Fort Bend County Judge Robert Hebert said he is prioritizing the initial planning of a future facilities bond election that will affect various parts of the county and could be on the ballot for voters by November 2019.
During his annual State of the County presentation March 29, Hebert said the bond may include the expansion and renovation of the Fort Bend Juvenile Detention Center, Emergency Operations Center and multipurpose facility at the county fairgrounds, among other projects that have yet to be determined.
The Juvenile Detention Center has been operational in the same place since about 1993, said Beth Wolf, community relations representative for the county. However, it is possible the center will need to be replaced before the bond election could occur, Hebert said.
Due to a potential change from the state level that could change the criminal responsibility age from 17 to 18 years old, the Juvenile Detention Center would need more space, Wolf said. The change could take place before the facilities bond election, creating a need sooner rather than later, she said.
"If the age changes, there will be an influx of offenders moved into the Juvenile Detention Center," Wolf said. "We would then be required to make the necessary additions, renovations [and] new buildings, and possibly before a bond has passed."
The Emergency Operations Center has also been operational from the same building—formerly the county jail—for over two decades, Wolf said.
"It's outlived its use, and there is no more space to put the additional equipment we need to install to be better off for an emergency situation," Hebert said. "We have no space really for people to come in and actually get some rest. Fatigue becomes a terrible problem in an emergency like [Hurricane] Ike or [Hurricane] Harvey."
County officials are also looking into developing a multipurpose facility that would centrally serve county residents for private or public events, Hebert said.
"This is a more pedestrian but useful multipurpose facility that can be used for large indoor gatherings such as school graduations, large spaghetti dinners for charities and serve as a shelter for large groups and let us centralize the shelter for people being moved out of their home," Hebert said.
Although a potential election is still more than a year away, the facilities bond is in the exploratory stage, and officials are evaluating county projects, Wolf said.
"This is something that I will be calling for," Hebert said. "We will start the work and … it may be November of next year before we'll have our act together and know exactly what will be called moving forward."