By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
Rural and city fire crews in Ellis County will begin combining their efforts to fight structure fires starting next year.
At Monday’s meeting, the Ellis County Commission approved an addendum to the mutual aid agreement between the Hays Fire Department and the Ellis County Fire Department.
In the 2008 Ellis County Fire Rescue Mutual Aid Agreement, both the city and the rural fire departments would provide aid, if requested by the other entity.
But Ellis County Director of Fire and Emergency Management Darin Myers said while both departments use the aid a number of times a year, an automatic aid agreement would be more efficient.
“When you need the resources on a structure fire, you need them ASAP,” Myers said. “You don’t want to wait until you get on scene to call for help.”
The addendum to the aid agreement approved at Monday’s meeting sets up an automatic agreement between the Hays and Ellis County Fire Departments. According to Myers, automatic aid initiates a response from two separate departments on the first report of a structure fire.
Myers said if there is a fire in the city limits of Hays, Ellis County Rural Company Five – stationed at 1105 E. 22nd – will respond on the first report of a structure fire. They will respond with one engine and one company chief and two firefighters will respond in a utility vehicle with extra equipment Myers said.
If there is a structure fire reported in the county, within the agreed upon boundary, a city crew will respond on the first call. Myers said the boundary was set based on the population of the county and using the city of Hays Extraterritorial Jurisdiction.
Myers said the city will respond with their on duty shift commander, an engine and engine company along with a pickup with air recharging station. A total of six city firefighters will respond on the initial call according to Myers.
A firefighter from the city of Hays will respond to all calls in the county with the air recharging system, a result of the automatic aid agreement. The recharging stations are used to refill the air tanks and both Hays and Ellis have their own air stations but the county and Victoria do not.
Myers said they have already been working to put together to train and create guidelines and procedures.
“I wouldn’t be here today,” Myers said Monday “If I didn’t have the support from all of the firefighters from company five.”
They have budgeted $14,140 to implement the program in 2017, but Myers anticipates future cost savings including improved public protection classification ratings for both departments. The rating is an insurance rating score given to the department that determines insurance costs and the better the score the better chance residents see a reduction in insurance premiums.
A direct benefit to that, according to Myers, is that each department will get to include each other’s fire station as if it were their own. Ellis County will also get credit for another fire engine and they are working on a combined training station.
“The biggest benefit that we’ll get,” said Myers, “is those initial firefighters that are on scene.”
The city of Hays has committed to sending six firefighters on the initial call. Myers said it would cost more than $300,000 to have those full-time firefighters available.
Commissioner Barb Wasinger said she appreciated all the work that was put into the agreement and said “I just think that anytime we work with the cities within the county, as a group and as a whole everybody benefits.”
The commission voted 3-0 to approve the change to the agreement. Myers the aid will go into effect next year.
The county already mutual aid agreements with Victoria and Ellis and Myers said most of the same firefighters serve on both crews.
In other business, the commission voted to approve Environment Fees for 2017. The costs had not been increased since 2009. The increases will be:
Wastewater Permit increases from $25 to $60.
Water Well Permit increases from $25 to $60.
Property Transfer Evaluation increases from $25 to $60.
Water Screen increases from $15 to $20.
The fees are not intended to be a source of revenue for the county, instead they cover the cost of the services provided.
The commission also voted to approve the 2017 salaries for elected officials. The resolution does not change the salaries of the commissioners, the county attorney, clerk or treasurer. But it does increase for both the Register of Deeds and Sheriff positions, bringing them to the current level on the pay scale based on their years of experience.
The commission approved a contract for snow removal with Flatlander Dirtworks for 2016-17. The hourly rate is the same as 2015-2016.
The commission approved an update to the created new job descriptions of four positions within the County Health and EMS Departments and a contract with EMS Director Kerry McCue to serve as Health Services Director. McCue is taking on the responsibilities of the Head of the Health Department following the retirement of Butch Schlyer this year.
Karen Purvis, County Environmental Sanitarian, also presented the commission with a review of the wastewater regulations and informed them on the potential impact of making changes to the City of Hays Extraterritorial Jurisdiction.
Purvis said there are three potential issues with the change. The first is the splitting of lots. Currently in the county lots of less than 40 acres cannot be split up. Purvis said if the zone changed, they would have to look at the lots that fall into the county’s zoning jurisdiction.
The second issue is with enforcement in the “3-mile zone.” Currently Purvis said there is not a lot of enforcement of codes in the zone, and the county is limited with what it can do. The final issue is the city has building codes while the county has zoning certificates.
State Sen.-elect Rick Billinger also came before the commission to give a preview of the upcoming legislative session.