Dickey will replace Commissioner Kevin Stertzel, who in April gave notice of his resignation due to a work conflict.
How it happened
The board finalized a short list of three candidates at the end of its June 24 meeting: Cameron Dickey, Andrew Choi and David Langenberg.
After a tense and lengthy closed session July 31, which included deliberation over Stertzel’s replacement, President and board Chair Rob Paiva called for a motion to appoint a new commissioner. Stertzel abstained from all votes involving his replacement.
Commissioner Bevin Gordon first moved to appoint Langenberg, chief of the Humble Fire Department and former ESD 9 commissioner. The motion failed without a majority vote, with Gordon and Commissioner Naressa MacKinnon voting in favor, and Commissioner Jaime Martinez opposed.
Gordon then moved to appoint Choi, an emergency physician at Memorial Hermann Cypress. The motion failed, with MacKinnon and Gordon again voting in favor and Martinez opposed.
Lastly, Martinez moved to appoint Dickey, president and CEO of Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union. The motion passed with Gordon, MacKinnon and Martinez voting in favor.
About the candidate
Dickey has served in his role at Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union for 12 years and is president of the board of directors for Harris County Water Control and Improvement District 157. Dickey said he will have to step down from the board to join ESD 9, per a Texas law that prohibits holding simultaneous elected positions.
"Having served on other boards of directors and being a community volunteer for a long time, typically there's a steep learning curve at the beginning," Dickey told Community Impact. "I'm humble enough to know that I should be asking a lot of questions and soaking up from all the resources, especially during the whole first year."
In other news
Assistant EMS Chief Justin Reed delivered a presentation to the board detailing the department’s decision-making and response to the Central Texas floods.
Reed said the department followed protocol from the Texas Emergency Medical Task Force and held off on deploying Cy-Fair ambulances to Kerr County. He said command staff have since faced internal scrutiny for the decision, but they stand by their choice, noting that deployment could have created chaos for response teams in Kerrville and taken personnel away from Cy-Fair residents.
“It makes me angry because I do feel personally attacked, whether it’s intended or not,” Reed told the board. “The criticism that has come out toward the command staff, I’ve never seen anything like it in 23 years.”
Chief of Operations Brent Scalise also told the board the fire department does not have the personnel to support an emergency deployment without jeopardizing the Cy-Fair community.
“We want to go out there and help whenever we can, and we are working towards that goal,” he said. “Until we get our staff where it needs to be, which we feel like is pretty close right now, we felt like we weren’t ready to deploy.”
Also of note
The board approved a motion to interview a handful of companies to oversee the construction of proposed fire stations 15 and 17. The interview process will take place during a special session Aug. 26 at 6 p.m. in the Cy-Fair Fire Department administration building, located at 10710 Telge Road.
The next regular board meeting is Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. in the administration building.
