News For Buda and Hays County ESD #8
10/01/2011: NOVEMBER 2011 SALES TAX ELECTION INFORMATION
Click here for the Notice of Special Election
Click here for the Order of Election
Click here for the Order of Election (Spanish)
Click here for the Executed Sales Tax Order
Click here to view the Nov 8, 2011 Sample Ballot
06/22/2011: COUNTY MOVES TOWARD SINGLE 911 CALL CENTER
Hays County is closer to a combined emergency communication center after county commissioners supported a resolution proposed by the sheriff’s office on Tuesday.
The proposal would provide a joint location for 911 call centers and dispatch of police, fire and emergency services for the entire county. Currently, San Marcos, Kyle and Texas State University each has its own location and operates individually. The Sheriff’s Department provides command-and-control resources for areas outside Kyle and San Marcos city limits as well as Buda, Wimberley, Dripping Springs and Driftwood.
Hays County Sheriff’s Office public safety answering point (PSAP) manager, Erica Carpenter, said the unification will streamline emergency communication throughout the county. Carpenter cited a recent incident in which the Kyle Police Department lost power and needed assistance from the Sheriff’s Department, as one of the contingency problems with the current individual locations.
“If we have everyone working under one roof it will make sharing information much easier for the county’s fire, police and emergency services,” said Carpenter.
Judge Bert Cobb said the biggest problem with emergency management is communication, but also voiced his concern regarding the possible safety issues of “putting all of our eggs in one basket.”
Carpenter said the single site will still be safe even though the command-and-control centers will be located in the same building and sharing the same equipment.Each will individually operate its own 9-1-1 dispatch and will have a computer contingency plan in place as well as a back-up center at a different location.
Carpenter said the county is slightly understaffed in PSAP employees. According to the Hays County PSAP Consolidation Assessment, there are currently 70 PSAP employees in Hays County. The Sheriff’s Department has the most PSAP employees in the county, 29, while Kyle has the fewest, 8.
“Having the court’s support is a big step in the right direction,” said Sheriff Gary Cutler. “Combining these efforts is necessary with the growing population in this county.”
Cutler said Austin’s Combined Transportation, Emergency and Communication Center is an efficient model of a co-located communication center.
“We have the support of all police/fire/emergency providers in the county as well as support from all communication centers. The next step for the operations committee will be to develop a plan for location, personnel, computer systems and a governing board,” said Carpenter.
Read More at the Hays Free Press http://haysfreepress.com/archives/20737#ixzz1S68L1Ll8
05/18/2011: FIREFIGHTERS GO ABOVE AND BEYOND
The Hays County Commissioners Court has honored 23 area firefighters who recently returned from fighting wildfires throughout the state.
Buda Fire Chief Clay Huckaby, who handed out certificates from the Court at the May 10 Commissioners Court meeting, noted that the firefighters deployed on short notice at the request of the Texas Forest Service to help fellow firefighters battle fires that ranged from far West Texas to near Fort Worth.
Those being honored included South Hays Fire Department’s Lt. Basil Pierce and firefighters Wes Trapp, Jesse Maldonado, TJ Browder, Chas Humphrey, Jason Perez and Matt Simkin; Buda Fire Department Lts. Craig Odell and Raymond Seyfried and firefighters Cory Young, Heath Huckaby, Carlos Rocha, Jason Cook, Ben Ogletree, Jacob Haverda and Abel Gonzales; Kyle Fire Department Lt. Derrick Sexton and firefighters Kevin Cox, Matt Jobe and Brandon Kitchens and Emergency Services District #6 firefighters Rayne Kelley, Dustin Hudson and Steven Fretwell.
Read more at the Hays Free Press http://haysfreepress.com/archives/19640#ixzz1S69YDldI
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04/13/2011: LOCALS HELP FIGHT WEST TEXAS FIRES
As wildfires rage across west Texas, emergency crews from Hays County have joined the fight.
This weekend, the Texas Forest Service dispatched five firefighters from Buda and two from Kyle to the Ft. Davis and Lubbock areas, where high winds and drought conditions have stoked the blazes spreading across hundreds of square miles. More than 100 homes have been destroyed.
In the past week, the Texas Forest Service has responded to 78 separate wildfires burning more than 385,000 acres. Firefighters from across the state are joining forces to battle the wildfires.
“Our state is really blessed to have brave men and women who never hesitate to run toward great danger that others are fleeing,” said Texas Governor Rick Perry on Tuesday, as he prepared to head to west Texas to survey the damage.
On Saturday morning, the Buda Fire Department sent a brush truck and two firefighters to Post, a small community 40 miles southeast of Lubbock. And on Sunday, three more firefighters from Buda and two from Kyle drove Buda’s Engine 31 to Fort Davis, to battle the blaze that raced across tens of thousands of acres.
“We have four engines here in Buda, so sparing one over there seemed like the right thing to do,” said Buda Fire Chief Clay Huckaby.
The firefighters stationed in the Post area have been in the thick of the action, Huckaby said, battling the blaze on the ground. In Fort Davis, the crews are primarily assigned to structure protection, standing guard to beat back fires as they approach buildings.
On Monday, Huckaby said, the firefighters in Fort Davis set up a perimeter around a special needs school that couldn’t be evacuated, keeping watch through the night.
With many large fires still uncontained, those on the front lines face the risk of injury or death. At least one west Texas firefighter was critically injured in the blaze. Firefighter Elias Jacquez suffered burns to 60 percent of his body and is hospitalized in critical condition in Lubbock, but is expected to survive.
“Absolutely we’re concerned about their safety,” Huckaby said of his firefighters. “We’ve been in constant contact with them, making sure everyone has what they need.”
Local fire departments will be reimbursed for staffing, fuel and equipment costs through the federal government, Huckaby said. The fire department is maintaining minimum staffing levels through the deployment.
Read more at the Hays Free Press http://haysfreepress.com/archives/18403#ixzz1S6AixlD8
