Doug Leecock, the Republican running against Democrat Julie Sanders to replace Donna Eccleston as Precinct 1 county commissioner, says he’s looking forward to becoming the voice of the south side of Canyon Lake — where he also lives.
Precinct 1 cuts a wide swath across the middle of Comal County, from northwest New Braunfels through the south side of Canyon Lake and over to Bulverde and Spring Branch, where it borders both Kendall and Bexar counties.
Leecock cut his political teeth in the Canyon Lake area.
His first foray into politics involved spearheading the Canyon Lake Boat Ramps Community Alliance (CLBRCA), which was formed in 2021 to nudge Commissioners Court into addressing serious concerns about the nine county-operated Canyon Lake boat ramps.
Doing so also involved bringing other powerful stakeholders to the table like Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA), which sells water from Canyon Lake to the Texas Water Company and other downstream interests; the Water Oriented Recreation District of Canyon Lake (WORD), which operates three boat ramps in Comal and Canyon Parks; and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) which “owns” the lake.
“It was an eye-opening experience when I first got involved with county-operated ramps and understanding how many hands are in the pot and what you have to go through,” he said.
Leecock volunteered and still works closely with St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church’s Knights of Columbus, the Canyon Lake Noon Lions Club, Friends of the Night Sky, Comal Conservation, Comal ISD Education Foundation, and the CRRC of Canyon Lake.
“All these things were happening at the same time,” Leecock said. “The wheels just started to turn about things going on in the county and (me) wanting to do more other than just be kind of part of the discussion. Not only do I want to be part of the discussion, I want to be part of the solution.”
His wife, Dr. Michele Cerny-Leecock, runs a successful OB/GYN practice in San Antonio. Leecock retired years ago from a career in operations management in the retail and healthcare industries and promoted himself to “CEO” of the household, helping raise the couple’s four children.
The oldest, Jacob, is now 26, followed by Jonathan, 22, Christopher, 20 and Annemarie, 16.
The family lives in a home that overlooks the lake, giving Leecock a bird’s eye view of not only problems surrounding boat ramps but also the drought that’s evaporating the lake, leaving just one of the lake’s 23 boat ramps open to the public.
His backyard “pool” is an 8,000-acre lake turning into a mudhole.
“We’re dry,” Leecock said. “We’re so in arrears on the amount of water that we have available to us because of this drought that it’s going to take a significant amount of rain to not only raise the lake level but replenish the (Trinity and Edwards) aquifers.”
“I see rocky times ahead,” he said. “It will be worse. We don’t have a guarantee that the lake is going to fill up. We all hope for it to rain, and that’s all we can do. The lake is a visual representation of the significant drought that we’re in.”
The job of being a county commissioner doesn’t come with any meaningful power or ability to alleviate the rapid growth that’s bulldozing beautiful Hill Country land into hellish lunar landscapes and crowding thousands of houses on the smallest possible lot sizes, further draining stressed aquifers.
Leecock said he’s aware there probably isn’t much he can do to stop over-development except to try to get homebuilders to think outside of the box and convince newcomers to stop watering their lawns like they still live in greener parts of the state, like Houston.
Commissioners Court should at least try to open a dialog with developers and landowners, he said in a January interview with MyCanyonLake.com.
“If you are going to talk about water conservation as a county, the county should do things to show it’s willing to take the lead on that. The state does have control of things but I think we can work with nonprofits, other organizations, and individuals to be better conservationists and share details that landowners might not understand. There’s a big push from the Comal County Conservation Alliance (now called Comal Conservation) and the Hill Country Alliance (HCA) to share with landowners how to share conservation easements.”
Improving communication between the county and the developers also could alleviate the tension inherent between all parties, he said.
What commissioners do control — 100% — is managing tax dollars that pay for county jails, county courts, roadways, and approving plats for developments.
Commissioners have to listen to what Comal County Sheriff Mark Reynolds, District Attorney Jennifer Tharp, and other department heads say, understand their needs, and then work within budget constraints to allocate resources, Leecock said.
“I know all of those people, I think I’ve already developed a really good relationship with them and the county,” he said, adding he’s chomping at the bit.
Having already worked closely with Canyon Lake’s other commissioner, Jen Crownover, Precinct 4, he promises voters they will see a close collaboration between them that puts Canyon Lake on equal footing with New Braunfels. He promises to make himself available to constituents both during and after business hours.
“I want to get started. I’m a hands-on person. I want to be a voice for the people in the county.”
