The Blanco County Emergency Services District No. 2 decided to cancel a pair of fundraising events at its March 17 meeting.

The board discussed whether to proceed with two upcoming events: the fish fry on April 4 and a 5K Fun Run scheduled for May 2. These events not only act as fundraisers for BCESD 2, but they also provide an opportunity for them to interact with the community.

After much consideration, the board voted to cancel both events. They discussed the possibility of deferring the events to the fall, but there were two issues with doing so. First, the possibility that there may be even tighter restrictions at that time, due to the Coronavirus. Second, many other events were already booked for that timeframe.

Ultimately, the board concluded, that it was also best to not defer them to a later date. It was apparent the decisions were difficult ones for each of the board members. But, As Ann Hall, president of the board, stated, “we need to be a role model for our community.”

Regarding the gun raffle, it was determined that it could continue as planned since it will be carried out online.

Another agenda item approved was to give authorization to the chief of EMS and to the treasurer to transfer funds to another financial account when an account balance reaches $250,000. This will keep balances within the FDIC limit for maximum amount insured.

Next, the board considered options for handling billing for out-of-district calls. These are calls answered by BCESD 2, but they are not actually within BCESD 2. The board voted in February to charge for service in any area outside the district. These out-of-district residents can find themselves paying in the thousands of dollars for fire suppression due to the billing rate set by the Texas Forest Service.

The purpose for the discussion involved whether or not to provide these residents an alternative to paying the Texas Forest Service billing rate after an event, such as a fire, has occurred. The alternative would be to provide them an opportunity to purchase a membership that would include them into BCESD 2, prior to the occurrence of an event. The board then discussed the question regarding the type of fee schedule to be used if memberships are indeed offered to these out-of-district residents.

The residents in question are those along RR 1888 and Crabapple Road. Even though they have historically been covered by BCESD 2, they reside within Kendall County’s coverage area. In addition, some residents along RR 1623, in the Stonewall area are in the Fredericksburg ISD, which is within Blanco County, but was not part of the district when it was formed. Therefore, they are not in Blanco ISD, which is the boundary for BCESD2 and do not pay BCESD taxes for service.

Regarding the residents along RR 1888 and Crabapple Road, there are efforts being made with Kendall County to come to some type of agreement. However, for the affected residents along RR 1623, a petition for inclusion is required, and then there must be a vote within the district area and Fredericksburg Independent School District area within Blanco County. This could possibly be voted upon in the May 2021 election if a petition is received from the residents.

However, in all cases, BCESD2 will respond to all Fire and EMS calls in these areas.

“Let’s continue as currently agreed upon,” said Chief Ben Oakley, after a long discussion on the matter. “We will continue to charge until we investigate options further for another month.” The board agreed and postponed the vote until their scheduled meeting in April.

The board also agreed to postpone a vote to next month regarding Oakley’s request to transfer funds for the purchase of a new Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system. The funds were approved one year ago, but the CAD system was never purchased. As of now, BCESD 2 has only one CAD system in place. The board agreed with the need for the additional CAD system, however, they decided to postpone the chief’s request to transfer those unused funds in order to determine the best approach to make those funds presently available, while keeping with proper budget guidelines.

Lastly, the board considered Chief Oakley’s request to allow salaried employees to be paid for backfilling a vacant shift. The request was approved.

The next BCESD 2 board of commissioners meeting is scheduled to be held April 21 at 3 p.m. at 431 Blanco Ave., in the BCESD2 station training room.