CITY & COUNTY News fromHarris County, Oak Ridge North and Shenandoah
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Officials begin survey work of allegedly illegal dam at Carters Slough blamed for flooding
Former misdemeanor judges’ appeal dismissed
CITY HIGHLIGHTS THE WOODLANDS TOWNSHIP The township is conducting a resident survey to get feedback on parks and recreation amenities. Residents can provide feedback until Feb. 28 at www.thewoodlandstownship-tx.gov/ recreationsurveys. SHENANDOAH Shenandoah City Council approved $23,690 on Jan. 9 for preliminary engineering work for a project to extend the westbound, right- turn lane of Tamina Road between David Memorial Drive and I-45. OAK RIDGE NORTH Mayor Jim Kuykendall recognized Police Chief Tom Libby, Senior Lt. Kent Hubbard, Lt. Doug Barry and Sgt. Marcus Teske in honor of their promotions during the Jan. 14 City Council meeting. county’s practices were unfair, as well as Rosenthal’s injunction that misde- meanor defendants unable to afford bail would receive a hearing within 48 hours and be released. Fourteen of the judges filed an appeal challenging Rosenthal’s injunction last year, and the appeals court issued a stay of that injunction pending results of the appeal, Van Fleet said in a phone interview. Now that the appeal has been dis- missed, the county will proceed with working out an improved method for its bail bond practices, he said. A hearing before Rosenthal was planned Feb. 1, but Van Fleet said he hoped a plan was in place before then. “We can work on a comprehensive settlement that I would expect to be done by March,” he said.
HARRIS COUNTY The 14 Harris County criminal court at law judges sworn in Jan. 1 immediately requested dis- missal of their predecessors’ appeal in a lawsuit about the fairness of county bail bond practices, according to court documents. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal Jan. 7, according to court documents. The judges are named as defen- dants in a case that began in 2016 when three individuals charged with misdemeanors filed a suit alleging the county violates the equal protection and due process clauses of the U.S. Constitution by unfairly jailing those who cannot afford to pay cash bail. Houston attorney Allan Van Fleet is representing the judges pro bono. The names of the defendants were auto- matically changed from the judges previously occupying the positions to the current judges, Van Fleet said. In February 2018, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal’s April 2017 ruling in the case that the we pick up, the rate reduces by $5,” Brumfield said. “My goal is to get 70 percent of the city, at which time your rate will be $55 per month for 1 gigabit per second. I wanted to try to make it a win-win-win for everyone.” The council also considered an item amending the city’s contract with Tachus, which would allow Tachus to also offer 100 megabits per second service at a monthly rate of $65 for Shenandoah residents wanting an alternate option.
SHENANDOAH Tachus LLC began installing fiber conduits to single-family homes and city facilities in Shenandoah in early May 2018. The service provides speeds up to 1 gigabit per second with a minimum of 500 megabits per second for a monthly rate of $85 per household for Shenan- doah residents. “We are finished with Parkgate, Avalon Oaks, Dulcimer Woods, Shenandoah Valley, Silverwood, Sil- verwood Ranch Estates and Boulevard SHENANDOAH Since May 2018, the Montgomery County Engineer’s Office, Municipal Utility District No. 95 and Shenandoah City Council have been working to remove a dam on Carters Slough, which local offi- cials claim was illegally constructed between April 2014 and May 2015 by Harold Denton Jr., president of Bullet Concrete Materials Inc. Local officials claim the dam on Carters Slough—a body of water located north of the Tamina com- munity and east of the Union Pacific Corp. railroad tracks in unincor- porated Montgomery County—has caused flooding in surrounding areas like Shenandoah. In September, Montgomery County Commissioners Court approved an order to file suit for a flood plain vio- lation in regard to the dam on Carters Slough. Local entities have since been working to address the issue. “I’m pleased to report that Bleyl & Associates have completed ... all
of the survey work on Mr. Denton’s property and the property immedi- ately surrounding it,” Shenandoah City Attorney Will Ferebee said during the Jan. 9 City Council meet- ing. “Because of the holidays and some other factors, MUD 95 had been reluctant to give us permission to survey its property, but we now have gotten that permission, and that survey work is being done.” Derek Wind, a professional engi- neer with Bleyl Engineering, said if the remaining survey work is able to be completed, weather permitting, he expects to be able to give council a report at the Feb. 13 meeting.
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Tachus LLC begins installation on fiber internet project begun in 2018
Green,” Tachus LLC President Hal Brumfield said. “Tuscany Woods will be finished by the end of this week and ready for install starting next week. We are finished with ... 98 per- cent of the construction in Cantwell Forest, Marion [and] Lily. The remain- ing neighborhoods are Malaga and Reserve at Grogan’s Mill.” Brumfield said Tachus had 191 Shenandoah residents sign up for the fiber internet service as of Jan. 9. “For every 10 percent of the city
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The Woodlands edition • February 2019
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