A second meeting of Freestone County leaders was held on Tuesday, July 10th to further discuss the needs of our county.
During the first meeting, held in February, discussion focused on the impact of the Big Brown Plant/Mine closure.
In attendance at this meeting were City of Fairfield Mayor Kenny Hughes; Fairfield Councilmen Landis Bayless, Keith Daniels, and James Tyus; City of Teague Alderman Jerry Ballew; Sheriff Jeremy Shipley, David Fowler with Fairfield Economic Development Corporation; Commissioner Pct. 3 Mike Daniels and his Administrative Assistant Sonoma Adkins.
At this meeting, the topic of discussion was Emergency Services, and the importance of NOT cutting back on budgeting for Law Enforcement, EMS, and Fire Departments.
Thrown around was the idea of possibly creating an Emergency Service District (ESD) for the county, which would provide a centralized headquarters and better organization and communication between area services.
This would allow for better service for the county as a whole.
Also discussed were how costs for required equipment for Emergency Services are steadily on the rise, while budget cuts are continually affecting these departments and their ability to properly serve the community.
Plans are to further research the pros and cons of having an ESD for Freestone County and the steps needed to implement this type of service.
Future meetings are in the works. Stay tuned for details.
