Championing Public Safety with April Griffin, TCESD2 Board Vice President

Discover the compelling journey of service and governance with April Griffin, Vice President of the ESD2 Board of Commissioners. April, who has a rich background in the Air Force and as an attorney for the State of Texas, shares the motivations that catapulted her into community service in Pflugerville. Uncover the intricate challenges the board faced, particularly with the implementation of Advanced Life Support (ALS) transport services after Travis County EMS withdrew. Explore the strategic creation of ESD 17 as a funding lifeline and gain insights into the concerns surrounding the non-elected status of board commissioners. This episode offers a glimpse into the complexities of governance and the relentless pursuit of serving the community effectively.

As we conclude this enlightening journey, we reflect on the growth and shared experiences that have enriched both our podcast and community. We extend heartfelt gratitude to our listeners for their unwavering support and invite them to a watch party at Hanover's on November 5th at 7 pm. This gathering will feature a special bonus episode with Chief Ron Moellenberg recounting the historic 1971 fire in downtown Pflugerville, tying perfectly into our community’s rich history. Join us as we continue to foster connections and knowledge sharing, and let's keep the conversation going beyond the podcast. Engage with us, share your thoughts, and be part of this thriving community experience.

Transcript

April Griffin 0:04

Fox alarm in ESD 2. Fox, me and my fellow commissioners, we have a commitment to our community. When we make decisions, we make decisions not for any election purposes, not to suit any specific individual interest or specific party's interest or specific organization's interest. We make decisions based on the best interests of the community and our residents.

Chris Wolff 0:41

Welcome back to Pflugerville On Fire. I'm your host, chris Wolfe. This week we've got a cool episode for you. Been a lot of rumblings about the ESD2 Board of Commissioners and we had the opportunity to talk to Commissioner Trevelyan in an earlier episode, so this time we're talking to April Griffin. She's the Vice President of the ESD2 Board of Commissioners. She's been serving since 2017. She's currently a practicing attorney and she has 14 years experience practicing law for state agencies.

Chris Wolff 1:12

April is an Air Force vet. She served for seven years and two enlistments, and she's been living in Pflugerville for the past 16 years. We thought it was really important to talk to April because of all the controversy going around, and let's talk to a commissioner and get their point of view on this perspective. They serve two-year terms and they're appointed by the county commissioners, so I know you'll enjoy this episode with April. Thanks for listening. All right, april Griffin, welcome to the show, thank you. Thank you, air Force veteran. Thank you for your service. It's an honor to have you on. So let's go ahead and start it out. Can you tell our listeners how long you've been part of the Board of Commissioners for ESD-2, the Pflugerville Fire Department, and why did you want to serve?

April Griffin 1:59

So I started my tenure in January of 2017. I wanted to serve on the board because I wanted to serve my community. I've served basically all of my adult life. I started my service to my country when I signed up for the Air Force right after high school to my country. When I signed up for the Air Force right after high school, I served the great state of Texas as a attorney for several state agencies. And now I continue to serve my community on the board Travis County, ESD number two, Pflugerville

April Griffin 2:43

Fire Department.

Chris Wolff 2:44

That's awesome. So tell us April, tell us a little bit about the process. How do you get on a board of commissioners at a fire department?

April Griffin 2:52

I

April Griffin 2:52

started with actually a friend on the board, Councilman Mateyer, told me about an opening.

Chris Wolff 3:05

His opening.

April Griffin 3:06

No no, no, it wasn't his. Was he still there?

Chris Wolff 3:09

Oh, okay.

April Griffin 3:10

Yes, and he told me about the opening and suggested that I apply. So I submitted my application and my resume and, lo and behold, I was selected.

Chris Wolff 3:23

Well, I encourage listeners to look Google April. It's a pretty impressive resume. Let me ask you were there specific skills that the commissioners were looking for that made you a good candidate?

April Griffin 3:37

I'm not sure that the commissioners court looks for specific skills. Commissioner's court looks for specific skills. However, my being a licensed attorney, I would think that I have a knack for communicating with others and negotiating as a counselor of law. And then a great amount of skill with conflict resolution, so that all together creates a probably well-rounded yeah, I would think your experience with state government definitely factored in there somewhere.

April Griffin 4:21

Now let me ask you you've been serving since 2017. You said what changes have you seen in the department since that time?

Chris Wolff 4:29

Well, we started ALS transport.

April Griffin 4:35

Did you know what any of that was before you started on? And most people don't?

Chris Wolff 4:39

No, I do not know, I do not know what I was getting into, but we did start our ALS, our first ambulance in 2017.

April Griffin 4:50

So ALS transport, advanced life support and those are the ambulances. Yeah, that was a big deal, wasn't it? Yes, did it take a lot of work to get there?

Chris Wolff 4:58

Oh yeah, a lot of the work was done before I joined the board and afterwards we were getting our ambulances and initially it was supposed to be a supplement ambulance to support Travis County.

April Griffin 5:16

Right.

Chris Wolff 5:17

Ambulances that were.

April Griffin 5:20

Yes, there were two ambulances, one at Station 3 there off of Kelly Lane and one at Station 4 off of Pflugerville Parkway.

Chris Wolff 5:27

Yes, and they were not within that area predominantly, like all of the time.

April Griffin 5:36

Right right, it's called Austin-Travis County for a reason. They go into Austin. That's where they'd end up Exactly. So did you ever think that you would end up being responsible for all the als transport in the city of pflugerville?

Chris Wolff 5:49

no, no, I didn't. I didn't. But we assumed, you know, when we gained an ambulance it was to supplement travis, travis County EMS, and they pulled out, so we were left holding the bag. So we were left holding the bag, operating under a fire department's budget and responsible for advanced life support, als transport. So we kind of stood up, put our big boy panties on or big girl panties on, and you know, and we just maintained, and we didn't have the funding, we weren't prepared financially to take on that responsibility. But we owe our citizens the responsibility of owning what we had inherited.

April Griffin 6:52

Right. How are those six and four operational ambulances funded now?

Chris Wolff 6:58

ESD 17 is an overlay that was created to fund the operations of the ambulance. So because the city of Pflugerville opted out of providing funding for the ambulances, then we requested we had an election for the overlay, for the creation of an overlay in the form of ESD-17. However, the city of Pflugerville opted not to submit it to the city of Pflugerville residents. That was.

April Griffin 7:39

Right, so you have dedicated funding in the form of ESD 17.

Chris Wolff 7:46

ESD 17.

April Griffin 7:47

Wow.

Chris Wolff 7:47

And the county.

April Griffin 7:48

And the county.

Chris Wolff 7:49

The county then pitched in.

April Griffin 7:51

Well, let's switch gears. Talk about the city a little bit. The group Flukeville Residents for Responsible Taxation has expressed concern that the board of commissioners are not elected like the city council members are, and they claim that that is taxation without representation. What would you say to those residents that feel like that?

Chris Wolff 8:11

I would say that myself and each of my fellow commissioners have a commitment to our community and each and every employee within the Pflugerville Fire Department, every employee within the Pflugerville Fire Department, whereas we continuously show up. We don't have to be elected to show up, we just have to make decisions based on what the residents within our community deserve, which is quality fire service and emergency medical service, to include ALS transport, and that doesn't require an election and it doesn't require to be honoring your campaign contributors wishes, but we do it because we care and go ahead.

Chris Wolff 9:11

So, as it relates to taxation without representation um, I think that the city government, the council members of the city of Pflugerville are elected by the citizens of the city of Pflugerville. However, they make decisions not only for Pflugerville residents but for citizens within the ETJ.

April Griffin 9:46

Well, it does seem like there'd be a city-centric focus there that would impact people in the county.

Chris Wolff 9:54

Yeah, yeah, I would say that, me and my fellow commissioners, we have a commitment to our community. Commissioners, we have a commitment to our community. We vote when we make decisions. We make decisions not for any election purposes, not to suit any specific individual interests or specific parties' interests or specific organizations' interests. We make decisions based on the best interests of the community and our residents. So we don't have the commitment or the obligation, but we have an obligation to our community.

Chris Wolff 10:50

More service If it's more to our residents. We show up for our residents. You know we have the purpose of supporting our residents and ensuring that our decisions provide them with quality services, and they deserve quality services. We don't have to be elected for that. We do it because we are committed to our residents and we do it because we care.

April Griffin 11:32

Let me ask you something, april. Does it make a difference that you guys are able to look more long-term instead of consistently worried about the next election cycle, able to take a 10-year view instead of a three-year view, and can you explain that a little bit? And can you?

Chris Wolff 11:42

explain that a little bit. We don't make our decisions based on term limits or tenure, you know. We make our decisions what's in the best interest of our community, and that's me speaking as a citizen of this community. We need to be able to make our decisions free from the short-term obligations or commitments that city council folks may or may not make their decisions based on. But we look at the long-term goals, the impact on the community as a whole.

April Griffin 12:25

April. I understand that the board fought the petition that was brought forward by the Pflugerville residents for responsible taxation because of insufficient language. Is that something that you're able to talk about, and what specifically was insufficient about the petition?

Chris Wolff 12:43

Well, unfortunately I can't speak on that as far as we are still in litigation. It's ongoing litigation, so I can't speak on that.

April Griffin 12:56

Can't talk about it. That's coming from a lawyer. Yes, all right, so maybe you'll be able to speak about this. There is a claim from some Pflugerville residents that the ESD board wanted to subpoena the people who had filed suit against the department to have that petition passed. Are you able to talk about the disclosure or anything related to that?

Chris Wolff 13:18

I don't recall us, as a board, suggesting that each and every member of a particular group be subpoenaed. I don't recall that. However, I do recall us making a request that the signatures be validated and, as a governing board, submitted, presented with a petition. Then that's probably normal. I would think that that's normal for a governing body.

April Griffin 14:02

So can you explain the disclosure and the subpoena for the parties?

Chris Wolff 14:05

that brought forth the lawsuit that allowed the petition yes, and they evaded that disclosure and they took it to a higher court and then a higher court. They lost at the lowest court, the Travis County Court, and then they lost at the appeals court and then they took it to the Supreme Court and they basically said that we needed to call the election, and which we're doing.

April Griffin 14:40

Right, I'm kind of ready to get on with it. Let's do this thing, yeah, yeah. So what do you think will happen to that sales tax money if it's defunded from the fire department?

Chris Wolff 14:58

I think it will Now. This is me speaking as a citizen.

April Griffin 15:04

Okay.

April Griffin 15:04

I think it will be recouped by some organization, probably the city. However, that's not enough because the city wants to fund their start their own fire department and EMS, which is already in. They voted already to have that privatized. But I think that it's going to be recouped and it's not enough. The citizens will pay much more, much, much more to have the city start their own fire department and EMS.

Chris Wolff 16:00

All right, April, while you're speaking as just a resident and a private citizen, what do you tell your neighbors about Prop A?

Chris Wolff 16:06

And for our listeners, if you haven't been paying attention, that's the proposition to defund the fire department by removing the sales tax revenue. Well, the Pflugerville for responsible residents are saying yes for EMS. It's not yes for EMS. They are trying to abolish the fire department. They are trying to defund our Pflugerville fire department who care about each and every citizen. So I say no, don't take away the sales tax that allow us to provide quality EMS services. It's a no for me and I tell everybody and anybody who listens no, don't abolish the fire department, Don't bite the hand that feeds you. In other words, you know, don't bite your nose to spite your face. So no, I'm going to vote no in the election in November. I oppose vehemently vehemently.

April Griffin 17:36

Well, April, thank you so much for taking your private time out to come on the show and talk to the citizens and the residents and our listeners. Thank you for your service and for everything that you do. We appreciate you.

Chris Wolff 17:45

I appreciate being given the opportunity to represent the citizens and my community.

Wrapping Up the Educational Journey

April Griffin 17:55

All right, I hope you enjoyed that episode with April Griffin. Pleasure to have her on the show. Thanks so much to all of you and her for listening, coming on being part of this experience with us. So this is a bittersweet moment for Lacey and I because this is the last episode before the election on November 5th 2024. We set out on this journey to educate our community and really what ended up happening is we educated ourselves in the process. It's been such a privilege to speak with and to learn from all of our guests and I'm so thankful for their time and their insight. And thanks so much to you, our listeners. Thank you for joining us on this journey of discovery and thanks to those of you who shared whatever you learned with somebody else.

April Griffin 18:38

That was the mission of the podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please send us a message. We really appreciated coming with you. And good news is this might be the last episode before the election, but it is not the last episode we're going to be recording at the Watch Party at 7 pm November 5th at Hanover's, which you're welcome to come out to, and we also have a special bonus episode with Big Chief Mullenberg talking about the 71 fire in downtown Pflugerville, which is appropriate. That that's where we'll be on election night, so I hope you enjoy the show. Like I said, please shoot us a message. We'd love to hear from all of our listeners. I'd love to bring this thing full circle and to hear back from you all. So thanks again.