Kevin O’Connor Kommentary August 14

Cost To Build Brazos County’s Medical Examiner’s Office Increasing Almost $10 Million Dollars

Brazos County commissioners without comment increases the cost of building a medical examiner’s office almost $10 million dollars. When commissioners first set how to spend federal pandemic grant money in October 2022, $24 million was reserved for the medical examiner’s office. During Tuesday’s meeting (December 10), commissioners approved an amended contract that raises the price tag to almost $34 million. Click HERE to read and download the amended contract that was approved at the December 10, 2024 Brazos County commission meeting. After the meeting, the county issued a statement that there are two funding sources. The portion coming from the pandemic grant was reduced to $18.5 million. The remaining $15 million will come from the county’s general fund. Construction is supposed to take 15 months for the one story building that can be expanded. The site of the office is a former wooded area in Bryan on 29th Street between St. Joseph’s hospital and Briarcrest that was recently cleared. Groundbreaking is scheduled for next Tuesday (December 17) on the more than 22,000 square foot facility.

Bryan City Council Moves Ahead With Building A New Animal Center

March of 2025 will mark seven years since the Bryan city council agreed to start studying the construction of a new animal center. It would replace a building that’s been used since the council decided to take over animal control services in 2011. At Tuesday’s city council meeting (December 10), the decision was made to build a more than $7 million dollar facility. The city department head whose responsibilities includes the animal center, Eric Zaragoza, reviewed the results of a feasibility study that included: • More animal habitats are needed • Spaces are used for multiple purposes, compromising primary functions • Many program needs do not have specifically designated space • Rooms are used as passageways for unrelated functions • Facility needs improved accessibility • Public access to animal habitats and comingled air creates potential for disease to spread Click HERE to read and download presentation materials from the December 10, 2024 Bryan city council meeting. All seven council members supported the project. Six agreed to build it on city owned property on Martin Luther King Jr. Street next to the municipal services center. Ray Arrington, who represents the district where the center will be built, said neighbors were opposed. Construction could start in October 2025. Zaragoza shared the following statistics about the Bryan Animal Center (BAC): • Around 9,000 visitors per year at the BAC • The BAC has the city’s largest pool of volunteers, with 3,000 applications this past year and since 2015 volunteers donated more than 31,000 hours • During fiscal year 2024, the center took in 1,361 animals • Animal control officers returned 667 pets to owners in FY 24 • Save rate of animals is 69% • Since 2021, BAC has provided 1,537 vaccinations, 1,373 microchips, and 1,196 sterilizations Click below to hear comments from the December 11, 2024 Bryan city council meeting. Listen to “Bryan city council moves forward with building a new animal center” on Spreaker.

Collision Of Two Pickups In Northern Brazos County Kills One Driver And Seriously Injures A Second Driver

A collision of two pickup trucks in northern Brazos County Wednesday morning (December 11) killed one driver and seriously injured a second driver. A Texas department of public safety spokesman says they are investigating the reason the driver of a southbound pickup on FM 2223 near OSR highway crossed the double yellow line on a curve and struck an oncoming dually pickup. The driver of the southbound truck died. He was identified as 21 year old Joshua Huffman of Lucedale Mississippi, which is northwest of Mobile Alabama. The driver of the dually was taken to a hospital in Bryan.