By Bethany Peterson/editor-in-chief
A TCC trustee resigned his position on the board last week.
Joe Hudson, who represented Richland Hills, Bedford, Grapevine, Colleyville, Southlake, Westlake and parts of Hurst and Euless, resigned Sept. 8.
He left halfway through his six-year elected term to have more freedom to engage in other political areas, he said.
Making the board more transparent and available to the public was his highest achievement, Hudson said.
“When I came to the board three years ago, I had things I was concerned about,” he said. “I have been able to accomplish many of them.”
Hudson was elected in 2008 and served as board president from June 2010 to July 2011. He was involved with the Association of Community College Trustees, a nationwide organization and worked in Washington, D.C., with legislatures and other college representatives, Hudson said.
Board president Bill Greenhill said the board would decide how to fill Hudson’s spot at its next meeting on Sept. 15. The board will vote either to appoint a replacement or to hold a new election.
“I really appreciated his leadership as president,” Greenhill said in a press release. “He will be sorely missed.”
That a trustee would resign so soon after taking office was a surprise, trustee Louise Appleman said.
“Mr. Hudson, as a newcomer, asked good questions while on the board, so longtime board members thought about issues, policies, decisions from a renewed perspective,” she said.
Hudson said he had been thinking of resigning for a while.
“We had our house on the market, and there was always the potential it would sell and we would move out of the district,” he said. “My constituents deserve someone to be here.”
Hudson is interested in politics and said he wants to be more involved. Being a trustee limited what he could do politically since he was linked to the college, Hudson said.
“I’m interested in issues that may affect the college but are on another level, like state,” he said. “I can be more effective elsewhere.”
