CITY & COUNTY
News from Harris County & Jersey Village
Jersey Village City Council will meet at 7 p.m. Aug. 15 at 16327 Lakeview Drive, Jersey Village. 713-466-2100. www.jerseyvillagetx.com Harris County Commissioners Court will meet at 10 a.m. Aug. 23 at 1001 Preston St., Ste. 934, Houston. 713-274-1111.www.harriscountytx.gov MEETINGS WE COVER voted unanimously to execute a $16 million contract with IBM to provide technology services for ACCESS Harris County on June 28. The Accessing Coordinated Care and Empowering Self-Sufficiency initiative passed unanimously July 20, 2021, and will focus on coordinating and providing care for vulnerable populations. COUNTY HIGHLIGHTS HARRIS COUNTY Members of the Harris County Election Commission voted unanimously to name Clifford Tatum, the former general counsel for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, as the county’s new elections administrator at their July 5 meeting. Tatum will face a new challenge running elections in the nation’s third-largest county following the departure of former Elections Administrator Isabel Longoria, who resigned after issues with the March 1 primary elections. HARRIS COUNTY Commissioners approved the appointments of five candidates to the Harris County Safe School Commission on June 28. The appointees include Saami Baig, a high school student at the John Cooper School in The Woodlands; Traci Latson, a teacher at the Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School; Calandrian Simpson Kemp, founder of No Weapon #1Life Empowerment Foundation and member of Moms Demand Action; Humble ISD Superintendent Elizabeth Fagen; and Lisa Andrews Alpe, vice president of the Spring Branch ISD school board. HARRIS COUNTY Commissioners
Commissioners mull potential bond
Jersey Village reviews ballpark feasibility study
BOND BREAKDOWN The plan presented in Harris County Commissioners Court includes roads and transit, parks and public safety facilities.
BY RACHEL CARLTON
HARRIS COUNTY Commissioners voted 3-2 to begin community engage- ment for a potential $1.2 billion bond issue in November at a July 19 meeting. Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey and Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle opposed. The commissioners spent close to 90 minutes debating the merits of holding a bond election this year instead of next year, to what degree of specificity programs should be presented to the public and the percentage of the bond funds allocated to each precinct. In support of a bond issue in 2022, County Administrator David Berry said voter turnout would be three times higher in November 2022 than 2023 based on comparable elections and that current county roads and parks projects would experience delays if the election is postponed. A $1.2 billion bond would raise prop- erty taxes by $32 a year for the average homeowner, but Berry said the overall tax rate should continue to decline
BY DANICA LLOYD
General road bonds: $300M Neighborhood drainage: $200M Road and drainage partnerships: $200M
JERSEY VILLAGE Convention Sports and Leisure International in July released the results of a feasibility study conducted for a baseball stadium to potentially be included in Jersey Village’s 43-acre town center development planned south of Hwy. 290 at Jones Road. City Council received the report at its July 18 meeting but made no further action. The study concluded a partnership with the American Association of Professional Base- ball would be the best fit should a team come to Jersey Village. CSL officials also said a 4,500-seat sta- dium would be suitable. Between the 50 home games per season and other community events, CSL estimates the stadium could host 120 events and 225,000 total attendees annually.
Parks and trails : $200M
Road rehabilitation : $100M
Vision Zero : $50M Multimodal transit : $50M Public safety facilities and technology : $100M
based on the county’s finances. Berry said he will refine the scope of work of the community engagement plan with firms the county has on contract before a special meeting between Aug. 12-22, when commissioners could vote to put the bond on the ballot and begin discussions with consulting firms. SOURCE: HARRIS COUNTY OFFICE OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATION/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
STADIUM STATS
Minority-owned business contracts increase
The following recommendations were presented to City Council:
3,500
1,000 berm seats
HARRIS COUNTY The Harris County BY RACHEL CARLTON
reported in the county’s 2020 disparity study. DEEO Executive Director Diana Ramirez presented results from the annual M/WBE utilization report to Commissioners Court on June 28. In 2020, county commissioners estab- lished both the DEEO and the M/WBE program in response to the
county’s study, which aimed to determine whether businesses had equal access to contracts funded by Harris County. Derek Holmes, assistant director of vendor diversity for the DEEO and the head of the M/WBE program, said there is more work ahead to achieve the program’s goals.
$29.6M-$34.1M fixed seats estimated cost
Department of Economic Equity and Opportunity reported minority- and women-owned enter- prises, or M/WBEs, received 19.77% of Harris County contract dollars awarded between June 2021-February 2022—up 119.4% from what was
290
529
SOURCES: CONVENTION SPORTS AND LEISURE INTERNATIONAL, CITY OF JERSEY VILLAGE/ COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
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CYPRESS EDITION • AUGUST 2022
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