Final Blog Assignment: Ellis County Crisis

With skeptical taxpayers holding its fate, a facilities crisis in an Ellis County office building has the county clerk and tax assessor's offices on the verge of collapse.

News story from DallasNews.com: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/ellis/stories/DN-ellisbond_29met.ART0.South.Edition1.42fb579.html

Story from the official Ellis County website: http://www.co.ellis.tx.us/pressrelease/currentpress.htm



On behalf of the media-written article, interviews were conducted with key personnel inside the two major offices currently occupying the old, dangerous facility. The article went in depth regarding the recent health and security issues the facility has sustained and what a major threat the facility poses not only to human health but to business health as well. The many Ellis County government-operated organizations that have daily operations within the facility would suffer a monumental collapse in production if major structural damage were to occur. This collapse would severely cripple many Ellis County operations. The article does a wonderful job portraying the necessity for a rapid and substantial alternative for these organizations as well as displaying the lack of support and urgency in achieving this necessary advancement. In this account, the parties represented are the ones in the most danger of not finding a rapid alternative and those most influential in obtaining a solution.

Regarding the organizational response: the response was plethorically contaminated with mediocrity and abandonment. Contained in an official press release regarding the $53.875 million bond vote--which would cause an increase of between $35 and $90 per year, per Ellis County homeowner--referred only to the facility crisis through a common "Commissioners' Court." The statement was released six days prior to the article being posted on DallasNews.com, however, up to now, there has been no response from the County on the stated facility crisis. The tone in the coverage vs. response was like the parting of the sea; the media coverage was in depth, investigative, and proactive, whereas the organizational response has been zero. In their press release only six days prior to the DallasNews.com article, Ellis County officials had to have known about the dangerous facility crisis and how delicate the situation was with county taxpayers having the ultimate decision, yet chose to not address the issue accept by stating, "The goals and objectives...are to create a venue that allows public oversight of the county facilities projects while going through the design and construction process" (www.co.ellis.tx.us). This statement is the only conceivable illusion towards the concern of the facility crisis, yet did an abominable job. It never elaborates or fills in any possible discrepancies of the media coverage, and quite frankly, never even mentions the issue. The lack of response even up until the present, two days after the media article, is unacceptable and displays an utter lack of respect for the importance of the organizations operating in the ignored, threatening and hazardous facility.