The Waller County Commissioners Court tabled a land plan due to a missing agreement and Judge Trey Duhon gave COVID-19 updates during the court’s June 24 meeting.

The court decided to table the approval of a General Land Plan for Sunterra Outdoors due to the development agreement between the county and the company not being executed yet. Three of the commissioners, Pct. 1’s John Amsler, Pct. 2’s Walter Smith and Pct. 3’s Jeron Barnett, were worried that approving the preliminary plan prior to the development agreement being approved would limit the court’s overview of the project. Rather than letting the plan fail, the court decided to table it to a later date.

Judge Duhon gave some COVID-19 updates as well, stating the current number of cases in Waller County is 111, with a few hospitalizations and no confirmed fatalities yet. Duhon reminded citizens that, despite Waller not being a hotspot and having lower rates of cases compared to neighboring counties, protocols for social distancing and wearing masks must still be followed.

Duhon said he doesn’t plan on issuing an executive order mandating businesses have employees and clients wear masks at the moment.

Discussion about removing the requirement that eligible applicants for plat exemptions must comply with the 2019 Major Thoroughfare Plan were held. A potential ordinance with new requirements may be proposed, but no final decision was made and the item will be examined on a future agenda.

A change order was approved for a new bridge structure on McAllister Road over the Brookshire Creek, amounting to around $18,000. The court also selected Cummins as the vendor for the Precinct 4 generator at a cost of $129,665.

Vince Yokom was re-nominated for the June 2020-May 2023 term to the Houston-Galveston Area Council Advisory Committee for the Gulf Coast Economic Development District representing Waller County.

The Waller County Commissioners’ Court meets Wednesdays at 9 a.m. at the Waller County Courthouse in Hempstead. Meetings are currently being held virtually, including the public comments portion of the meeting.. Local callers should call 979-921-6212 and non-local callers should call 800-576-1131. User code is 14329937.