Bexar County spends $1.3M on testing
The American Rescue Plan Act will provide the funding
COVID-19 concerns were at the forefront Tuesday as Bexar County commissioners approved $1.3 million in federal funding for coronavirus testing and advanced plans for early primary voting next month that will include some safety measures.
The county set aside $1 million from the American Rescue Plan Act for Biobridge Global Community Labs to continue testing for the virus using a process that meets a “95 percent confidence level” required by the Food and Drug Administration, according to a county memo. Community Labs, a nonprofit the county has worked with since October 2020 to administer testing, is offering the tests to Bexar County residents, schools and workplaces, with expected results in less than 24 hours.
The county also awarded $300,000 in federal funds to Con Corazon San Antonio to extend a program implemented in late 2020 to perform highly accurate PCR testing, with a focus on schools and other group settings. The nonprofit has administered nearly 6,500 tests and will provide about 6,000 more this year. Con Corazon also will offer medical visits to screen for influenza and other illnesses to ensure efficient use of COVID-19 tests.
Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, who co-authored a letter this week with Mayor Ron Nirenberg asking Gov. Greg Abbott for more staffing support at hospitals, said the testing will help the community deal with a current fourth surge in COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began nearly two years ago. Some who carry the virus don’t show symptoms.
“People are scared, I think. They want to know if they’ve got COVID, so if they do, they can isolate,” Wolff said.
Early primary voting
Commissioners also approved an order for the joint Democratic
and Republican primary election on March 1, with early voting running Feb. 1425. The county plans to operate 34 early voting sites.
But Bexar County Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen cautioned that the roster of early polling locations will change because some — including Wonderland of the Americas mall and a few schools, community centers and suburban city offices — are now being used for COVID-19 testing. Some property owners could withdraw sites for early polling out of concern about exposing voters to people being tested, she said.
“This may be a living document based on where we are the in COVID pandemic right now,” with some sites subject to change, Callanen told commissioners. “We’ve never seen this happen like this before.”
The county can’t legally require voters to wear masks and use gloves or other items to cast ballots through a touch-free computer process, she said. But it will require elections workers to have safety measures in place.
Callanen said her department may request federal funds for safety equipment and additional elections staff on standby, so no polling sites have to be closed if workers test positive for the virus.
Interim Precinct 3 Commissioner Marialyn Barnard, seated on the dais after being appointed by Wolff last week, requested a staff update on the security of the county’s downtown election headquarters at the commissioners’ Jan. 25 or Feb. 8 meeting. A 24-yearold man was arrested last June after firing several shots at a motel across the street, then entering a secured area of the elections building. He jumped a counter with a 9 mm handgun and a high-capacity magazine. The elections staff locked down the facility, and no one was hurt.
New commissioner
Also approved were committee appointments for Barnard. She replaces Trish Deberry, who resigned less than one year into her term last month in order to run as a Republican for county judge. Wolff is not seeking re-election.
Barnard replaces Deberry on several local boards, including the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the city-county Intergovernmental Relations Committee and the newly formed Alamo Museum Planning Committee. She will serve as the commissioner representing the North Side at least through Dec. 31, 2022. Barnard also hoped to run in November as a Republican for the remainder of Deberry’s term in 2023-2024. Executive committees of the county’s Democratic and Republican parties are expected to choose nominees this summer to seek to fill the Precinct 3 seat in the general election for the remainder of the term.
Flood control
County leaders also approved an agreement to provide $4 million to help the city with the massive Seeling Channel drainage project to control flooding in the Woodlawn area on the near Northwest Side. The county kicked in $4 million in 2015 on Phase II of the project and will make a similar contribution for Phase IV, including 10-by-10-foot box culverts along Seeling Boulevard and an 8-by-8-foot culvert and concrete channel improvements along Placid Drive.
The project’s fourth phase is expected to remove about 100 homes and several city streets from the 100year floodplain. In all, the eight-phase project is designed to reduce the number of homes in the floodplain by about 450.
Civil service commission
The Commissioners Court agreed to put out a call for applicants to serve on the county Civil Service Commission, which adopts and enforces rules regarding selection and classification of county employees, disciplinary actions, grievances and other employment-related issues. Commission chair Gina Elliot resigned last month, and commission members Jerry P. Gonzales and Albert Vale have expired terms but are seeking reappointment. At least one person has applied to serve on the commission.
Current terms on the panel run through Dec. 31, 2023.