The Travis County Commissioners Court voted unanimously Feb. 2 to approve the charge for a Palm School Committee, as well as its potential appointees.

The Palm School site, located at the intersection of Cesar Chavez Street and I-35 next to the Rainey Street Historic District, now serves as the home of the Travis County Health and Human Services and Veteran Services departments.

At a Dec. 15 meeting, county commissioners discussed establishing a committee to discuss the future use of the school site.

The committee’s charge is not to determine a potential future use for the school site, but to explore possible preservation of the building and its historical designations—as well as seek additional historical protections, Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt said.

The committee will also examine the current and previous uses of Palm School with help from historians and an architectural engineer.

Commissioner Margaret Gómez proposed a few other items as part of the vote, which commissioners and Eckhardt decided should be pursued by staff instead.

The recommendation included that the committee include Gómez, Austin City Council member Kathie Tovo and Council Member Sabino “Pio” Renteria as well as representatives of the Downtown Austin Alliance, Travis County Historical Commission and the city’s parks foundation. The court also approved adding Steven Broberg, Director, Travis County Records Management & Communication Resources, to the committee.

Eckhardt said she had reservations that the charge seemed to be predisposed toward preserving the building in its current form. The commissioners court, including Commissioner Gerald Daugherty, has discussed potentially finding other uses for the site to bring in revenue for the county.

“I want some value out of this that the county can witness,” Daugherty said, adding he looks forward to hearing more about the historical significance of the building.

Gómez said the committee will have a meeting sometime in March, so the committee will come back to the court sometime after that.