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Mertzon City Council July 21 2025

  • G. Noelke
  • Jul 19
  • 4 min read

Updated: Jul 22

Aerial of Mertzon Central School 1909 building
The first floor of the IC ISD main building at one time housed 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades. The 2024 bonds will pay to convert it from a library to the Administration’s offices.
City of Mertzon P.O. Box 456 * 104 S. Park View * Mertzon, TX 76941 Phone: (325)835-5791 * FAX: (325)835-7570 REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING MERTZON CITY HALL MONDAY, JULY 21, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. AGENDA 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. OPENING PRAYER 3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/SALUTE TO THE TEXAS FLAG 4. PUBLIC COMMENTS Persons wishing to address the Council will be called at this time. Speakers must sign up on provided list before meeting begins. Speakers are limited to three minutes. DELIBERATE, CONSIDER AND/OR TAKE ACTION ON ANY OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS: 5. 23/24 AUDIT PRESENTATION (a) Stacey McGee with Roberts & McGee, CPA will be here to present the findings of the 23/24 audit. 6. CLOSING/ABANDONMENT OF ALLEYWAY, BLOCK 152 (a) Citizen would like to request the closing or abandonment of the alley on block 152. 7. IRION COUNTY ISD UPDATES (a) ICISD will be here to discuss updates and possible tree trimming at the football field 8. UPDATE ON WATER & SEWER PROJECTS (a) Hibbs & Todd will be here to provide updates on the Water & Sewer Projects 9. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT (a) Approval of minutes. (b) Other announcements. (c) Review/approval of financial documents 10. DAILY OPERATIONS UPDATE (a) Updates on daily operation 11. ITEMS FROM THE COUNCIL (a) Items for future agendas. 12. ADJOURNMENT Jayton Lindley, Mayor Pro-Tem CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that I posted this agenda on the outdoor bulletin board at City Hall, at _______ am/pm on ________,2025. Natalio Padilla, City Administrative Assistant Copyright 2025 G Noelke
Agenda for this open meeting.

A. Agenda Analysis

  1. Audit presentation, item 5: The City undergoes an annual audit, and the auditor will present their findings at this meeting. Attending audit meetings gives one an unofficial license to both complain - and praise - your local government.

  2. Closing/Abandonment of Block 152 alley, item 6: I don't have a clue where this is going.

  3. Irion County ISD updates and tree trimming, item 7: I'm thinking there will be more bond construction updates here, plus a request to trim limbs down at City Park.

  4. Update on sewer/water projects, item 8: Here's the bottom line - Hibbs and Todd hasn't tended to these projects until a recent visit with Mayor Stewart. The projects are 12-18 months behind schedule, and in view of the current Trump tariffs this delay could prove costly.


Here's what Mertzon and Sherwood looked like around the time the Mertzon Central School was built in 1909. This is now Hwy 67 facing south. My Great Great Grandfather Ferdinand Noelke attended the grand opening of Hargraves, which is now Hargraves Gone Wild. The First National Bank building is now the County library, named posthumously for my father, M.B. Noelke, Jr. This photo is part of a 35 postcard set featuring historical photos of Irion County available for sale by the Irion County Historical Commission. See Joyce Gray in the Tax Assessor's office.
Here's what Mertzon and Sherwood looked like around the time the Mertzon Central School was built in 1909. This is now Hwy 67 facing south. My Great Great Grandfather Ferdinand Noelke attended the grand opening of Hargraves, which is now Hargraves Gone Wild. The First National Bank building is now the County library, named posthumously for my father, M.B. Noelke, Jr. This photo is part of a 35 postcard set featuring historical photos of Irion County available for sale by the Irion County Historical Commission. See Joyce Gray in the Tax Assessor's office.

B. Meeting Review

  1. Here are the meeting documents, the audit, and the two audit letters.

  2. Closing abandonment of alleyway, Block 152: So, after 3 years or so of advocacy, the City has acknowledged that a state statute mandates that a municipal ordinance is required in order to abandon or close an alley. Here the Council passed ordinance # 4.01 (meeting documents pages 2-4) that closed this alleyway. I covered this issue extensively at the last meeting here at B.3. I will be doing a City Gym redux in the near future, as this issue is key to my longstanding argument - and wholly ignored until now - that the IC ISD gym was unlawfully placed at its location because the City of Mertzon (under different leadership) failed to legally close the alley that the building now sits upon. IC ISD (under different leadership) failed to secure the closure and abandonment of the street and alley with an ordinance. Stay tuned for more.

  3. Irion County ISD updates and tree trimming, item 7: Dr. Jessica Parker, (identified by me as Principal Parker on my IC ISD pages) made a request to trim certain trees around the stadium. Notably, she echoed comments at the last IC ISD board meeting that ants have started to carry off the pellets at the new field. The District apparently has had to have the field sprayed to treat the ants...and will have to continue to do so or potentially lose the warranty on the new field. Watch for more on this issue in the future; I attended the IC ISD board meeting when Hellas made their pitch for the contract and they omitted disclosing anything about the pellets also being ant food. You might remember the following scene at City Park when the field was being redone a few weeks ago:

    A picture of tall white bags with the label Ecotherm Thermo Vegetal Infill on each bag
    Is Thermo Vegetal ant food?

  4. Update on water and sewer projects, item 8: It was readily transparent that Hibbs & Todd dropped the ball on these projects. The requests for approvals to TCEQ and the Water Development Board have not even been submitted to them yet, and those should have been done months, if not over a year, ago. Again, these delays could prove costly because of the impact of the Trump tariffs on construction materials. The economy is, if anything, uncertain at the moment. I will be watching for additional updates on these projects at future meetings.

  5. Audit presentation, item 5: Here is the audit for the 2023-24 fiscal year, and here are the two accompanying audit letters. There are problems, but the City is operating in the black.





Demolition is mostly complete at IC ISD, with the old gym, pictured on the right, remaining. Abatement for asbestos has to happen even during demolition, and IC ISD paid Jupe Environmental $15,686 to remove window caulk with asbestos in it. Asbestos was used in window caulking from the 1950's through the 1970's.
Demolition is mostly complete at IC ISD, with the old gym, pictured on the right, remaining. Abatement for asbestos has to happen even during demolition, and IC ISD paid Jupe Environmental $15,686 to remove window caulk with asbestos in it. Asbestos was used in window caulking from the 1950's through the 1970's.

C. Commentary

In time, I will be doing a City Gym redux page on the the significance of the new ordinance closing the alley that was passed at this meeting. (At the moment, I'm under deadline drafting PIA questions, while also trying to find a damn e clip that flew off the axle of my lawn mower into the weeds, bringing a halt to my mowing.) While you wait, here's my commentary, at C, on a new Community Center at City Park.





Copyright 2025 G. Noelke

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