NEWS BRIEFS
News from Round Rock & Williamson County
County seeks to fill remaining vacancies for 911 dispatchers
Local schools can now apply for career program funding
DISPATCHER STATS Williamson County Emergency
Communications is working to fill empty positions. Some key stats for WCEC include:
BY HANNAH NORTON
$57,291 starting salary for WCEC telecom officer 60 total dispatchers in WCEC 38 agencies for which WCEC dispatches aid
Texas schools and colleges, including in Round Rock, Pflugerville and Hutto, can now apply for the Jobs and Education for Texans grant. The program helps educational institutions purchase and install the equipment for career and technical education courses. A Texas Workforce Commission news release states approximately $8.6 million in JET funding is available during fiscal year 2022-23, which began Sept. 1. The JET program applications are due March 14, according to the release. PROGRAM COVERAGE The Jobs and Education for Texans program helps Texas school districts fund programs for career and technical education. Pays for: Purchase and installation of career and technical education equipment. Does not pay for: Consumable items or equipment repairs.
BY GRANT CRAWFORD
WILLIAMSON COUNTY While emergency call centers throughout the country face staffing shortages, Williamson County Emergency Com- munications staff have made a concerted effort to fill vacancies in recent years. Department heads updated officials on recent progress of the hiring initiative during a Feb. 7 Wil- liamson County Commissioners Court meeting. Chris Connealy, senior director of emergency services, said the No. 1 challenge facing dis- patchers in the U.S., including in Williamson County, is filling empty positions. However, Connealy said the department has filled all but five of its vacancies—the lowest number of empty roles since Connealy joined the county nearly five years ago. “As of 2022, our dispatchers are the highest paid in the state,” Connealy said. “Even with that, that didn’t fix all of our challenges.” Connealy said the “organizational culture”
SOURCE: WILLIAMSON COUNTY/COMMUNITY IMPACT
within the department was previously “not healthy” and is working toward having no vacancies in his department by early 2023. “We’re a complex operation,” he said. “We dispatch 38 different agencies. Certainly [during] the ice storm, we got all types of entities that we’re interacting with on an emergency basis. So we need to have people on top of their game." The department also saw a change in lead- ership Feb. 5. Kate Wolf, former professional standards division manager, took over the director position. Wolf replaced Thomas Piche, who took a new job with the Williamson County Wireless Communications department.
SOURCE: TEXAS WORKFORCE COMMISSION/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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ROUND ROCK EDITION • MARCH 2023
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