NUECES COUNTY, Tx — On Wednesday, Nueces County Commissioners approved an agreement between AT&T and the county that will continue to offer a temporary staging area for the telecommunications company. They'll use the staging area to assist the community during emergency conditions.
Commissioners reinstated the agreement that had been in place in previous years. However, the most recent contract expired in 2018.
“We are here to be supportive of our phone companies and our power companies because during a disaster those are the two areas that we want to get up fastest," Dee Hawkins, Nueces County Emergency Management Coordinator, said. "We have to have a contract in place because basically, you’re using the space, we want you to leave it like you found it.”
The contract will allow AT&T to stage work crews, materials, vehicles, and equipment at a location to be used as a staging area during disasters. It's mission will be to prevent telecommunication interruptions —the type caused during a storm.
The staging area was initially planned to be at the Corpus Christi International Airport. Instead, it will be at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown. Dozens of emergency crews were staged there during Beryl.
“The fact that that we have the fairgrounds, it’s available, it's a good space for them," Hawkins said. "It’s in the middle, they can go south, they can go north, or they can stay here and help. When they have people coming in from out of state, they’re bringing bucket trucks, they’re bringing in other entities that need to maybe go through some training. They may need to do something like that, so you need to have an area for them to do that.”
The staging area will also be used to dispatch emergency repair crews to other Texas cities that need assistance.
"We’re the county, but we have partners out there that help us get things done. The fact that we have something that we can offer them, that helps them do what they need to do, but in the end benefits all of us, we’re here to do that," Hawkins added.
The new staging contract between Nueces County and AT&T will be for two years.
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