Pflugerville moves toward establishing a franchise requirement for emergency medical services
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Pflugerville City Council voted on Tuesday evening at first reading to set a franchise requirement for the provision of emergency services within the city.
City officials said all emergency calls made from the city must be handled by Pflugerville first responders and the contracted EMS provider. Any outside EMS or non-emergency ambulance transfer services operated within the city are illegal.
The request will be submitted to the Council for a second reading and vote on 12 October.
“This is a stepping stone to setting up a city-owned or city-licensed ambulance service,” said Councilor David Rogers. “The city could set up a city-owned service, contract with an independent company, or enter into a public partnership with a company like Austin Travis County EMS.”
A final vote, however, would make it less likely that Travis County Emergency Services District No. 17, which launched elections in November to annex the city and make it extra-territorial, will act as an ambulance for the city.
“This has no direct bearing on the elections,” said Rogers, “but it certainly makes the case for ESD # 17 more difficult.”
In August, the city filed a lawsuit against ESD No. 17 for disrupting its authority by making a proposal at the November vote to let city dwellers vote on whether they could be taxed for their EMS services.
“This is an unfortunate attempt to circumvent the authority of the Pflugerville City Council as elected officials to represent the residents of Pflugerville and provide emergency services,” city officials said in a press release at the time.
Voters in the Austin, Manor, and Taylor extraterritorial jurisdictions located in the Travis County’s ESD No. 2, also known as the Pflugerville Fire Department, voted in May to create ESD No. 17 too to cover the cost of ambulance services. Pflugerville City Council voted not to put the item on its ballot and said it would look into other funding options.
In September, Travis District Judge Jessica Mangrum dismissed the city’s lawsuit against ESD No. 17 without the court ruling on the city’s injunction.
On Aug. 12, Travis County District Court Judge Jan Soifer denied the city’s motion for a restraining order against ESD No. 17.
MORE: Pflugerville School District Approves COVID-19 Vacation For Employees
Mike Bessner, President of ESD Board # 2, said he was discouraged that the council was preventing residents from voting on whether they could be taxed for their EMS services.
“The council seems so terrified of letting voters determine how life-saving fire and rescue services are funded.
Two ballots will appear on Travis County’s November 2nd ballot, one for residents of Pflugerville to vote on whether to expand ESD 17 into the city and another for ETJ voters to see if it can expand of ETJ von Pflugerville to decide.
“As a resident of Pflugerville, it is disappointing to see that democratically elected officials go so far as to silence the voices of the people they are supposed to represent,” said Bessner. “It is clear that for some, power is more important than the voice of the people on this issue.”
The early voting for the November 2nd elections will begin on October 18th.
COVID-19 precautions for the German Pfest discussed
During its meeting on Tuesday evening, the council also heard from officials of the German Pfest about security precautions for the city’s upcoming German Pfest.
Some of the safety precautions planned for this year’s festival include:
• All participants over 2 years of age are required to wear a mask unless they eat or drink.
• Disposable masks are provided to all staff, volunteers and participants who need them.
• Paper and contactless transactions are made as easy as possible in the vendor areas.
• Emails will be sent to ticket holders 72 hours in advance to inform them of refund details due to COVID-19 concern or exposure.
The annual festival celebrates the city’s German roots and offers residents food, music, rides and entertainment. The coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of last year’s festival.
RELATED: Pflugervilles German Pfest is Ready to Return, but with a Few Security Changes
In February, the annual three-day festival was moved from May to October. This year’s festival will take place from 15.-16. October in the Pfluger Park. Admission to the festival is $ 5 on October 15 and $ 7 on October 16. Children up to and including 6 years are free.
On October 17th The event moves to the Pfennigpark, where a 5K run and the Hanz health fair take place. City spokeswoman Maggie Holman said the health fair is a new addition to the festival this year.
“A full list will be released next week as we are still recruiting vendors, but right now we have grocery sellers, sports and fitness organizations, physical therapists, COVID-19 tests and COVID-19 vaccines from APH,” Holman said in an email .
Last month the council voted to cancel all children’s activities and the parade to keep the festival safer as the Delta variant increases in Travis County.
“Because the teens cannot have a vaccine, Austin City Limits canceled its children’s zones this year. We’re seeing this pandemic spread to our youth, “said Shane Mize, the city’s director of parks and recreation.
To limit personal interaction, Mize said all gates will be cashless and entry can be pre-purchased through Eventbrite or with a 2021 German Pfest T-shirt or 2021 German Pfest 5K T-shirt.
“This year there will be no cash, credit card only through Eventbrite,” said Mize.
This year’s Deutsche Pfest T-shirts can also be purchased from Eventbrite and are available in sizes from youth to 3XL.
Further information on this year’s German Pfest can be found at deutschepfest.com.
This article has been updated to take into account that the vote on the proposal took place at first reading.
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