WAXAHACHIE - At the recent Ellis County Commissioners Court meeting an item was addressed that had some locals talking.
The item concerned the scope of design services for the Ellis County owned property located at 1305 West Jefferson in Waxahachie.
Ellis County Judge John Wray spoke on this item and while most of it seemed to be business as usual, the majority of comments came from the idea of moving the County Commissioner Court to this new location, and Wray’s involvement with the original sale of the building to Ellis County.
Commissioner’s Court meetings are now being held on the second floor of the Historic Ellis County Courthouse on Main Street, One resident said the reason she had heard for the possible new location was so each county commissioner would have a central office where people could meet.
There has also been an issue with poor acoustics in the old courthouse.
Wray brought this item up for discussion to discuss the scope of future design services for the property.
At the moment the architects have been contracted to design an elections and records storage facility, but Wray said, “The thought has always been that we would switch gears and locate the elections office and possibly some storage, at least temporarily over at the Jefferson Street building and due to that we need to make a change in scope with the architects.”
It was also noted the Phase One Elections Office renovation was funded in the current budget for fiscal year 2026, however there should be a reduction in the change order of $36,000.
Wray brought up the possible Commissioners Courtroom and administration move from the old courthouse to the 1305 West Jefferson location, because he explained it would increase the scope of design to accommodate that move.
Wray said, “My thought is that if you don’t have a master plan for the building you might do something in this election piece that disrupts the ability to do these other uses down the road.”
He offered his reasoning for an eventual Commissioners Court move and added the building was “meticulously restored about 20 years ago… the more we have the public here the more wear and tear it gets.”
There were also other suggestions regarding short term or long-term leases at the new location, yet the bottom line was, as Wray explained, “The question would be we are increasing the scope of design with architects from just 20,000 feet of the election building to a full 50,000 feet for the entire building and do we take into account that other 30,000, do we want that to include a possible lease space.”
No action was taken on this item.
There was also discussion by residents regarding the fact that Wray had a connection to the West Jefferson street building and is a director of Citizens National Bank of Texas.
His professional profile lists him as a Director of Citizens National Bank of Texas since June 2014.
And Citizens National Bank was directly involved in the 1305 W. Jefferson transaction.
On June 23 the Ellis County Commissioners’ Court considered the closing documents with Citizens National Bank for the county’s purchase of 1305 W. Jefferson Street.
The official meeting transcript identifies the item specifically as the purchase of the property from/through Citizens National Bank.
Wray did recuse himself from that item and said he would not participate in the matter.
He had also recused himself from an Aug. 19, 2025, Commissioners Court item on the same topic and the County Judge Pro Tem signed the purchase agreement.
Another meeting was held on June 9 of this year in which in my research it was found the commissioners approved a $9-million purchase price, with the motion calling for three equal payments, beginning at closing.
Wray left the room while the commissioners considered and voted on that purchase.
Not answered are questions still pending as in who legally owned the building, did Citizens National Bank own it outright or acting as trustee/ lender, who was the selling entity, why Citizens National Bank was involved in the closing?
Did the county obtain an appraisal and, if so, what was appraised value compared with the $9-million purchase price?
And if there were competing offers or negotiations as well as who authorized the $9-million price and who negotiated it for Ellis County.
From research, it appears the county’s own records show the property was being negotiated under the Texas Government Code provision allowing closed-door deliberation over real property when public discussion could affect negotiations.
While the county has a new, much needed building, residents are now wondering who benefited the most from the $9-million sale on this particular property..