— Name: Warren Herring

Age:  56

Personal: Wife, Barbara; son, Bradley, graduate of East Limestone High School

Civic or volunteer affiliations: Former member of the North Alabama Chapter of American Society of Training and Development; former member of the Society of Human Resource Managers, Alabama chapter; Outstanding Young Men of America in 1989; Alabama Association of Public and Continuing Adult Education Board of Directors 1994-1997; Member of the Oxford Society of Scholars in 1997; Oxford Graduate School Board of Regents, 2002 to 2005; and volunteer firefighter in Corydon, Ky.

Educational background: Samford University, Bachelor’s degree in English and religion; Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Master of Divinity in Theology; Oxford Graduate School, Master of Letters and Doctor of Philosophy degrees; teaching endorsement from Auburn University; Instructor Training Certificate for AIDT; Targeted Selection and Testing Administration Assessment for Boeing Corporation.

• What do you see as the biggest challenge facing District 2 and what plans do you have to address the issue?

Trying to balance the needs of the county with the amount of revenue that is coming to the county is one of the greatest challenges. It will take a manager with all the budgets that will be in play and the needs of the citizens. Priorities will have to be set to best use the county’s funds.

• The upkeep of Limestone County’s roads and bridges is obviously an important part of being a county commissioner. What will you do to ensure taxpayer money is efficiently spent on projects?

I will survey the district and assess the conditions of roads and bridges, then apply a comparison to the assessment taken by the county engineer to see which projects need to be placed in a priority status. Once the priority of projects has been determined, I would then be looking at our county monies to see which projects can be accomplished this year.

• All taxpayer money spent by the commission is open to public scrutiny. What specific ideas do you have regarding government transparency and what steps would you take to ensure the public is aware of how taxpayer dollars are spent?

One of the things that would be simple to do is add county commission minutes, ledgers and contracts to the county website. This would make the county business openly transparent. Our County Commission building is not handicapped friendly for individuals who could not look at the records in person, but would be able to assess the documents online.

• Two large-scale projects being undertaken by the commission include the renovation of the courthouse and expansion of the jail. The county has also committed funds to building a new library on South Jefferson Street. As commissioner, what steps will you take to ensure these projects are completed within budget parameters and in a timely manner?

The operation of the courthouse and the expansion of the jail are a priority because they fall in the constructional mandates of our elected responsibility. The courts and jail have to be operational and should receive absolute priority.

To guarantee proper expenditure of funds, I will suggest using a tool used in government business management for any project that takes a year or longer to complete — for the project to undergo an audit. The number of audits would be determined by the length of time of duration of the project. 

The audits would not be conducted by the company or any vendor doing business with that company, but could be completed by committee appointed by the commission, consisting of commission people and private citizens. It would add light to the process of any project and would hold down waste and fraud. This principle could be applied to any county project.

• Though the county declared an end to tornado debris cleanup operations, debris remains an issue in waterways and the county’s skyline is riddled with jagged, broken trees. What steps will you take to help return Limestone County to its pre-April 27 state?

On day one, job one is going to be to finish picking up the debris left behind by the tornadoes. It will be my goal to cut and remove the trees in the rights-of-way that are bent, broken and hanging over the roads.

The ditches need to be cleaned of limbs and debris to allow a free flow of water and prevent flooding in low-lying areas.