Brownwood City Council amended their residency policy for the positions fire chief and police chief at Tuesday’s city council.
According to Brownwood Mayor Stephen Haynes, councilmen Jerry DeHay and Larry Mathis were appointed on January 12, 2016 to study the City’s Personnel Rules and Regulations policy for residency requirements and review other cities’ policies and interview staff regarding the residency policy.
Currently, those employed in positions of emergency responders and on-call staff for the City of Brownwood are required to live within a 30 mile radius to the city in the event they must mobilize for an emergency.
In the past, when the Police Chief position was elected, the police chief was required to live within the city limits. However, now that the position is a hired, police chief was allowed to live within a 30 mile radius of the city. With Brownwood Police Chief Mike Corley’s upcoming retirement in June, the council decided that this is the optimal time to amend the residency policy for fire chief and police chief prior to hiring a new police chief, stated Mathis. “It’s not like we are doing something that hasn’t been done in the past.”
The council committee recommended upholding the existing 30 mile proximity to the city for emergency personnel and council voted Tuesday to amended the policy to now state that the fire chief and police chief must live within the city limits. The current residency policy also states that the city manager must live within the city limits as well.
Mathis stated, “Emergency response personnel are important members of the community and council values their involvement in the local community. I feel this is critical. If there is a significant crisis, it is imperative that the police chief and fire chief should be in site immediately in person, not by phone, but in person.” This helps morale of the emergency staff, explained Mathis.
Councilman Draco Miller stated that he believed the department heads, city manager, fire chief and police chief should live within the Brownwood city limits to be accessible to the citizens who ultimately pay their salaries through taxes.
Currently Fire Chief Del Albright lives in Coleman. He stated that he is trying to move to Brownwood.
“It has always been a discussion and a plan to move to Brownwood at some time,” said Albright who explained it was just a matter of timing and finding the right property.
Two firefighters also live outside the current 30 mile radius and council discussed this matter in executive session on Tuesday; however, no action was taken.
The council also recommended that the City of Brownwood’s civil service commission also amend their current 25 minute response rules, to be consistent with the city’s personnel rules and regulations for residency requirements.
