The Harris County Commissioners Court is slated to discuss extensions to federal pre-disaster project grants and a study on floating vegetated islands during its business court meeting Oct. 29.
At a glance
Commissioners will consider several agreement amendments between the county and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its pre-disaster mitigation grants, according to agenda documents. The extensions will give the Harris County Flood Control District more time to spend the money, rather than returning it if the project isn’t complete by the grant end date.
If approved, the extensions will apply to three detention basins with no change in funding. Per agenda documents, the basins and corresponding extensions are:
Meyergrove Stormwater Detention Basin: extends period of performance by 6 months and 18 days
East T.C. Jester Stormwater Detention Basin: extends period of performance through April 1, 2027
Halls Bayou Blue Bell Detention Basin: extends period of performance through April 1, 2027
The court will also consider extension amendments to agreements with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
One extension will provide an additional 92 calendar days for the HCFCD to complete Hurricane Beryl debris removal without a change in funding. Another extension will add 181 days to construct three stormwater detention basins and some minor tributary conveyance improvements within the:
Another detail
Commissioners will also consider an interlocal agreement with the University of Houston to study floating vegetated islands, an “innovative water quality and habitat enhancement feature,” per agenda documents. The agreement would allow the HCFCD to partner with UH researchers to monitor and study the islands at the Reverend William and Audrey Lawson Park’s stormwater detention basin for three years. The basin sits on a roughly 22-acre site, per the HCFCD.
The study will evaluate how effective the islands are as a management practice for detention basins. The agreement will cost $533,444, according to the documents, with an additional grant from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Also on the agenda
Harris County and Galveston County could enter into an interlocal agreement for laboratory diagnostic vector-borne disease testing, if commissioners approve it. The agreement would create a regional partnership between the Harris County Public Health-Mosquito and Vector Control Division, or MVCD, and Galveston County Mosquito Control, or GCMC.
The partnership would allow GCMC to outsource some of its testing to MVCD because funding reductions have limited the availability of state and academic laboratories, which GCMC has historically used, per agenda documents. It will also increase “surveillance capabilities across county boundaries” and maximize existing public health resources, according to the documents.
Under the agreement, MVCD would offer fee-based testing, generating revenue for the division and supporting the special revenue fund for expanding laboratory diagnostic services.
If the agreement is not approved, GCMC would have “reduced capacity to identify circulating pathogens and inform mosquito control and public health response activities.”
“Delays in diagnostic testing could impede timely disease detection and implementation of appropriate interventions during periods of increased transmission risk,” the documents state.
Before you go
Commissioners Court meetings are held at 9 a.m. in Downtown Houston. The administration building is at 1001 Preston St., Houston. Meetings are also available to livestream.
