As Water Bill Comes Due, County Trying to Round Up Empty Bottles

Fayette County officials are trying to track down all of the empty five-gallon water bottles that were distributed to residents who were without water during the February winter storm. The issue came up at a commissioner court meeting last Thursday.

The County recently received invoices for about $7,500 from Aqua Beverage, the local bottled water supplier. About half of that cost was for the $6 deposit on each water bottle.

“We need to gather up those deposits, because there are still a lot of them out there,” said Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom.

Many of the bottles went to residents on the Bluff south of La Grange who get water from Monument Hill Water Control and Improvement District (WCID). Monument Hill WCID agreed to reimburse the County for the cost of all bottled water who went to their customers.

“They are letting resident know so we can get those bottles back,” McBroom said.

Many of the bottles also went to Care Inn and Hill Nursing Home. Pct. 3 Commissioner Harvey Berckenhoff asked whether those groups would reimburse the County for the cost of the water.

“The only one who officially said they were going to pay for it was Monument Hill water district,” McBroom said. “The rest was given out by Fayette County.”

Angela Hahn, assistant emergency management coordinator for Fayette County, said the cost of the water should get reimbursed through disaster aid from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA). However, she advised County officials to carefully document where all of the water went.

“They’re not requiring that, but FEMA could change the rules in the middle of the game,” Hahn said.

“Still, we owe it to the State of Texas to try and get those deposits back,” McBroom said. “We want to be wise with the taxpayers’ money.”

Commissioners ultimately decided to defer action on the bill until the next meeting. In the meantime, County officials will attempt to track down and collect the empty bottles to offset the deposit fees.

“It was an emergency and we did what we thought was right,” said County Judge Joe Weber. “We’ve got a local supplier of this water and they were really good to us. We need to pay them.”

McBroom said Aqua Beverage agreed to hold the bill while the County collects the outstanding bottles.

Also at Thursday’s meeting, Angela Hahn reported that the County gave out over 1,000 vaccines at the drive through clinic at the Fairgrounds last Monday.

“It was very successful,” Hahn said.

Texas National Guard troops assisted the County with the vaccine effort.

The County had about 100 doses left over from the clinic. On Friday, National Guard troops and local volunteers went door-to-door distributing those doses to homebound residents.

In addition, Hahn said the vaccine hub in Brenham will no longer require pre-registration and an appointment as of Monday, March 29.

“They’re getting three to four thousand first doses a week, and they’re having trouble getting people to take them,” Hahn said. “That seems to be an indicator that those who want the vaccines have got them. Those who don’t, maybe its time we start pushing it to the pharmacies, just like the flu shot and shingles shot.”

Hahn said that some people prefer the one-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, which require two doses.

In other business, the Commissioners discussed a one-year contract extension with Ambulance Medical Billing (AMB), the Kentucky-based company that provides billing services for Fayette County EMS.

In previous meeting, Fayette County EMS Director Josh Vandever has said the County’s long-distance relationship with the Kentucky-based company poses some challenges. Patients sometimes question why they receive a bill from Kentucky for ambulance services in Fayette County. In addition, county officials have sometimes questioned the company performance in regard to collections.

“Unless we find another vendor that has a better rate, a better return or a better process in billing, I don’t think the money that we’ll lose in the transition is worth the transition,” Vandever said. “If my opinion changes, and I’ll be actively look at that over the next couple of months, I will absolutely bring it up to the Commissioners Court before then.”

“It would be nice to get someone a little more local, like within our state,” said Weber. “But maybe this is the best deal we can get.”

The contract stipulates that the County will pay AMB a 4.75 percent commission on all collections. The county’s previous billing provider, Intermedix, charged a 12 percent commission, Vandever said. The County switched to AMB in 2018.

“Intermedix was providing us with tablets, customer support with the hardware, it was more involved,” Vandever said.

However, Vandever said he believes the County is getting a better deal with AMB.

Commissioners deferred action on the contract until the next meeting in order to make some minor changes to the contract.