ODESSA- The Ector County Sheriff's Office had a gas shortage on Thursday morning. That sparked rumors deputies couldn't patrol the whole county.
"We did run into a small problem this (Thursday) morning in the fact that the number of users exceeded the limit on our gasoline provider cards," Ector County Judge, Susan Redford, said.
Ector County provides fuel for all county vehicles. The county has two fuel pump stations. Both of those stations are out of gas.
Redford assures this is only temporary.
"We are waiting on service for those pump stations and then they will need an inspection. They should be up and running in a few days," Redford said.
Judge Redford tells NewsWest 9 that the gas pumps are old and outdated. Finding someone to service them is taking longer than expected.
Redford added that new gas pumps would cost too much.
"To replace them would be very, very costly for the county. Upwards of half a million dollars," Redford said.
In a statement released by the Ector County Sheriff's Department, they say deputies can and will cover every mile of Ector County despite the pumps not working.
"Our office has access to gas cards to purchase fuel from gas vendors like the public does, a little more inconvenient but gas is gas," Ector County Sheriff's Department Sergeant, Gary Duesler, said.
Redford says they have worked out a deal with other gas stations in the county so that county employees can use other pumps while their pumps are being fixed.
"We were able to work successfully with those companies to get to limits raised because this is an emergency situation for us. It interrupted service very temporarily this (Thursday) morning. We were able to get that fixed and everyone should be back on the road and have fuel," Redford said.
