once in Plum Creek. Beth was there first. She was dressed as a judge but she was there with a lady on a stretcher, giving her a blanket,” Reilly said. “I stand with the idea of her continuing to serve as long as she is willing.”
Chief Glenn Whitaker of the Kyle Fire Department said: “I’ve never seen anything political in there. Her being justice of the peace, it’s just on the positive side, never on the negative side.”
And Susan Meckel, a member of the fire board, said, “Judge Smith’s official position with the county has been beneficial to the board.”
Whisenant listened, now and then interjecting a thank-you or a brief remark about his duty to constituents. Whisenant is not from Kyle; he’s from Dripping Springs. Why he was there, and why he now has power over Smith’s appointment, can be explained by maps.
Emergency Services District No. 5, the area that the fire board oversees, used to be wholly within Jones’ district. Accordingly he appointed its members. But because of redrawn lines, that area is now shared between Jones, Whisenant and Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe.
Jones said that he wanted to give these other commissioners a chance to appoint board members. Two were up for reappointment, so Jones made one reappointment and gave the other to Whisenant: Smith’s seat.
Asked point-blank after the forum if he would reappoint her, Whisenant said, “I can’t answer that question for you right now because I have a number of applications.” He said that one man had even brought a resume to him at the forum.
But Smith sounded hopeful. “He’ll probably do the right thing,” she said.
