Recent problems with emergency communications in North Lake Brownwood and May areas of Brown County are a major concern for residents and responders alike and, Brown County Commissioners are looking for the reasons and a solution to the problem.
Robert Baumgardener of the North Lake Volunteer Fire Department addressed the commissioners Monday regarding paging problems that have developed over the last six months. According to Baumgardener, the pagers used to alert emergency personnel, such as the VFD and ambulance services, have been interrupted for some reason. Baumgardener said he understood that a recent lowering of the repeater on the cellular tower in the area or its possible positioning has caused the signal not to reach all areas of the lake.
Until the problem is resolved, dispatchers have to call the chief of the North Lake and May VFDs to alert them to any emergencies and the chief then calls all the other firemen, according to Baumgardener.
“It’s a real critical problem for us with the response time…our problem is especially with the EMS service (at North Lake) when someone is in a critical situation, every second counts,” stated Baumgardener.
Commissioner Joel Kelton of Precinct 2, which includes May, spoke with disappointment that a solution could not be reached today and that representatives from the May Volunteer Fire Department and the Brownwood dispatch were not present to discuss the situation. The options of pagers verses handheld radios were also discussed.
“We need some action; there have been plenty of calls,” Kelton said. I was wanting to hear from dispatch and see what they have learned about this other possibility, but apparently there has been no action on that as well. As you can tell I am very disappointed.”
“We may have to have a meeting with all the necessary people, including the vendor,” stated County Judge Ray West.
West suggested that the situation be researched to discover the specific problem with the pager system, identify the parties involved, and figure out costs to fix the problems. West said that a meeting with May and North Lake VFDS, dispatch, and the North Lake ambulance service would help identify all of these issues before the county can address an action item of any kind.
“While we may not be able to accomplish a solution this morning, we have accomplished some publicity as to the problem and the community can work with a team effort to rectify the problem,” stated West.
In other matters on the agenda:
*Sheriff Bobby Grubbs received approval for employee changes. These consist of the hiring of Brownwood Police officer Brandon Arnold as a BCSO deputy with a start date of August 30, 2011. Arnold will replace Jeff Benson who left BCSO to work for Early Police Department. Other employee changes, the hiring of three new jailers will be discussed at the next court meeting after their start dates have been determined. Grubbs also gave the jail count which was 143 as of Monday morning.
*Commissioner Steve Adams of Precinct 1 received approval for two employee changes: Jimmy Roberts will replace Dakota Dowdy and Rex Pennington will replace Jessie Segovia, both Roberts and Pennington will be paid the starting salary received by the previous employees who both had end dates of May 15, 2011. The new employees start dates were August 1, 2011.
*Tax resale deeds granted to:
Weldon Davis: Lots 258 and 259, Lake Brownwood Shores Addition. The bid amount was $695 and $651.86 in back taxes and fees were owed on the property.
Kenneth and Meredith Nicks: Lot 8, Block D, Thames-Thompson Addition. The bid amount was $1500 which is also the tax appraisal value. $3750.26 in back taxes and fees were owed on the property.
