By Chris Moore

chris.moore@panews.com

 

Newly elected Jefferson County Treasurer Charlie Hallmark credits his Nov. 6 election win to a grassroots campaign, going door-to-door and talking about being an ambassador for the county at open forums.

Hallmark has worn many hats that range from helping his family run a dry cleaning business, to being the youngest Port Arthur ISD school board member and president, to Realtor. The soon-to-be treasurer sat with the Port Arthur News for a question-and-answer session to discuss the successful campaign, what he wants to accomplish over the next four years and more.

 

Q: During the campaign, you mentioned your time on the PAISD school board. How was your time on the board?

A: I was elected in 1994. At that time, I was the youngest school board member to be elected. It might have changed since then. I was 27. I served some time and then became secretary and board president.

I felt incredibly blessed that the citizens would elect me at such a young age and with the board having the confidence in me to let me assume that position. I learned a lot. The first year on the board was rough. I’m going to be honest with you.

I was a young guy full of enthusiasm. I wanted everything to be done now. It hadn’t been that long since I had been out of the PAISD school system. I knew what we could do, but there was a process to everything. The board showed incredible patience with me. Most of them were old enough to be my parents.

Q: How did you balance knowing that you were qualified for the job with understanding the other members being older and more experienced?

A: I had tremendous respect for all of them. I would always think about that when I would bring something to them. I had a desire to respect them as my elders and as people that have been there. They have the confidence of the community, too, because they are elected as well. It was a process. After that first year, we really jelled and they embraced me as a board member and we accomplished quite a few things at that time that were really — I think — ahead of their time.

Q: What were you most proud of from that time?

A: There were several things, actually. When I got on the board, the budget was several million dollars in deficit. We were able to address that. Second, we had several low-performing schools that we needed to address and we did that. We also were able to change the way superintendents were evaluated.

Back then, basically, if you wore a nice suit and walked around with a smile on your face, you would automatically get a contract extension or a raise. Everything was very subjective. We changed the evaluation instrument to where the superintendent had to come to us at the end of the year, and say what the expectations are.

“Here’s what we want. You have to go do it.” It wasn’t our role to do it. Our role is to lay out the expectations. There is always some subjectivity. There could be extenuating circumstances like (Tropical Storm and Hurricane) Harvey. We were able to do those things and that’s why we were able to see some changes.

Another thing we did, as a board, was having an external performance review done. Even today, there is a little reluctance to do that. A lot of people talk about transparency, but when people when it comes down to it, people get cold feet, but we did it. We were willing to open up our books and everything. By the time they got it done and were actually starting to do things, I was leaving the board. Just the fact we were able to do that and open ourselves up to criticism, really, I think it showed the incredible character of the board at that time.

Q: The race for treasurer seemed to be one of the least contentious ones with both candidates focusing on what they could bring rather than an issue with the opponent. Was that a conscious effort on your part?

A: I saw no benefit to try character assassination. I saw no benefit to the community. After the election is over, we all have to go back to being neighbors. Tim (Funchess) was in the office. He was doing the job to the best of his ability. This is a democracy. I was giving the citizens a choice. Do you want to stay that path or go with me? We both laid out our qualifications and that’s how I wanted it to be. I didn’t want to do cheap shots and get personal.

Q: What do you think resonated with voters from your campaign?

A: I think the people that know us well know how we ran our business whenever we had our businesses. They know how I served as a school board member previously. They knew how my dad served as a county commissioner for 16 years. Whenever I was talking to the community about how the job doesn’t end at 5 p.m., I meant that it might end for the employees in the office. For you, as an elected official, you have a responsibility beyond 5 p.m. to go and be visible and meet with people in the community.

Q: You talked about being an ambassador during your campaign. Is that what you meant?

A: You always are an ambassador. I’m an ambassador for my real estate business. When we had our dry-cleaning business, I was an ambassador for that. In some circles, people were saying that’s not what the position is, but it is. You are an ambassador for the county. You represent all the people in Jefferson County.

As many modes of communication as we have today, what is one of the biggest problems we hear all of the time? There’s not enough communication. I think it’s our responsibilities is to be constantly communicating. One of my goals is I want to attend city council meetings on a regular basis. I would like to attend school board meetings on a regular basis. People need to know who you are and feel a connection to you. If they need to call you about something, you have that line of communication out.

Q: With your dad being a county commissioner for all of those years, how much did that help you understand the workings of the county?

A: I got to watch him in action. I saw how he was able to serve the people in an honorable way and treat people with respect and dignity. He was always thinking about how he could improve the lives of people here. Of course, he hardly ever met a grant he didn’t like. He was able to get the Walter Umphrey State Park done. He built several boat launches and parking lots throughout the community. He saw his role was to help people the best way he could.

Q: What do you most want to accomplish over the next four years?

A: My most important charge is to make sure the money is safe. Obviously, I think improving the presence in the community is a big priority of mine. I think it just opens up avenues for the county to help cities and municipalities. My main charge is to keep the money safe.