Hays County Commissioners Discuss Emergency Management, 911/PSAP Center and Public Safety

Hays County Commissioners held a discussion related to Emergency Management, the Office of Emergency Services, the co-located 911/PSAP center, the public safety building and their involvement with other entities within Hays County Tuesday morning.

According to the agenda, recent changes have impacted how the County might structure its network of emergency response assets.

Commissioners discussed the revisions proposed by the Hays County Judge’s Office to the job description for the Emergency Services Director position.

Since 2016, the Director had served the county in both capacities, according to Commissioners.

In July, Emergency Services Director, Kharley Smith, resigned to take a position with the State of Texas as the new head of the State Division of Emergency Management where she is leading a statewide Disaster Recovery Task for.

The Hays County Commissioners Court appointed Assistant Director, Justin McInnis, as interim director effective of August 1.

Smith was appointed Emergency Management Coordinator in November 2012 and continued to hold the position and responsibilities when she was named Director of the OES in April 2016.

Commissioner Lon Shell opened the discussion to address confusion regarding the position.

According to Shell, after Smith’s resignation, Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra had appointed, through his statutory authority, Chief of Staff, Alex Villalobos, as the Emergency Management Coordinator of Hays County.

Shell noted that while currently the OES Director and the Emergency Management Coordinator was not the same person, that wasn’t always the case as they had seen in the past.

“I think that should be taken into account with this job description,” Shell said. “Sometimes, it seems like the job description is more for an Emergency Management Coordinator; sometimes, it’s for an emergency services director. Either way, I think the job description should clearly identify the issue that we’re facing now. What does this person do if the person who is the emergency services director is not the emergency management coordinator?”

Becerra said he saw the Emergency Management Coordinator as the county judge’s appointment and a separate job description from the OES Director’s position, who was a department head within the county.

“What I’ve asked our chief of staff to do was to separate those out, so we would not be forced to put all of that on one person coming in, and when the new appointment was made, we could articulate our interests,” regarding the Emergency Management Coordinator, Becerra said.

Before his appointment at Interim Director of the Office of Emergency Management, McInnis, served as the Assistant Director of the OES and the assistant Emergency Management Coordinator.

Becerra said he spoke with McInnis after his appointment and asked if he would be okay staying on as the Assistant EMC until a permanent director was designated, so the office “would continue to function as it had always been functioning; he did not offer the position of Emergency Management Coordinator.

Commissioners provided direction to staff to have the description for the Director of the Office of Emergency Services.

In addition, Commissioners discussed briefly the co-located 911/PSAP center, the public safety building and their involvement with other entities.

Commissioners noted how the co-located 911/PSAP center will improve response time for residents throughout Hays County and briefly discussed the entities which had already signed agreements with the county.

Becerra said the county was grateful Hays County EMS and Fire had joined, and that they were still working on the other municipalities to create a true centralized place where all assets can be seen on one computer.

Among the discussions, Commissioners expressed concerns about conflicts of interest; Chief of Staff, Alex Villalobos, serves as a Kyle City Council member.

“I feel there is a true conflict when a staff member of Hays County is also dealing with the exact same situation but from a city of Kyle perspective,” Shell said.

Shell noted the county had employed a Kyle City Council member in the past and often recused himself from discussions that related to the county.

Shell said while the county and the city’s interest may have been joint, he still felt that it still presented a conflict and caused confusion.

Commissioner Debbie Ingalsbe-Gonzales said she could see instances where conflicts of interest could come into play and agreed the county needed to be careful.

Commissioner Walt Smith said he agreed that an elected official’s first duty is to represent their constituents, but he had an inherent concern about someone “serving two masters.”

W. Smith asked if the court could address and look at what oversight they had on the issue in the near future.