New East Annex to be Built in Winnie

By Gloria Way

  The east side of Chambers County will be tearing down its decades old East Annex building on Broadway in Winnie to build a new annex that will hold a satellite office of the major departments of County government.

  Commissioner Pct 1 Jimmy Gore stated that due to asbestos and plumbing problems in the current annex, the county decided that a new building would be more cost effective to build to serve the populus of the east side of the county.

  “The new building will be a two-story building,” said Gore. “The bottom floor will house the Commissioner’s office, the tax office, the Constable office, and the sheriff deputies. The second floor will house the JP Pct 1 office and courtroom. We will have additional offices on the second floor to eventually be a satellite office for the County Clerk and the District Clerk offices,” said Gore. He added, “The goal is to have an office here on the east side of the county of our major departments, so the people don’t have to drive to Anahuac to do business with the County Clerk or District Clerk offices.” Gore did emphasize that in the new building, there will be a “drive-thru” for the tax office. “This way people don’t have to get out of their car to pay a tax bill,” he said.

  The new east annex is estimated to be about 10,000 square feet. The current annex and what used to be the old WIC office will all be torn down. Gore said that adequate parking will be part of the new footprint of the building. Demolition will begin the end of November 2024.

  All offices in the current annex will be moved to the Mark Huddleston Building on SH FM 124, which is the old library location in Winnie. Commissioners Court approved over $80,000 in renovations to the Huddleston building to accommodate relocating the offices.

  The cost of the new east annex is yet to be determined but a “few’ million dollars of the $56 million Certifications of Obligations passed earlier this year are budgeted for the new east annex.

  All offices will be closed Monday, November 18^th to Friday, November 22nd, to accommodate the move. They will reopen on Monday, November 25^th at the Mark Huddleston Building.

  The project is estimated to take about 18 months to complete. Gore stated that the county is in the process of sending out requests for qualifications to build the new annex. “It will probably be two to three months before we can get any kind of design/drawings put together,” he said.