For years, West Odessans have rejected the idea of becoming a part of the City of Odessa, but Ector County Judge Dustin Fawcett wants to explore another way for residents to get trash, emergency and other services the city would provide without being annexed. He’d like West Odessans to consider forming their own government.
Although the results of the U.S. Census show West Odessa only has 25,000-30,000 people, Fawcett is convinced the area has closer to 65,000 people when one takes into consideration man camps, trailers and recreational vehicles. In fact, with numbers like that, the judge said West Odessa is actually the third largest community within 150 miles and yet it has no government.
In years past, West Odessans haven’t wanted to be annexed by the City of Odessa because they disliked the idea of being ruled by pesky ordinances, but Fawcett said he found out while campaigning residents truly want such things as emergency services, trash pickup and parks. They’re also concerned about animal welfare issues.
“For so long it was the Wild West, but with the changing demographics, they’re seeing increasing needs,” Fawcett said.
Currently, the county has an intergovernmental agreement with the city for EMS services and a volunteer fire department, but given the size of West Odessa, they need six fire stations, Fawcett said.
“Odessa Fire Rescue does an amazing job, but it’s not enough in my opinion,” Fawcett said.
Minutes count when someone is having a heart attack or find themselves in other life-threatening situations, he said.
Over the coming months, Fawcett said he would like to embark on an education campaign to not only educate residents about the differences between municipal and county governments, but to learn from residents exactly what they’d like for their community.
Everyday Fawcett said he reads Facebook posts where people ask when the City of Odessa is going to start investing in West Odessa, not understanding the answer is never because they don’t pay taxes to the city.
He’d like West Odessans to know they can choose to incorporate and decide for themselves what services they are willing to pay for. They can choose to have a streets department to improve roads and lighting or not. They can choose to have a city manager or not. They can determine how many fire stations and firefighters they’d like and their hours of operation. They could even choose how large their city council is, Fawcett said.
“They don’t have to have code enforcement,” Fawcett said. “It’s up to them and that’s the brilliance of it. If they like having a mini-farm of goats or horses, they can have them.”
If West Odessans are only interested in improving emergency services, they also have the option of creating an emergency services district, Fawcett said.
The judge said he and Commissioner Mike Gardner plan to put together a website survey soon. They might also host town halls.
In addition, he hopes to convince commissioners to sign a contract with ZenCity, a company that can track online conversations to know what local residents are talking about. The company would then take that information to commissioners so the county can best address the topics on social media and the county’s website.
Residents could be asked, for example, how much money per month are they willing to spend on parks or on emergency services, Fawcett said.
A lot of discussions need to be held and eventually cost estimates would have to be prepared based on residents’ desires, the judge said. A consultant might also have to be hired.
If an overwhelming number of residents are interested in incorporating, Fawcett said the next step would be for them to get a petition going. If the requisite number of signatures are obtained, the matter would end up on a ballot.
Fawcett said it’s not out of the realm of possibility for Gardendale and Pleasant Farms to follow suit.
