Williamson County commissioners honor first responders

Williamson County commissioners honor first responders

By Community Impact Newspaper Staff Wednesday, 20 May 2009

The 100 Club of Central Texas gave John Sneed, Williamson County Emergency Services director, the 2008 Lifetime Achievement award at a ceremony May 15. The group also presented the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office Crisis Intervention Team and the Williamson County Mobile Outreach Team with the Outstanding Team award for 2008.

The county commissioners court approved a resolution honoring Sneed and both teams for receiving the awards at its May 19 meeting.

The 100 Club of Central Texas is a nonprofit organization providing financial, legal and emotional support to families of first responders who are killed in the line of duty in Travis, Hays, Bastrop, Williamson and Caldwell counties.

Sneed began his career as a Williamson County Emergency Medical Services field paramedic in 1981. In 1994, he was appointed EMS director by the commissioners court. He also served as the county’s original emergency management coordinator while he was director of EMS.

In 2008, Sneed was appointed director of Emergency Services, offering leadership to six departments, including EMS, Mobile Outreach Team, Emergency Communications, Wireless Technology, HAZMAT and the Office of Emergency Management.

This is the second time CIT has received this award, the first being in 2006. MOT was established in September 2004 to serve the growing mental health needs of the county. The team is comprised of five mental health specialists and one unit director. They responded to 2,423 calls for psychiatric emergencies in 2008, an increase of 40 percent since 2006.

In November 2005, the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office was tasked with the responsibility of crisis intervention for psychiatric emergencies throughout the county, and the CIT was born. The unit — comprised of 10 specialized mental health officers and one lieutenant — responded to 3,194 calls for psychiatric emergencies in 2008, an increase of 40 percent since 2006.