One reason stormwater runoff is such a problem in Mertzon is that underneath the 1 - 6 inch topsoil is layer upon layer of impermeable limestone, just like these limestone layers west of Cowboy Hill. This photo is about 5 feet of one side of a limestone trench. In coming posts I'll show some pictures of the massive limestone excavation that was necessary for the construction of City Gym. How is it I know so much about this rock? As a kid on the ranch I dug a lot of post holes in it!
Here is the agenda for the November 13, 2023 board meeting, with my comments underneath:
Comments:
Often the meat in the meeting will be found in the Closed Session, and such is the case here. Starting with my big red arrow... Here, from my perspective as a next door neighbor and taxpayer, has largely been the District's community relation plan since 2016: If what a community member has to say is that it is not a great day to be a Hornet, then the District doesn't want to hear about it or know about it; go away...or as Superintendent DeSpain literally put it, "You are out of order!" Now, to her credit, Superintendent Moore came to me during her first week a few months back and tried to get to the nub of my flooding concerns. That was some smart community relations work on her part. No administrator or board member had done that before in the now 7 (s-e-v-e-n) years I have been trying to get community wide flooding addressed. The Board, however, has long been tone deaf when it comes to community relations with its neighbors and taxpayers who are not rearing children in the school. So, I think it is a good thing to see a community relations topic on the agenda. I hope the Board looks beyond its immediate parent constituents and considers a need for better relations with its neighbors, taxpayers and alumni. As I said in this post, creating community is an obligation of local government. Rather than flood the residences that sustain it, the District needs to build up the community. Build it up not with athletic facilities, but with opportunities for growth for all.
Two other items in Closed Session are noteworthy. "Separation agreements" are the tool used to release teachers and administrators from contracts. If anyone is being released from a contract then the Board will have to approve that in open session at item 14. And, then there's that "Safety" topic again. "Safety" equates with big dollars going to outside folks who don't live inside the District. As I've said elsewhere, I think taxpayers - statewide - are getting hoodwinked on these mandated safety upgrades. The school shooting at Uvalde is having a huge financial impact and no one is willing to publicly confront that.
In open session, note Item 6 on "Facilities Update Informational". The Board met in closed session recently to do a walking tour, so perhaps they will be sharing some of their learnings here. To retain credibility and avoid an appearance that they are a secret club for motivated parents, the Board needs to on occasion publicly deliberate on its closed session findings.
"Retention Stipend" at item 7 could mean someone is about to get a bonus... Such things have to be approved publicly.
The "Superintendent Evaluation Tool" in the consent agenda is worth a listen, if there is any discussion. This appears to not be her actual evaluation, but consideration of some tool to manage that evaluation. Everything about the evaluation of a superintendent should always receive the highest level of attention from the public. (One reason I raised the concerns in this blog about Supt. DeSpain earlier this year was because the agenda was written in such a way to indicate that he was receiving an unscheduled evaluation when he had received his annual evaluation only months before.)
Also, note this meeting starts at what appears to be the new regular starting time - 6:00 pm. If you miss it perhaps you can find it on this page, but of late the District appears to not be posting its meetings there. I will post audio of any portion of the meeting I find noteworthy on my YouTube channel. Time permitting, usually a day or two after the meeting, I will write a blog post about the meeting.
One final thing for those in the background who are contacting me anonymously and telling me that I am wrong about this or that. You'll note that I'm not giving anyone any air time on this blog when I am contacted anonymously. If you have followed me in the seven years I have been addressing these issues, you know that I have done everything publicly and attached my name to everything I do. The "sun" part in Government in the Sun is about public accountability, especially accountability for the words we speak and write. I do not intend to diminish my message when you won't own your message by putting your name behind it. Anonymity on the web largely leads to disinformation, and I'm not going to market that. If you think I'm wrong, put your name on it and we can debate.
Copyright 2023 G Noelke