Refugio County Judge Gigi Poynter announced Friday that the Billy T. Cattan Recovery Outreach Center of Victoria will open a satellite operation in Refugio County to provide substance abuse and mental health services for inmates and community members.
“They’ll be here weekly offering these mental health/substance abuse type of meetings and opportunities,” Poynter said during Friday’s meeting of the commissioners court.
Poynter said the organization has been coordinating with the Refugio County Sheriff’s Office, the county jail and local hospital to expand access to services.
“I think that’s something that we definitely had a gap in,” she said. “I’m just thrilled that they’re providing that service through a grant that they’ve secured, and it’s to our benefit.”
Poynter said the outreach program will be available to both incarcerated individuals and the public.
“It’ll be a great asset to our community,” she said.
During her report to the Refugio County Commissioners Court, Poynter also provided updates on county projects and recent events. She said meetings for Horizon Refugio 2036 have been finalized and will be held on the first Monday of each month.
“We’ve already got a great work plan going for an idea for a first project, and we’re still working on some housekeeping issues, but I think we’re off to a good start,” Poynter said.
Poynter updated the court on the Jan. 13 groundbreaking for the Austwell Pier project.
“That was a great event,” she said. “I think we had a ton of people come out. Everyone was real excited to get things started.”
Poynter said construction is expected to begin later than originally planned.
“It looks like due to tide elevations, construction probably won’t get started until maybe like mid-March, early April,” Poynter said. “But that doesn’t really affect the overall project timeline, which is about seven months.”
Poynter also discussed the Jan. 20 groundbreaking for the Refugio County Courthouse restoration project. She said the county received its notice to proceed Friday morning.
“We actually, this morning, at like 6 a.m., got our notice to proceed from our owner’s rep,” Poynter said. “Which means, in the next few weeks, we should start seeing some mobilization.”
Poynter said the courthouse restoration will require changes for employees and elected officials due to construction staging. The parking area near the south entrance of the courthouse will be restricted for construction use, while public access will continue through designated entrances.
Poynter also reported on the Refugio County Museum board meeting held Jan. 20.
“It was a great meeting,” she said. “We had a lot of new faces. A lot of people excited to get the museum up and running.”
Poynter announced that the county has received forgiveness from the Texas Division of Emergency Management of an additional $3 million loan connected to the courthouse restoration project.