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Nueces County risk manager asks commissioners for AED maintenance funds and an assistant to preserve institutional knowledge
Summary
Risk management requested roughly $5,000 in annual operating funds to support a planned increase in AEDs from 26 to 42 and asked for a junior clerk to capture decades of staff knowledge before a planned retirement. Officials told commissioners the existing AED models are no longer supported and parts are hard to obtain.
Lance, the county’s risk manager, told the Commissioners Court that the office’s only proposed change to its standard operating budget is an increase of about $5,000 to cover annual maintenance for newly planned automated external defibrillators (AEDs) as the department seeks to expand units in county locations from 26 to 42. “We only have 1 increase, which is about $5,000 for supporting the new AEDs that we anticipate rolling into our current number,” Lance said during the hearing.
Lance said the county’s older AEDs (the G3 model) are no longer supported by the manufacturer and that replacement parts and consumables — pads that must be changed every two years and batteries that must be replaced annually — are becoming unavailable. “So at a point, they reach where they’re no longer viable, and you can’t get the parts for them,” he said, explaining the safety rationale for replacing unsupported units.
Beyond the equipment request, Lance asked commissioners for an additional administrative hire to preserve institutional knowledge and keep risk-management operations running if a long‑time staff member retires. He said that employee — “Martha” — holds substantial operational knowledge the office needs to transfer and that the office is currently understaffed compared with comparable counties. Lance described county staffing ratios for risk management that are well above typical levels and argued that an entry‑to‑mid‑level clerk position would allow him to remain proactive in the field while office work and claims handling continue uninterrupted.
Commissioners asked about job classification and pay grade for the requested hire and thanked Lance for the department’s recent work that contributed to lower insurance renewal costs and reduced losses. There was no formal vote on the request; commissioners said they would review the proposal as they consider the wider budget.
Ending: Commissioners did not take immediate action during the hearing and asked staff to include the AED maintenance line and the staffing request in materials for further review alongside other departmental proposals.
