Pruitt holds meet and greet at Ches’s

By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press 

Jeremy Pruitt, one of four candidates for the office of Coryell County District Clerk, took the opportunity on Friday to connect with voters one more time ahead of today’s primary election.
He held an informal gathering at Ches’s in Copperas Cove. 
“I wanted to hold this here really because Cove holds a special place in my heart,” Pruitt said. “I was a firefighter here 10 years ago.”
Pruitt is currently the Membership Manager of the local AirMedCare Network, supervising independent representatives. 
The Gatesville High alum has studied business at the University of North Texas and completed studies in EMT/Firefighter and EMT/Intermediate training at McClennan Community College and Central Texas College. 
He said he looks at the position of district clerk as running a business. 
“I view this position as a business management position, which equates to every role I’ve had for the last 10 years. I’ve had up to 50 office and field personnel at one time,” Pruitt said. Presently, there are 12 staff in the district clerk’s office, which is one of the largest county offices, Pruitt added. 
He believes he has the skills and management experience to manage the workflow of the busy office that manages not just one, but two, district courts in Coryell County.
“(The District Clerk’s office) also pays the jurors, deals with child support monies, and to do that, they use QuickBooks.”
Pruitt said he is proficient in QuickBooks and has taken several courses in QuickBooks, and holds a Mastering QuickBooks certificate. 
He feels confident that come January 1, 2019, should things go well in the primary and any subsequent runoff, he could walk right into the job. 
“Court and budgeting are always a challenge. You have to strategically look at things and get the most bang for your buck. Where I’m comfortable in that situation, when I’ve coached franchisees and things like that, I help them to look at their profit and loss statements. That’s what I would do here. I’d look at the profit and loss, and help it go grow efficiently and effectively.”
Pruitt added that he would be prepared to bring a budget to the county commissioners, come county budget planning time. 
“Me already knowing them and having relationships with them, is going to do nothing but help that,” Pruitt said. 
He has had to explain what the job of district clerk is during his campaigning for the office. 
“What I say briefly is, the district clerk handles all the paperwork that goes through the District Court; felonies, child support, child custody, passports. The district clerk manages 12 people and makes sure they do their work effectively and productively.” 
At the moment, Pruitt said he is still going full speed ahead, hoping for that 50-percent-plus-one majority vote, although odds are in favor of a runoff election with the number of candidates running for the same office.