VOL 11 No. 11
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FORT BEND FAIR. BALANCED. INFORMATIVE. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2018
P. O.BOX 623, SUGAR LAND, TX 77487-0623
Official newspaper of Fort Bend County & Missouri City
INDIA FEATURED IN FOTOFEST. The Indo American Forum of Fort Bend with the City of Sugar Land kicked off a FotoFest exhibit at the Sugar Land Heritage Museum and Visitor Center on March 7. The exhibition is a part of FotoFest 2018 Biennial Participating Space and its theme this year is India. FotoFest exhibits highlight the multifaceted culture of India through the camera lens. The 2018 Biennial will present artists and collectives that work in dialogue with the long history and emergent future of India and its people. The exhibition will focus on the contem-
porary moment, and a mix of approaches will be included, including art photography, contemporary practices, installation, moving image, journalistic and documentary photography. Themes will include, but are not limited to, caste and class, the partitioning of the sub-continent, gender and sexuality, conflict, religion, nationalism, new technologies and developments, the environment, human settlement, and migration. The opening evening also included the first-ever exhibit in Sugar Land of the enchanting fabrics of India. The ongoing exhibition of community photographs is
entitled Faces, Spaces and Places of India. Sugar Land Heritage Museum & Visitor Center is at 198 Kemper Street, Building B, 2nd Floor, Sugar Land, Texas 77498. In addition to the Fabrics of India exhibit, the event features instrumental Indian classical music, dance and food, and photographs by local community members. Hours of Operation Monday, Noon to 5 p.m; Tuesday -Saturday, 10 a.m – 6 p.m. Closed Sunday . Call 281.275.3020 for more information. Above, two of the several photographs on display at the museum.
Republican primary runoff election in CCL Less (public comment) is more in Sugar Land KUMAR cil meeting as outlined in the to retain the provision. judge and county treasurer races; Democrats’ ByASESHADRI resident of New Territory, Resolution.” Also discussed during the newly annexed area in Sugar Pincomb said the city should Feb. 27 meeting under the runoff in JP Pct.2 and Dist. 22 U.S. Rep races the Land, recently found out that the amend the resolution to reflect council protocol was the post-
By BARBARA FULENWIDER Fort Bend County Republicans and Democrats had a handful of contested races in the primary election. Most hopefuls who ran for office in the primary election won. A few candidates who didn’t win straight in their primary will be in the May 22 runoffs. Cliff Vacek won the Republican nomination for District Attorney with 61.15 % or 18,346 votes against Shawn McDonald who got 38.85 % or 11,658. Incumbent John Healey is not seeking re-election. Vacek will face Democrat Brian M. Midleton in the November general election. John Hawkins won the Republican nomination for 268th District Court Judge with 56.81 % of the votes, defeating Mike Hartman with 43.19 %. Hawkins will face Democrat R. O’Neil Williams in the November election. Three Republicans ran for the County Court at Law No. 3 job and Harold Kennedy came in first with 12,847 or 42.38 percent of the votes against Tricia
Krenek who got 11,309 votes or 37.31 percent. They will be in the runoff election. Jennifer Chiang came in third with 6,158 votes or 20.31 percent of the total votes cast in that race. No Democrat ran in that race. Former Sugar Land Mayor Dean Hrbacek handily won the County Court at Law No. 6 race with 20,740 votes or 68.61 percent. The other candidate in that race was Lewis White. He received 9,486 votes or 31.39 of the total votes cast in that primary. In November Hrbacek will go up against Democrat Sherman Hatton Jr. who did not have an opponent and received 25,283 votes. The Fort Bend County race for treasurer attracted Tina Gibson, who got 13,623 votes or 46.41 percent; Bill Rickert with 12,083 votes for 41.16 percent, and Wes Vela with 3,648 votes or 12.43 percent of the total votes cast. Gibson and Rickert are in the runoff. On the Democrat side there were two hopefuls running against a long-time incumbent
for the job of Justice of the Peace No. 2. Joel Clouser Sr., the incumbent, received 4,433 votes or 44.25 percent while his opponents, Tanisha Green got 2,929 for 29.24 percent and Deirdre Dickson-Gilbert stacked up 2,655 votes or 26.50 percent. The winner in the runoff will have no opponent in the November general election. Democrats for the constable Precinct 2 job were Daryl Smith who won with 5,929 votes or 59.61 percent against Gary Majors who got 4,017 votes or 49.39 percent. Smith has no opponent in the general election. Majors was appointed to the post after Constable Ruben Davis died . Candidates who will face off in the county judge’s race are incumbent Republican Bob Hebert, who had no opponent in his primary race and received 27,970 votes. His opponent in November will be Democrat KP George who got 25,432 votes in his uncontested race. The County Court at Law No. 1 Judge Republican Chris MoSee Runoff, Page 3
city of Sugar Land has not been complying with its own resolution governing the city council meeting agenda. Michael Pincomb, President of the New Territory Residential Community Association, attended a Sugar Land City Council workshop meeting on Feb. 27. The council was discussing the council protocol which stated that there would be a public comment period during first, third and fourth Tuesday city council meetings, but Pincomb while attending the fourth Tuesday meeting found that the agenda did not provide for public comments. Subsequently, on March 2, Pincomb sent an email to the mayor, city council and the city manager saying the City Council may have been operating in violation of Resolution No 15-08, which outlines that Public Comments would be heard at the 1st, 3rd and 4th Tuesday City Council meetings. “As an attendee at above mentioned Meeting, which was the fourth meeting in February, there was no opportunity given for Public Comment. I further reviewed every fourth Tuesday agenda going back to January 2017 and discovered this has been a long practice of not providing time for public comment at the fourth Tuesday City Coun-
the actual operation. “As a citizen of Sugar Land and representative of the Residents of New Territory, I ask that the ability for Public Comment be retained within the policy and that Public Comment be added to the fourth Tuesday Agendas as provided by Resolution. It is my believe(sic) that the ability for Citizens to address their elected leaders in Public on matters being considered is fundamental to openness and transparency and most importantly our democracy.” Pincomb said, the same day on March 2, he received a response from City Manager Allen Bogard. The email read: Mr. Pincomb, Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We will correct the Resolution accordingly to reflect our current practice, which has been in place since I’ve been with the City of Sugar Land for over 23 years. Thank you, Allen Bogard As it stands now, city council is expected to adopt an amended resolution shortly. As indicated by the city manager, the resolution may drop the public comment period during the fourth meeting of city council every month, unless a majority of city council chooses
ing of videos of the council meeting on the city website. Work sessions on the fourth Tuesday of every month are held in the Cane Room at City Hall. The work session includes initiatives or topics that require in-depth discussion and direction to staff from City Council. The current policy only says the meeting is open to the public. The staff recommendation was to amend the policy as follows: The fourth Tuesday sessions are open to the public and video recorded for recordkeeping purposes, but are not broadcast. Councilmember Mary Joyce proposed that the video recording should be posted online for public viewing since the proceedings are recorded anyway. Though the proposal did not get unanimous and explicit support, “Council consensus (was) to post budget workshops in policy from Cane Room; post all workshop meetings videos from the Cane Room after the meeting.” Actually the audio recording of the proceedings of the Feb. 27 work session has now been posted on line.
AccessHealth hosts Community Challenge
PUBLIC OFFICIALS OF THE YEAR. Fort Bend County Judge Robert Hebert and Missouri City Mayor Allen Owen, were among those honored Friday as Public Officials of the Year. Also, honored were Bellaire City Manager Paul A. Hofmann and Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis. The four were recognized at a luncheon Friday at the Hilton University of Houston. This is the seventh year for the event. James Thurmond, director of the Master of Public Administration program, said nominees can be elected or appointed officials and are selected based on criteria including outstanding performance in a challenging work situation, a commitment to ethics and ethical decision-making and placing the welfare of the citizenry above personal, professional and political motives. The screening committee includes 11 MPA alumni and one current MPA student. Above, Jason M. Smith (Vice Chancellor/Vice President, Governmental & Community Relations), Allen Owen (Mayor of Missouri City), Robert Hebert (Fort Bend County Judge), Paul A. Hofmann (Bellaire City Manager) Community Challenge organizers: Taylor Diaz, left, Jerome Amado, Teresa Gonzales, Araz Sarkissian, and Dr. James Thurmond (MPA Director) Christopher Rappel, Sean Sevy, Tumi Layinka, Cindy Reaves and Roy Abraham. Story on Page 4.