HIGHLIGHTS TOMBALL The city of Tomball will replace and upgrade nearly 5,000 residential and commercial water meters as part of a project expected to take around 12 months, according to the project’s website. Costing around $1.8 million and funded by the city’s American Rescue Plan Act money, the project is budgeted for fiscal year 2023- 24, Assistant City Manager Jessica Rogers said in a July 6 email. There is no cost to customers. The new meters will be able to be read remotely through radio signals and will provide real-time data on water consumption, Rogers said. MAGNOLIA City Council voted 3-1 to approve an ordinance for a salary for the mayor and City Council members at its July 11 meeting. Council Member Brenda Hoppe voted against approval. The mayor will be paid a $200 per month salary while council members will receive a $100 per month salary. However, the salaries for the mayor and council members in positions 4 and 5 will go into effect in May 2024. The salaries for the council members in positions 1, 2 and 3 will go into effect in May 2025. Tomball City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Aug. 7 and 21 at 401 Market St., Tomball. 281-351-5484. www.tomballtx.gov Magnolia City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Aug. 8 at 18111 Buddy Riley Blvd., Magnolia. 281-356-2266. www.cityofmagnolia.com will meet at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 8 and 22 at 501 N. Thompson St., Ste. 402, Conroe. 936-756-0571. www.mctx.org Harris County Commissioners Court will meet at 10 a.m. Aug. 8 and 29. Montgomery County Commissioners Court Meetings are held virtually and at 1001 Preston St., Ste. 934, Houston. www.harriscountytx.gov MEETINGS WE COVER
Harris County invests $1.7M into virtual deputy services
BY EMILY LINCKE
HARRIS COUNTY For low-pri- ority calls to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, more deputies will be available to respond virtually thanks to a $1.7 million investment from county commissioners on June 27. Long story short: Harris County Commissioners Court unanimously approved the allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to add overtime officers to HCSO’s TeleDeputy unit on June 27. The unit responds only to nonviolent calls—such as an abandoned vehicle or a crime tip—which make up about 60% of HCSO’s total calls, Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones said. The outlook: HCSO’s response time for emergency calls is about 14 minutes; the commissioners’ investment in the TeleDeputy unit is expected to bring the response time down to 10 minutes, Briones said. “What this does is this frees up and better leverages our law enforcement officers’ time to address priority one and two, the more critical urgent calls related to violence,” Briones said.
Libraries in Montgomery County will add more conservative books and restrict children’s access to certain titles after a Montgomery County Commissioners Court decision. (Cassandra Jenkins/Community Impact)
Libraries in Montgomery County to add more conservative books, restrict children’s access
BY CASSANDRA JENKINS
sexually explicit books for those under 18 years of age. • The court also made a motion to give a “full vote of confidence” in Young. All three motions apply to all seven libraries in the Montgomery County Memorial Library System. Quote of note: “While we may not agree on exactly what types of mate- rials should be in the library, all of us agree that the decisions that we make is what we are trying to do in the best interest, in this case, for our children,” Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack said. “Accessibility to information and where these books should be located is very important.” Another viewpoint: Some citizens also advocated in favor of keeping LGBTQ+ titles accessible to all ages, including Teresa Kennedy, owner of Village Books in The Woodlands. “Young people deserve to see themselves reflected in the books they read,” she said.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY Montgomery County Commissioners Court met July 11 to address dozens of concerned citizen requests regarding certain library book mate- rials that are allowed on the shelves within the county’s library system. “We’re a conservative county,” resident Lisa Palmer said. “This is not that hard. We are supposed to protect our kids. This woke agenda is not to make people feel good; this is really an agenda to sexualize our kids at a young age.” What’s happening?: Commissioners made three separate motions. • Commissioners Court gave Purchasing Director Gilbert Jalomo the authority to expand the county’s book vendor list to gain access to more conservative book themes. • Library Director Rhea Young was asked to group books by genre within the children’s section, and label and restrict access to
A new TeleDeputy unit is expected to lower response times from 14 minutes to 10 minutes.
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TOMBALL - MAGNOLIA EDITION • AUGUST 2023
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