Williamson County commissioners are considering slowing down the justice center complex project, which plans to construct a jail and courtrooms near SE Inner Loop in Georgetown, in order to prioritize community engagement.

Officials discussed the next steps of the project at a July 21 Commissioners Court meeting.

The current situation: The county is currently wrapping up Phase 2 of planning for the new justice center complex, a project that began a year ago with an initial needs assessment. Although the county has purchased a site for the project, commissioners said they have not authorized final designs, contractors or any actual construction.

Commissioners are pushing to slow down the process to rebuild public trust and actively engage local residents, the school district and the city of Georgetown, Precinct 4 commissioner Russ Boles said at the meeting.

What's next: County Manager Rebecca Clemons plans to bring a proposal for public engagement and to begin preliminary design concepts to the first Commissioners Court meeting in August.

Mark Ledyard reacquired Delta Outdoor Lighting, an architectural and landscaping lighting business, in early July.

The details: Ledyard previously stepped away from the company's daily operations, but will now serve as the owner for the custom residential and commercial lighting systems business.

"Delta Outdoor Lighting has always been a passion project of mine, and stepping back into ownership feels like coming home," Ledyard in a news release.

• 1109 Canyon Overlook, Georgetown

Williamson County has several ongoing transportation projects in Georgetown, including the nearly completed CR 255 reconstruction, with more in the planning phase.

Find out more about these projects below, as recently confirmed by Williamson County officials.

CR 255 reconstruction

• Project: A new two-lane roadway will be built alongside the existing road from CR 254 to CR 289. The existing road will be removed after the new lanes are complete. The project will also connect the new roadway from CR 289 to Ronald Reagan Boulevard, and is part of a future six-lane divided road.

• Update: The design for the project is complete and contractor Jordan Foster Construction began construction in early 2025. Crews have paved portions of the road and are nearing completion by this summer

Ronald Reagan Boulevard widening Segment B

• Project: This project includes building a two-lane southbound roadway from Hwy. 29 to FM 3405, and transitioning the existing road to become northbound only.

• Update: Chasco Constructors began work on the project in 2024 and anticipates completion in late 2027.

With large parts of the state under an extreme heat warning or heat advisory through July 23, the operator of Texas’ independent power grid is projecting record-breaking electric demand this week.

What's happening: As of 3 p.m. July 22, there were 90,027 megawatts of demand on the grid with 113,543 megawatts of power available, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas' real-time supply and demand dashboard. One megawatt of electricity can power about 250 homes during peak times.

This would break ERCOT’s current demand record of 85.5 gigawatts, which was set during an August 2023 heat wave. ERCOT spokesperson Trudi Webster cautioned that this week’s demand records are preliminary.

What it means: Texans should not expect a grid emergency during this week’s extreme heat.

ERCOT previously projected that demand would surpass 92,000 megawatts this summer, due to high temperatures, moderate rainfall and the growth of data centers.

This week's triple-digit temperatures come during the sunniest parts of the day, allowing the state to rely in part on solar energy to power the grid.