Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey describes his technical background as supreme preparation for the job. Earlier than turning into a commissioner, Ramsey served as Mayor of Spring Valley Village from 2012 to 2020.
Ramsey earned a civil engineering diploma from Texas A&M and spent 45 years designing infrastructure throughout Texas. Rising up in Crockett with a hometown pastor for a father, Ramsey says he brings each precision and ethical conviction to his method as a public servant.
Elected to the Harris County Commissioners Courtroom in 2020, Ramsey represents a quickly rising part of the county that features components of Cypress, Tomball and unincorporated Northwest Houston. Nearly all of his precinct lies exterior of metropolis limits.
A Republican in a county that’s more and more Democratic, Ramsey says, political labels don’t outline his service. As a substitute, he believes residents on each side of the political aisle care extra about infrastructure, low taxes and credibility, over the official’s get together affiliation.
“Once I was first elected, Precinct 3 on the time was essentially the most numerous precinct within the county…there have been lots of Republicans who misplaced in that space,” he advised the Defender. “I used to be one who received. You possibly can name me a Republican or a public servant…persons are extra taken with what you might be, what your priorities are.”
Public security
With 75% of his precinct in unincorporated areas, Ramsey pushed to increase Harris County’s contract deputy program, which permits communities to immediately fund extra regulation enforcement patrols by way of partnerships with constables and the sheriff’s workplace. At this time, the crime charge within the unincorporated space is 5 instances lower than it’s within the metropolis of Houston, he added.
However Ramsey is fast to level out that success doesn’t come simple.
“If there isn’t a patrol within the neighborhood, if the response to a criminal offense 9-1-1 name takes half-hour, that’s not protected. We will do higher,” he added.
Combating for honest infrastructure funding
Ramsey’s different main frustration has been what he sees as an unfair distribution of infrastructure funding. Regardless of being chargeable for 47% of all unincorporated Harris County, 6,750 lane miles of roadway, 69 parks, 10 Group and Nature Facilities and 9 hike and bike trails and the nation’s longest urban-forested hall, the precinct receives 19% of the funds.
“That’s simply not honest,” he mentioned. “I’ve had 4 or 5 years of frustration and being underfunded, having these duties, however not having the assets to reply.”
Nevertheless, after years of advocacy on the Texas Capitol and legislative strain, the Commissioners Courtroom just lately accepted a brand new funding method to extend Precinct 3’s allocation to 33% starting in fiscal 12 months 2026.
Flood mitigation and preparedness
With excessive climate turning into extra frequent, Ramsey says catastrophe readiness is a core accountability of county authorities. In 2023 alone, his precinct confronted three main climate occasions, together with extreme flooding and the derecho storm that left widespread particles.
“We picked up over one million cubic yards of particles,” Ramsey recalled. “We’re very nicely organized and attempt to be vigilant.”
He’s additionally crucial of how the 2018 flood bond program {dollars}, a $2.5 billion voter-approved initiative, have been distributed. Per the bond, the Harris County Flood Management District has to finish mitigation tasks over 10 years.
Ramsey says too most of the highest-priority or Quartile 1 tasks, that are scored based mostly on drainage ranges and social vulnerability indexes, are going to areas exterior his precinct. Nevertheless, Precinct 3 sees 75% of the regional water move.
“When I’ve underserved neighborhoods in Precinct 3 that get left behind, I’m gonna say one thing,” Ramsey vowed, arguing the county follows a flawed method. “Precinct 3 will get the least variety of quartile one tasks.”
“Once they put greater than half the cash in Quartile 1 and I get the fewest variety of tasks, I’m gonna say one thing,” Ramsey clarified. “We’re not gonna mistreat properties in Precinct 3 simply because they’re in Precinct 3.”
On social providers and spending
Ramsey voted in opposition to the now-defunct Uplift Harris program, a assured earnings pilot that might have allowed taking part households to obtain $500 monthly for 18 months. It was blocked resulting from ongoing litigation filed by Texas Legal professional Common Ken Paxton.
“Why did they do this? Was it to get 80,000 telephone numbers?” he requested. “That program was by no means about poverty or serving to anyone.”
Ramsey says the county ought to as an alternative rely extra on nonprofit companions and keep targeted on its statutory duties, similar to courts, regulation enforcement and flood management.
“We pay manner an excessive amount of [in] taxes,” he mentioned. “We’re $140 million over funds…my largest downside with doing numerous social applications is it’s not our accountability.”
Ramsey has additionally targeted on a parks and trails grasp plan to create greenways linking neighborhoods and stormwater infrastructure for improved drainage and flood management. The precinct is engaged in asphalt and concrete roadway rehabilitation tasks, together with bridge upkeep, sidewalk building, and group facilities.
Legacy
As Harris County continues to evolve politically and demographically, Ramsey insists his core mission received’t change: to take heed to folks. Even as we speak, he offers out his private telephone quantity to anybody he meets.
“I truly reply the cellular phone,” he mentioned. “It will be that dirt-kicking civil engineer from Crockett that truly solutions the telephone. And once you want one thing fastened, I’ll come repair it.”
