Cuero volunteer fire department elects new officers

April 05--CUERO -- Members of the Cuero Volunteer Fire Department on Monday voted to bring in all new leaders.

Robert Smith was unanimously elected fire chief.

Smith, 64, spent about 30 years with the Victoria Fire Department, retiring 10 years ago with the rank of lieutenant. He also served as Cuero's part-time fire marshal.

Smith will make recruitment a priority. The department currently has 30 members. When Smith began volunteer firefighting in Cuero more than 25 years ago, the department had at least twice as many members.

"I've also got to find out what their interests are. They are volunteering their time, so we ought to let them do what their passionate about," Smith said about searching for training opportunities.

He said he'll work to improve the department's public image, too.

"We want to do things for the community," he said.

The department came under scrutiny in 2014 after the then-fire chief's son was arrested. Someone sent an anonymous letter accusing William "Butch" Tolbert of playing favorites, being racist and allowing drinking while volunteering.

Tolbert's son was later convicted of assaulting his wife and was sentenced to eight years in prison and testimony at trial revealed that despite many years of first aid training, Tolbert did little medically to help his daughter-in-law.

Tuesday, Tolbert cast his votes and at the conclusion of the election, asked for a round of applause for the outgoing officers.

"I don't think people realize that they put in a lot of long hours," Tolbert said.

Mark Baros was elected as the second assistant fire chief. Baros was not present, but Smith read aloud a letter from him. Baros wanted to warn the members that he worked off shore at least 14 days out of the month, but will execute the position to the best of his ability.

"Do not vote for me to displace someone else ... or to piss someone off," Baros wrote in the letter.

Baros was also outspoken after a March Cuero Volunteer Fire Department meeting about how little he thought of whoever wrote the anonymous letter last year. How that person aired his or her grievances hurt morale, he said. It has since improved, though, he said.

"When we're on the scene, all that bulls--- goes away," Baros said. "If you put up with all the crud that's gone on, that says something. ... I could volunteer as a paramedic (elsewhere), but I'm not going to let anyone run me."

Many of the longtime members, such as Charles Klaevemann, Mark Ley and Rodney Bade, were nominated in March to be officers, but declined to accept the nominations Monday.

Henry Stall, for example, was nominated and then elected to be third assistant fire chief after four people declined a nomination for that position.

"I'm not even here half the time, but I'll do the best I can," Stall said.

Since 2010, the city of Cuero has given the department $156,947. The money went toward firefighters of a certain service level's pension, workers compensation, the fire chief's stipend, employer taxes and vehicle insurance.

Since 2011, DeWitt County paid the volunteers $77,800 for responding to fires, wrecks and search and rescue operations within the county, but outside Cuero's boundary.

"There's going to be a lot of change in the department," Smith said. "Change is a good thing."

___

(c)2016 Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas)

Visit Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas) at www.victoriaadvocate.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.