Liberty County delays approval of volunteer fire department contracts after chiefs push back on background-check authority
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Summary
Commissioners tabled proposed uniform contracts that shift agreements from ESDs to volunteer fire departments and add county-run background checks after several chiefs argued departments should retain final hiring authority; court will reconvene to revise contract language within a week.
Liberty County commissioners on Dec. 9, 2025, moved to table proposed annual firefighting-service contracts after an extended public exchange between volunteer fire chiefs and county staff over who should hold final authority to accept volunteers and how background checks should be handled.
The contracts, drafted to align with a recent agreement the city of Cleveland signed, would give the county a contractual duty to require background checks that meet Texas Commission on Fire Protection (TCFP) standards. Fire marshal Nathan Green and county staff said the change is intended to ensure consistent standards and to protect departments and residents. “What we're looking for is assurance … in the form of contractual duties that can assure us that that's not going to happen,” the fire marshal said, referring to past incidents where volunteers had disqualifying records.
Volunteer chiefs and their representatives urged the court to preserve the departments’ ability to make final decisions about who serves. “For us to take somebody in that wants to volunteer that had something happen 20 years ago … for that person not to be given a second chance,” said a volunteer representative, asking that local departments retain final hiring discretion. Nick Nelson, fire chief of Arden, described repeated efforts to resolve contract language and said departments need clarity about whether contracts should be with Emergency Service Districts (ESDs) or the volunteer fire departments (VFDs) themselves.
County attorneys and staff noted legal distinctions between interlocal agreements used by taxing entities and contracts under Chapter 352 of the Texas Health and Safety Code (fire code), and said minor drafting changes could resolve that issue. Commissioners and the fire chiefs agreed they could accept the same TCFP standards in writing; several chiefs said they would run their own checks and provide results, while county staff asked for contractual assurance that those checks meet the county’s minimum standards.
After discussion about financial reporting, monthly budgets, and whether payments would be prorated to Sept. 2026, Commissioner Gerald moved to table the item to allow staff and the VFDs to finalize contract language. The court scheduled a follow-up to return the revised contracts to the agenda within one week. The court did not approve any contract change on Dec. 9.
Next steps: county staff will revise the contract language (including explicit reference to TCFP standards), coordinate with the four ESDs and the volunteer departments, and return the revised item to the commissioners' agenda for a vote.
