Irion County ISD Board February 18 2026
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
Agenda Analysis | Meeting Review | Meeting Documents | Commentary | Last Meeting
A. Agenda Analysis
TAPR, Texas Academic Performance Report, item 7: Go here at the TEA site and search for "Irion" in the district box.
Prioritizing loans to pay down, item 11: Debt free districts will do better when the time comes that the Texas legislature puts a stop to wealthy districts being able to use local funds on bonds. I’m betting that time will come.
Election season, item 9: Three seats are up for re-election. Where they fall on the ballot perhaps isn't as important in Mertzon as in other cities where campaigns are financed and races are highly competitive.
Pending construction projects, bond purchasing, item 5: This language is the safe harbor language regularly used when spending bond money comes up.
Administrative reports, item 6: Always relevant.
Closed session, guardian update, supt. evaluation and action on closed session, action on Supt. contract, items 15, 17 and 18: What's not to be curious about here - guns possessed by a secret police force and the superintendent's job performance? The recent deaths of American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by the Border Patrol I think fairly raise the question of whether law enforcement is receiving proper training on when to shoot to kill. I don't envy anyone serving as a guardian. As to Supt. Moore's job performance, in my experience in the past year she has been quite responsive and always professional. I am well aware of the freedoms I have under the 1st Amendment to turn GovernmentintheSun into an edgy, muckraker style journal, but her disarming approach has made that style of advocacy unnecessary.
B. Meeting Review
Pending
C. Commentary
Oncor/LCRA 765 kV transmission line: I have intervened in this PUC case because one of the proposals is to put the line across my property at Cowboy Hill on Hwy 67. To do a deep dive, go here and put in 59182 in the Control Number box. On occasion, I will post matters about the case here in the commentary. The documents filed in the case are all public. (Here's a question to ask yourself: why are the oil and gas companies intervening when the issue is a high voltage transmission line?) One reason to pay attention is that once a high transmission lines come in, more will follow. The primary (though misplaced) issue for the electric companies (Oncor and LCRA) is the number of habitable structures within 500 feet of the wires. The fewer the number, the less the outcry, the easier to get lines approved. Counties like Irion, thus, will become popular to cross because the population is so sparce. (Less than 2,000) I am strenuously opposing the placement of high voltage lines on my property and anywhere in Irion County.
Implied easements: Carla Lindley forwarded me this article about implied easements. See page 8. The article doesn't identify the landowner, but…she’s local. Here's the thing about private land ownership and the government: there's always a tension, and a landowner who sits on their hands will absolutely lose their use and enjoyment of their land to the government/private companies who have been given the right of eminent domain. Whether it is from stormwater runoff like I've been dealing with my neighbor IC ISD for almost 10 years now, or Oncor and LCRA deciding it is time to put a 675 kV (5,000+ amp!) transmission line, or Matterhorn and Eiger claiming their right to put a combined total of 90" of compressed natural gas pipelines through my property, our government and its agents will take my property with abandon unless I protest. Our Texas and U.S. Constitutions prohibit the taking of private property without just compensation, but those provisions don't automatically stop anything, even transparent injustice at the hands of the government. To be sure, there's no plea for a pity party on my behalf here, but Texas government leaders should not be allowed to forget that their source of funding is largely through taxation of private property. There's a mutual reliance here, without one the other doesn't exist, and vice versa.
Pending
Copyright 2025 G. Noelke