Below are the unedited responses from Brian Moore to the Amarillo Pioneer’s candidate questionnaire for 2020. Moore is running in the March 3, 2020 Republican primary for Potter County Commissioner, Precinct 3. Moore is facing John Coffee, Walter Goodwin, and George Buchenau, Jr. in his primary.

Please note: Questions from the Pioneer are in italics and the candidate’s responses are in standard type.

What is your occupation?

Business Owner - State Farm

What is your age?

46

What is your educational background? Please list any degrees earned, and institutions attended. You may also list any professional certifications.

BBA Management - WTAMU

Is this your first time running for office? If not, please list which offices you have sought or held in the past.

First Time

If you have a website, Facebook, Twitter, or any other online campaign materials, please list the links below.

www.facebook.com/brianmoorepottercounty/

Why did you decide to run for office in 2020?

I have been watching the IT and county building concerns along with rising taxes over the past 10 yrs and decided I was tired of talking about the issues and wanted to start helping to work on the issues.

What are your top three priorities, if elected?

Fiscal Responsibility to the Potter County tax payers

Efficient, Effective operations in all departments

Smooth transition into the new District Courts building

Do you support the Potter County Commission's recent vote to build a new district courts building at a projected cost of $54 million using certificates of obligation to secure funding? Please explain.

No - The issues with the courts building are significant and need to be addressed. I feel that expenditures of this size need to be vetted by the citizens via a vote. While the state of Texas allows this method of funding, it deprives the citizens of full engagement in the process and, at times, the county, city or hospital districts are not fully encouraged to make the case for their requests. I can see this method being used in the future to shortcut traditional methods of approval for project financing. It sets a dangerous precedent that could undermine the individual county citizens' voting power.

In your view, what should a Commissioner's role be in advocating for his or her district on the Commissioner's Court? Please explain.

Yes, the Commissioner should advocate for their precinct and its citizens. That is why the state of Texas has this structure. Having said that, County Commissioners need to also understand the issues of the entire county and guide decisions and funds to serve all citizens of the county. If the four commissioners were voted at large, you could see that if all representation was from one area of a county that the others areas would be under represented.

Do you plan to host any town hall meetings in your precinct during your term, if elected? Please explain.

I plan to have events to ensure the voters are informed and also, just as important, they are heard.

In what cases would you support raising taxes or fees? Please explain.

While I am for low taxes and small government, there are times when these measures are necessary. I feel taxes should only be increased after all other fiscal measures (cost saving cuts, locating waste, leveraging technology, strict budgeting) are exhausted.

Do you consider adopting a tax rate that is over the "effective" or "no-new-revenue" tax rate to be a tax increase? Please explain.

Yes - Any tax increase is a tax increase even if it's within the "effective" rate or "no-new-revenue" . Although it doesn't trigger an automatic ballot issue before voters in November when below 3.5%, it is an increase of taxes.

How will you work to ensure constituents can actively communicate with you about the issues, if elected?

I am a 20+ year business owner and I have always maintained an open door policy and have zero hesitation clearly and effectively communicating issues. I will continue this policy while serving Potter County.

Are you supported by any political action committees? If so, please list your PAC endorsements.

None

Why are you the best candidate for voters to support in Potter County?

All the candidates are good men and will serve Potter County well. I am not running against them. I am running to represent the citizens of Potter County. I feel that the County Commissioner's Court is like a fortune 500 board of directors or even a school board. It should be staffed with business leaders, civic leaders and others who are vested in seeing the county prosper. We would never allow the school superintendent to also serve on the school board or city manager to vote on the city council. The leaders of Potter County (Judges, Clerks, Law enforcement, Fire Department, etc) bring issues to the commissioners court to debate and vote on, not to rubber stamp. Commissioners will not do the actual work of the county- that is done by the fine men and women who serve this great county. The Commissioner's Court is the checks and balances of our local system that allows them to fully perform their roles, and should rarely be governed by people within that very system.