Chambers County to shift parts of Highway 146 corridor to Baytown fire/EMS under $400,000 annual agreement

Chambers County Commissioners on Dec. 9 approved an agreement with the City of Baytown for Baytown to provide fire and emergency medical services to portions of unincorporated Chambers County along the Highway 146 corridor and adjacent industrial parks.

County staff said Baytown's Pinehurst station is closer to some areas currently served by volunteer or more distant units and that Baytown personnel are dual-certified for fire and EMS, which they argued will improve response times. The court heard that Baytown will reassign one ambulance box to Pinehurst and staff it for county coverage, and that mutual aid arrangements will remain in place.

During discussion, a staff presenter initially stated the annual contract cost was $300,000, then corrected the figure to $400,000. The presenter described that $400,000 as roughly equivalent to the cost of a staffed ambulance box and the associated personnel costs.

The court moved, seconded and approved the agreement by voice vote, with implementation noted to begin Jan. 1 and a plan to update the 911 center's GIS mapping so dispatchers identify the new first-responder assignments.

"They're gonna actually they're gonna shift over one of their ambulance boxes to Pinehurst, and staff that for us," a county presenter said. "So, we couldn't do these services at this level, for this cost." The same presenter later corrected the annual figure to $400,000 when asked by the court.

The meeting record shows the court's approval but does not include a roll-call tally; the transcript records only voice votes and the clerk's notation that the motion carried.

Next steps recorded in the meeting: staff will update GIS and 911 dispatch records before the Jan. 1 implementation date.