Primary Department: County Administration
Primary Department Head/Elected Official: Diana Ramirez, County Administrator
Secondary Department: Choose an item.
Secondary Department Head/Elected Official:
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Discussion Item
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% Grant Indirect Costs Rate (if applicable): N/A - Not a grant item
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
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Request for discussion and possible action regarding an update by the Office of County Administration on the Putting Assets to Work (PAW) Initiative and the creation of a Reinvestment Fund to provide transparency in the monetization of properties included in the PAW portfolio.
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Background and Discussion:
The PAW Initiative seeks to identify underutilized County assets and put them to a higher use, either to contribute sustainable revenue to county priorities or to provide increased community benefits. Since the approval by Commissioners Court of the PAW Policy Guidelines on February 26, 2025, OCE, along with the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) has been reviewing county parcels to identify underutilized property for the initial projects in this initiative. The TAG, made up of representatives from the Office of County Administration, Department of Economic Equity & Opportunity, Office of the County Engineer, Housing & Community Development, Flood Control, and the Office of Management & Budget followed the steps outlined below to refine the list of 16,000 County-owned parcels to nine underutilized real estate assets to be considered as initial opportunities for Public-Private Partnerships (P3).
1. Filter out Parks, Floodways, County Facilities, Historic Properties, and Right-of-Way Parcels.
2. Determine valuation threshold and use to distinguish between Yield and Hybrid Assets. High-value Yield Assets are predominantly considered for monetization purposes and moderate-value Hybrid Assets are considered for community-focused projects.
3. Score all assets by Development Attributes Score and Hybrid Assets by Community Priorities Score.
4. Remove sites with active or planned projects and those with land valuation less than $1 million to strategically focus on best value for the County.
5. Focus on the highest value, underutilized assets through excluding those needed for other County purposes.
These top opportunities are currently being evaluated by TAG and Commissioner Court staff with the assistance of contracted subject matter experts. After receiving and evaluating all feedback, up to five opportunities will be presented to TAG in mid-April. OCA will review the TAG-recommended opportunities with each Precinct Office for signoff at the end of April. Any opportunities that are recommended by all parties will be returned to Commissioners Court in May for approval to move to the Evaluation Phase.
The PAW initiative is structured to be self-funding, with the initial monetization projects covering their own costs. OCA recommends that ongoing revenues from monetization projects be dedicated to a Reinvestment Fund. OCA further recommends the County’s Strategic Planning Committee serve as the entity to make recommendations to Commissioners Court ton how to use these funds for County priorities.
Expected Impact:
The PAW initiative is intended to identify underutilized County assets and develop them for highest and best use by the County. Moving this program forward will lead to increasing County operating revenue.
Alternative Options:
N/A
County Strategic Plan Goal: 2. Connect our community with safe, reliable, equitably distributed, and well-maintained infrastructure.
County Strategic Plan Objective: I: Increase access to safe, clean, and enjoyable green space.
Justice/Safety Initiative (Goal 1): Choose an item.
Infrastructure Initiative (Goal 2): I3: Prioritize the development of new parks when developing and implementing a plan for how to leverage underused County-owned land, with a focus on equitable access.
Economy Initiative (Goal 3): Choose an item.
Health Initiative (Goal 4): Choose an item.
Climate/Resilience Initiative (Goal 5): Choose an item.
Housing Initiative (Goal 6): Choose an item.
Additional notes related to the Strategic Plan:
Prior Court Action (if any):
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Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
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08/23/2022 |
208 |
Approval of Agreement between Harris County and Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada to Participate in a Putting Assets to Work Incubator. |
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03/26/2024 |
672 |
Approval of Agreement with Hayat A Kelil-Brown DBA Hayat Brown LLC in the amount of $500,000 for reposition properties consulting services for the Office of County Administration for the period of March 26, 2024 - March 25, 2025, with four (4) one-year renewal options. |
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09/19/2024 |
24 |
Approval of County’s participation in the Putting Assets to Work (PAW) initiative and recommended next steps. |
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02/26/2025 |
26 |
Approval of PAW Policy Guidelines. |
Location:
Address (if applicable):
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Anticipated Court Date: 4/10/2025
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): Click or tap to enter a date.
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Jesse Dickerman, Managing Director, Office of County Administration, Kera Backer, Project Manager, Office of County Administration
Attachments (if applicable): PAW Update for Commissioners Court