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Out of Commissioner’s Race, West Not Abandoning Platform
Alyssa West may have fallen a handful of votes short of qualifying for the Pct. 2 Commissioner’s runoff election, but she’s not giving up in her efforts to secure what she thinks her voters want for Lamar County.
“Thank you to all those who came to my events, had great conversations with me, were willing to share your insight and wisdom, and were willing, with your votes, to take a chance on me to represent you,” West said. “I am grateful and humbled.”
“As we go forward into the runoff and the general election, we need to keep an eye fixed on the current Commissioner’s Court, the agendas, meetings and actions. We as a community need to be aware of Certificates of Obligation, emergency services district (ESD) discussions, tax increases and the incoming round of solar/battery and the new data center projects.”
She expressed particular concern for methods the Commissioner’s Court has to bypass the election process on certain issues.
“Certificates of Obligation are a way for the Commissioner’s Court to create debt for the people without a vote of the people. Large projects (new buildings) can be paid for with a CO and will bypass the election process that would happen if a bond was issued for the same project,” she said.
West continued, “An ESD will be sold to voters as just a 10% increase in property (ad valorem) taxes and benefit the community with an increase in emergency response coverage. A response time from 2805 N. Main is no faster than the volunteer response we have now, and a county fire department has many more expenses and training standards than we have now. Who pays for those expenses and training standards? Regarding the ESD itself, if you read the law, it can be another avenue for bond debt and “notes on bonds” which, like COs can be passed with no vote of citizens who will eventually pay the bill.”
“There are 49 renewable projects listed in ERCOT,” West said. “While most people are not happy with the solar and battery projects coming to Lamar County, the projects just keep coming, and citizens are starting to ask why that is. I encourage you to ask your commissioner why we are such a rich target for these projects and why there is zero objection from our elected officials. Could it be that the elected officials are taking the word of the consultant as Gospel and abstaining from any research of their own? A simple search reveals just how much manipulation and silencing is going on around these projects and the companies themselves describe their internal manipulation process in their financial reports (see orsted.us for their use of “community liaison officers” to squash objection at its root).”
West went on to express her concerns about data centers.
“Please look up Project Annie which is supposed to connect directly to the Tyson Nick Solar installation,” West said. “Are our elected officials aware of the vibro- acoustic diseases that are connected to the low frequency sound data centers produce? These are sounds below the range of human hearing but cause problems ranging from balance issues to headaches to nausea. These are well documented on the National Institutes of Health website with experiments dating back to 1992. This in addition to questions of property values, water usage, power consumption and other concessions for such projects. Slick AI generated presentations will no doubt be used to ‘control the narrative’ about data centers and citizens need to be ready to ask for real numbers and real contribution of the projects.”
“The job of county commissioner is one that long ago eclipsed just a “road” job,” West added. “We need our roads to be in great shape, and they can be with proper management, training, and standards. I pray for the future person in this job to understand that the roads are just a small portion of the work and protecting the citizens of the county from people who will indebt them, take advantage of them and run over them is just as important.
“Thank you to all those who came to my events, had great conversations with me, were willing to share your insight and wisdom, and were willing, with your votes, to take a chance on me to represent you,” West said. “I am grateful and humbled.”
“As we go forward into the runoff and the general election, we need to keep an eye fixed on the current Commissioner’s Court, the agendas, meetings and actions. We as a community need to be aware of Certificates of Obligation, emergency services district (ESD) discussions, tax increases and the incoming round of solar/battery and the new data center projects.”
She expressed particular concern for methods the Commissioner’s Court has to bypass the election process on certain issues.
“Certificates of Obligation are a way for the Commissioner’s Court to create debt for the people without a vote of the people. Large projects (new buildings) can be paid for with a CO and will bypass the election process that would happen if a bond was issued for the same project,” she said.
West continued, “An ESD will be sold to voters as just a 10% increase in property (ad valorem) taxes and benefit the community with an increase in emergency response coverage. A response time from 2805 N. Main is no faster than the volunteer response we have now, and a county fire department has many more expenses and training standards than we have now. Who pays for those expenses and training standards? Regarding the ESD itself, if you read the law, it can be another avenue for bond debt and “notes on bonds” which, like COs can be passed with no vote of citizens who will eventually pay the bill.”
“There are 49 renewable projects listed in ERCOT,” West said. “While most people are not happy with the solar and battery projects coming to Lamar County, the projects just keep coming, and citizens are starting to ask why that is. I encourage you to ask your commissioner why we are such a rich target for these projects and why there is zero objection from our elected officials. Could it be that the elected officials are taking the word of the consultant as Gospel and abstaining from any research of their own? A simple search reveals just how much manipulation and silencing is going on around these projects and the companies themselves describe their internal manipulation process in their financial reports (see orsted.us for their use of “community liaison officers” to squash objection at its root).”
West went on to express her concerns about data centers.
“Please look up Project Annie which is supposed to connect directly to the Tyson Nick Solar installation,” West said. “Are our elected officials aware of the vibro- acoustic diseases that are connected to the low frequency sound data centers produce? These are sounds below the range of human hearing but cause problems ranging from balance issues to headaches to nausea. These are well documented on the National Institutes of Health website with experiments dating back to 1992. This in addition to questions of property values, water usage, power consumption and other concessions for such projects. Slick AI generated presentations will no doubt be used to ‘control the narrative’ about data centers and citizens need to be ready to ask for real numbers and real contribution of the projects.”
“The job of county commissioner is one that long ago eclipsed just a “road” job,” West added. “We need our roads to be in great shape, and they can be with proper management, training, and standards. I pray for the future person in this job to understand that the roads are just a small portion of the work and protecting the citizens of the county from people who will indebt them, take advantage of them and run over them is just as important.