Henderson County Commissioners Court has formally dissolved the Cedar Creek Hospital District, completing a process set into motion by recent legislative action and approved by voters earlier this month.
The move was authorized under House Bill 467 of the 89th Legislature, filed by State Rep. Keith Bell and sponsored by Sen. Robert Nichols. The legislation allowed residents to decide whether the dormant district should continue to exist. After canvassing the election results, commissioners confirmed that a majority of voters supported dissolution and the transfer of remaining district funds to a local scholarship program.
With the results certified, the court approved the district’s dissolution, the transfer of its assets, and the creation of the Andrew Gibbs Memorial Nursing Scholarship.
Kenneth Strawn from the County Attorney’s Office told commissioners that the hospital district was never operational. It had no board, no debt, and no active services, though it did retain money that state law required to be reassigned.
The court voted “to dissolve the Cedar Creek Hospital District, to transfer the district money to establish the Andrew Gibbs Memorial Nursing Scholarship, and to name the Trinity Valley Community College Foundation as the oversight committee to administer said scholarship pursuant to House Bill 467 of the 89th Legislature.”
The scholarship will be available only to residents who lived within the former hospital district’s boundaries, which include the Mabank ISD area and parts of the Kemp and Eustace ISDs.
Under state law, the remaining funds will first be distributed to Kaufman, Van Zandt, and Henderson counties. Each county will then send its portion to the Trinity Valley Community College Foundation, which will manage the scholarship endowment.
County leaders said the decision ensures that unused public funds will support local students pursuing careers in nursing—serving the same communities the district was originally created to help.
