Republican candidate Darrell Hale is running for the Collin County commissioner Precinct 3 seat. He will run against David Azad in the Nov. 6 election. Community Impact Newspaper sent Hale a series of questions on his candidacy. His written responses, edited for publication style, are below. Q: What is your current occupation? A: My current occupation is as an entrepreneur. I previously owned a pair of Fresh Coat Painting franchises. I sold in the fall of 2017 after having taken them to the largest franchisee in the chain. I maintain a minor interest in the business that I am passive in but will be winding down starting next year. Q: Why are you running for Precinct 3 commissioner? A:  I am running for Precinct 3 commissioner because I feel that we need a continued conservative approach to county government which is one of restraint in spending and restraint in taxation. Government tends to try to do too much and as a result, spends too much and then taxes too much. Our property taxes are out of control. I felt compelled to make a difference after watching the Frisco ISD tax recall election a few years back and began getting more involved to see how I could make a difference. Q: Why are you qualified for this position? A: I am qualified for the position from an education, leadership and experience basis. My education is from the top public university in the nation, West Point. I have military and business leadership experience with 15 years of corporate experience and five years of starting and running my own small business. I have a breadth of experience that would benefit the commissioner’s court and be complementary. I would be the only veteran on the commissioner’s court come 2019. Q: What issues do you feel the county will face over the next five years? A: The county is experiencing massive growth that will require investments in infrastructure. We will need to invest in highways, arterials and county roads. We will invest in our criminal justice system all the way from our first responders to the courts and into the jail to make sure we can handle the increase in population over the next five years. Q: If elected, how will you address those issues? A: When I am elected we will be further down the path on the initial funding of road bonds. The initial money spent will be on arterials, the studies [necessary] and right of way acquisition for highways. We will need to begin the process of bidding for jail and courts expansion. Furthermore, I believe that we need to focus on increasing the efficiency of money used through [the] implementation of corporate process improvement strategies. We need to be more corporate in our tracking of contracts, bidding and overall RFP/RFQ process that can result in reduced costs and [fewer] taxes. I would like to head up establishing an efficiency organization or advisory panel to help out our county manager. We should leverage our various large corporate partners in the area for their expertise in cost controls and process efficiency.   More information about Hale and his campaign can be found at www.darrellhale.org.