ESD calls special meeting, ambulance service for half a million at issue
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The meeting will be held at 10 am, Thursday July 2 at 7111 Five Forks in Spring, Texas
The elected members of ESD #11 have scheduled a special meeting Thursday that may affect ambulance service for folks who live in Northwest Harris County, from Tomball to Spring.
The meeting was called as Cypress Creek EMS continues to defy requests for public records, even from the ESD Board, which represents the taxpayers who fund the 911 ambulance service.
In the last several months, Cypress Creek has ignored criminal charges, and legal opinions from the Texas Attorney General and the Emergency Service District. Cypress Creek is even suing the Texas Attorney General to keep payroll records secret.
At the same time Cypress Creek is using public funds made from the 911 service to wage a battle for secrecy, even refusing to tell the ESD the names of the people being paid with taxpayer dollars.
The big question Thursday, will elected commissioners vote to withhold payments to CCEMS until they comply with state transparency laws.
“The ESD must enforce transparency laws,” says Wayne Dolcefino, President of Dolcefino Consulting. “ It is not an excuse that CCEMS has a good response time. This is about accountability and the waste of funds on secrecy should be a deal breaker for the people who pay the bill.”
Dolcefino Consulting, an investigative communications firm led by investigative journalist Wayne Dolcefino has already spent more than $25,000 in a legal effort to force disclosure of Cypress Creek expenditures. The company is asking a Harris County District Judge to compel compliance with provisions of the Texas Public
Information Act and Chapter 22, regulating the disclosure of financial records of a non-profit corporation.
Cypress Creek even refuses to identify how much the Executive Director Brad England currently makes, even though a 2013 tax return put the figure at 180,000 a year, more than the salary for the Harris County Judge.
An investigation by Dolcefino Consulting has exposed questionable entertainment spending, possible violations of Texas election law, and irregularities in bidding on lucrative CCEMS contracts.
The meeting will be held at 10 am, Thursday July 2 at 7111 Five Forks in Spring, Texas.
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