Waller voters to decide on $39.5M jail bond

Major bond packages are up for consideration in two suburban counties as early voting begins this week. One seeks to finance road projects in Fort Bend County, and another attempts to pay for a new jail in Waller County.

A proposition to legalize the sale of all types of alcoholic beverages in a precinct of Montgomery County will also be on the ballot.

The Fort Bend County proposal asks voters whether they support the issuance of nearly $219 million in bonds to go toward 63 mobility projects countywide. Waller County’s ballot asks voters to consider $39.5 million in bonds to build the new jail facility, which would also include a sheriff’s office and court room.

‘Function of growth’

Voters most recently approved a $185 million mobility bond package in Fort Bend County in 2013. In considering the 2017 proposal, county leaders said they felt the package was necessary to put on the ballot in order to keep up with the influx of new residents. The populous area, known for its booming growth and diversity, is today home to more than 700,000 people, with new master-planned communities still appearing in what was once a rural landscape.

Projects to be funded as part of the 2017 package include a gamut of roadwork, from road design to intersection improvements to sidewalk construction. The bulk call for building roads.

“It’s just a function of growth,” County Judge Bob Hebert said as they drew up the plans. “We have to keep the dots connected so traffic moves smoothly.”

Waller County’s proposal to build a new jail has long been under consideration as pressure grew from the state, which believes the current facility, built around 1987, to be nearing the end of its lifespan. County leaders have worried the rusting, metal jail could soon fall out of compliance, requiring that they come up with funds to pay to house inmates in another county.

“As far back as the 2007 annual inspection, there were doubts that the facility would last much longer,” Texas Commission on Jail Standards Executive Director Brandon Wood wrote to Waller County Judge Trey Duhon in May. “Jails are not wine, and they do not improve with age.”

‘Have to’ build

The county has been under particular scrutiny since the death in 2015 of Sandra Bland, a young woman found hanged in her Waller County Jail cell days after she was pulled over and arrested by a state trooper on an alleged traffic violation. The death was ruled a suicide.

Plans for the new jail, which have been presented in a series of ongoing community meetings, outline a 202-bed facility to be built on a 60-acre site, with capacity for the building to be expanded.

“The commissioners court would prefer not to have to build a jail, but we’re in a situation where we have to,” county construction manager Danny Rothe said at a presentation Wednesday. “The conditions are very difficult for the staff and for the inmates.”

If the bond is approved, a schedule anticipates construction could begin in June 2018, with an intention to open the facility in spring of 2020.