Department: County Judge
Department Head/Elected Official: Lina Hidalgo, Harris County Judge
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Policy
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request for approval of the Harris Center’s request for waiver of the Texas Health and Safety Code Sec. 534.021 notice requirements.
end
Background and Discussion:
The Harris Center is seeking Texas State approval for a bond to construct a new Northeast Clinic (7583 East Little York) and perform capital improvements to its Southwest Clinic (9401 Southwest Freeway) to better serve Harris County residents’ mental and behavioral health needs in an outpatient setting.
When acquiring the properties for these clinics, the Harris Center was required to provide Commissioners Court with a notice of this real property acquisition pursuant to the Texas Health and Safety Code Sec. 534.021. However, the Harris Center did not provide this notice to Commissioners Court at the time (12/13/2013 for the Southwest Clinic and 7/23/2021 for the future Northeast Clinic).
The Harris Center is submitting a request to Commissioners Court to approve its waiver of these notice requirements. This waiver will allow the Harris Center to move forward in the process of securing the bonds for these capital improvement projects.
Expected Impact:
The current Northeast Clinic, located at 7200 North Loop East Freeway, currently serves 6,000 adult mental health patients annually. It is important to note that this clinic floods regularly, which impacts its ability to provide services to its patient population.
The new clinic will be in a less flood-prone location, allowing the Harris Center to continue providing critical mental health services to underserved Harris County residents. (Note: Around 96% of the patients served by the Harris Center have household incomes of less than 200% FPL.)
The improvements to the Southwest Clinic will ensure that the Harris Center can continue providing access to behavioral health and IDD services to Harris County residents.
Without this waiver, the Harris Center may be unsuccessful in its request to secure bonds for this capital improvement project, causing delays in the construction of the new clinic and the implementation of the Southwest clinic improvements.
Alternative Options:
N/A
Alignment with Goal(s):
_ Justice and Safety
_ Economic Opportunity
_ Housing
X Public Health
_ Transportation
_ Flooding
_ Environment
_ Governance and Customer Service
Prior Court Action (if any):
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Location:
Address (if applicable): 7583 Little York Rd Houston, TX 77016; 9401 Southwest Freeway, Houston, TX 77074
Precinct(s): Precincts 1 & 4
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Anticipated Court Date: October 29, 2024
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): N/A
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Kathryn Kase, Legal Counsel, County Judge’s Office; Zac Nguyen, Policy Advisor, County Judge’s Office
Attachments (if applicable): Waiver of Notice Requirements