Bastrop County’s acting emergency director steps down

As Bastrop County begins to recover from Harvey, its fifth disaster in two years, the county’s Office of Emergency Management is without an acting director.

James Gabriel resigned Thursday after two months in the interim job, saying he felt he “was not a very good fit” and sensed that county officials felt that way, too.

County Judge Paul Pape “and I talked last week and decided it was time to part ways,” Gabriel said Sunday.

Gabriel was named a temporary replacement for Mike Fisher, who died in July after a long battle with cancer.

Gabriel said that decision to name him acting director instead of giving him the job permanently indicated that Pape didn’t have confidence in his abilities.

He also said he struggled to put together a solid team in the wake of Fisher’s death.

“I really wanted to be a part of Bastrop County, but without a good team and judge confidence to get that team in order in a very short time, I think I waned,” Gabriel said.

Gabriel led the office during a spate of wildfires, a massive oil spill and finally Harvey, which hit the area as a tropical storm and dropped 23 inches of rain in parts of the county.

Reached Sunday, Pape said he was proud of Gabriel’s leadership amid the disasters.

He added that the decision not to name Gabriel as permanent director was made out of respect for Fisher, not because anyone doubted Gabriel’s abilities.

Pape will coordinate and manage disaster response while the county looks for a new emergency management leader.

“The timing is not optimal,” Pape said of Gabriel’s departure. “But we have great people on our staff that know their job and know what to do and how to respond to disasters and how to begin to recover. We’ll be fine.”