Commissioners Court Briefs
Commissioners Court tackles emergency planning, grants and budget in busy June Young County commissioners spent much of June balancing long-term planning with day-to-day county business, ranging from disaster preparedness and emergency funding to budget discussions and infrastructure projects.
County Judge Win Graham joined representatives from the City of Graham, Graham Police Department, Graham Fire Rescue, Salt Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Graham EMS, Graham Regional Hospital and Young County for a tornado tabletop exercise focused on disaster recovery following a major storm.
Participants discussed how agencies would coordinate after a tornado, including establishing a command post, securing damaged areas, setting up staging locations for emergency responders, creating temporary medical triage sites if the hospital became inaccessible and planning for other emergency contingencies.
Judge Graham said the exercise highlighted the importance of cooperation among local emergency agencies and praised the first responders and public officials who work to keep residents safe.
The county also continued regional planning efforts through the Nortex Regional Planning Commission. At its monthly meeting in Wichita Falls, the commission approved submission of a $116,000 emergency services grant application to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. If awarded, the funding would provide assistance to homeless residents and families struggling to pay rent throughout the region.
Commission members also approved a Public Transportation Master Grant Agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation, accepted a clean audit for fiscal year 2024-25, selected a regional representative for the Community Development Block Grant program and received updates on county hazard mitigation plans. Young County officials continued work on updating the county’s hazard mitigation plan throughout June.
Closer to home, county officials worked on administering a recently awarded $350,000 rural ambulance grant and completed compliance requirements for a homeland security grant that will fund the purchase and installation of three emergency generators for county communications towers.
During June Commissioners Court meetings, officials also heard presentations from representatives of Headwaters Site Development regarding a proposed data center project, hired legal counsel to assist the county in evaluating the proposal, approved routine county expenditures, authorized requests for bids for a new elevator maintenance contract and a replacement county phone system, and began the annual budget process with a budget workshop. County officials are expected to continue budget discussions throughout the summer before adopting the fiscal year 2026-27 budget.
Precinct 1 JP appointment changes after eligibility review The Young County Commissioners Court selected a new Justice of the Peace for Precinct 1 on July 5 after learning that its original appointee did not meet state residency requirements for the office.
T he court unanimously appointed Chelsea Moore, who currently works in the Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace office, to complete the unexpired term of former Justice of the Peace Jason Hearne, who resigned in June. Ms. Moore was sworn into office during the meeting.
The appointment came after commissioners determined that Ian Daugherty, who had been selected and sworn in following interviews with 12 applicants, was ineligible to serve because he had not resided in Texas for the 12 months immediately preceding his appointment, as required by state law.
Before the eligibility issue surfaced, County Judge Win Graham had praised the strength of the applicant pool and described the selection process as difficult because of the candidates’ qualifications.