This sounds like a naked power grab by Harris County Democrats:
In a 3 to 2 party-line vote on Tuesday, Harris County Commissioners Court approved a proposal from Judge Lina Hidalgo to dramatically realign county government and grant expansive decision powers to an appointed administrator despite public outcry asking for more time to consider the consequences.
“We have enormous challenges in Harris County and the crux is we have to modernize our organizational structure,” said Hidalgo.
The new administrator will have an initial budget of $2 million and wield the authority to appoint and dismiss many employees, including department heads. One exception included is for department heads or positions that state law says must be appointed by commissioners court. In those cases, Hidalgo’s plan calls for the commissioner’s court to appoint, but on the recommendation of the county administrator.
Hidalgo’s motion to create the new office also immediately named current Budget Management Director David Berry to the post. He will continue to serve in both capacities until a replacement can be found for the budget management department.
Berry will be tasked with developing new organizational and reporting structures, and a transition plan, all to be presented to commissioners court for approval within 45 days. The reporting structure will not apply to elected officials, except “for the purposes of increasing coordination.”
Only unveiled last Thursday, many speakers at Tuesday’s meeting scolded Hidalgo for not giving residents enough time to understand and consider the proposal.
Stacie Fairchild of the Houston Super Neighborhood Alliance said her organization was not aware of the plan until last Friday and said a 162-page study that recommended the change was not made available to them until Tuesday morning just before the vote.
“On behalf of the Super Neighborhood Alliance, I am asking you to table this item until fair and equitable public engagement can be done to educate our community about the impact of the study’s recommendations.”
The plan to reorganize the county came as a recommendation from PFM Consulting Group: an outside organization the county has paid more than $5 million to study the county and suggest changes. Prior to working with Harris County, the group advised the City of Houston in 2017, and has provoked controversy since Managing Director David Eichenthal advocates for defunding police.
Precinct 2 resident Sarah Casper said she had attempted to call both her commissioner and the county judge yesterday, but that neither office provided her with more information about the proposal.
Several residents told The Texan they too had repeatedly but unsuccessfully tried to call Hidalgo’s office Tuesday morning. One woman said the phone rang for five minutes and then disconnected.
Charles Blain of Urban Reform, a group advocating for conservative policy solutions, also urged Hidalgo to delay the decision.
“What you guys are doing today is considering pushing through a major restructuring of one the largest entities in the country with little public notice and little public input,” said Blain. “If you truly feel what you’re doing is right you wouldn’t rush this through and you would take the time to sell this to the people that you guys work for.”
This has all the hallmarks of a naked power grab by Democrats. I suspect this enabling law will let the new hard-left SuperAdministrator:
This seems ill-conceived, dangerous, and possibly illegal. I wonder if Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton can look into stopping this anti-Democratic move…
