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Senate Local Government met on October 31 to hear invited testimony only on the following Special Session agenda item: Legislation concerning public safety, security, environmental quality, and property ownership in areas like the Colony Ridge development in Liberty County, Texas.

 

This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight the various topics taken up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the discussions but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer.

 

Opening Comments

  • Bettencourt – Here to discuss Colony Ridge like situations in Texas; while there is concern about Colony Ridge, the border situation as a whole is intolerable
  • Bettencourt – Are 50 times Colony Ridges’ worth of illegal immigration into this state; today we want to see what has happened to Texas’ stretched resources
  • Statement from Nichols read – Colony Ridge is in my district, I coauthored the bill that created this MMD; strongly believe in the private property rights
  • Bettencourt – Line item in the Senate’s border financing bill provided $40m in the Governor’s Trusteed Office to DPS for border security operations including increased law enforcement presence in Colony Ridge
  • West – We have a crisis on our border, the federal government is at fault; hoping as we put together billions for this, border senators have significant input in this process including Nichols
  • Gutierrez – Have been dealing with this issue for years; has been a political issue, do not think Colony Ridge is a different community than any other
  • Eckhardt – Counties are struggling with significant population growth; looking forward to hearing about these issues

 

John Harris, Colony Ridge Development

  • Have heard a lot of outlandish stories; most of which were not true
  • Provides background on their development business
  • 6 schools are in the development; donated the land for; will be building a high school soon
  • Through the property owner association and MMD provide over $1m per year for officers to patrol the neighborhood
  • Have sold over 34k lots and only third of those lots are lived on
  • Most people want the opportunity to be able to buy a home and live in a community
  • Bettencourt – Only a third live there? Other thirds are in the process of having homes built or is an investment property?
    • Yes, many people have made sacrifices in order to build and own a home
  • Bettencourt – Are following a regular deed process?
    • Correct
  • Bettencourt – What is the rate on your loans before you start?
    • 9%
  • Bettencourt – What is the foreclose rate?
    • Craig Parker, CFO Colony Ridge – Annually round 12% out of 27k accounts and 90% of those occur within the first two years of the loan; is a $500 downpayment
  • Bettencourt – When you do pre-qualification? RESPA
    • Craig Parker, CFO Colony Ridge – RESPA no minimum in law
  • Bettencourt – How much outside financing?
    • Craig Parker, CFO Colony Ridge – Majority are owner-financed and see cash transactions; have a bank being built in the area
  • Bettencourt – What is the current population? Have been estimates of 70k
    • About 35k-45k
  • Bettencourt – How much self-finance this? Are there other lenders involved?
    • Craig Parker, CFO Colony Ridge – Have First Liberty Bank, are many cash transactions, but do not see who those come from since they come through a title company
  • Bettencourt – Issue with selling the foreclosures?
    • No
  • Springer – What percentage of those foreclosures are before development?
    • Craig Parker, CFO Colony Ridge – Majority are pre-development
  • Gutierrez – Not doing anything different than any other developer? Got all approvals before this began?
    • Correct
  • Gutierrez – Do not know what percentage of the people who live there are documented/undocumented?
    • Correct
  • Gutierrez – There is no higher influx of crime in your community than any other?
    • Correct
  • Gutierrez – AG sent a letter to Congress calling this a primitive subdivision; would you call it that?
    • Would not call it that
  • Gutierrez – In AG’s letter is says loans require little identity detection; true?
    • Craig Parker, CFO Colony Ridge – Require two forms of id CIP guidance and BSA law; mirrors commercial banks
  • Gutierrez – Letter also says this is a tempting offer
    • Are not advertising in Mexico; is nothing we offer that
  • Gutierrez – Letter lays out a number of accusations; says the development is unmanageable to law enforcement, tremendous disturbances, infrastructure overuse, etc.
    • Believe those claims are not true; believe our roads are more hardy than regular asphalt roads
  • Gutierrez – Confused as to why such an inflammatory letter was written?
    • Confused why a lot of things happen in government
  • Eckhardt – What is the average cost per acre in Liberty County?
    • Do not know; for us, half an acre is around $35-$60k
  • Eckhardt – Build private roads above county standards?
    • Correct, and are than dedicated to the county
  • Eckhardt – Provide water/wastewater?
    • Correct
  • Eckardt – Are there hydrants?
    • There are not, are plans as things buildout, but most are rural
  • Eckhardt – Who provides fire services?
    • Have built a fire station and donated land to MMD, intend to provide fire and EMS
    • MMD has authority to do those services in lieu of ESD
  • Eckhardt and Harris discuss the developer’s donation of land
  • Eckhardt – Have a property tax as well as sales tax?
    • Correct; have not gotten any money from the MMD to date; are not trying to create a neighborhood with a high tax burden
    • Intend to get reimbursements for some things, but not seeking to get reimbursement for a majority of our road construction
  • Eckhardt – County would not be
  • West – Find it ironic this letter was after the impeachment trial and that it also contains a personal attack to Sen. Nichols and Rep. Bailes who both voted to impeach the AG
  • West – Think this is a waste of time, you have done things consistent with what we expect you to do
  • Springer – Was looking at MUD and MMD tax rate is $.35 are three other MUDs is Liberty County that are at a $1
    • Goal is to make it easier for people to live there
  • Springer – Is a housing crisis in this state; you are allowing people to achieve the dream of American home ownership
    • Have national builders in our area now; want to provide a home for people

 

Colonel Steve McCraw, DPS

  • Received calls nine months ago that had concerns that Colony Ridge was infiltrated by the cartel
  • Crime is substantially lower in Colony Ridge related to Austin
  • Seized 35k fentanyl in Ausitn and 9 in Colony Ridge; do not see high rates of home invasions
  • Bettencourt – Data you have prior to surge in January?
    • A blend
  • Bettencourt – How many officers?
    • 30 and special agents; they spend substantially less time on the job than Austin troopers
  • Bettencourt – Ratios?
    • Murders 10:1, aggravated assaults 178:2, etc.
  • Bettencourt – Have organized criminal activity?
    • Yes; have organized activity in every community
  • Bettencourt – No members of the cartel in the area?
    • None that we are aware of
  • Eckhardt – How many deputies per capita? Comparable to other areas in the geographic areas?
    • Defer to sheriff; not enough to cover the growth
  • Eckhardt – How long to recruit, train, field an officer?
    • Over 6 months to train and then a probation period; about a year and a half until you see a dividend
  • Eckhardt – Expect DPS will use a portion for $40m in SB 6 to reimburse/grant to Liberty County sheriff’s department
    • Governor and members have said we are going to support the sheriff how we can
  • Eckhardt – How long will the 30 DPS officers be dedicated to Liberty County?
    • No timeframe, sooner we can get out the better
  • Bettencourt – On traffic stops/arrests, what is the level of documentation do people have?
    • Probably a disproportionate amount with no driver’s license/insurance
  • Bettencourt – Can compare to other communities?
    • Not something uncommon in communities along the border
  • Gutierrez – When did you get into this area?
    • Since January
  • Gutierrez – Before January had how many officers?
    • Had 8
  • Gutierrez – At the direction of who?
    • The governor; had gotten reports there were issues in Liberty County
  • Gutierrez – Why are we wasting resources to patrol
    • Requested by the Liberty County sheriff
  • Gutierrez – What is a no-go zone in Texas?
    • Is not a no-go section in Texas
  • Gutierrez – If the governor tweeted that there are no-go zones in Texas, he would be incorrect?
    • Have spoken to the governor that there are no no-go zones in the state
  • Gutierrez – Whose decision will it be to take these additional officers out of this area?
    • Based on the sheriff and data
  • Gutierrez – Asks about Todd Bensman and the Center for Immigration Studies
    • Previously worked for DPS; believe his book is criticizing the Biden Administration’s handling of the border issue

 

Sheriff Robert Rader, Liberty County

  • I have 50 troopers; everyone has a different figure of how many are in the subdivision but believe there are 50k
  • The presence of DPS has reduced a lot of crime in the area; have 8 patrol officers a day
  • Have gone through three different systems to calculate all of this stuff; overviews crime data
  • Have seen a large number of discharged weapons calls; have not made a lot of big drug arrests
  • Bettencourt notes the development is in a major thoroughfare; impossible to avoid criminal activity in this area
  • Bettencourt – Could not do your job without DPS?
    • Correct
  • Bettencourt – Drivers license data on traffic stops?
    • Majority of people stopped do not have a drivers license
  • Gutierrez – Does not mean they are undocumented
    • Correct; know there are gangs there
  • Gutierrez – Is crime everywhere; apologize that you have been put under this limelight; no one disputes you have crime in your community; have less crime than similarly situated communities; need our DPS officers to be in areas of high crime
  • Gutierrez – Have you been contacted by Todd Bensman?
    • Yes; was unaware he worked for DPS
  • Gutierrez – Did some research on Twitter to figure out how we got here; asks about Bensman tweeting about
    • McCraw – Went back and talked to the ranger, but he was referring to that area
  • Gutierrez – Remember talking to Bensman about the DEA drug bust –
  • Bettencourt – Are here today because this is on the Governor’s call, want us to focus on Colony Ridge
  • Gutierrez – Is Colony Ridge a no-go zone?
    • No; have never had a section of that community where we could not enforce the law
    • McCraw – Talked to the governor and he never said there were no-go zones in Texas
  • Gutierrez – That is what he tweeted; trying to figure out why we are spending so much state funds on a community that has less crime than comparable communities
  • Gutierrez – How we got here is of great concern to me
  • Springer – Is your department going to apply for the grant funding under SB 22 $500k; authored that bill
    • Did apply for that and are using it for the full benefit
  • Springer – 10 of officers are paid for by the property owner’s association of Colony Ridge and the other 40?
    • Take care of the rest of the county
  • Springer – From tax revenue would think you have the resources to add deputies?
    • Judge and commissioner’s court are very pro law enforcement; are focusing on transportation; I am the largest part of their budget
  • Springer – Officer to population ratio is comparable to similar counties
  • Eckhardt – County is about 100k?
    • According to my estimate is 102k
  • Eckhardt – 30 additional DPS officers is a substantial augmentation of your efforts?
    • Correct
    • McCraw – 30 is with the surge operations, now have about 8
  • Eckhardt – Worried about when DPS withdraws?
    • Was never promised they would stay there; prefer working with them, but if they withdraw can work without them
  • Eckhardt – Aware of the senate’s proposal of $40m infusion for DPS and grants
    • Was not aware before, but would be interested
  • Eckhardt – Would cover over time with that $40m?
    • McCraw – Would if the bill allows it; overtime is deal to increase local patrol capacity
  • Bettencourt – $40m in the bill to DPS overtime and cost related to Colony Ridge development
    • McCraw – Over time for DPS or subsidy? Hopefully both
  • Bettencourt – Does not specifically say

 

Ryan Baasch, Attorney General

  • Consumer Protection Division has been investigating Colony Ridge
  • Investigation is ongoing; preliminary findings show concerns about Colony Ridge’s practices
  • Concerns will likely persist if they continue to grow without additional legislation
  • Bettencourt – Is any of the testimony in contradiction with your report? Anything you would disagree with?
    • Baasch – Would be very hard to go into exact specifics, can respond to specific statements without going into ongoing investigation
  • Gutierrez – How is this MMD different from any other?
    • MMD’s primarily exist to benefit metropolitan areas, Colony Ridge isn’t one
  • Gutierrez- Harris County is next door?
    • In a manner of speaking
  • Gutierrez – Blanket statement that it has become unmanageable for LEOs is not the case per testimony? Did you write this letter?
    • I did not
  • Gutierrez – Who called your office complaining about consumer protection violations
    • Don’t have specific names
  • Gutierrez – Want a list of every consumer that has called your office, and if there is not one, I will tell the public that; will send a letter to your office today
  • Gutierrez – Nothing in the October 16th letter says anything about consume protection violations, nothing in there aside from blasting specific members of the legislature
  • Gutierrez – Who are you talking about when speaking of “unvetted foreign aliens”?
    • Did not draft the letter
  • Gutierrez – Who drafted it? Will be submitting another letter to figure out who wrote this
  • Gutierrez – AG Paxton put his signature on this, so I guess he has no issue with racist comments?
    • Can’t speak to this
  • Gutierrez – Social media investigation?
    • Colony Ridge advertises in Spanish, particularly in way that market to foreign nationals
  • Gutierrez – I market in Spanish, am I appealing to foreign nationals?
    • Not due to marketing in Spanish\
  • Gutierrez – What ways?
    • Stating you can buy plots with only foreign ID
  • Gutierrez – What is the law?
    • Law does not prevent Colony Ridge from existing, also doesn’t prevent foreign nationals from buying properties
  • Gutierrez – Where is the violation?
    • Didn’t say this is a violation, but they are making representations misrepresenting conditions in Colony Ridge
  • Gutierrez – No law prohibits marketing to people to purchase land with foreign ID, so what is the problem?
    • There are various other misrepresentations, not prepared to get into the specifics
  • Bettencourt – Have received some emails and instructed staff to release them; complaints we’ve gotten are speaking to misrepresentations of characteristics, Clean Air Act complaints, purchase of multiple lots, shopping center lot construction sign has been up for years
  • Bettencourt – These are the types of complaints?
    • Is a sampling of these complaints
  • Gutierrez – When did the investigation start with you? With these emails which seem miniscule? We’ve committed an unjustifiable amount of LEO resources & you can’t begin to show me complaints and from whom; did the Gov’s Office call your office?
    • Didn’t receive a call from the Governor
  • Gutierrez – The letter states the AG’s Office has coordinated with the Gov’s Team; did this MMD break the law when annexed the land owned by Mr. Harris?
    • Not prepared to answer that
  • Gutierrez – Will be talking to media if info isn’t provided, and you can tell your boss that
  • Eckhardt – You said you were investigating 3 areas? Does the AG’s Office have any independent criminal investigative authority under the Constitution? Can they mount a criminal investigation without any partnership from a county or DA’s Office?
    • Not that I’m aware of
  • Eckhardt – Are you aware of how many MMDs there are in TX?
    • I’m not
  • Eckhardt – Over 100 in 40 counties
    • Not aware
  • Eckhardt – So you’re not aware if MMDs are used in metropolitan areas are not?
    • No, I’m not
  • Eckhardt – Know if AG has investigated other MMDs?
    • Not aware
  • Eckhardt – Familiar with AG approval of bonds?
    • Not familiar with scope of authority in that area
  • Eckhardt – Not aware if AG has ever rejected bond issuance?
    • Not aware
  • Eckhardt – Sounds like a highly unusual investigation
    • My division is not investigating bonds, looking at consumer protections, lending practices, and nuisance
  • Eckhardt – are you working with State Securities Board?
    • Don’t want to speak to other agencies, but have been speaking to others; can follow up in writing
  • Eckhardt – You’re coordinating with TCEQ on nuisance?
    • We have been
  • Eckhardt – But you haven’t asked how many MMDs there are?
    • Someone on my team might have, I don’t personally know
  • Bettencourt – We do have other MMDs with issues like SH-130
  • Bettencourt – Reads Sen. Nichols statement that local impact resolutions in support were filed from County Commissioners Court and City of Plum Grove; want you to take that back to AG’s Office, this is Sen. Nichols response on this issue

 

Stephen McCandless, Superintendent of Cleveland ISD

  • Colony Ridge has led to hyper growth of the ISD, 5k students at the end of 2017, now at just under 12k student
  • A third of the lots are developed, if the trend continues, demographers have projected district enrollment to hit 50k when Colony Ridge is complete
  • There is a subdivision called Bella Vista located on FM-10, demographics on either side show that without Colony Ridge would likely still be around 3k students
  • Have been told to expect 225k to 250k people in Colony Ridge, have heard different numbers on how many are living in Colony Ridge; ISD estimates 50k-70k
  • Currently at 94 bus routes, up from 25 in 2015
  • Have spent $10m to build portable classroom buildings
  • Bettencourt – By hyper growth, you’re talking about from 2017 you’ve gone from 5k to almost 12k, unusual even in TX
    • McCandless – It is
  • Bettencourt – Any other districts that have had the hyper growth?
    • Not aware of any, in 2019 TEA labeled as the fastest growing in TX, we are fastest growing in Region 4
  • McCandless – Mentioned earlier that Colony Ridge is 60 sq miles, entire ISD is 143 sq miles
  • Need to order resources based on expected growth, 1k-1.5k students expected to enroll in Cleveland ISD over the summer
  • Bettencourt – There are some extra buses at HISD that you might be able to pick up
  • McCandless – Continues stressors on Cleveland ISD as students move in will continue to cost the district; portable buildings drive costs higher; not much more in terms of funding the ISD can dip into
  • Looking at finances to drive efficiency, combining positions that are furthest from the classroom; don’t want to lay off any staff
  • 80%-90% of new students are living in Colony Ridge when they enroll
  • Having multiple families in one house in Colony Ridge, 5-7 families and we need to do residency affidavits
  • Getting about $1k tax funding from each rooftop if speaking of $100k house, have no industrial, some commercial
  • Years off to bring in new commercial tax revenue
  • Have passed 3 bond referendums since 2015, majority have failed starting after 2019; community has a hard time investing in and wanting to build facilities for something they feel has been put on them
  • Bettencourt – Total population in Cleveland ISD is?
    • McCandless – City itself styed around 7k-8k, County population around 120k
    • Unless we go door to door, it is hard to know exactly the number of people in each household
  • Bettencourt – What is the transfer level in and out?
    • Mobility rate is difficult to determine, hard to have a pure cohort
    • Track cohorts in CCMR system, probably 80% stay together as they move up in grades
  • Bettencourt – Actually higher than I thought it would be, means your doing a good job
    • Covered everything with the rapid growth and how it is affecting the district
  • Bettencourt – You did have bond issues passed earlier on so you have a higher debt rate, but no question you are experiencing high growth; you are having to use M&O funds
  • Bettencourt – Everything after 2019, bonds did not pass
    • Had a fail in 2015 and 2017, had one pass in 2019, but only by 12 votes
    • In November had most ever voters @4k total, 2.5k against and 1.5k for
  • Bettencourt – This is not the Education Committee but several have been on, anything you want to say to us from that point of view? Obviously you’ve got hyper growth
    • We expect the hyper growth to continue
    • Job is to educate everyone who moves in and that is what we do; we project out 12 to 18 months for finances
    • ESSR grant is expiring in August 2024, have $1.8m in salaries to absorb
  • Bettencourt – Academic ratings?
    • Scored a B, highest we’ve ever done
  • Bettencourt – Have heard you’ve done well, especially with conditions; any Fs?
    • We did, Cleveland Middle School was an F, but it was before the new middle school opened and student ratios became more manageable
  • Bettencourt – Would love to discuss this more, if you took 9th grade kids offsite and handled them as a separate cohort
    • Advocate and proponent of 9th grade centers
  • Eckhardt – testimony on bonds is helpful; what do you think basic allotment should be?
    • Every ISD is different, we have looked at $6,300, $6,250; if it was raised $50 we would be happy because of the situation we’re in
    • Would ask the legislature to look at situations like ours with continual failed bonds
  • Eckhardt – Given that basic allotment is static, would you want it at least indexed to inflation?
    • Yes
  • Bettencourt _ Good news is we have a higher number than your 50%
  • Springer – May be multiple precincts in Colony Ridge, what is the voter turnout there compared to elsewhere?
    • Voter turnout is dismal, developer says about 1,600 registered voters, had 75 people vote in the Colony Ridge area
    • Number one part of the district who wants new facilities and school sis Colony Ridge, but also the number one who will vote no on a bond
  • Bettencourt – Sounds like you’re optimizing what you can, 9th grade move is important; will keep you in mind as we’re looking at other bills

 

Craig Pritzlaff, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

  • Colony Ridge is a classic development considering residential property lots, 6 permitted treatment plants and 6 authorized water systems, 6 future permits for water treatment pending or awaiting activation
  • To date from 2017 to present, TCEQ has conducted 73 investigations, 24 of which are in progress, 49 completed; completed investigations resulted in 31 enforcement actions, 3 enforcement orders
  • Bettencourt – Those were for?
    • Pritzlaff – Related to a wastewater facility, overflow, stormwater, and public water supply, etc.
  • Bettencourt – Commissioner Ramsey from Harris County has expressed concerns about those
    • Since September, we did surge out 12 investigative teams in Colony Ridge to touch each facility and do reconnaissance
    • We have 24 investigations pending, 31 enforcement actions out of 49 resolved
  • Bettencourt – Are you expecting the same ratio in the remaining 24 investigations?
    • Maybe 1 or 2 enforcement orders forthcoming, have one formal enforcement action
  • Bettencourt – Anything unusual for subdivisions of this type?
    • No

 

Justin Tack, TCEQ

  • In charge of group overseeing the two water districts in the area; haven’t received many applications or info from these districts; latest was FY2022 audits
  • Bettencourt – Anything from the 2022 audits that was concerning to you?
    • Tack – There was not
  • Eckhardt – Is the TCEQ in active coordination with the AG on this MMD?
    • They have coordinated with us on our investigative activities, we’re sharing info at their request
  • Eckhardt – Has the AG’s Office ever reached out before on an investigation of this type for an MMD?
    • Pritzlaff – Not aware of that

 

John Harris, Colony Ridge

  • I don’t believe that the MMD is one of the regulated entities
  • MUD doesn’t have water system, or sewer, it’s all private
  • Bettencourt – So the enforcement orders are on the private investment side; any you wouldn’t comply with?
    • We own a part of one of the water & sewer providers
  • Bettencourt – How many are there?
    • 3
  • Bettencourt – so the other 2 are independently owned, separate on all aspects?
    • Yes
  • Bettencourt – Are the enforcement orders on those 2 or the jointly owned
  • Eckhardt – Curious as to what this line of questioning has to do with the call?
    • Priztlaff, TCEQ – 2 Quadvest Limited, 1 Colony Ridge Development; Colony Ridge one relates to stormwater

 

Trey Lary, Allen Boone Humphries Robinson LLP

  • Not affiliated with the MUD or the MMD
  • Growth is driven by the TX economy, driven by jobs, low taxes, low cost of living, high quality of living
  • Districts don’t cause the growth, counties aren’t able to control or stop growth by controlling or stopping districts; focus needs to be on growth and what counties have the power to regulate
  • County doesn’t want to pay for drainage, etc., they want a community to do that; districts should be welcomed so that the community is taxed and not other areas
  • Misnomer to say that growth in district causes in districts causes a burden to growth outside, actually outside; idea that a county or city would have right to veto the development of private property and a person’s private property rights within a district
  • Bettencourt – That’s what SB 2038 was all about; you’ve heard Sen. Eckhardt’s list, it does seem that the developer is paying for a substantial portion of that if not nearly all
    • Seems like developer is doing more as a developer and less as the district, resulting in a lower tax rate, and he gets to make that decision in the free market to meet demand
  • Bettencourt – Is this a higher than normal private pay from developer funds than average?
    • It does seem like they are making an effort to keep the activities of the district at a lower tax rate because that is what they’ve determined meets the need
    • One thing I like is that the person with the investment gets to make those decisions
  • County sets standards for infrastructure
  • Have an interesting situation where some counties are refusing to accept roads for maintenance; county sets standard but then won’t accept for maintenance
  • Will leave it to voters who eventually live there what they think the county should be doing to maintain roads and what they should pay through tax
  • If counties aren’t there for road maintenance
  • Bettencourt – Commonly occurring now?
    • Many are saying the roads existing as of a date certain are the only ones
  • Bettencourt – may not be recognizing the obvious, so may need to deal with that
    • Our understanding of Harris County is that some commissioners don’t want to do this
    • My goal is to ensure there isn’t a gap
  • County has done an extraordinary job setting drainage standards and keeping them; flooding due to Harvey was low & directly related to modern standards
  • In a MUD there is a requirement for fire flow, would be required for a public system, not sure of the differences in requirements for private entities
  • Not disputing growth in the county, Fire and EMS are not typically the purview of counties; my understanding is that in the past the city had excluded the land from service and Sen. Nichols recognized that there needed to be a backstop provider
  • Bettencourt – Bill pattern was unusual, went to Administration Committee at the time and not IGR; there wasn’t a hearing like we’re doing today
  • There is a process for the county to present a fire plan to the voters with taxes, fees, etc., but county departments are very rare and probably not efficient
  • No doubt that Sheriffs and Constable provide overall public safety not intended to be for a subdivision, but Water Code allows districts to contract for or have their own peace officers; most efficient way has been contracting with counties
  • Contract deputy program lines up well with bond payoff time period; as community grows you can start paying for more policing; resident boards will tend to continue to increase funding to get policing to the level they want
  • Contract amount for LEO contracts to Harris County was $58m
  • Bettencourt – Contract deputy program is widely popular; no one rational would want to stop that program
  • Does that mean county service is completely covered
  • There is a county at the TCEQ protesting creation of districts partly because the district won’t provide animal control services, wanting district to donate $175k to animal shelter
  • Bettencourt – Can you give me a hint on the county?
    • County in which a city has a lot of opt-out petitions, future home of a prominent manufacturing facility
  • Bettencourt – Fascinating; good news is that there appears there are no requests like that for Colony Ridge
  • Eckhardt – Given ability of municipalities to annex, have you seen or do you predict an increased utilization of MMDs in urbanizing areas in order to meet demand for a higher standard than county can provide for police coverage, fire coverage, water & wastewater, zoning, building codes, broadband, etc.?
    • Absolutely, and there should be for everyone’s interest
    • Subdivision within a district is less of a burden to county and everyone else than a subdivision not in a district
    • Believe this was Sen. Nichols’ intent
    • Surprised at protests against creation of districts at the TCEQ, think this is not well thought-out
    • There are huge areas of the state that are unincorporated and their form of municipal government is districts
  • Bettencourt – Thanks Mr. Harris for coming, you’ve answered more questions from committee members than I’ve seen; any other comments you want to make?
    • Harris – Appreciate the opportunity to be here to talk about what we’re doing
    • Wanted to make a point on the 10 deputies and how busy Sheriff Rader was with 40 others
    • Confused on why Colony Ridge doesn’t get any other deputies aside from the 10 paid for; if Colony Ridge is half the county, then should have 30
    • Deputy percentages are different for my community than the rest of the county
  • Eckhardt – Great question for you to pursue, with 50 patrol officers, 10 of which paid for by you, half of the Sheriff’s force should be in rotation on your population; your 10 deputies would be to augment what the county obligation is, not to replace
  • Bettencourt – That is why they are widely popular
  • Springer – In Cook County the numbers are similar, I think Sheriff sees MMD almost as a city de facto and other 40 are needed for the rest of the county; would hope that a portion of the 40 are available for backup

 

Closing Comments

  • Bettencourt – Concludes hearing on Colony Ridge & other similar communities; we’re after the truth, came here to find out what’s happening and spoke with many witnesses on one subject