Freestone County Good Governance Council

Our mission

The Freestone County Good Governance Council is a proposed independent citizens’ initiative. Its purpose is to give residents and elected officials a shared, documented baseline: how local government operates, how public money is spent, and how public services can be delivered with thrift, quality, and accountability as the county grows.

It is meant as a working table between citizens who live here and the people they elect — not a substitute for the Commissioners Court, not a county office, and not a campaign committee.

Building on an individual initiative

This effort began with one resident asking questions, reviewing public records, and attending public meetings. Developing it into a lasting organization will require additional experience, perspectives, time, and resources.

Robert is inviting residents to help shape that organization, test its assumptions, and share responsibility for its work. The Council’s formation will depend on recruiting people willing to make that commitment.

Who would sit at the table

The structure and policies on this page are starting points for people willing to help form the Council. Governing documents would be written in that formation process, subject to counsel.

A board of seven to nine directors is proposed, supported by an advisory network. The final size, selection process, representation, and voting procedures would be determined during formation.

Wanted perspectives include accounting, law, business, public affairs, hospital or clinic operations, emergency medical services, and the experiences of taxpayers and residents, including ranchers, homeowners, renters, and small-business owners. Representation should reflect communities throughout the county, including Fairfield, Teague, Wortham, Streetman, Donie, Butler, and other rural communities. Character, competence, and a willingness to follow the evidence, including when it challenges a favored position, would guide selection.

Advisers and volunteers could work on a study without holding a board seat.

Developing a nonprofit organization

The intended direction is a social-welfare organization under section 501(c)(4), subject to legal review. Papers are not on file. Until they are, this site speaks for an organizing initiative, not a chartered corporation.

Principal work would remain research, public education, and advocacy of recommendations the evidence will support. Endorsement of a candidate or measure, if it happens at all, would follow a published conclusion and approval by at least two-thirds of the directors present and voting at a properly called meeting with a quorum present. The Council may publish its findings without endorsing any candidate or ballot measure.

What the Council would do

• Build public-record baselines: budgets, audits, contracts, minutes, tax rates, and enabling law.
• Listen to the people who do the work: county employees and front-line staff, through surveys and structured conversations, on what would make service more efficient, more productive, and more usable for the public — without putting the Council over any department head.
• Hear from businesses, service providers, and other private entities that operate under county and district rules — shops, contractors, clinics, farms, and firms whose costs and customers move when government does.
• Compare Freestone County with models in the other 253 Texas counties where population, resources, and responsibilities make comparisons useful.
• Use established methods for quality, productivity, and service improvement where they fit a small county, and say so when they do not.
• Publish reports that explain what the evidence shows, how the Council reached its conclusions, and what questions remain unanswered.

The first undertaking is Case Study 001, now under way. It examines Freestone County’s two hospital districts, emergency medical services, and the one hospital that remains — Freestone Medical Center in Fairfield. The working observation is that people across the county use that hospital, so how the cost and the governance are shared is worth a full look. Options include cooperation between the existing districts, shared services, a countywide structure, and leaving the present map in place. Findings decide whether any change is recommended.

Emergency transportation and hospital care are connected parts of the same public need. Teague Hospital District provides ambulance and emergency medical services, while Freestone Medical Center in Fairfield provides hospital-based emergency care. For a patient, those services may be successive steps in a single emergency.

The founder’s starting belief is that services relied upon by communities across Freestone County deserve a coordinated plan and a fair approach to sharing their cost. That includes recognizing what taxpayers already contribute and examining whether closer cooperation, shared services, or a single countywide district would better serve residents.

The Council’s first study would test that idea. It would compare existing arrangements with alternatives, examining response times, ambulance coverage, hospital access, costs, tax burdens, and representation for every community. It would also examine the experience of counties such as Comanche, which has a consolidated hospital district under state law (Special District Local Laws Code ch. 1074), as a comparison to study, not a model already shown to fit Freestone County.

The goal is dependable emergency care and fair, accountable support for it. Any recommendation to change district boundaries or governance should follow the evidence.

One documented example illustrates the hospital’s regional role. On May 9, 2024, a maintenance worker was seriously injured at Arcosa’s Streetman Plant, which the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration identifies as being in Navarro County (MSHA final report). Fairfield EMS responded and transported him to Freestone Medical Center. He was subsequently transferred to a hospital in Tyler, where he died.

This case shows the hospital serving an emergency beyond Fairfield and across a county line. It supports examining the hospital’s service area, utilization, and funding; it does not by itself establish which funding or governance arrangement is best.

Consider these hypothetical situations: a child is injured at a Friday night football game, a rancher is hurt while working cattle, or a neighbor experiences a suspected heart attack. Freestone Medical Center in Fairfield may be where that person receives emergency evaluation and stabilizing treatment, with transfer for specialty care when needed. The appropriate destination depends on the patient’s needs and emergency-response protocols; some patients may be taken directly to another hospital. These situations raise a practical question for communities across the county: how should we share responsibility for sustaining the emergency care on which we may depend?

Central question: what structure for publicly supported hospital and emergency medical services would give the county the best mix of access, sustainability, efficiency, taxpayer equity, and accountable governance?

Case Study 001: Current status

• Records obtained and reviewed: audited financial statements, board financial reports, tax rates, collections and certified values from the Fairfield Hospital District; tax rate filings for both hospital districts; and the enabling laws for both. See Start Here for a plain-English summary.
• Still open: the Teague Hospital District has not yet provided records; the Fairfield Hospital District’s operating and management agreements are with the Attorney General for a ruling (expected about December 31). See Open Records Requests.
• Community survey: open through November 15; results and charts on November 16.
• Findings will be published with their sources, and with their limits stated, after the records are reviewed.

November 3, 2026 — unofficial results

Unofficial county reports indicate that Fairfield Hospital District Proposition A, approving a tax rate of $0.25 per $100 of taxable value, passed: Freestone County portion 2,196 for and 1,482 against (Freestone report, page 6); Navarro County portion 123 for and 184 against (Navarro report). Added together by the Council: 2,319 for and 1,666 against. The separate County jail and justice center bond did not pass in the County’s unofficial report (3,108 for, 3,803 against). These are not the official canvasses, which will be added when available. The Council did not endorse either side of either measure.

Last updated November 7, 2026.

How findings would be shared

Residents and officials should be able to see both the conclusion and the path to it. Reports would name the records reviewed, state limits where the available evidence is incomplete, and correct errors when found. Findings would be published at www.freestonegoodgov.org, shared through written reports and press releases, and presented in public to the bodies they concern.

Proposed approach to advocacy and endorsements

Advocacy would follow the research. A candidate could be considered for endorsement only after publicly supporting a published Council recommendation and committing to carry it in office. Each such endorsement would require the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the directors present and voting at a properly called meeting with a quorum present. The same rule would apply regardless of party. If more than one candidate met that test, including opponents for the same office, each could be endorsed through a separate board vote. The announcement would state the specific recommendation and the candidate’s stated commitment. Voters would weigh each candidate’s qualifications and positions on other issues.

The Council would not contribute money to candidates or buy ads for them. The Board could also support or oppose a bond or other measure after publishing its reasoning, using the same two-thirds approval requirement. Without the required two-thirds approval, the Council would issue no endorsement. Its research and findings could still be published under the board’s adopted review procedures. The strength of that work should rest on the quality of its evidence and analysis, whether or not the Board endorses a candidate or measure.

The two-thirds threshold and these policies are the founder’s proposals for discussion during formation. Final voting rules would be established in the Council’s governing documents. No endorsements have been made to date, and no directors have been seated yet. The Council did not endorse either side of the November 3, 2026 hospital-district proposition or the County bond.

Public records and sources

These are the official sources the Council relies on, so residents can check facts themselves. Links are provided for reference and do not imply endorsement.

• Fairfield Hospital District / Freestone Medical Center — district voting and tax information
• Teague Hospital District — official site (THD-EMS)
• Freestone County — official county website
• Freestone County Elections — election notices and sample ballots
• Freestone County Tax Assessor-Collector — tax rates, notices, and rate calculations
• Freestone Central Appraisal District — property values and appraisal records
• Texas Comptroller Property Tax Assistance — state property tax guidance
• Texas Attorney General — Public Information Act guidance for residents
• Special District Local Laws Code ch. 1015 — Fairfield Hospital District enabling law
• Special District Local Laws Code ch. 1104 — Teague Hospital District enabling law
• Texas Secretary of State Elections — state election information

An invitation to participate

Residents interested in helping form the Council are invited to get in touch. Professional knowledge, practical experience, community perspectives, and a willingness to contribute time all have a place in this effort. Prospective participants would help refine the proposed structure and policies during formation. No directors have yet been seated.

About the founder

Robert P. Sharpe — RancherRob — is a Freestone County resident, cattle rancher, Marine Corps veteran, and retired U.S. Army sergeant. His military service included two tours in Iraq with the 1st Cavalry Division. He also worked in civil litigation services and support in Houston for 19 years. He operates Sharpe Diamond Cattle Co LLC in the Teague area.

He has been involved in local civic life for many years. The proposed Council would operate independently of any political party.

Robert began this initiative through his own public-records requests and research. He is inviting others to help build an organization that draws on varied experience, examines issues thoroughly, and sustains its work beyond any one individual.

His guiding belief is straightforward: public service carries a duty to explain decisions, account for public money, and earn the trust of the people served. He believes continuous process improvement should be part of that duty: listening to the people who provide and use public services, examining how the work is done, measuring results, and making practical improvements over time.

Write us

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131 FCR 933
Teague, Texas 75860