{"id":158442,"date":"2026-02-10T14:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T14:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/158442\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T14:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T14:47:09","slug":"pounds-now-running-for-precinct-2-commissioner-to-fund-volunteer-fire-departments-fix-roads-buildings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/158442\/","title":{"rendered":"Pounds now running for Precinct 2 commissioner to fund volunteer fire departments, fix roads, buildings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kevin Pounds said he argued with \u201cevery commissioner there ever was\u201d about county roads.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome folks got tired of me griping, and they said, \u2018Either put up or shut up.\u2019 So here I am,\u201d Pounds said, meaning he\u2019s running for commissioner in Precinct 2, southeast Lubbock County, in the 2026 Texas Republican Primary against Justin Martin and Trey Newton.<\/p>\n<p>Ongoing coverage:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lubbocklights.com\/learn-whats-coming-as-lubbock-lights-kicks-off-texas-primary-26-coverage\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Learn what\u2019s coming as Lubbock Lights kicks off Texas Primary \u201826 coverage<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaintenance is my biggest deal right now \u2013 county roads, the facilities, the jail, those things. The jail needs a new roof,\u201d Pounds said.<\/p>\n<p>Pounds feels there are county issues not properly taken care of \u2013 including volunteer firefighter funding.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst responders are big to me. These volunteer departments, their budgets are as slim as anybody\u2019s. \u2026 Some are in better shape than others.\u201d Pounds said.<\/p>\n<p>Pounds has been a Lubbock firefighter for more than 20 years, currently holding the rank of battalion chief.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore I got on the fire department, I was doing what I loved \u2013 managed a ranch for an old boy here in town,\u201d Pounds said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was, doing everything I loved. But I had three boys growing up and my dad had been a firefighter for 24 years. And he said you can do both. \u2026 I got on the fire department in 2001, a week after 9-11. That\u2019s when I started, and I\u2019m still here today,\u201d Pounds said.<\/p>\n<p>His family has been native to the Acuff area east of Lubbock for more than 100 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy great-granddad broke ground there in 1905. Him and my great-grandmother started a family there on the homestead, and I live within a half a mile of where I was born and raised,\u201d Pounds said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI graduated from Roosevelt High School in \u201985. Then I went on to South Plains and ultimately Angelo State and graduated with my bachelor\u2019s degree in 1989. So yeah, I\u2019ve been in the Roosevelt community my whole life,\u201d Pounds said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy wife and I, we\u2019ve been married for 36, going on 37 years, got three sons and four beautiful granddaughters. And that\u2019s pretty much my hobby right now is taking care of granddaughters. \u2026 My focus is my family,\u201d Pounds said.<\/p>\n<p>His goal is to leave a good legacy so his granddaughters can be proud of Lubbock County when they grow up.<\/p>\n<p>Pounds was not happy to see tempers get out of hand in 2025\/26 county budget talks. LubbockLights.com covered <a href=\"https:\/\/lubbocklights.com\/tense-language-verbal-fighting-fester-during-two-weeks-of-county-budget-hearings\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">some testy moments in June<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>He was there in person for one incident. He thinks his time as a firefighter will help him ensure cooler heads will prevail, if elected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy job as a battalion chief right now is making decisions in situations that require calm and require somebody to think through a lot of different scenarios,\u201d Pounds said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNumerous times over the years, we\u2019ve been in spots that we didn\u2019t want to be in. I remember falling through the floor one time when I walked in a pier and beam house that was on fire. We went inside on a search and we were told that people were in there,\u201d Pounds said.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s been in more than one fire that would frighten people, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYelling and all that stuff. There\u2019s no place for it. We have to make decisions. \u2026 It\u2019s just not my style. I\u2019m not a yeller,\u201d Pounds said.<\/p>\n<p>There should be more decorum, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think I can do that. I think I bring that to the court,\u201d Pounds said.<\/p>\n<p>Millions of dollars in maintenance and renovations are needed at the county\u2019s 916 Main office building according to public records. The parking garage at that same location needs to be replaced at a cost of nearly $8 million. The county also needs a new building for adult probation according to the public documents. And a portion of the jail needs a new roof. Pounds thinks it might be time to have a bond election for capital improvement projects.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut if we don\u2019t do a bond, we\u2019re going to end up having to raise taxes to fix some of these things or we\u2019re going to be in a hole,\u201d Pounds said.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lubbocklights.com\/please-press-the-button-and-become-a-lubbock-lights-supporter\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"96\" height=\"96\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/volunteer_activism_96dp_000000_FILL0_wght400_GRAD0_opsz48.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11787\" style=\"width:80px\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Related posts\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kevin Pounds said he argued with \u201cevery commissioner there ever was\u201d about county roads. \u201cSome folks got tired&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":{"0":"post-158442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lubbock","8":"tag-lubbock","9":"tag-lubbock-headlines","10":"tag-lubbock-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}