Erath County Commissioners have officially committed $1.2 million – $150,000 per department – of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to county volunteer fire departments.
At the regular Tuesday, Oct. 11 commissioner court meeting, Precinct 2 Commissioner Albert Ray asked the court to discuss and officially designate the funds to go toward the county’s VFDs.
The commissioners have discussed many uses for the $8 million in ARPA funds provided by the federal government including improvements to communication towers for 911 use and first responder radios.
Ray stated that he wanted the county to go ahead and get something in motion with regard to the VFDS since the outlay for a new firetruck is 2.5 to 3 years and other equipment has an equally long wait time.
Ray said it would be necessary to make sure there were guidelines attached to the funds since ARPA funds do have specific qualifications.
“If you help the departments, you help the entire county,” Ray said.
“As long as it’s making their department better I’m all for it,” Precinct 1 County Commissioner Dee Stephens said.
In the discussion, Ray emphasized a need for the department to spend the money first and then seek reimbursement from the county.
County Judge Alfonso Campos asked Ray if the departments each had the funds in order to be reimbursed.
Since they are unsure of the funds of each department, Campos said it would be better for each department to submit a spending plan to the county, have them approve it and cut the checks directly.
“Do you know if any FDs are ready at this point?” Campos asked.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Joe Brown said he knew Bluffdale and Huckabee VFDs were ready to go and Ray said Lingleville VFD was also ready.
For example, according to Brown, Huckabee plans to add an addition on to their building since in order to get a truck through a Texas A&M Forest Service grant, fire departments must have a place to house them.
Other items that the departments may be interested in using the funds for include wildland firefighting gear or new radios, according to the commissioners.
After each department has organized a spending plan, they will bring them to the county judge’s office and then they will be distributed to the county commissioner for each VFDs precinct.
In new business, Precinct 4 County Commissioner Jim Buck informed the other commissioners that a private citizen was working to install a water source for VFDs in the area of County Road 161 and Hwy. 281.
Currently, those fighting fires do not have easy access to water in many cases having to return to Stephenville to get to a pump to fill up a tanker or the Precinct 4 yard.
The individual who is simply a concerned citizen has secured several containers to hold 60,000 gallons of water and a well that will pump a significant amount of water for firefighting.
“This is a great source of help,” Buck said.
The county may be installing a pad to aid in keeping firetrucks from sinking or their hoses from getting muddy while refilling.
County Commissioners also unanimously approved annual contracts with Lipan, Gordon, Erath County and Dublin VFDs, bringing all contracts up to date and signed.
The court gave unanimous approval for the Erath County Sheriff’s Office to participate in the Law Enforcement Support Office Program (LESO), a program that allows the sheriff ’s office to potentially obtain items from the federal government.
These items are free of charge other than the fuel to go get them, Sheriff Matt Coates explained.
So far the sheriff’s office has received $1.5 million in assets through the program including such items as the mobile command system.
If a department no longer has use for the item it must either be returned to the federal government in some cases or can be kept for a year and then sold.
“The money from the sell has to go back to law enforcement,” Coates said.
The commissioners unanimously agreed to leave the burn ban off for the county at this point since the area is still in a moderate fire danger and rain is expected this week.
An emergency called commissioner’s court meeting was held Tuesday, Oct. 11 at 4 p.m. in order for the court to approve the payroll distribution register and overtime register.
A special commissioners court meeting has also been called Friday, Oct. 14 at 3 p.m. to discuss a subdivision coordinator’s job description, guidelines for volunteer fire departments in regard to the donated ARPA funds and a corrected replat on Legenda at Buffalo Ridge Phase III.
The court also began live-streaming meetings on Oct. 11 and citizens can see the meeting and all future meetings by going to www. youtube.com and searching for Erath County TX. County commissioners meet on the second and fourth Monday at 9 a.m.
Agendas for the meetings are available 72 hours prior to the meetings at https://www.co.erath.tx.us/ AgendaCenter.