Community Impact reports that on March 5th, Montgomery County Commissioners Court okayed a new appointment structure for emergency service district boards that span more than a single precinct.
The new appointment structure passed in a 4 to 1 vote following the commissioners discussion of oversight, accountability and who should shape boards that make highly important public safety decisions. It’s a move that officials in the county said is done to add consistency to how those boards are filled.
In following the new structure, one of the five seats on each ESD board will be selected by the county judge. The four seats remaining will be recommended by the commissioner—or commissioners—whose precinct includes that district.
If an ESD crosses into two precincts, each commissioner would choose two positions. A commissioner would select four if the ESD lies fully within one precinct. The full court would still have to approve the appointments.
The ESD’s over see emergency and fire response operations, and sometimes, manage budgets that equal or exceed county department budgets.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Matt Gray said there hasn’t been a formal structure for these appointments. He said instead of leaving influence concentrated with one person, the new model would spread the responsibility.
He also pointed out that the system could provide “checks and balances” on boards that manage taxpayer dollars and decisions on major emergency response.
There was some pushback on the idea. Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley didn’t like the proposition of a county judge appointing someone to an ESD board in another commissioner’s precinct. He said he was not comfortable with someone choosing a board member in his area who may not be familiar with the people or local issues there.
Riley wondered would any real problem be solved by the change. He said the commissioners are already mandated by law to appoint the boards but do not control what the boards basically do.
