Commissioner Jacob Holt

08/29/2026

Good news for folks in western Parker County who’ve been worried about our groundwater!

🔹 NEW RULES PASSED UNANIMOUSLY 🔹
Last night the Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District board voted unanimously to change the well rules for the district (which includes Parker County). These changes are going to help protect our water rights for decades to come. The UTGCD board has 8 voting members; 2 each from Parker, Hood, Wise, and Montague counties.

🔹 5 ACRE MINIMUM FOR THE WEST 🔹
The biggest change is going from a 2 acre minimum lot size up to 5 acres in the western part of the county, effective for new plats submitted on or after 1/1/2027. This change applies where the aquifer is 60 feet thick or less (the area shaded red on the map). There’s also a website link below if you want to zoom in on the map.

🔹 OTHER CHANGES 🔹
The board made a number of other changes too, including rules on high volume wells and the groundwater study process. However, the acreage change is the big one and should go a long way toward preserving our groundwater for years to come.

🔹 THANK YOU TO THE BOARD 🔹
I want to thank the UTGCD board for the careful, thoughtful work they put into this. I also want to give them credit for holding firm in spite of criticism from folks who evidently want to keep the minimum at 2 acres.

This is a BIG step in the right direction!

🔹 IMPORTANT LINKS 🔹
UTGCD: https://uppertrinitygcd.com
New map: https://uppertrinitygcd.com/maps/
The rule changes in writing:https://uppertrinitygcd.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Proposed-UTGCD-Rules-Amendments-for-August-27-2026-Public-Hearing.pdf
Audio from the meetings (this one should be posted next week): https://uppertrinitygcd.com/meetings/

Please holler with any questions or comments.

08/25/2026

‼️ DONATION INFORMATION FOR FIREFIGHTERS ‼️

A Message from ESD1 Fire Chief Stephen Watson:

With the Palo Pinto fire spreading to more than 50,000 acres, firefighters are in need of bottled water and Gatorade.

If members of the community would like to help, please consider donating a case of bottled water and/or Gatorade to one of your local fire departments.

Please do not deliver pallets of water or Gatorade, as fire departments have limited storage space.

Thank you for supporting our firefighters as they work to protect our communities.

Parker County ESD 1 Station 34
991 Bailey Ranch Rd, Aledo, TX 76008
Aledo, TX · (817) 523-7598

Parker County ESD Admin Office
Address: 315 Morrow Rd, Springtown, TX 76082
Phone: (817) 523-7598

Parker County ESD 3
Address: 150 N Oakridge Dr, Hudson Oaks, TX 76087
Phone: (817) 599-0576

Parker County ESD 6
Address: 6300 Granbury Hwy, Weatherford, TX 76087
Phone: (817) 594-5500

Parker County ESD 8
Address: Central Community Station, 4101 Old Agnes Road, Weatherford, Tx 76088
Phone: 817-599-0818

08/11/2026

♦️ EDIT ON 8/17 - BURN BAN EXTENDED INDEFINITELY

🔥 PARKER COUNTY BURN BAN EFFECTIVE TODAY 🔥

Judge Deen has issued a county-wide burn ban effective today, 8/11/26. The Burn Ban is temporary and will last for 7 days.

Commissioners Court will meet next Monday, August 17th, and will likely extend the Burn Ban at that point.

For the full details of the Burn Ban, please read the attached release from the Judge's office.

Holler with any questions or concerns!

07/31/2026

‼️ CENTRAL ROAD NOW OPEN ‼️

This project is now complete and Central Road is open. 👍

❗️ To our Neighbors that drive on Central Road ❗️

We closed Central Road this week to replace the old bridge.

Here are the highlights:

🔹TIMELINE 🔹
We’re looking at 45 to 60 days of work. We’re confident it’ll be back open in August before school starts.

🔹 PROJECT SCOPE 🔹
The old bridge is being replaced with concrete box culverts — better water flow, and built to last for decades.

🔹PROJECT CONTRACTOR 🔹
Ed Bell Construction. The County can’t do the project because these box culverts are extremely large and heavy; we don’t have the equipment to safely transport / lift / install these culverts. Ed Bell has done a good bit of work for the county before and they’ve been some of the best regarding keeping to a schedule… they actually got to this project a week faster than I thought they would!

🔹APOLOGY 🔹
I owe y’all an apology for the late notice. My daughter just graduated high school, life got a little busy, and honestly this project jumped to the front of the line faster than I expected. That’s on me.

🔹NEED FOR PROJECT 🔹
We’ve known for a few years this bridge was going to need replacing. Our crews have patched it up more than once and while it was still safe, those repairs were just buying time. When Ed Bell Construction (the same contractor handling the RWMH widening on the west end of the loop) had a bridge crew open up, the timing was right and we jumped on it so that it could be done before school starts back up.

I’ll keep you posted as things move along. As always, reach out if you’ve got questions. 👍

07/31/2026

‼️ Poolville ISD Traffic Plan Update ‼️

Howdy folks!

Over the past few months, we've been working closely with Poolville ISD and our engineering consultant to make pickup and dropoff safer and smoother for students, parents, and staff.

You may have already noticed our crews as they have widened and repaved most the roads around the school. We are also widening the intersection of W. Baggett Avenue at FM 920.

Striping crews start their part tonight and should have it wrapped up by tomorrow (Friday 7/31).

There are two big changes:

🔹 The roads around the school are repaved, and you'll see new striping and signage. This should help traffic move better, keep driveways from getting blocked, and (most important!) make things safer for kids and staff during pickup and dropoff.

🔹 W. Baggett Avenue and Holland Avenue will now be *eastbound only* all the time, instead of switching back and forth during the day like before.

The 'one way only' portion was not a quick decision, and I know it might not be popular with everyone right off the bat. But this part of the county keeps growing, and what's worked in the past isn't always going to keep working going forward.

The reason for the change comes down to one thing: student safety. Our traffic experts were clear that going eastbound-only at all times cuts down on folks accidentally heading the wrong way, especially once folks get used to it.

If you've got questions or concerns, please holler. You can comment here, shoot me an email at [email protected], or call the office at 817-594-4022.

Thanks! 👍

06/22/2026

On Tuesday, June 30th, we will hold a Special Session for the Parker County Commissioners Court to discuss data centers.

We are holding this Special Session in the evening to accommodate those folks who could not attend the morning session on June 9th.

This event will be held at the Weatherford ISD 9th Grade Center in the Auditorium.

Please holler with any questions!

06/10/2026

Yesterday, we held a Special Commissioners Court at 9am in our largest courtroom to hear expert presentations on data centers and listen to the concerns of every citizen who wanted to address the Court.

🔹 FUTURE EVENING COURT
We know that many hard-working residents wanted to be there but couldn’t make the daytime meeting. We are working on another session to be held in the evening. We will publicize the details once we confirm the date and location.

🔹 STANDING ROOM ONLY
The courtroom was *packed* with all seats filled and at least a hundred folks standing.

🔹 EXPERT PRESENTATIONS
The Court heard presentations from a number of experts including:
- Doug Shaw, Director of the Upper Trinity Groundwater District, regarding groundwater and permitting
- Mike Hoke, Director at the Public Utility Commission, regarding grid impact and supply
- John Forrest, County Attorney for Parker County, regarding the scope of the County’s authority

🔹 CITIZEN FEEDBACK
We also listened to every citizen who wanted to speak. Nearly 50 folks spoke from the heart, sharing concerns ranging from noise to water to wildlife.

🔹 COURT RESOLUTION
The Court passed a resolution opposing open-loop data centers. We also stated that we will not offer tax abatements to data centers.

🔹 LINK TO VIDEO RECORDING
Here’s the link to the video recording of the Special Court:
https://parkercountytx.new.swagit.com/videos/390467

If you want to hear my comments and position, you can find those starting at 0:05:00 in the video.

As always, please holler with any questions or comments! 👍

06/02/2026

‼️ EDIT as of 11:45a on Wednesday, 6/3: We are actively working on adding a time in the evening as well. Once we nail down the date/time/location, we will share that publicly. ‼️

For those residents concerned about Data Centers

You may have seen a post circulating that we will discuss Data Centers at the regularly scheduled Commissioners Court on Monday, June 8th.

While we do have our regular Commissioners Court on Monday, June 8th, we have moved the Data Center discussion to Tuesday, June 9th, instead.

The meeting details are:
Tuesday, 6/9
9:00am
Parker County Courthouse, top floor

We are making this change for two reasons. First, we want to have the data center discussion as a standalone topic to be respectful of everyone's time. Second, this change allows us to host the data center discussion in a much larger courtroom to accommodate a larger audience.

Let me know if you have any questions.

05/31/2026

❗️ To our Neighbors that drive on Central Road ❗️

We closed Central Road this week to replace the old bridge.

Here are the highlights:

🔹TIMELINE 🔹
We’re looking at 45 to 60 days of work. We’re confident it’ll be back open in August before school starts.

🔹 PROJECT SCOPE 🔹
The old bridge is being replaced with concrete box culverts — better water flow, and built to last for decades.

🔹PROJECT CONTRACTOR 🔹
Ed Bell Construction. The County can’t do the project because these box culverts are extremely large and heavy; we don’t have the equipment to safely transport / lift / install these culverts. Ed Bell has done a good bit of work for the county before and they’ve been some of the best regarding keeping to a schedule… they actually got to this project a week faster than I thought they would!

🔹APOLOGY 🔹
I owe y’all an apology for the late notice. My daughter just graduated high school, life got a little busy, and honestly this project jumped to the front of the line faster than I expected. That’s on me.

🔹NEED FOR PROJECT 🔹
We’ve known for a few years this bridge was going to need replacing. Our crews have patched it up more than once and while it was still safe, those repairs were just buying time. When Ed Bell Construction (the same contractor handling the RWMH widening on the west end of the loop) had a bridge crew open up, the timing was right and we jumped on it so that it could be done before school starts back up.

I’ll keep you posted as things move along. As always, reach out if you’ve got questions. 👍

05/04/2026

Folks, over the last 10 days, two major storms rolled through Parker County. These storms caused millions in property damage and took at least one life. In the middle of all that loss, our neighbors showed up for each other in a big way. That's what makes Parker County so special.

At the County government level, we're doing everything we're legally able to do to help. Today, we held a special Commissioners Court and voted unanimously to move $4 million from our rainy day fund to cover construction debris removal (which is usually one of the biggest costs after a disaster like this).

I want to use this post to walk you through what the County is doing and answer some questions I've been hearing.

1️⃣ Is the County getting any state or federal money?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: To unlock state or federal disaster funding, losses must reach a minimum threshold of $56M in uninsured or underinsured damages. Even combining our losses with surrounding counties, we're not going to hit that number. So no, the County won't be receiving outside financial help. We'll be covering the debris removal costs ourselves.

2️⃣ What happens to the debris the County picks up?
Answer: The county will have to pay to send it to a landfill or dump. We will pay for it from the $4M we allocated today from the rainy day fund.

3️⃣ Why did the County charge for debris removal at first?
Answer: Disaster recovery experts from the state advised the County to charge residents the same rates the landfills charge us. We initially went along with that, but quickly changed course and decided to absorb those costs ourselves. Kudos to Commissioner Conley on leading the charge for the county to pay for those costs.

Commissioner Conley is already reaching out to the six residents who were charged to make sure they get fully reimbursed.

4️⃣ Will county crews pick up tree limbs and brush from the bar ditch?
Short Answer: Yes!
Long Answer: Precinct 1 and Precinct 2 crews will pick up tree limbs and brush that you move to the bar ditch, at no cost to you. Precincts 3 and 4 have also sent crews over to help, which we are very grateful for. Thank you to Commissioner Walden and Commissioner Hale.

If a resident is able to haul the tree limbs and brush directly to the Precinct Barn, please do. That frees our crews up to focus on folks who need the most help (the elderly, disabled residents, single moms with little ones, etc.).

5️⃣ Can contractors drop off vegetation at the Precinct 2 barn?
Short Answer: Yes and at zero cost.
Long Answer: We're allowing contractors to drop off vegetation at the Precinct 2 barn for free. They'll need to check in, provide a driver's license, and give us the address where the material was picked up.

6️⃣ How long will cleanup take?
Short Answer: We don’t know yet.
Long Answer: We're looking at months, not weeks. I expect the majority of Precinct 2 employees will be focused on tree limb and brush removal for at least another month just to start.

7️⃣ Will this delay normal road projects?
Short Answer: Yes.
Long Answer: We're expecting at least a six-week delay on our regular work. That doesn't affect projects being handled by outside contractors, like the Oakridge reconstruction or the Ric Williamson expansion. Those stay on track.

8️⃣ How long will county crews pick up tree limbs and brush from the bar ditch?
Short Answer: We don’t know yet.
Long Answer: We haven’t set an end date yet but we do ask that folks do their best to move tree limbs and brush as soon as they can. That will help us be as efficient as we can be and get back to road repair & maintenance asap.

9️⃣ Can I leave a big pile of mulch in the bar ditch?
Short Answer: Please don’t!
Long Answer: If the mulch has already been put on a truck or trailer, *please* don’t dump it in the bar ditch. It will not be quick or easy for county crews to remove and will slow down our efforts overall. Instead, please bring the mulch to the Precinct barn for free disposal.

Feel free to holler here with any other questions you might have on the storms and cleanup process.

You can also reach out to me directly at the office at 817-594-4022 or email me at [email protected].