Fresh Tidbits from the City of Georgetown

The City Council authorized spending $373,250 on 2 new Dodge 6.7L diesel ambulances at the council meeting this week.

The council authorized the Fire Department at 105 employees in addition to the Chief.


Chief                   1
Assistant Chief         2
Fire Battalion Chief    5
Fire Captain            9
Fire Lieutenant        17
Fire Driver            21
Firefighter            51
Total                 106

The number of firefighters required to be paramedics was not identified, but, it is safe to assume many of the 51 firefighters will eventually become qualified paramedics to assure maximum scheduling flexibility.  It should also be noted that at least 10 of the 106 positions are devoted to management and support personnel. A detailed breakdown will be available when the Department budget is submitted.

Over the last 10 years the number of personnel in the Fire Department has grown from 55 in 2005 to 106 in 2015. That is a growth rate of 5 3/4%. The number of personnel in management and support has grown from 3 to 10 people. At the same time the budget has grown at a 10.32% annual rate, and that does not include the recent assumption of ambulance service in the city. The population grew at a 3.6% annual rate over the same period. It is clear that Fire Department staff and budget are increasing significantly faster than the population of Georgetown.

The Council authorized leasing 3600 SF in the new Public Safety Center to the Texas Attorney General for its Law Enforcement Division for 5 years with options for 5 additional 1 year leases. The lease requires payment to the city of $1450/month for utilities and janitorial services. Selected Georgetown police employees will also be trained in digital forensics by the Law Enforcement Division.

Water restrictions have been lifted throughout the Georgetown service area as a result of the recent rains.

Up coming items include a review of the UDC code that will include amendments and public hearings and a review of the recently passed bond spending plan.

The staff is bring forth a proposal for city employees to assume operation of the waste water and water treatment plants. These plants are currently operated under contract. This bears watching to assure the economic analysis considers the life costs of additional employees including retirement and lifetime health insurance costs. Assuming these operations in-house certainly reduce the flexibility of the city to reduce staff in the event of an economic down-turn or a change in treatment and processing technology.

Finally, discussions on the Capital Improvements for the Georgetown electrical system were held in executive session. It seems that more changes are coming that the council does not want the citizens to know about until it is too late to effect any change,.