Commissioners name Harless county’s new fire marshal

Gonzales County Emergency Management Director Jimmy Harless has another title after Monday’s meeting of the Gonzales County Commissioners Court — Gonzales County Fire Marshal.

Commissioners voted unanimously to name Harless to the position that was last held by Sheriff Keith Schmidt when he was the Gonzales Fire Chief. It had been vacant since Schmidt was appointed sheriff in September 2021.

The position was discussed at the last court meeting but was tabled. On Monday, Precinct 2 Commissioner Donnie Brzozowski said he believes the county definitely needs someone in the position and that Harless would be a logical choice.

“I know we didn’t want to spend the money or whatever it takes to have one, but I do think we need a fire marshal,” Brzozowski said. “Jimmy already has a vehicle. He is a licensed officer. I think it would be good to make Jimmy our fire marshal. We talked a little bit about his budget and all he would need would be a little extra for fuel sometimes.”

Harless said he had spoken to another county about what he would need to do to get licensed and it would simply involve some online coursework on inspections, of which he would only need to perform about six to 10 per year for facilities in the county that are out of city jurisdictions.

“What we would do is gather some information on the fees and inspection sheets and bring that before the court to let you look at it and make a decision, because I do think there needs to be a charge for inspections,” Harless said. “I'm already at any major incidents anyway and I think that with the contacts that I've developed with the state, especially with Guadalupe County … I'm basically already doing most of it anyway, so it's more of a title.”

Harless said one of Schmidt’s investigators is already working on his arson inspection license and that would give the county another individual who could handle those types of cases.

“I think on an inspection side and the planning review side, that's extremely important (to have a fire marshal) now the way we're growing and it's already coming through my office anyway,” Harless said.

Commissioners also voted unanimously to appoint Jacey Trammell to replace Christina Jahns on the Gonzales County Emergency Services District No. 1 board of directors.

Jahns resigned from the board as its treasurer after a letter went out to eight rescue team volunteers, terminating their membership for failing to meet training and participation requirements by not participating in at least 20 hours of training per year and not taking part in at least 25 percent of “calls” as defined by the district.

“While I appreciate the impact being a part of this organization has made on the community and myself, I no longer feel it is a fit for me,” Jahns announced in a Facebook post back in February. “After seeing the postings on social media regarding the letter received by volunteer rescue members which included my name in the heading, I felt this was done without my knowledge and with no prior notification that this would be taking place.”

Trammell, along with her father Jason Haile, was one of those terminated members and she expressed an interest in filling Jahns’ spot on the board during the public comments section of the meeting. No other candidate for the spot was named.

In other action, commissioners also approved a quitclaim deed of a 0.33-acre tract of land outside Nixon that is adjacent to the Latin-American Cemetery on Texas 80. The land, which is needed by the cemetery for additional parking, has been long maintained by the county and no other ownership interest could be found in the land.

“I had First Shot Surveying survey the property and they could not find any additional property owners that could possibly claim any ownership to this tract of land,” Precinct 4 Commissioner Collie Boatright Jr. said. “After visiting with (County Attorney) Paul (Watkins), being that the county was a caretaker but technically not the owner, we were deciding what would be the best mode of transferring this property for use by the Latin American Cemetery Association.”

Watkins said the quitclaim deed basically says the county is giving up any ownership interest it might have had in the property by transferring said interest to the other party.