The three issues County Judge Mark Keough looks forward to tackling in his second term

THE WOODLANDS, TX – Having emerged from the March 1 primary elections with a clear victory over his two challengers on the GOP ballot – and with no Democrat running for the office in the November general election – Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough is looking forward to his second term as he plans to implement some new countywide ideas to supplement those programs that he feels are already doing a good job for his constituents.

“While of course it becomes official in November, it’s refreshing to know that I can right now be formulating plans with my teams to institute them without delay or distraction,” he said the night of his primary victory where he won with 66 percent of the vote.

Keough has been a staunch proponent of what he terms “freedoms for our residents,” particularly in his stance on keeping the county “open” throughout the entire COVID-19 pandemic, which was arguably his trial by fire as the national schisms formed shortly after he assumed the office in 2019 for his first two-year term. He doesn’t hold back at the thought of the constantly shifting edicts from the federal level continuing into a third year.

“I’ve got to tell you, I’m so concerned that we could still be on this COVID nonsense. Enough is enough,” he said. “We’re constantly battling this mindset. But I’ve been out and about talking to people, and the excitement that they have here, you can see it building. So we want to get beyond this COVID deal.”

Keough is also keenly aware of the growing pains that tend to go hand in hand with the type of steady population surge that Montgomery County has been experiencing – and is expected to continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

“We’re going to continue to tackle the issues that have been there. For example, this explosive growth where we’re at, obviously infrastructure, roads, bridges that sort of thing. We have a plan in place and we’re going to move forward on how to go about doing that plan.”

A source of particular pride for Keough is the financial health of the county, and his determination to keep it that way.

“Something that’s very important to me is that we keep going in the direction of our budgetary considerations where we’re able to continue to keep the effective tax rate,” he said. “And with our growth, we can do that and still not miss out on providing any services or the things that we need for the rest of the county. It takes discipline to do that, and if we keep doing what we’re doing, we can just sail through another year with a AAA credit rating, and it’s going to be awesome.”

With all but one county-level political office being unopposed in the general election, Keough knows all the team members he’ll primarily continue to work with for his second term and is eager to keep the ball rolling. Although, he stresses the importance of every eligible Montgomery County voter to cast their ballots in November even in the face of several foregone conclusions.