ECTOR COUNTY, Texas — Ector County has been dealing with game rooms for quite some time.
While a few rules and regulations have been put into place, they are only the beginning of what Ector County Judge Dustin Fawcett has planned.
"We cannot eliminate them entirely, but what we can do is eliminate the locations in which they are located and regulate that and so it is something that is a worthy discussion piece," Judge Fawcett said.
The county commissioners court has implemented regulation in the past, but the community still feels that the presence is far too prevalent.
Executive decisions have made it clear that the game rooms are running outside the parameters of the law.
"There was a recent Texas Supreme Court ruling that eight-liners, a particular machine in these game rooms, is deemed unconstitutional," Judge Fawcett said. "That was a decision that was upheld over in, this court case took place in December, and so what exactly are the implications of deeming that a particular piece of equipment is unconstitutional essentially saying it is against the constitution to be gambling, these machines are gambling."
Moving forward, the court has plans to seek legal counsel so future regulations stick.
“We have to have a takings impact assessment," Judge Fawcett said. "Understanding that what our impact is going to be with this regulation on real property. And then what we’re looking at doing is putting them outside of the MPO boundaries. The MPO is the Metropolitan Planning Organization and so that is, preliminarily from our discussions, the boundary that we’re looking at. And what that does is it puts them outside of Gardendale, it puts them out of the city of Odessa, it puts them outside of Loop 338, it puts them outside of West Odessa, and it puts outside of Pleasant Farms. Where they go outside of that is up to their digression, that is their job for them to figure out.”
No concrete regulations were decided in the meeting on Feb. 13; however, plans are in place to restore Ector County to a higher statute.
“It lowers the property values, and it lowers the overall economic activity within our community," Judge Fawcett said. "The fact that we have these and our neighbors to the east in Midland have none, is a poor reflection upon our community. This is something that I take personally, as the leader as the county judge, I think that we need to be looking and this is what we have done. I spent considerable number of times looking at what our legal authority is and ultimately get them out of the MPO boundaries which is essentially our metropolitan area."
Judge Fawcett continued to say that public hearings will be held in the future, and it is encouraged for the community to attend and voice their concerns on how the game rooms are impacting the community.
"Having civic input throughout this process, and we invite the owners of these businesses, who we have never been able to engage in a conversation with, we invite the owners to come here and speak with us," Judge Fawcett said. "We invite the public to come provide their input because we are a public entity, and we want to hear back from the constituents and what their thoughts are on this before we enact any policy or regulation."
Judge Fawcett along with the council are taking every necessary action to end the streak of game room presence in Ector County.