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HOTCOG’s Rural Transit District is urging Freestone residents to utilize the rural bus service for travel to wherever they need to go.
Freestone County Commissioners heard the pitch from HOTCOG’s transportation manager at their Feb. 19 meeting, when the court also heard about an emergency youth facility, accepted the new by-laws of the Dispatch board and made other decisions on the county’s finances and well-being.
As for the rural bus service, Transportation Manager Ronald E. “Rep” Pledger showed the commissioners an audio-visual presentation on Blue Transit, the new name for the bus service, which features not only the “blue” name but also the buses painted blue to attract attention to the vehicles. The formerly white buses blended into the background of other traffic, but the new blue buses’ paint job has had people asking about the “new” service and buses that get attention.
HOTRTD (Heart of Texas Rural Transportation District) is one of 40 rural transit districts in the state and is based in Waco but serves Freestone, Limestone, Falls, Hill and Bosque counties.
The service only has about 125 trips a month in Freestone County, Pledger said, which is much fewer than the other four counties it serves.
Some people have the mistaken notion that the service is only for the elderly and disabled, or is only for medical appointments, but Pledger and County Judge Linda Grant both noted that the bus can be used by riders of any age and for most purposes, such as to work, to school, to shop, to visit someone, to go to a medical appointment or for other reasons.
The price is $1 each way within the county; and $2 each way to one of the other counties in the district. The bus operates Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and may be reached at 254-292-1873. More information may be found at gobluetransit. com.
AGENCY SEEKS TO HOUSE, TRAIN REMOVED YOUTH
Also at Wednesday’s meeting, representatives of STARR Resiliency Agency, Karen Daniels and LaShanda Marshall, gave a presentation on the agency and what it does.
“We started off as an emergency shelter,” Daniels said, “and now we are a general residential operations facility. We house children that have been removed from their homes into foster care, ages 5 to 18. We are a home that is located on Church Street here in Fairfield and we just want to let everybody know what we do. We take kids that have been abused and neglected; we can keep them for two days or 10 days – up to 90 days – or until their caseworker can find a more permanent placement for them.
“We are looking to expand into possibly getting another facility,” Daniels added. “Right now we house girls and boys. We’re looking to do something for the older kids because that’s when they seem to get lost in the system. At the age of 17, already nobody can tell them anything. But then all the legal aspects kick in for them. So we really try to encourage them to stay on track and do the things they need to do.”
One obstacle for them is mental health, she said, so the agency is trying to ensure the youth have counseling and therapists.
Currently Resiliency has a contract with agencies in Dallas, whose personnel travel to Freestone County.
“Our local MHMR normally won’t serve them, so we’re having to contract out,” Daniels said. “I guess what we’re looking for more locally is mental health.”
The children at the agency are mostly from Dallas and Tarrant County, she said, and a few that come from Bexar County.
Also speaking was LaShanda Marshall, the director of strategies, who said she will be responsible for the second facility; and also for a separate Center, which will house therapists and a place for teaching the youth skills they will need in life.
The agency also needs suitcases and duffle bags for the children to use to store their possessions.
More information about Starr Resiliency Agency may be found at starrresiliency.org.
OTHER COURT DECISIONS
In other business, the court approved an interlocal cooperation contract between the Department of Public Service and Freestone County.
Judge Grant noted that a warning has to be provided stating that if a person fails to appear in court for the prosecution of an offense, or fails to pay or satisfy a judgement the person may be denied renewal of the person’s driver’s license.
The court also accepted the new by-laws created by the Dispatch Board, which board representative Billy Perez described as “pretty standard.”
“The biggest reason we came up with the by-laws,” said Freestone County Emergency Management Coordinator Leonard Smith, “is so we could establish a guideline for us to operate on.”
He said that if any changes were needed, the board would recommend them to Commissioners Court to actually make any change.
Smith also told the court the Dispatchers should be in their new location in the Federal Building in July.
In other action, the court:
• Approved a $250 commercial application for utility services at the new Tax Office Building.
• Took no action to re-instate the burn ban.
• Amended its ad litem policy to make the fee for civil cases match the ad litem fee of criminal cases. The set fee is $500, or $90 an hour.
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