Precinct 4
Councilman Joshua Collier
Joshua Collier moved to Bellmead in January of 2007 after his house in West was burned down by an arsonist. In October of 2008, he married his lovely wife Cassandra. Currently, he works in the engineering department at RAM Aircraft, LP where he writes software. He also serves as a 1st Lieutenant in the United States Civil Air Patrol. Over the past twelve years he has worked with several churches, helping them to set up children's programs and on occasion as a children's minister.
Joshua was raised in La Grange, Texas where he was home schooled for several years. His junior and senior year in high school he attended Giddings High and graduated under the category Advanced with honors. As a student, Joshua was always playing with computers and became talented at writing computer software, but in his dreams he always wanted to fly. The summer after he graduated, Joshua was given the opportunity to stay at the Quannah Texas Municipal Airport where he earned his private pilot's license before attending college at Texas A&M University.
During his first year at Texas A&M, Joshua's father lost his job and Joshua was forced to begin working full time. Hoping to combine his passion for flying with his admiration for law-enforcement, he began working as an armed security officer and eventually moved to Waco where he ended up working at a maximum security prison for the Texas Youth Commission.
In 2005, Joshua attempted to enlist in the United States Army as a helicopter pilot. Having passed all of the other required military exams; he was in the process of taking the army flight physical, but was forced to abandon his attempts when he injured his right arm and shoulder while on duty as a correctional officer.
Possibly facing injury again, perhaps even more severely, Joshua left the Texas Youth Commission and was eventually hired by Billiards of Texas where he helped build and maintain custom made pool tables.
Billiards of Texas purchased a computer numerically controlled (CNC) router and needed someone to operate it. The computer skills he learned in high school came in handy and Joshua taught himself how to program and operate the router. Six months later this opened up an opportunity for him to work for Mercury Tool & Machine as an apprentice CNC machinist. Within a year, Joshua had worked his way up from an apprentice to a class B machinist, with the highest being a class A.
One day while looking for a motorcycle in the newspaper want adds, Joshua came across a job opening for a clerk, at RAM Aircraft, LP. With Mercury Tool being a good company to work for and unsure if he wanted to give up a promising career as a machinist, Joshua initially ignored the add, but the idea of working at the airport had rekindled his dreams of flying. Eventually his curiosity got the better of him and he visited RAM Aircraft where his knowledge of computers came in handy once again and he was hired almost immediately.
Today, Joshua works for RAM Aircraft, LP as the companies' engineering coordinator. In addition to his original clerical duties Joshua is now the engineering department's software developer. He has written several databases and a number of utility programs which automate and assist the engineering department with its routines. Joshua also serves on RAM's Quality Assurance and Engineering Priority boards. He has been able to start flying again and has added several more ratings to his private pilot's certificate. He is working towards his instructor's certificate. In his spare time he contracts out with local individuals assisting them with business and home solutions including computer repair, setup, programming, and web design.
Term: Current - 5/2010