But he lost in the 2022 primary to Jordan Rackler by 71 votes. His wife had a tumor at the time, Seay said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s God telling me, \u2018Yeah, you barely lost, but it\u2019s time to take care of other business. \u2026 \u201cHopefully he\u2019d do a good job, and I would have no reason to ever come back,\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not how he feels four years later.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically, defunding our public safety is the wrong way to go,\u201d Seay said of county budget cuts in the last two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve decided me or somebody\u2019s got to step in,\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n
Seay grew up in Whiteface, about 50 miles west of Lubbock. Starting in 1991, he attended South Plains College \u2013 earning an associate degree.<\/p>\n
His day job as owner of Cornerstone Construction is utility line construction. That\u2019s what pays the bills.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put in water, sewer, gas, electric, fiber optics, anything that goes in the ground as far as a utility,\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n
But his passion is diving, which started during his days at SPC. Seay also created and owns Southwest Aqua Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s ever paid me anything that I\u2019m aware of,\u201d Seay said of diving.<\/p>\n
But he loves diving \u2013 it\u2019s the first thing he and his wife did together as a married couple.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got certified on our honeymoon,\u201d Seay said. He kept learning and training.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m considered a \u2018course director,\u2019 which currently there\u2019s about 2,500 of me in the entire world,\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaking people happy in the water is what I do. \u2026 I teach public safety dive teams like fire departments, police departments, sheriff\u2019s departments.\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n
He also teaches local lifeguards.<\/p>\n
Seay also leans on his faith, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe in one true God, and that\u2019s it. \u2026 without God, I\u2019m nothing \u2013 can do nothing,\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n
Priority if elected<\/p>\n
\u201cNumber one, we got to get our funding back to our first responders. I mean, public safety is number one,\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n
As one example, Seay pointed to a $250,000 reduction for volunteer fire departments. He also mentioned a $1.4 million reduction in the sheriff\u2019s department during budget talks for 2025\/26.<\/p>\n
Commissioners at the time pointed out the money was set aside for housing inmates with other counties. The money was unused in the 2024\/25 budget. So a majority wanted to cut it.<\/p>\n
But Seay said (and public discussions confirmed) a portion of the jail has a leaky roof.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to shut down some of the pods because they\u2019re going to try to fix the roof leaks out there. We\u2019re going to have to remodel the places that the roofs were leaking. So, we\u2019re going to have more people out of town,\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n
Not only will the repairs cost money, but if the sheriff needs to temporarily put inmates in other jails to make way for the work, then that costs money too, Seay said. Taking money out of reserves will hurt the county\u2019s bond rating.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really worried that when we call for this bond rating to issue these bonds to go over to the LCEC group for the Expo Center<\/a>, I think we\u2019re going to be downgraded,\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n Seay also pointed to heated budget discussions over the summer.<\/p>\n \u201cArguing on the dais is one of the worst things we can do, because if I\u2019m somebody that\u2019s trying to sell a bond to us \u2013 like, for example, the Expo Center \u2013 I got these yahoos that can\u2019t even agree and will fight publicly on the dais over budget stuff. I don\u2019t want to loan this county money if I\u2019m in their position,\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n When asked if the county should do a capital projects bond to pay for building repairs and replacing a parking garage, Seay said no.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve used all the money on the [2019] road bond election, but we didn\u2019t finish the projects we promised, which COVID hit us. That\u2019s not anybody\u2019s fault,\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we have to finish what we pledged,\u201d Seay said.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n
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