Freestone County is on the move – literally, or at least, some of the offices are.

The Tax Office (above) is moving to the old Chiropractor’s building on Commerce; Dispatchers and Deputies are moving to what is currently the Tax Office building. Freestone County Detectives have already moved across the street. Even the records in the County Clerk’s Office are getting a new home.

Surprisingly, not only will it result in more efficient offices, but it will save the County and City of Fairfield money.

The County Dispatchers and City of Fairfield Dispatchers have already combined and are temporarily housed at the Sheriff’s Office.

Previously, when a 9-1-1 call came into the County Dispatch that involved Fairfield, the call was transferred to them, which sometimes caused delays in getting much needed assistance. They now also maintain their own budget, funded by the County and the Cities of Fairfield and Teague.

Another benefit of the Dispatch consolidation is being able to put more individuals on the three shifts, reducing critical shortages, when a dispatcher leaves or is out – a great stress reduction on the staff.

The new Dispatch Office will come equipped with three state-of-the-art consoles, each on their own circuit. Heart of Texas Council of Governments (HOTCOG) paid for two of these with the County purchasing one. The new office will be equipped with tracking devices in order to know exactly where each law enforcement officer in the County is, resulting in quicker response time. They will have their own bathroom and a kitchenette – a must for those 12-hour shifts. The office will be equipped with new, comfortable furniture!

Deputy Larry Jones, who monitors the Courthouse, will now be able to monitor the County Tax office, as cameras are being installed there. There will be four panic buttons located in Dispatch, Deputy, Probation, and Tax Offices.

With the move of the Tax Office to the new facility (below), there will no longer be stairs to climb, as the parking lot leads directly into the building.

This is a real plus for the elderly and handicapped who must come in to pay taxes or get a vehicle registered. Precinct 1 Commissioner, Andy Bonner, and Precinct 3 Commissioner Lloyd Lane are in the process of paving a parking lot behind the New Tax Office for employee parking.
County Clerk, Rene Reynolds, has found herself without adequate storage space. The answer is to move these files to where the deputies currently are, a savings of approximately $400,000 to the County, according to Commissioner Lane.

Deputies are getting laptops for their vehicles, and they have recently gotten new body cameras.

A new communications tower became necessary, as well as a moving a microwave communications device. These will be completed by Huffman Communications.

An Information Technology (IT) person, Dane McBroom, has been hired to oversee all computer repairs and purchases. Prior to his employment, each office was required to order their own computers and printers and enlist the assistance of an outside contractor to do repairs.

Mr. McBroom is on the second floor of the current tax office, as is Leonard Smith’s, Emergency Management Coordinator.

The McCreary Law office, that handles County Delinquent Taxes, will also have a room at the new Tax Office.

A lot of walls are coming up and going down, and many wires are being put in place. However, Commissioner Lane expects to have the project finished in July of this year.

Dispatchers, Deputies, Jailers, and the Records Clerk will be using a new “E-Force” software to tie all the operations together. For example, a deputy apprehends a suspect. He then enters pertinent data on his new laptop in his vehicle. That data is fed to the jail, so much of the manual intensive gathering of information by the jailer has already been done. The data also goes to the Dispatchers and the Records Clerk. This will reduce and, perhaps, eliminate the storage of paperwork and CDs.

Commissioner Lane noted many individuals have worked diligently to get this project done, starting with the Commissioners who approved it in the 2024 budget. HOTCOG’S financial assistance and “green light” for the project was a real boon.

My thanks to Commissioner Lloyd Lane for his input on this article.

Mary McDonald
Freelance Reporter