Brazos County's future office complex across from the courthouse is on hold

This podcast contains comments from the August 26, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.The design of a Brazos County office complex and parking garage across Texas Avenue from the courthouse is on hold.That's after county staff asked commissioners to consider adding a fourth floor to the office building and a larger parking area.Commissioners at Tuesday's meeting (August 26) tabled the request until their September 9th meeting.The proposed $10 million dollar addition is part of the county's proposed fiscal year 2026 budget.The county's project manager, Trevor Lansdown, was asked to provide information about what would be located on the fourth floor and why there is not enough room in current county buildings to accommodate a growing number of employees.Commissioner Fred Brown said "timing wise this could not be at a worse time when we're struggling with where the tax rate is going to be. But yet we want to spent $10 million dollars on a fourth floor of a building that we're not even sure that we need a fourth floor."Brown was referring to the commission proposing a property tax rate increase of more than three cents, which is the subject of a public hearing on September 9th.Lansdown said it would be less expensive to add the space to a project is still in the design phase as opposed to needing another building in the future.Lansdown also said there is no space to move county offices in an emergency, citing an air conditioning failure in the building that houses the elections office and the county's employee health clinic. Lansdown said the clinic is closed and employees in the elections office is working in the non-air conditioned building.Click HERE to read and download background information on the proposed expansion of the "101 North Texas" office complex.