Collin County Commissioners Court Preview — September 21, 2026

Bottom Line (Ironically, at the Top)

Congratulations to the City of Lucas, which is standing up its own police department on October 1! The Court will approve $1.1M to replace backup generators at the jail and $271.5K in Ballot on Demand printers and software six weeks before the November election. Consent spending totals $2,237,732.37.

Also, I published my Commissioners Court Preview last week on my blog, but it looks like it never went out in email, so here it is if you missed it, even though it’s ancient history now.

Logistics

Review the full agenda here. Meetings start at 1:30 p.m. at the Jack Hatchell Administration Building, 4th Floor, 2300 Bloomdale Road, McKinney, TX 75071. You can sign up to speak at Commissioners Court meetings in person by filling out a blue card shortly before the meeting. You may alternatively share your thoughts by emailing the Commissioners Court through their contact info here. Videos of the meetings can be viewed here.

Commissioners Court Business

1. Update on the Proposed Subdivision Regulations: Staff is rewriting the county’s subdivision, floodplain, and manufactured home rental community rules, which govern how Collin County gets built outside city limits. The comment window for this is still open. Counties have limited authority under state law in this area, and I’m advocating for more with the state legislature.
2. Mass Gathering Permit, Dallas Festival of Lights: Permit for the October 24 festival at Myers Park. It’s a ticketed event, capped at 1,200 people on site at any time. Packaged sparklers will be handed out for use off-premises only. No fiscal impact. Happy Diwali!

Executive Session

Executive session is a closed meeting authorized by Texas law for discussions involving real estate, personnel, pending litigation, or attorney-client matters. Any action taken must return to open session.

No specific topics were separately itemized on this agenda.

Notable Consent & FYI Items

Total of $2,237,732.37 of your money in proposed expenses

• Lucas Law Enforcement Agreement, Amendment No. 2: The City of Lucas has been paying the county for two dedicated sheriff’s deputies since 2021, and, as the Allen American reported, the city is launching its own police department this fall. Per the amendment, Lucas will keep the patrol cars it paid for, minus the Sheriff’s decals, radios, cameras, and radar.
• Jail Generator Replacements: $1,128,800 to replace the backup generators at Adult Detention Cluster 4 and Minimum Security. Two 400 kW units at $435,000 each, a $40,800 design fee, and a 25% contingency. Backup power at a jail is one of those things you really, really want to work. Y’all saw Natural Born Killers, right? This cost comes in under what had been budgeted (Cluster 4 alone had been budgeted at $800,000).
• FY2026 Fleet Replacements: $504,500 for seven vehicles for the Sheriff’s Office, Juvenile Probation, and Development Services, replacing units from 2015–2021. The county set the money aside for contingency, only to be used if the VALOR program’s revenue came in above budget, which it did, by $699,719.
• Ballot on Demand: 150 printers ($137,250) and 150 software licenses plus installation ($134,250), both from Election Systems & Software and both paid from 2018 tax notes already on hand. Ballot on Demand prints the exact ballot a voter needs, when they walk in, instead of pre-printing stacks for every ballot style in every vote center. Meanwhile, the county is selling 80 surplus ExpressVote machines to Ellis County for $8,000, or $100 each, which is less than a new set of tires.
• Property Tax Refunds: $206,891.01 in refunds issued in August (hooray!)
• Janitorial Supplies Renewal: $182,700 for another year. County government is dirty work, but someone’s got to do it.
• Veterans Treatment Court & VALOR Contracts: Six contract renewals for the programs run out of Judge John Roach’s 296th District Court, all funded by Texas Veterans Commission grants. Judge Roach’s Veterans Treatment Court is a great example of a specialized program that works, and the state money keeps it running.
• Cyber Insurance Renewal: $73,481.74, down 8.1% from last year’s $79,959.75 for the same coverage. Yes, that’s an insurance premium that went down. It’s also an insurance that’s increasingly important.
• DA Forensic Evidence Testing Grant: $240,360 from the Governor’s Office to test the THC content of seized cannabis and other drugs, to work down the backlog of marijuana cases. Texas law distinguishes between legal hemp and illegal marijuana by the THC concentration, so a lab result is required to prosecute a case. This is state money.
• Body-Worn Camera Grant: $49,947.24 in state funds plus a $16,649.08 county match from the Sheriff’s federal forfeiture fund, for 64 body cameras.
• Gym Equipment Donation: $77,715 worth of used gym equipment donated from Younger Partners Commercial Real Estate for Sheriff’s Office staff. It includes treadmills, ellipticals, a Smith machine, and 24 other items.
• 287(g) Agreement (FYI): Under SB 8, passed last year, every sheriff in Texas running a jail is required to enter an immigration enforcement agreement with ICE, which Sheriff Skinner has done. No fiscal impact.

How to Engage

• Watch: Meetings are broadcast and archived through Collin County’s video portal at collincountytx.gov.
• Speak: Fill out a blue card at the County Clerk’s office before the 1:30 PM start.
• Read: The full agenda with linked attachments.
• Contact: Commissioners Court members and the County Judge are listed at the County’s Commissioners Court page.

As the cities grow, we’re going to see more cases like Lucas, standing up its own police department. And as the county grows, we’re going to need more ability to ensure we grow the right way.

— Shelby