September 2024

Bill Spinks wspinks@cherryroad.com After considering a proposal for a multi-year contract Tuesday night, the Midlothian City Council chose instead to approve a one-year contract with Ellis County Emergency Services District No. 2 to provide fire and EMS response effective Oct. 1. The district includes areas outside the city limits within the Midlothian ISD attendance zone, but for years the ESD has contracted with the city to provide coverage. These agreements in the past have always been on an annual basis, but Midlothian Fire Chief Dale McCaskill this year proposed a three-year agreement, with a pair of one-year agreements at the end of the first three years if both parties agreed. There was also a one-year opt-out clause in the contract. In return, the ESD would pay the city a base fee of $1.125 million per year, with an additional estimated $175,000 from EMS service billing. The fee would increase in each of the following two years. How much the fee would increase, though, is what concerned members of the council based on the rate of growth in areas outside the city. Councilmember Mike Rodgers suggested using a “punch in, punch out” system to track fire and ambulance usage in the ESD. Rodgers also raised another concern, namely future state legislation, which might fast-track development of municipal utility districts in the state. Already, there are several of these MUDs in the works within the ESD coverage area. “We know this is coming,” Rodgers said. “I can’t imagine doing this more than a year at a time.” Rodgers made a motion to authorize a one-year contract with the ESD, and it passed 5-2. One thing that will change, McCaskill said, is the city of Ovilla’s establishment of an EMS unit that is expected to come online in April 2025. McCaskill said some […]