Commissioner ready to get behind a JPS bond plan
Leaders at Tarrant County’s publicly owned John Peter Smith Hospital over the years have made plenty of friends they can hold close if, as expected, they push for a big bond election next November.
Precinct 2 County Commissioner Andy Nguyen is the one they should hold closest.
In a meeting with Star-Telegram Editorial Board members this past week, Nguyen signaled that he’s ready to be held. And he offered up ideas for how to get voter approval of bond proposals.
JPS (officially, the Tarrant County Hospital District) laid out an $809 million package of projects that appeared headed for a bond election earlier this year.
Some people didn’t back it. Nguyen was one.
He had good reason. Some people at meetings in Arlington and Mansfield, the heart of Nguyen’s precinct, had tough questions about what JPS leaders wanted, and they felt those questions were not properly answered.
The $809 million plan faded away, with county officials saying it might be brought back next year.
JPS can expect the same tough questions from the same people next time, so it’s important that the commissioner who represents them be on the JPS side.
Nguyen gave the Editorial Board a three-page proposal he says he has shared with JPS and county officials.
He wants to start over from scratch: Name a steering committee of 10-15 members — local elected officials and leaders from healthcare, social services, business and community groups and “indigent population advocates” — to study JPS needs across the county.
The committee would gather information in public meetings and present a report, including “differences of opinion,” to the hospital district board of managers.
The board would use the report to compile a strategic plan and long-term facility plan with cost estimates.
The steering committee would take those plans out for more public hearings. Finally, the board of managers would present a proposed bond package to county commissioners for calling an election.
Nguyen says this can be done by June, when the process of presenting the plan to voters could begin. The goal of all of all the work, he says, is “cultivating trust.”
Public trust is clearly what’s needed if a JPS bond proposal is to get voter approval.
It’s important that Nguyen is on board. What he’s proposing might be too much for so short a time, and it may not all be necessary. Time’s a-wastin’.
This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 6:01 PM with the headline "Commissioner ready to get behind a JPS bond plan."