Montgomery County Commissioners Court met for its second monthly meeting this morning and discussed a renewal of the county's juvenile curfew as well as a grant application to study Spring Creek and Lake Conroe. Flood project study Commissioners approved a resolution of support for proposed study by the San Jacinto River Authority involving a potential Spring Creek Reservoir project and the development of Phase II of a real-time gate operation tool for Lake Conroe. Two separate but complementary studies will take place. The SJRA is expected to submit a grant application to the Texas Water Development Board and will hear a decision on the grant funding in September. Curfew renewed After approving the consent agenda, Montgomery County Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack made a move to reconsider the adoption of the juvenile curfew. The measure passed with only Noack voting against, after hearing favorable testimony from the police department. “This community court determined we’ve seen an increase in juvenile crime and determined there’s an increase in juvenile gang activity in Montgomery County, with which I wasn’t comfortable,” Noack said. “Personally, I feel like it is the parent’s responsibility to keep up with their children and I don’t know that we need a law trying to tell us to have your kids indoors at a certain time.” First established in 1996, the curfew applies to minors under the age of 17 between 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m. outdoors with exclusions if they are accompanied by a parent, legal guardian or older sibling. “There are a lot of young men and women who run or fish and have to get up at 3 a.m. to have enough time to take care of these activities, and they’re breaking the law, and I have a real problem with that,” Noack said. “Unless you can prove to me, I’d like to know how many citations have been issued. We should be tracking this—is the law going to pull its weight?” Precinct 1 Constable Philip Cash said it would be up to the officer’s discretion to stop a minor out after curfew, and that it is mainly used as probable cause to stop rising teen gang activities that result in damaged property and criminal mischief. He said officers do not usually stop minors driving to the gym in the morning or working late at a summer job, but they do stop kids who look too young to be hanging out in the middle of the night—and often find drugs or property stolen out of cars. Cash said the county sees a rise in crime during the summertime in criminal mischief and motor vehicle theft, and they use the curfew as a tool at officer discretion. During the summer, officer hours are increased to prevent juvenile crimes. “I have never had a complaint about law enforcement using discretion (here),” Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Meador said. “I think it’s a good tool, I don’t think it’s ever been abused—I think we would hear about it. I think it needs to be left on the table for law enforcement to utilize if they need to.” Items of note —The court unanimously approved a $1 million expenditure for Montgomery County Youth Services to expand its shelters, as a match to the $1.4 already approved in federal funds for the project. The expansion will construct separate buildings for the boys and girls (currently they are all in one building) along with a central facility. —The court unanimously approved advance funding between the Texas Department of Transportation and Montgomery County for Woodtrace Municipal Utility District No. 3 tracts. —The court approved a $5,000 increase for joint operations between the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for gang investigation.