City-County Cooperation Award Winners for 2009
Wise County, the City of Bridgeport, and the City of Decatur
Wise County, the City of Bridgeport, and the City of Decatur are honored for their successful cooperative efforts to bring a branch campus of Weatherford College to Wise County. The project grew out of an expanding need for college-level classes offered by Weatherford College. Classes were initially offered at local high schools and then in a former Wal-Mart building. By 2005, the need was greater than the facilities could handle. The Wise County Commissioners Court named a steering committee to study the feasibility of locating a new campus in the county. At the same time the steering committee was meeting, Weatherford College sought approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to build a branch campus in Wise County, with the okay granted in January 2008. The Wise County Commissioners Court called an election for November 4, 2008, to ask voters to approve a maximum five-cent branch campus maintenance tax as a method of financing a new campus. A political action committee was formed by interested citizens and businesses. The political action committee raised about $7,000 to promote the bond election and members embarked on speaking engagements to civic and business groups to support the project. Both major newspapers in the county, the Wise County Messenger and the Bridgeport Index, supported the project editorially. On election day, the voters approved the maintenance tax. The 35-acre tract that will be home to the new campus is owned by Wise County, with a long-term lease with the college to cover debt repayment, operation, and maintenance of the facility. By combining the efforts of two cities and the county, the possibility was eliminated that either city would mount an expensive campaign to have the proposed new branch campus in their city. The willingness of the Wise County Commissioners Court to take a leading role in the project eliminated the necessity of creating another government entity to manage the construction of the branch campus. The collaboration is a positive asset for the entire county and its residents.
Dallas County and the City of Irving
Dallas County and the City of Irving are honored for their successful cooperative efforts to create and develop the Irving Health Center. The project was spearheaded by Dallas County, the City of Irving, the Parkland Health and Hospital System, the Baylor Medical Center at Irving, the Dental Health Programs, the Irving Housing and Human Services Board, and the U.S. Department of Housing. Studies beginning in the 1990s showed that there were nearly 87,000 Irving residents classified as indigent or on Medicare or Medicaid, with 26 percent of the population at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Residents were going without primary medical care and relying on expensive emergency room services when their health conditions deteriorated to serious or critical levels. The end result to taxpayers was a hefty bill for expensive emergency room services, which often could have been avoided if their health conditions had been diagnosed and treated earlier. Beginning in 2004 with an interlocal agreement, the project team from each entity worked on opening the health center. The facility opened its doors in August 2007, and since then, it has been able to provide primary care, manage chronic diseases like diabetes and heart problems, and provide immunizations at a low cost. The health center also provides dental care, nutrition counseling, women’s health services, mental health services, and a today clinic for walk-in patients. And the collaborative effort to improve and expand the center continues today. The center will soon be home to a pharmacy, smoking cessation classes, diabetes classes, and expanded lab and x-ray services. Since opening, the Irving Health Center has serviced 11,019 unduplicated patients with 33,116 visits. Last year alone, the center provided care during 19,000 patient visits, which includes primary care and women’s health services. Community outreach efforts educating residents about disease prevention and the services available at the health center are ongoing, and officials hope to reach full capacity of approximately 80,000 to 90,000 visits each year in the coming years. From immunizations to treatments for highly contagious illnesses, the Irving Health Center serves residents of all ages and backgrounds, while at the same time saving taxpayer dollars.
