(Kain Dodd, Chairman of the Milam County ESD, made a presentation at last week’s city council meeting and The Reporter asked him if he would provide the editorial this week about his grassroots efforts to create an Emergency Services District in Milam County to eventually replace the for-profit AMR services. —K.W.C.)
On June 13, I asked all of the citizens in Milam County to please band together and sign a petition to create an Emergency Services District (ESD) in Milam County. An ESD is a grassroots organization that is created by registered voters and landowners within a county. The proposed district will fund an additional 4th ambulance, rebuild the EMS stations and allow us to create our own Milam County EMS system in the future. For more information regarding the creation process of an ESD please see Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 775.
On July 5 I submitted the petition to County Judge Steve Young which was accepted and filed with the County Clerk. On July 11 the County Commissioners scheduled a public hearing for the citizens of Milam County to be held on August 8 at 10 a.m. at the Milam County Court House. The next step in the creation process is to receive written consent from all five incorporated cities in the county. Each city must adopt a resolution allowing its city limits and its extraterritorial jurisdiction to be included in the proposed district should it be voted in by the citizens of that city.
On July 11 I presented to the Rockdale City Council. After a very informative presentation and discussion, the city council accepted our request for municipal consent. This action does not mean that the district will be created in Rockdale. All this does is allow the citizens of Rockdale to vote on the creation of the district in November, should the commissioners approve to place the creation of the district on the ballot.
Since this meeting the City of Thorndale and the Town of Buckholts have also granted the same consent. We will be meeting with the City of Milano on July 19 at their regular stated city council meeting. The City of Cameron met on Monday night and gave their consent to be included in the ESD should the citizens of Cameron vote for it in November.
If the ESD is created, it will assume responsibility for the AMR and PHI air medical contracts. This ESD will give the citizens the opportunity to govern and oversee our own EMS system. We will no longer have to rely on a for-profit ambulance company or the Coalition (made up of the cities of Rockdale and Cameron along with Milam County) to make these decisions.
We need a board whose budget is strictly dedicated to assuring the citizens of Milam county receive the best level of EMS care available in their time of need. We must end these outrageous response times. We must create an ESD.
We have come a long way with the creation of this district and we still have a very long way to go. Please follow me on this journey. If you have any questions please call me at 979-436-5723.
—Kain Dodd, Chairman of Milam County ESD
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