Local farmer Scott Renfro has thrown his cowboy hat into the ring for the seat of Grayson County Commissioner, Precinct 1. The county is currently being served in that role by Jeff Whitmire.
Renfro has served eight consecutive years on the Howe ISD Board of Trustees and is currently the vice president of the board.
“As a farmer, I pretty well cover most of the area that the precinct holds in store.” said Renfro. “I just felt the timing was right to get in there. I’ve had a lot of folks to push me in this direction and I feel like what is coming at us on the south end of the county, I want to have things in place for the growth that’s coming.”
Renfro says that US 75 is a main corridor for growth and he feels like it’s already pushing this way from the Collin County area.
The County Commissioner is responsible for the overseeing of the county roads and all of the maintenance issues for the precinct of the county. Precinct 1 is generally South Grayson County and the east side of Sherman.
Renfro says that the County Commissioner’s role not only involves the maintenance, but also that the office works with the other precinct commissioners as well as the county judge to prepare for growth coming into the county.
When asked whether he was ready for all of the phone calls about the roads and streets, Renfro said, “Yeah, I’ve got pretty thick skin. This time next year, I’ll have nine years in on the school board, so I feel like the issues we’ve been down on that road, I can handle any of that.”
Renfro, who owns Renfro Farms, also has served on the board of Texas Farm Bureau for four years and is currently the vice president.
“That also has helped me along with the issues and guidelines of being a commissioner because they run pretty close together of issues of what happens within the county and state.” said Renfro.
Renfro is also serving his third year as president of the Texoma Vintage and Classic Car Club in which he says is a hobby of his.
Born in Merkel, Texas just outside of Abilene, Renfro and his family moved to Sherman as a kid and attended Sherman schools, where he graduated from Sherman High in 1982.
“I’ve always been interested in agriculture and had some kind of a job one way or the other that was related to ag.” said Renfro. “I worked for Case Equipment and then met my future father-inlaw Bobby Sollis and went to work for him on the farm. After a couple of years learning things that he’s done all of his life, I felt had a good teacher and mentor.”
With the grooming by Sollis, Renfro ventured off onto his own in the farming business and even married the farmer’s daughter, Wendy.
Renfro Farms covers roughly 2,000 acres that is all in precinct 1. Working with primarily wheat and corn, they usually do a rotation. He has two sons that work for him in the business.
“I like to stay involved in issues on city and county level as well as the state level.” said Renfro. “I just want to do what I can to help anyway I can.”