Jeb Ball Responds to Criticism + His Vision for Baldwin County

Blair Castro and Thomas Jenkins welcome Jeb Ball into the The People’s Voice studio for a one-on-one conversation about the decisions shaping Baldwin County.

Jeb came down to our Gulf Shores studio and didn’t shy away from the questions. We asked him directly about some of the common criticisms, what he’s most proud of accomplishing, and why he wants to keep working for District 1.

From growth and infrastructure to the everyday decisions that impact this community, it’s a thoughtful, down-to-earth conversation with one of the people helping shape Baldwin County.

Take a listen and hear it straight from him.

👉 To learn more, follow Baldwin County Commissioner James E. "Jeb" Ball, District 1

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100058074187792

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good evening. Welcome to WFUZ TV, the People's Voice Podcast. I'm Blair Castro with Thomas Jenkins, and today we're very happy to have County Commissioner for District 1, Jeb Ball, in the studio with us today, who's also running for re-election there for Baldwin County Commission in District 1. Mr. Ball, thank you so much for driving all the way to Gulf Shores and fighting the traffic to come from North Baldwin down to here.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Well I thank both uh you and Thomas for having me here tonight. It's uh a great drive just to think and you know, just see what Baldwin County really is all the way from one end of the county to the other. And you get to experience the traffic and stuff. So that's it was relaxing coming down this way.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

So I'll start off by saying that from our first interaction with the county commission and where we went and we were not, you know, the most pleased with things going on in the county um when Thomas spoke very passionately to the board, you were the one person who we thought like actually looked like you were listening to us, you didn't look afraid, you looked concerned, you looked like you felt what we were feeling. So, you know, we do appreciate that, and we appreciate that when we've reached out, you've been willing to come to Gulf Shores or to meet us, you know, in the middle and to make an effort to represent us, even though we're kind of way down here on the end. So things like that I think kind of speak a lot. What is your sort of opinion on, as a county commissioner, your you know, area of representation? How do you work all that out?

SPEAKER_01 1:21

So that's exactly what I do. You're right. Um if somebody calls and and lives in any part of this county, always make it available uh for them to be just staying right where you're at and then give me a date and time and I'll meet you uh anywhere that you need to be met, whether it's a a coffee shop, restaurant, someplace where you'd like to have lunch or um you know, anywhere that's available because I don't want to put anybody out of their way um coming all the way to Bay Manette to have to talk to me. So I'll I'll usually come to all of my my constituents that that need um questions answered or just some help on some things, uh, just like I came up here and and listened to y'all in Gulf Shores. So I didn't expect y'all to offer to drive to um Bay Manette and meet me, but I didn't want y'all to have to do that.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Thank you for doing that. Um let's get right into a little bit about your background. So you've already ran once before, but just for people that might be new to the area, which there's a lot of people new to the area as we were growing. What is kind of your day job? Give us a little bit about your background before you were elected. This is gonna be your third term, so you know what got you started?

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yeah, before I was elected, um I have held a a job, uh it's a state contract job with Alabama. Uh I run all the uh substance abuse education courses that are court ordered by our court system here. And uh I work for the Administrative Office of Courts and uh I provide commonly known as DUI school and drug classes, uh, and that's I've been doing that for the past 20 years. Uh ten years prior to that, I was in the court referral office business, and then a year before that, in 1996, I got involved in the court system working for uh a past district attorney, David Whetstone, as an environmental investigator. So I've kind of been in the court system in and out for about 30 years now. So that kind of led me into the path to where I'm at today.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

What do you think some of your big wins have been since you've been elected to the county commission? What are you most proud of?

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Wow, that's a lot. Um I think probably the most important thing that uh I need to uh an announce is that we do this together as a team. So if I'm saying we're proud of stuff, that means the whole commission as a whole, uh we have to work together to to make things happen in Baldwin County. Not a single one of us can do anything by ourselves. So uh I do have to recognize the team that helped us get some things and uh Novellas um coming to Baymanette was a very huge opportunity for us that we took um in my first term of office uh when we had the mega site that wasn't getting much traction as far as people being uh interested and just and then all of a sudden just a a great business fell into our lap, and we have a great team in place that made that happen, and it brought a lot of needed uh growth to the town of Baymanette, Alabama that I grew up in. And I think um what hinged on that was our futuristic look into what we could do for workforce development in the county, and we helped the Baldwin County Board of Education um and give a donation to fund Baldwin Preparatory Academy, which is now creating the workforce we need to fill jobs in Baldwin County that are much needed. And uh the kids go to school there, they graduate, and they have a um certificate to go into the workforce. So I think it's very uh those two things uh building the boat launch all the way down here uh at the ICW was a a very huge um need that Balloon County needed. We were running out of uh people to launch places for people to launch their boats, and uh it just it just so happened that we acquired a piece of property there uh through previous commissions looking, and uh we we settled on it and uh got some of the Go Mason money that offset the cost of that. And we thanked the governor for allowing us to uh have that project on her list, and it was it was a great project because everybody uses it every single day, and the more water accesses we have down here in the south end for people that can come from the north end and and launch boats and stuff is it's much needed here in a bitsy town. So our boat launches, the one at Boston Secure, those are the type of things that I'm really proud of. Um, you know, I can't I could I could go on and on about I think everything that we do are proud of on it on a daily basis.

SPEAKER_02 5:34

So the constituency loves to lay into the incumbents and say we need change, we need change. And one thing that we hear about you in particular is that you don't do anything and you don't show up anywhere. And what would you say to those constituents?

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Well, uh they're not obviously walking in my shoes because I do a lot of things and go a lot of places. It's it's hard to be one person and all the places at the same exact time. And you know, I'm not gonna say I have never missed a phone call or didn't return an email. We get hundreds a week. And uh we have office staff in place um that they catch everything before they hit our desk. And if it can be handled internally, like if somebody's got say they call them in they have a pothole that needs fixed on the road, you necessarily don't have to talk to me. Our highway department's already going to be on it because it's coming through my email and or my or or my phone, and the secretary's already um you know put it on to the right department that needs to be because I we can't as commissioners can't fix or do anything, you know, when it when it comes to problems. We have great staff in place. Um but I y'all have seen me around and out and about. I just met y'all, you know, not too long ago. So I I I come to every event that I can come to, but uh Commissioner Underwood and I are the only two commissioners that are not retired. So uh we we have to have uh other jobs to fulfill the the gap of of you know, I I guess you could say for lack of better words, you know, county commissioners don't commissioners don't make a um a lot of money. I mean you're counting you're doing it from the heart. And so I mean in order to feed my family and keep a kid in college, I have to have my my bread and butter job. And so usually that ties me up at nighttime as well because Tuesdays seems like everybody wants to do something on a Tuesday night. And I just can't make it because I'm I'm at work on Tuesday night from 6 to 9 p.m. And then on Saturdays, I'm I'm at work all day long from 8 to 2 every single Saturday of the year. So uh, you know, if you have there's a think tank form that's on the first Saturday and I get invited to it, there's sometimes I can find a substitute, but it's very hard to find somebody that wants to work on Saturday all day long for next to nothing. So um, but yeah, that's I mean, I feel like I'm in about as many places as you can be. And um and it's it really ramps up just right around here around election time. Um but but after the election's over with, people usually don't talk about not seeing anybody anymore because right we're actually doing the job. But I feel like Thomas, I'm I'm I'm just as available as you can be and and try to manage a very busy schedule and very busy life. Yeah, and we can attest to that for sure. Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

People don't understand how hard it is to I'm not even in office, but just working in this realm, go to every single meeting. Like there's no way. There's a million things a day, and you have to pick and choose, and you have to prioritize, especially when you have kids and a family, and you know, you have to make money. It's so hard to juggle it all. So I feel like they should ease up a little and give people a little bit of grace when it comes to this sort of criticism.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Absolutely. Well, I sometimes I say if that's the only criticism that they've got, then yeah, I'm doing a good job or something because I uh you know, I I just I would love to be at every single thing, every single moment of the day. But even if you're not in office, it's hard to live that kind of life. So um, but I I do show up and I'm there. Um I'm always open. Uh emails, phones, have it works. Um I will eventually get back with somebody that's pressing and needs a call. And uh I I just I just feel like that uh you know you can't I can't do it any better than what I'm doing, and it's physically impossible.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

So I know you don't want to sling mud, but so I'm gonna trade carefully here. Your opponent was heard saying that he doesn't care about the beach and he would rely on other council members to let him know what's going on in South Baldwin. How do you operate as a commissioner? Are you more of a dist stick to your district or are you a whole county approach?

SPEAKER_01 9:39

No, I actually think the the people of North Vaughan actually m would like to see me more because uh I'm never there because I'm always doing the work in the rest of the county. And um you're right. I've heard um my opponent, just because of the forums that I've been at, say that kind of stuff that you know he makes up one-fourth of the commission and that um he'll do, you know, his one-fourth of work will be done in North Baldwin County while the rest of the commissioners can do the work in the district. I've never even thought of it like that. I I knew what I was running for eight years ago, and that was a countywide race. And so um immediately people said, you know how tired you're gonna be because you're gonna have to work from all the way from Lillian to Little Rip uh Lillian to Little River, which is a long way. So um, you know, that's just part of the job. You you can't pick and choose where you're gonna represent and who you're gonna represent, because if you run for county commission and you expect for the voter base to vote for you countywide, then you need to be prepared to work in um all aspects of the county, whether it's your district or or not. We do have kind of an honor system where if I came to Arnis Beach and had to do some work for somebody that called, I would give uh Commissioner Gruber a courtesy call and say, hey, just let me know that uh somebody called and I'm going over here to check this out. And that's just how we work. Um we tell each other that we're we don't want to trample on everybody's district, but you know, or trample on everybody's district district because uh you know, but sometimes sometimes we can't all be at the same place at the same time, and we help each other out. And it's it's always and Matt, uh Commissioner McKenzie took care of something uh for me and uh North Balling uh not too long ago at Cliffs Landon, and I'm I'm I'm very happy he did that for me. And uh I was out of the office and somebody called and needed him uh there and he was there. So he called me and let me know that was coming. So I think you've got to be prepared um when you're running for this office to to be prepared to uh work the whole entire county and it and and not just stick to a district. And um it's just not how it is.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

So Yeah, lest we I I have to remind the audience we get hurricanes here every now and then. And would you rather see one or two commissioners show up with boots on the ground, or would you rather the entire county commission show up where it's needed during a especially during a disaster like that?

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Absolutely. I mean, we we got our first trial run at that when I first got elected in uh 2020 we had Hurricane Stally. We had no idea I didn't even know what it was like to work a hurricane. But when you stay in the um EMA building for uh you know a few weeks, you you you become family and you get to know really quick that it takes a team and it takes all four commissioners working together, calling special meetings, um, don't coming down to the beach, meeting with the governor, um, and then and then you have to assess all the damage and then try to get people's uh reimbursements back through FEMA and everything. It is a team effort. And uh during something like an emergency like a hurricane, it's gonna take the whole entire commission to be involved because you got to have emergency meetings and you've got to have a quorum to have that meeting. And uh it and it was it was very stressful because just I mean we were dealing with that and and COVID almost at the same time. So we were we we were we we got the training on disasters right up front as new commissioners. So um I think we're I'm just very proud of how we handled um Hurricane Sally and and uh it's just the outcome that's always slow with the government getting money back for um cities and individuals, but we're still working on that. And uh as as as we sit here today, we're still uh fighting for our fair share for the um money that uh is owed to some of these cities.

SPEAKER_02 13:18

Yeah, I wrote out Katrina in Hattersburg and we were without power for two weeks, and then I wrote out Sally on this same street in a smaller house, and we got power in four days, and I was amazed. The the response was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Absolutely. But uh yeah, well I just I think uh you gotta be you gotta be prepared for anything that would happen here. Um we we definitely are happy that our EMA building has been quite quite uh I guess you could say quiet for right now. You don't ever want it active and something's going on and and knock on wood that we we have had uh a good run uh down here with the weather. It's beautiful outside. Today it's been a beautiful week for the kids here in Ballon County on spring break. So um, you know, I just you got to be prepared to um work together in an emergency situation because if not, then there's a lot of things that's gonna fail and be missed, and uh it's important to to work together as a team no matter where it's at. You know, you know, s a disaster happens it's in North Ball and our South Ball, and you gotta be all over the place. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

So something I wanted to ask about, there's a couple of things, but I'm gonna start with um unfinished business, I guess. Um what do you think going into your third term potentially are some unfinished business type projects that you'd like to complete or see over the finish line? Like what do you think is your priorities going into next term?

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Um Well, we have a lot of um I think I don't know if they're gonna all be finished by the election, but I I know that uh we have a lot of projects going on right now in Bayonetta to help better uh serve our court system. Uh the DA's office should be finished before long. Um you know the court uh house is is gonna be in a remodeling phase to accommodate all the new judges that the the governor has given us. And uh and so it's very important we've already budgeted for the courthouse remodel um and it's gonna be a huge overhaul to fit uh three new judges uh into separate offices and have a new courtroom. So that's real important to get seen all the way through uh without any delays. Um, you know, a lot of the projects are finished in up the courthouse as an atrium now where um the prisoners will not be exposed anymore out on the street, but they will go through a sally court system to get into the courthouse where um they're a little bit more protected. And uh I like seeing um the stuff that we're doing down here at the beach with uh the sheriff's department and uh the the how we're beefing up Fort Morgan's um team down there because we've had some accidents down there that we can't control when people get in the rough surf. So it's real important to outfit our sheriff's office with much needed necessities that they have to have to to work Fort Morgan Beach because it is a long stretch of beach that's um under our supervision. And so uh we don't have lifeguards down there. We got signs that say don't swim in the rip currents and that kind of stuff, but people don't take the risk when they come down here and spend the money, and so it's real important to see uh that kind of stuff uh keep going on. Uh I I think uh we can always uh we constantly look at our uh subdivision regulations and if there's any need of changes in that, I like always uh keeping up with those on a uh every maybe six months to annual basis where we're touching base with everybody involved with our plan in a zoning department as well as our highway engineer who oversees those guys. And um, you know, where it's time to update our strategic plan again because we've met some almost every single goal on there that we set that it's time to do a new one. So I'm looking forward to uh pursuing a new strategic plan with new goals set forth for the county. And I think uh the most common thing that uh is uh a stressor on the county right now is how do you handle the growth and and and smartly manage it.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

So yeah, that was gonna be my next question. Actually, our Commissioner Underwood came to our Fort Morgan Civic Association meeting and she was talking about the master plan and how it's being redone now and kind of reevaluated for the future, which I think is great because I actually haven't even seen the current one. I don't even know what it looks like. I was like, oh good, maybe this, you know, once it's published, I want to definitely read it. And I think people don't really know it exists. Um so looking at that, you know, as a resident who lives here and as everybody that comes on our show has talked about growth, growth, growth and planning and zoning and managing high density subdivisions, you know, there's some criticism towards the current commission that maybe that could have been done a little better. And my question would be how do you know, what would you say to people who say, oh, they're just building, building, building subdivisions? Like what's the reality behind that in your opinion?

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Well, the the reality is is this is what calls private property rights. And so when somebody owns a tract of land and sells it, um, you know, it depending on where it's at, a lot of these lands are in zoned areas, and so if they sell a farm field that used to grow uh soybeans, cotton or corn or whatever, that's a what's called rural agriculture. So it's just a field. And if somebody buys it to um put a subdivision in it, well then they come to us for the rezoning aspect. Uh we we weigh those real heavily. I think the hardest part of our job is rezoning cases. Um the county commission has taken those over um fully now, and I think that um it's the most stressful part of the job in a meeting setting where you're having to decide on somebody's the change of the use of somebody's property. And we we we have a great staff in place that uh has outlined this case and looked over it, and they'll tell us what they feel like is their recommendation. And if everything um meets the criteria, we're not we can't approve subdivisions. That's not what we're doing. We're we're approving the change of use of the land that could possibly have a subdivision on it. They don't have to tell us what they're gonna build or anything at the rezona phase. So uh, you know, it's just a misconception that the county's always approving subdivisions. It's against the law to deny one if it's made it all the way through the process. So I think what people are wanting us to really slow down on is the rezonans, and it's hard to do if everybody has done what they're supposed to do. I'm I'm a I'm a fair guy all the way around, and and I I knew when I took this job on eight years ago that some of the decisions I make or we make as a commission is not gonna make every single person happy. Um and and so we're our our future land use guide that helps us out with this, you know, tries to center and stop this urban sprawl where you just out in the middle of nowhere somebody's gonna build 800,000 homes and start the we have nodes that we try to work around, what fits here, you know, what doesn't fit here. And and we have about 17 people move here a day. I don't know if y'all have ever heard that figure before, but that's how many. So it's about 17 a day. So they've got to have a place to live. And um, you know, and I think, you know, as m as much as the growth is happening around here, I know it seems like uh just based on traffic and that kind of stuff. You have to also remember this time of the year, we have another so many thousands of people down here uh for the tourism season uh throughout the summer. So it adds to the stress of the traffic. Um but I I don't know, Blair, how I could how I could do anything differently. Uh it's an honest answer. Uh I you know, I don't want to stop rezoning cases or whatever. If they if the legislation would give us a little bit more authority to have, then the county could do stuff like, hey, in this area, you know, maybe there needs to be a moratorium, but we don't have the powers that the city has. So I would love, you know, if if legislation was ever passed that would give the county commission just a little bit of that home rule feeling to where we could, you know, not dictate what happens, but we can um smartly manage some things. It's like, hey, look, this is just too much in this area, and uh let's let's hold on just a little bit and and and move to another area of the county. But this county still is very large. Uh there's a lot of places that that people can develop without um hurting the neighbors, I guess you could say, and that that kind of stuff. So I hope that could answer your question. Yeah, good enough.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

So I think uh just my own opinion here again interjected. Um when I was starting to look at this county, you know, I've only lived here going on two years, I haven't been here very long. But when I started looking at it, comparing it to where I was from in Scambia County, Florida, and Pensacola, and looking at the way it was ran, you guys really don't have a lot of authority to make the changes that people are mad about. And I was, you know, angry about things too and wanting to see who to talk to. But you're kind of being cut off at the knees at the state level in a lot of ways, especially in the state of Alabama. The counties really don't have the power people think or would think that they have. So I would encourage the public to really, you know, if you want changes at your local level, then kind of like look at your state reps and your senators because they're the ones coming.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

That's right. I mean we we we have almost absolutely no powers when it comes to, you know, just demanding stuff happens or or whatever. We're we're held I was told one time when I asked for help that we are creatures of the legislation just to be happy with it. And um, you know, that's I didn't know at first when I ran for office that that's what I was becoming, but it it really it you're hamstrung a lot when it when it comes to making some crucial decisions because we are totally regulated by the Alabama State Statute and Criminal Code. So not you know, not criminal code, but the whatever book we follow that that that they get all those section code numbers from that that everybody quotes when they saying that we can do things. It's it's it's a lot of um we we had a referendum. I don't know if y'all were here at the time when we we we put on a ballot a referendum that would have given the county commission uh a little bit of say so. It all started with the eyesore problem that we have around this county, especially in my district. We have a lot of abandoned houses, a lot of houses that may have a a large number of abandoned, broken down cars, um, you know, just looks you know terrible on this on the side of the highway. And people would call us all the time and say, Hey, I want this stuff removed. Uh they said to call the county commission and we could have it removed, but you can't you can't do anything because we don't have that authority to go out and and move. There's no ordinance in place. There we have no ordinances that governs the county on eye stores. Um there's there's very limited power. And so we put we had a referendum put together and and it was voted down. Uh the people voted it down because they didn't want more government. So they they said we don't want bigger government in Baltimore County. But you know they're all saying um people don't want big government until they want big government.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

So we have eyesolores here on the beach. We have one right next door to us, a broke down car that won't move. Shout out to that guy, get your car moving. So I know something you're really passionate about is mental health. Um you had posted a while back, I think, about your wins in mental health. I think people don't even acknowledge that issue a lot of times. So it was good to see a commissioner and other people, you know, that we need some resources there. What are some of your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Yeah, so mental health is uh is greatly needed. And well, not when I say mental health, I would I would say the treatment of mentally ill patients are are needed in this county, and uh it's a very serious um issue. Uh Commissioner Underwood and I was fortunate enough to be chosen to be on a leadership group with an association of county commissioners of Alabama, and for almost two years uh we had a passion project, and our passion project was working on um strengthening the mental health in the state of Alabama. We had to do a statewide effort for legislation uh to listen to us, the legislators and stuff. So we were we were we were gone a lot back and forth to um Montgomery and all over uh looking to see how we could do this, and we finally got through with uh the Department of Mental Health, and uh what we did was it was kind of like a trade-off if we could get uh every single county in the stepping up program, which means they have uh a mental health type checks and balances at all the county jails. Um the the state has money for those counties that get involved in what's called the stepping up program, and uh we were successful, and I forgot how many we we almost I think we got the rest of the counties that weren't in it, over 30-something counties uh to sign up and then it started getting some funding, promising you know, some beds at some places, and all of a sudden we start having these beds opening up in some of the more rural parts of the county where there's zero help. And uh we're really passionate about um I I was fortunate to see uh Matt Simpson when he got his bill passed to have a mental health court here. It's great to have a mental health court. We just don't have anywhere, you know, our places to put the mentally ill after they get out of court. They're all full some of them are volunteer um places and some of them are just a couple of 24-hour hold just to get medicine straight. But uh we tried to push for things like the Baker Act in Florida. Um that did not go over well. Uh so we we took get a 72-hour hold here. And uh, you know, but I'm I'm still passionate about it. I work towards it every single day. Um I uh I put myself through uh crisis intervention training that the uh deputies and stuff go through. It's a 40-hour course taught in five days, and I learned a lot on how to just deal with the mentally ill because I deal with them on a day-to-day basis sometimes in my other job that I work. So it's it's always good to know, and it's great to know that our police officers are being trained uh properly and and how to deal with these individuals if they come across them uh on the street, because there's some that look like, you know, that they could be on drugs or could be high, but they're just having an episode, and the the the police officers or sheriff deputies have been trained to, you know, figure out just by a casual conversation that takes place. And it's it's been uh been it's been a very proud moment for us to have almost all of our um sheriff deputies and officers go through this crisis intervention training. We've got a team that comes out, and uh sometimes they have to get in the car and go to Mobile to the Crisis Intervention Center that we have there. But nothing in Bowling County. I mean, we we have Alta Point here that's kind of just like an outpatient manage um that manages the medicine. But I mean it would be nice to start having some more bed space here uh for people in need. And so I will keep pursuing that, and it's very passionate to me to uh to get help for our mentally ill patients because there's a lot of people suffering from that here in Bowland County.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Oh yeah, where I'm from in Pensacola, uh we have the Lake View Center, which is like the 72-hour, and they have that acute stabilization unit where you know initial intake and assessment, and then they go to Baptist for the most part if they need longer-term care. And I became really familiar that I was working um with a homeless task force for the city. They um talking about mental health court, they're created sort of a homeless court. So it would either fall under, you know, VA, it would fall under mental health and other things. And we actually got a code. I did this um with the sheriff's office so that when they had, you know, a trespass or whatever, there's also a code for homeless. So these cases and these new arrests, they weren't just putting people in jail for being homeless. Like they were coded in a specific way to get them actual help and then they would go through the court system. And then we had the same codes with the hospitals, with the big hospitals around town. So I think there's an opportunity there for Alabama to sort of align your resources in a way where you're really working collaboratively with the healthcare field, the mental health care field, the court, the sheriff's office. Um, it would be great to have a facility for acute stabilization and you know, to take that weight off of some of the neighboring counties. And I think sometimes we put our heads in the sand. We're very fortunate and this is paradise. I already keep saying that, but we have homeless people, we have addicts, we have mental health problems, we have all the same problems everyone else has. They just might not be as visible, but they're indeed there.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

Yeah, and we were a good piece of legislation passed um that that helped us a little bit. It didn't help us enough, but um it was the first piece of legislation passed since I think Cersei and all the um other mental health institutions were closed down. And, you know, we we saw this futuristically when we we developed the the new jail that's been built in Baymanette, and we found out that there was a lot of people that were being booked into jail that had mental health issues that was in turn causing problems for the staff at the jail. Um and, you know, it's uh a jail is not a place to to treat a mentally ill patient. But now that we have the stepping up program, we we decided to um, you know, make a facility at the jail. And so we have a just a mental health wing at the new jail now that um that will stabilize those patients um with it with a proper counselor at at the jail. And it's it's it's a it's a start in the in the right direction. But it jail is not a place that for the mentally ill. We need actual, like what you said, a here that's all the same that can keep people stabilized and get their medicine straight, and maybe they need to s spend a few weeks there or something uh until they get uh on their feet because it's really hard to get stabilized in 24 hours and go back out and you know, you may miss the medicine dose or something and back right into trouble again.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

So I wanted to ask why should people vote for you over your opponent? And especially what would you say to people who are critical of term limits? That's something we keep, you know, we don't want career politicians. So how would you reply to that and what do you think makes you the best man for this job?

SPEAKER_01 30:42

So I'll address the term limit um thing as first because I I I wholehearted believe and I was not educated in county commissioning when I first got here. I I did the one thing I did when I ran for office is for a whole entire year, I made it to every single, I would say almost 99% of all county commission meetings, the work sessions, the planning and zoning meetings, road and bridge meetings. When I I needed to know what I was getting into. So I learned the job really quickly um by studying um all the different commission meetings and stuff and going home and taking notes and going back and watching the videos. And so I was a little prepared when I got in there, but I I tell you what, when you win that election and get in there, you have no idea uh what you have signed up for. And it's a lot of work. And I I just think that uh over the years I've developed it it takes about two terms, to be honest, to even know how to be a county commissioner. Um and after two terms, you kind of have got a lot of things rolling, you've got a lot of things in motion that you want to see finished, and and I think for to to put term limits on county commissioners is is real tough because uh you you really don't learn the job un until there's about uh eight years behind you. And then then that third term you're coming in and you're ready. I mean, it's like holding a horse by the reins. You're ready to go out and and succeed and good things for the county. As what compares me to my opponent is just that experience. Um eight years as a county commissioner and got kind of this stuff going in motion. I just don't see the need to change my position right now. I I feel like that um having just a little bit of experience on a commission that's already losing two commissioners um just by one running for another office and one that's residing, that's two new seats already coming there. Uh everybody's calling for four brand new commissioners. I'm telling you, uh the the staff couldn't even handle that. I don't think it's ever been done before, my to my knowledge, and unless the inception of county commissions happened way back in the early uh 1900s or whatever. But I just don't think uh I think you need to have some stabilization there. I I think I'm the right person for the job because I've been there for eight years. And we're I career politician is something I don't consider myself, I don't even consider myself a politician because we're just doing the job of what the people elected us to do.

SPEAKER_00 33:07

Thank you so much for joining us today. Please tell people how they can reach out to you where they can learn more about you and when and where they can vote.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

Um absolutely so I can be reached uh just uh on I hate saying Facebook, but I I have do have a web page uh Jeb Ball for County Commissioner District One, or uh I can be reached at my County Commission website uh through the emails, but that's for business only, not for campaign. But uh for my campaign, uh uh like I said, I've got a Facebook campaign page. You can reach out to me there. Uh I'll be happy if you send me a message that I'll give you my phone number. Uh and then also uh this May 19th is the election, and I would I would really uh hope that you would consider voting for feet for me for Balling County Commissioner uh District One. Just remember when you go to the polls on May the 19th that you will have the opportunity to vote for four county commissioners. Um not just one, but four altogether. So I thank you for your appreciate y'all having me on the show. It's been a it's been an honor to be here tonight.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

Oh, thank you so much. Thank you.