HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — For the first time in more than two months, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo presided over a commissioner's court meeting.
She returned to work last week after taking a leave of absence to get help for clinical depression.
In a room that sees plenty of conflict, Democrats and Republicans serving on the commissioner's court, as well as citizens and staffers who attended the meeting, showed support for the return of its presiding officer.
“I just feel so much better," she said during the start of the meeting.
Hidalgo also expressed gratitude for her colleagues’ help in keeping the county running while she got help.
“It was a difficult thing to accept for myself. Somebody asked me yesterday, ‘What would you do differently?’, and what I would do differently is that I wish I’d figured this out sooner," she said.
During the meeting, commissioners not only voted to lift the burn ban that was enacted in August, but they also agreed to give the Harris County District Attorney's Office more flexibility in hiring.
“While we have good-intended legislation, there are consequences behind it," said John Jordan, a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney's Office. "People overworked.”
Prosecutors said it factors in a business model different from other county departments.
“Our hiring is when they graduate in May, take the July bar, and start in August, but we’ve already extended offers for next year. So, those positions could stay open for a year, and we do not want them deleted because there’s not a person in those positions," said Vivian King with the DA's office.
Commissioners were also expected to discuss the impacts of the Colony Ridge development in Liberty County on Harris County. That development is also on the agenda for the Texas special session underway in Austin.