Mertzon City Council January 5 2026

Agenda Analysis | Meeting Review | Meeting Documents | Commentary | Last Meeting

The Oak trees at the IC ISD OK Wolfenbarger field highlighted in yellow are at issue in this agenda. The highlighted roof is the new storage extension to the fieldhouse. The field and track are also new. Imagine it as a grass field about 20 yard further east (to the right) and closely bordered with a caliche track. That was the footprint until about 1979. The trees highlighted on the left up to then were where the discus and shot put rings were located. The City is involved in this issue because it owns the land and leases the property to IC ISD.

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A. Agenda Analysis

1. Executive session, item 5: This is the third meeting for this particular executive session. It might be a "placeholder", as was the case during the last meeting.

2. Memorandum of Understanding with the Texas Division of Emergency Management, item 6: As covered before, an "MOU" is typically an unenforceable agreement between two governmental entities. Here is the link for the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

3. Professional arborist hire and input, item 7: This is either about acorns or low limbs, or both. I know from attending IC ISD board meetings that the acorns from the overhanging Oaks are threatening to damage the new track around the field. The Board recently approved some blower equipment to blow the acorns away. There would have to be huge cuts made to the trees to completely eliminate the problem. (But, I assume that, without citizen involvement, trees will be removed. That said, both Supt. Moore and Mayor Stewart have a history of tree friendly approaches, so excessive pruning or tree removal is not likely being considered here.) I also recollect that some of the limbs are getting too low over the track, so this may also be a pruning to raise the canopy. Coincidentally, the District hired Hellas Construction for $1.03 million for the new field and track. You can do a search for "Hellas" in the search bar for more; I have taken issue with some of their work. Recent discussions at Board meetings suggest that, while Hellas was great to work with with the field construction, the track construction has been a problem.

4. The rest, items 8-10: These are standards for all Council meetings.

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B. Meeting Review

Pending

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We had a surprise visitor on Cowboy Hill on Christmas Eve. I hope all of you had a great holiday season. (I uploaded one of my game camera photos here to Google’s Gemini app and merely asked it to put a Rudolf like nose on this deer. It is frightening how easy it is to distort reality with AI.)

C. Commentary

1. How to Tell What is Real Online by Neil deGrasse Tyson is worthwhile watching on YouTube.
   

2. Pending

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Copyright 2025 G. Noelke