Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones spoke to a full house at the October 3 town hall at Weekley Community Center, 8440 Greenhouse Road in Cypress, focusing on three areas which she said had been identified by residents as “non-negotiables:” keeping communities safe, protecting public health, and public infrastructure. The three priorities were reflected in the balanced budget recently passed by Harris County Commissioners court, Briones said.

The county has invested $1.9 billion in keeping communities safe, Briones said, with another $3 billion invested in public health and $2.5 billion invested in expanding public infrastructure and mitigating flooding. The top priority is public safety, she said, describing successful establishment of law enforcement pay parity for officers, which will help with officer retention. The VIPER Warrants Task Force has been developed to focus exclusively on violent felony warrants; the program also includes the launch of a “Family Violence Co-Response Team.” The Holistic Assistance Response Team (HART), a Harris County program created to dispatch 911 directly and other calls to interdisciplinary unarmed, first responder teams trained in behavioral health and on-scene medical assistance, has also recently been expanded. The expansion free officers to concentrate on more violent crimes, Briones said.

Harris County Precinct 4 is bringing key health services to area residents, Briones said. Among the programs in the greater Katy area are the deployment of Harris County Public Health’s mobile health and dental units to the Weekley Community Center and food distribution at Radack Community Center, 18650 Clay Road in Houston, in partnership with Common Market. Services from social workers have been improved with intake forms available at all precinct community centers and support now available in nine languages.

There is an investment of $2.5 billion in public infrastructure and disaster preparedness across Harris County, with over 40 projects in northwest Harris County, Briones said. These projects include road capacity improvements, road rehabilitation and drainage improvements as well as intersection and signal improvements, crosswalk improvements and additional miles of sidewalk.

Courtney Cunningham, Infrastructure Manager Signature Projects, outlined $14 million in neighborhood drainage projects which will benefit more than 10,000 residents and protect 3,100 properties. The six projects are expected to be completed this month, Cunningham said. Stage A of the Bear Creek Village subdivision drainage project has been completed, and stage B is expected to begin before the end of the year and completed by July 2028, Cunningham said.

Traffic signal upgrades completed in the greater Katy area include locations at Fry Road and Morton Road and Greenhouse Road at Park Row Blvd., Cunningham said. Future signal upgrades have been planned for Morton Ranch Road at Waterstone Falls Drive and Kieth Harrow Blvd. at Westfield Village Drive, both now in design with an expected completion date of February 2028. She also gave details on the road widening projects on Peek Road and Porter Road, which have been previously reported in the Katy

Times. A road overlay project has been completed on Stockdick School Road and concrete panel replacements are finished on S. Mason Road and Fry Road, Cunningham said, noting that these projects will improve road safety.

Marcus Stuckett, new director of the Harris County Flood Control District, also spoke, describing the county’s use of Community Development Block Grants for flood mitigation and disaster recovery. Nineteen mitigation projects are underway with $542 million in CDBG Fund and nearly $80 million in local contributions. Another 13 projects, designed for disaster recovery, will spend nearly $322 million in CCDBG funds with another $43 million in local contributions. Projects in the greater Katy area include a mitigation project for the Longenbaugh Regional Storm Water Detention Basin along Bear Creek and the South Mayde SWDB, now in construction, and a South Mayde Channel improvement project which will be starting soon, Stuckett said. Stuckett also gave an update on HCFD’s operational and maintenance improvements.

Annette Ramirez, Harris County Tax Assessor Collector and Voter Registrar, also spoke at the event, detailing how her office works to register voters, to levy and collect property taxes and to provide auto registration services.

A question-and-answer session followed, with a combination of about ten pre-submitted questions and questions asked by the audience. Questions ranged from concerns over the recent county tax increase to questions about the precinct’s long-range planning process; other concerns included questions about progress on the proposed Toro district, the precinct’s apprenticeship program and on sidewalks.