Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NEDERLAND — Emmett Hollier is running for Jefferson County Commissioners, Precinct 2, a seat recently opened due to the early retirement of longtime commissioner Brent Weaver.

Hollier serves as a ward 3 representative on the Nederland City Council. His public announcement of his intention to run for county commissioners will trigger a special election to fill his council seat in Nederland, tentatively set July 24.

Hollier, 59, will represent his city council ward until then.

The city council is expected to call for the special election April 12, leading to a filing period between April 12 and May 24.

Hollier has been serving as a Nederland city councilman for two years.

“When I ran for city council I had the desire to serve others as I have in the past so many times before with the Circle of Hope organization or before that in youth sports and other organizations,” he said. “It’s a passion of mine that my mom and dad instilled in me that continues to grow every year. I always thought Brent Weaver would be there forever, but when this opportunity came up when he announced he wasn’t going to run again, I started thinking about it and had several folks approach me about it.”

Hollier called the move bittersweet, noting his time on the Nederland City Council has been exceptional and a great learning experience.

“I’ve learned a lot from that group of folks in Nederland, and I feel I can run for county commissioner and serve a bigger audience,” he said. “I am from Groves and moved to Nederland in 1993. The whole Mid County area has been my home my whole life.”

Hollier works for natural gas and pipeline company Enbridge.

When he began more than 30 years ago, the company was known as Texas Eastern.

Today, Embridge is headquartered in Calgary, Canada, with its natural gas pipeline headquarters in Houston.

Hollier said his decades-long run with the company and industry provides real world experience managing budgets, people and projects that would be of value in a potential role on the county commissioners board.

“The responsibility is making sure that Precinct 2 is in good shape,” he said. “Keeping those roads, bridges and everything going in the precinct is first and foremost. The citizens need to have and deserve everything from a county’s responsibility.

“The second half is being a part of the commissioners court, along with the other three commissioners and the county judge, assisting in budget workshops, planning the budget and maintaining the budget and tax base to as low as we can to serve the county. We need to look at all the opportunities the county might have in the future.”

Hollier noted Jefferson County is an industrial-based location with lots of oil and gas, “which I love because I have been a part of it for 31 and a half years.”

However, he said efforts must be made to identify, evaluate and recruit anything else to the county to keep it one of the best in Texas.

Background

Hollier said he was raised to be a servant in the community, seeing his father as example through active participation in the Catholic Church in Groves.

He was fortunate none of his family ever moved away, creating a sense of community that is still with him.

“You go from one city to the other and never know you are in out of the other, whether in LaBelle or Taylor Landing,” he said. “It’s like one big community. Precinct 2 gives you that hometown feel of everybody knowing everybody, and you should be able to help everybody you can.”

Hollier said residents in Nederland me an opportunity to serve, a trust he appreciates.

“If I can be elected commissioner, I can still serve the citizens of Nederland and the citizens of Precinct 2, which includes LaBelle, Taylor Landing, Central Gardens, Nederland, Port Neches, Groves and all areas in between,” he said.

According to Hollier, Weaver told him he would not be endorsing any current or future candidate for the Precinct 2 position.

That mirrored a similar declaration Weaver told Port Arthur Newsmedia in announcing his retirement.

Hollier left open the possibility that he might consider endorsing someone to replace him on the Nederland City Council.

Shaun Miller announced in February he was going to run for County Commissioners, Precinct 2.

The precinct is currently being represented by Darrell Bush, who told Port Newsmedia his representation is on an interim basis and would not be extended with a future election campaign.