County pulls back as Chief overplays city’s hand

MT. PLEASANT — On his first morning off the county payroll, city Fire Chief Larry McRae said city facilities will no longer be available for use of Titus County emergency personnel.

To make his meaning clear, “he said he’ll be checking ID’s at the door” during any event triggering his opening the city emergency operations center inside the Titus County Civic Center. The Civic Center is owned and operated by the city.

“The more he talks the more I’m convinced we did the right thing cutting him loose,” said the new county judge whose court is re-considering both the particulars and the nature of the county’s relationship with the city.

It’s one-sided in ways mattering most, said Judge Kent Cooper.

“God forbid it, but should anything ever happen that the city should need county facilities in a crisis situation, our door’s open,” said Judge Cooper, whose disgruntled ex-employee has set parameters for conflict his critics maintain is all about money and governing authority over Titus County’s six volunteer fire-fighting departments.

“What’s a human life worth?” answer supporters maintaining that providing the best in emergency services is his motivation.

Given the long view, the debate’s nothing new. On May 14, 1964, the Mt. Pleasant Daily Times reported the town council voted to “suspend” fire protection outside the city limits in the debate about who was to pay for what.

The career chief for Mt. Pleasant, Mr. McRae was put directly on the county payroll during the administration of Judge Brian Lee. Previously, the county contracted with the city for his services as the county’s Emergency Management Coordinator (EMC.) On his last day of work for the county, Mr. McRae called a meeting to deliver his terms of departure.

Sidestepping the commissioners’ court he earlier criticized, the outgoing EMC gave his message to the county through his replacement.

“I took what he told me to the judge,” said Jerry Ward. Learning that he’d be barred from the Civic Center, the new Titus County EMC set up a new communication center inside the Tri-Lakes Volunteer Fire Department where he’s been fire chief for 20 years.

Seven months into the term of the newly-elected judge, in July Chief McRae asked to be put on the commissioners’ court agenda to “address misinformation given by members of the commissioners’ court concerning fire protection and emergency management,” during months leading up to his dismissal.

After being put on the county payroll books, Mr. McRae was appointed by the previous administration to a committee defining and expanding his authority over all county volunteer fire fighting resources. Subsequently, his monthly reports numerically categorized their failings.

He provided secretly recorded video purported to show one department’s improperly conducting a pressure test on fire hose. He cited training failures related to requirements clarified in committee revisions. The greater the county’s failings, the more the need for services from the city, he reported.

Those reports anchored the current year’s $400,000 increase in county payments approved during the final month of Judge Lee’s administration. The volunteer departments get $1,600 monthly in county funds.

In his requested appearance before the court, Mr. McRae addressed his relationship with the new judge.

Mr. McRae met weekly with former County Judge Brian Lee. Addressing the new court after being given notice of his dismissal, he took issue with word regarding his lack of communication with the new court.

Though no longer routinely reporting to commissioners, on his way out the door Mr. McRae said he had two meetings with the new judge during the previous six months.

Judge Cooper said they’d met once.

“I guess it depends on how you define meeting,” the judge said.

In his last years as both the city fire chief and county EMC, Mr. McRae’s reports provided a bully pulpit for statistics justifying increases in the price of the county contract with the city for emergency services.

His final days as EMC, he statistically validated his position that the county should fund the addition of as many as 15 new firemen to the city’s existing 32-man department.

He dismissed “conflict of interest” conclusions related to his dual role regarding budgets of two entities.

The 5-year contract approved last December passed only after the city dropped its initial proposal for additional built-in increases in successive years. The approved agreement provides an escape clause demanded by commissioners Jeff Parchman and Dana Applewhite. The compromise providing an out for the county requires a year’s notice.

The contract further requires that the county pay half the cost of new equipment for the city department.

The county is now studying the feasibility of establishing an independent department.

“We’ve got until our contract’s anniversary date to provide notice to the city,” Judge Cooper said. In keeping with the contract’s escape clause, the county would pay the city another $1.3 million for its last 12 months of city-provided emergency services. That gives everybody a year — time for the city to determine whether to trim its department’s expenses by a third or match the budget shortfall should the county contribution go instead for operation of a new fire station.

In his two decades of service with the Tri-Lakes, volunteer Chief Jerry Ward has expanded the scope of his department’s work.

“When I started, all we did was respond to grass fires,” he said. While that remains as the base-line work of rural volunteers, he recruited Pittsburg Emergency Medical Service officer Raland Ruffner to train Tri-Lakes volunteers.

“Tri-Lakes serves a rural community with a large population of retirees,” he said. “In the early days when we began working with Titus Regional ambulance services, our contribution was limited.”

Responding to ambulance calls began when the department protocol was maintaining radio contact to guide ambulances to rural homes.

“You find the house and we’ll find you,” was the order of the day before ambulances were equipped with global positioning technology to guide the way. Now, trained volunteers dispatched from the Tri-Lakes station beat the ambulance to locations “nine times out of ten,” Chief Ward said. At the extreme edge, volunteers are now trained to administer CPR. More often, they’re relaying patient information to medical personnel while the ambulance is on the way.

A one-time truck driver, Chief Ward changed careers when he and wife Penny moved to rural Titus County. He worked for trailer manufacturers before opening a family manufacturing business building custom barbecue pits. In three years they built 290 ranging in price from $2,800 to $14,000.

Today, he’s over environmental services in one of Priefert Manufacturing’s facilities.

His start as a fireman began the day he lost control of a brush pile fire while clearing land the couple bought when they settled near Monticello. After the volunteers brought the fire under control, he announced his intent to sign on.

When he declared that if he were elected chief “we’d do more than fight grass fires,” the other volunteers took him at his word and voted him in. He hunted down a retired pumper truck as the department’s flagship structure-firefighting unit. They’ve upgraded brush fire equipment.

For two years, he’s been the volunteer chief watching silently until the simmering conflict regarding county-wide emergency services burst into flame.

When he applied for the EMC slot and declared himself the best man for the job, the county took him at his word.

“The leadership he’s demonstrated at Tri-Lakes speaks for itself,” Judge Cooper said.

The momentary focus on political matters, Jerry Ward said, is secondary to the larger matter of the long-term mission.