WASHINGTON CO. COMMISSIONERS TABLE REDISTRICTING PROPOSAL

  

Washington County Commissioners held off on approving a new map for the county’s election, justice of the peace and commissioners’ precincts at their meeting today (Tuesday).

The court tabled the redistricting proposal after receiving feedback from citizens during a public hearing.  Emil Mokry, a Precinct 4 resident, asked why Blinn College’s Mill Creek Hall and the rest of the campus would be located within different precincts, and suggested they be included together for uniformity.

Commissioners agreed that moving the dorm from Precinct 1 to Precinct 4 with the entire campus would create less confusion for voters, but decided to table the item in order to give attorneys more time to review the changes.

Pending approval of the new map, there would be two other changes to the county’s precincts.  The first adjustment would move a tract close to where FM 2935 meets Little Sandy Creek from Precinct 3, currently under Commissioner Kirk Hanath, to Precinct 1, under Commissioner Don Koester.  The second change would take land near the meeting point of Highway 290 and Highway 36 South from Precinct 2, represented by Commissioner Candice Bullock, and move it to Precinct 4, covered by Commissioner Joy Fuchs.

Census data is used every 10 years to update district and precinct lines in accordance with population changes.  A population deviation of over 10 percent between the largest and smallest districts or precincts requires redistricting.

Daniel McCarthy, a resident of Precinct 3, asked what the threshold was for the court to implement the new redistricting plan.  Election Administrator Carol Jackson said the county previously had a deviation of over 3 percent in population between the commissioner precincts.  The new map has a total maximum deviation of 2.85 percent.

Adjusted precinct population numbers, prior to any new values from the changes with Mill Creek Hall, are 8,989 people in Precinct 1, 9,117 in Precinct 2, 8,837 in Precinct 3 and 8,862 in Precinct 4, adding up to a total of 35,805.  The ideal population for each precinct is 8,951.

Allison, Bass & Associates, LLP assisted the court in creating the new map.

Click here to view the proposed precinct maps considered by commissioners on Tuesday.

Also at today’s meeting, the court approved an interlocal agreement between the county and Fort Bend County for performance of postmortem exams.

The agreement will allow Washington County to obtain the services of the Fort Bend County medical examiner to perform postmortem examinations on people who died in Washington County.  It will also allow the medical examiner to provide sworn testimony in connection with any inquest by a justice of the peace or any criminal investigation or prosecution conducted by a prosecuting attorney.

Per the agreement, the fee for a standard autopsy exam will be $2,600 per body, while an external examination is $850.  Additional storage of bodies will be $45 per day for each body that remains at the medical examiner’s office beyond 48 hours of being ready for pickup.

Commissioners also:

• Voted to include the Veterans County Service Office as an option for jurors and prospective jurors to donate their juror severe payment.
• Set the dates and times for commissioners court meetings in 2022 to include the second Tuesday as the regular meeting at 9 a.m. and the first, third, fourth and fifth Tuesdays at 9 a.m. as special meetings.
• Approved the 2022 Washington County holiday schedule.
• Approved the county engineer to advertise for sealed bids for road and bridge items including drive bridge piling; fuel; oils, asphalts and emulsions; road construction materials; and steel products. Bids will be due on December 20^th at 10:15 a.m. to the county clerk’s office, and will be opened at 10:30 a.m. in the Engineering and Development Services building’s conference room.  Bids will be considered by commissioners at their meeting on December 28^th.
• Approved a formal notice from PGMS for a two-inch road bore to replace a one-inch water service line at 731 West Briarwood Drive in Precinct 3.
• Approved a subdivision variance request for a land division fronting Sommer Lane in Precinct 1.
• Approved a change order submitted by Strand Associates, Inc. on behalf of Larry Young Paving, Inc. to the 2020 CTIF Grant.
• Purchased two Lifepak 15 V4 monitors for Washington County EMS through the American Rescue Plan with a sole source vendor.
• Purchased two Power Pro XT stretchers for Washington County EMS through the American Rescue Plan with a sole source vendor.
• Approved the position description for E&DS administrative assistant II.