Monitoring game rooms will be a big topic at the Nueces County Commissioners court meeting. The job title is game room administrator and coordinator, and that person will work under the Nueces County Sheriff.
The game room administrator will oversee the game room permitting process and ensure game rooms remain in compliance with the county's game room ordinance.
“We are very excited about creating this new position. Uh, we were able to work with the sheriff’s office in putting this together," said Brent Chesney, Commissioner of Precinct 4.
County Commissioner Chesney said Sheriff J.C. Hooper created the job description and made sure this new job position won't have a financial impact on taxpayers. Chesney said Hooper froze other positions in his department to create this one.
Jesse Prado lived along Kostoryz Road, where you'll find several game rooms, and he said having someone monitor these establishments is a good thing.
“I do believe I guess they should regulate it. So, we know what’s going on as a citizen of Corpus," said Prado.
We also spoke to one man who didn't want his face shown on camera. He owns a business near a game room that was a scene of a fatal shooting in September of this year. He said using taxpayer dollars to pay for a game room administrator is a good investment.
“If a Sheriff or any government entity is monitoring it closer, that be awesome," said Sheriff.
Once a game administrator is hired, they will make sure game room owners apply for permits and make sure their permits are up to date. With these new changes coming, Chesney told us if you’re going to run a game room and follow the law, great!
If not, “This ordinance is in place to give law enforcement some more teeth to be able to go out and do more enforcement," said Chesney.
“It’s a serious deal, it’s a lot of work, it’s an important position, and it's something we as the county want to invest in over the long haul," said Chesney.
As I mentioned earlier, the County Commissioners will discuss this in their meeting on December 7 at 8:30 a.m.
Chesney would like to hire a game room administrator by January of 2023.
