(Seguin) — It’s doors might not be open, but the Guadalupe County Commissioners Court has already gotten a jumpstart in launching additional services for veterans – services that will soon be found all under one roof of its new Guadalupe County Veterans Outreach Center. The center, which is currently under renovation at the old hospital and former Head Start building on Weinert Street, has gotten the jumpstart thanks to a partnership between the county and the Texas Veterans Commission.
Commissioners recently approved the partnership by welcoming a claims benefit advisor to the county. The position will be temporarily housed in a vacant office space until the new Veterans Outreach Center is open. The mutual agreement will enable residents who are veterans to “promptly, properly, and rightfully obtain federal and state benefits to which they are entitled.”
Applauding the partnership is County Judge Kyle Kutscher. Kutscher says this partnership is the first step toward what he hopes is a new and improved future for area veterans.
“This has been discussed intermittently for the last few years, different intervals. We’ve always knew that we wanted to get towards that Veterans Center and have more of that kind of diverse make-up where a veteran can come in and get multiple services from multiple agencies. That was the whole point of the court supporting a project like that was trying to limit how much traveling veterans have to do from this side of the county. This looks like a real benefit to the county also to the veteran’s commission, to the individual veterans who need services. So, I mean I fully support it,” said Kutscher.
Helping to bring the position to the county is Nancy Russell, Guadalupe County’s Veteran Council Service officer and director. Russell who works daily with area veterans says by working together, they will be able to aid any eligible veteran who according to memorandum “served in the armed forces of the United States as well as any dependent or survivor of an eligible veteran.”
“Because I’m in two places at once basically, it’s been a real challenge when I go to Schertz. There is no VSO here in Seguin and just having that office overage with only a part-time admin person, it’s been a little hard. Sometimes, the veterans come to a sign that says ‘VSO is in Schertz. If you need immediate assistance, call the Schertz office so that’s not providing a very consistent service,” said Russell.
Representing the Texas Veterans Commission is Michael Jaeger. Jaeger says the state organization appreciates the county for its ventures in making things more convenient for its veterans. According to the agreement, the utilized office space will be provided at no cost to the TVC while, the wages and salary of the new position will be at no cost to the county.
He says the objective is to “promote quality, ease of access and coordination of care to local veterans” and believes the new claims benefit advisor is that first step toward meeting those needs.
“Our envision here is to provide more coverage for the veterans and their surviving spouses and eligible dependents into Guadalupe County. We had a mandate a couple of years ago from the state legislature to start pushing more people out into rural communities and so this was one of the ones that we wanted to do. We come with our own laptops. We come with our own data stuff, a very experienced counselor – she used to work for the VA. Now, she works for us, so she is very experienced. They’ve got a good working relationship with your two VSOs. We’ve done this before. The hours are 7:30 to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. We have to have something to say this is our hours for our timecards, but we can adjust depending on circumstances and traffic so that’s not locked in stone. When Nancy used to do outreaches and hold veterans’ fairs and stuff, they can be present for that, or we can bring in other departments. There are eight departments in the Texas Veterans Commission and that’s what we are looking forward to when we go to your new Veterans Centers, your one stop center. Right now, we can give you a claims person, full-time, ready to rock-n-roll,” said Jaeger.
Celebrating the rewards that this partnership will bring to area veterans is Commissioner Pct. 1 Greg Seidenberger.
“I’m really glad to see the Texas Veterans Commission here. You don’t get a lot of limelight. You don’t get a lot of fanfare. You guys kind of work under the radar, under the scenes because people don’t talk about you very much. But we do appreciate the work you do. I go to some of the conventions, and you are represented in some of the classes that’ve we had but I really appreciate you being a part of Guadalupe County. We have almost 22,000 veterans here and to serve them, to serve their surviving spouses, it just means a whole lot to recognize that, and we do appreciate the TVC for helping us out,” said Seidenberger.
Upon approving the partnership, the plan was to welcome the new advisor to Guadalupe County as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, anyone needing services or guidance are asked to contact the county’s Veterans Service Office at 830-303-8870.