Harris County commissioners have more than 600 items on the agenda for the upcoming March 27 court meeting.

Items worth mentioning

Items up for potential discussion include naming a Harris County building after former Houston mayor and U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner following his recent death. The 20-story office building is located in Downtown Houston, according to agenda documents.

Additionally, funding for court backlog initiatives are being requested by four different county departments, with two departments asking for approvals related to its employees.

  • The Harris County Sheriff’s Office is looking for approval for up to $1.2 million in funding, while the District Clerk’s Office is looking for approval of more than $280,000 in funding. No project details were listed on agenda documents.
  • Harris County court pretrial services officials are asking for commissioner approval to fund four full-time employees, while Harris County District Courts officials are asking for $1.1 million related to nine different position transfers.

Also on the agenda

Harris County Public Health will ask commissioners to take up the Holistic Assistance Response Team, or HART, program. The county's nonviolent 911 response program was created in 2022 to improve community health and safety to residents experiencing homelessness or nonemergency health concerns, but was paused in May last year after commissioners failed to reach an agreement on whether or not to pay the vendor overseeing the program. DEMA Consulting and Management was under scrutiny due to pay allegations related to the former HCPH Executive Director Barbie Robinson.



Commissioners later approved a seven-part plan last June that brought the program in-house, overseen by the county's public health department. Interim Executive Director Leah Barton oversees the department after Robinson’s dismissal last August.

Health officials are requesting Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo formally recognize the HART program as a first responder organization in the county. Operating as an unaffiliated first responder organization would enable HART to operate across multiple provider jurisdictions within the county, according to the public health department’s document.