Commissioner Covey serves the county by participating on various boards and committees, including: the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter Board, the Williamson County Mental Health Task Force, the Williamson County Conservation Foundation – serving as President, the Williamson County Audit Committee, the Williamson County Investment Committee, and the Opportunities for Williamson and Burnet Counties Board of Directors.
Commissioner Covey has taken a keen interest in mental health issues throughout the county and the state. She has worked alongside the County’s mental health professionals, law enforcement, judicial branch of the county and our local mental health authority to garner state recognition for Williamson County´s jail diversion programs. These programs include funding the San Gabriel Crisis Respite Center, Mobile Outreach Team, Crisis Intervention Team, drug and alcohol docket, and veterans´ docket. Each program aims to keep non-violent offenders out of the county jail providing more appropriate care and saving countless taxpayer dollars.
For Commissioner Covey, integrity and conservative values goes far beyond the Commissioner´s Courtroom; it extends into every facet of her life. In budget years 2016 and 2017, Commissioner Covey led the charge to reduce voter approved debt by an additional $10 million each year saving taxpayers approximately $10 million in interest.
Under Commissioner Covey’s leadership, residents have seen the openings of the Williams Drive expansion, Ronald Reagan Blvd., SH 195 expansion, IH-35 northbound frontage road and the turnaround at SH 29 & IH 35. They have also seen the completion of deceleration lanes at Cedar Hollow, Escalera Pkwy, Gabriel’s Overlook and Cimarron Hills. Other transportation projects underway include SH 29 Bypass from FM 2243 to IH 35, CR 110, CR 111, Inner Loop safety improvements at Wilco Way and at Central Maintenance, Ronald Reagan Blvd. at IH 35, CR 305 at IH 35 phase one bridge replacement and intersection improvements at DB Wood & SH 29. Commissioner Covey understands that growth is inevitable and that responsible growth and planning is invaluable.
Commissioner Covey is an active member of the Williamson County Republican Party, Georgetown Area Republican Women, The Republican Club of Sun City, Williamson County Republican Women, Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, and First Baptist Church of Georgetown.
She attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a degree in accounting and for the past 30 years has been licensed as a Certified Public Accountant. Valerie and her husband of 31 years, Mark Covey, have lived in Georgetown since 1994, and are blessed with three sons and a daughter-in-law.