Court approves fuel cards for Willacy County volunteer fire vehicles

Willacy County Commissioners on March 26 approved issuing fuel cards to vehicles used by the Willacy County (Rainbowville) Volunteer Fire Department to ensure apparatuses can refuel during nights and weekends.

County staff told the court that cards had already been ordered and that, of the vehicle list provided, three trucks were verified in county inventory; the remaining vehicles assigned to the department would receive cards once verified. "The cards have been ordered," said the staff member, who noted vendors and locations used by the county would be available to the department.

Committee members described operational gaps that had left some volunteer apparatuses without nighttime or after-hours fuel access. One committee member said fuel-card access should be per vehicle and recommended that the chief and two deputies receive user codes to operate the assigned vehicle cards. "I'm suggesting that the motion be to approve fuel cards to be issued for the Rainbowville, Willacy County Volunteer Fire Department for each emergency response vehicle listed on the March 2026 attachment," the committee member proposing the motion said.

The motion before the court would assign cards to the emergency vehicles listed on the attachment, authorize three named users to have access codes and charge purchases to the general fund gas line for approved vendors. The court moved and seconded the item; the matter proceeded as part of the regular agenda.

The court did not specify an exact dollar limit on the cards during the public discussion; staff said the county already has vendor locations and that more access points are added over time. The attachment listing vehicles and the March 2026 paperwork were referenced as the provenance for the card assignments.

Next steps: staff will finalize assignment of cards to the vehicles named on the March 2026 attachment and distribute access codes to the authorized users. Any follow-up reporting, allocation details or a formal tally of issued cards were not specified in the discussion.