If this part of the elementary building is raised as part of the 2024 bonds, the City Council will need to address where the roof runoff goes from the replacement building. One way or another, that runoff will cross streets, private property and eventually enter City Park. Studies already done by the City and the District prove this up.
Here is the meeting agenda for this meeting with my agenda and meeting analysis underneath:
Agenda Analysis:
Note that the meeting start time is at 6:30 pm.
This is a great example of a stock agenda for this council. The 7 items listed are on each and every meeting agenda and in the same order. There is no "new" business for the Council to vote on at this meeting. Why should you attend? The "Administrative Report" and "Daily Operations Update" are items where you can keep updated on the what city government is actually doing at the moment. Whether anything worthwhile comes out of "Items from the Council" is totally random. Sometimes matters are forecasted there, and other times not.
That this agenda has no new business makes it a good opportunity to point out something the City does really well: it solicits citizens to ask to put matters on the agenda. The link for the "Agenda Item Request" form can be found on this page on the City's site. This form allows anyone to specifically ask that a particular matter be placed on the Council's meeting agenda. To my knowledge, there is nothing in Texas law requiring this, so I consider it to be a serious good faith effort at government in the sun. Consider this. Let's say you wanted to ask the City Council to care for some trees at the park and wanted more than 3 minutes of their time at the "Public Comments" portion of the meeting to make your point. This tool will allow you to ask the Mayor to put it on the agenda so you could have a discussion (deliberation) with the entire council over the issue. Remember, in Public Comment you can't engage in a conversation with the Council. Any type of exchange of information as a general rule has to be posted specifically as an agenda item. And, a governmental body cannot vote on anything you raise in Public Comment, so the tool for something that needs full council approval would be the Agenda Item Request. Though the Agenda Item Request form doesn't say so, I imagine the practice of the City is whether a matter appears on an agenda and its particular wording is at the discretion of the Mayor. Drafting agendas is an art form, in my opinion, and the content of agendas should always be at the final discretion of the executive officer of the council or board. The mayor or president should never totally delegate that power away to a citizen. Again, this tool is a rare bird. I have used it, and I have seen others use it. Don't be a mere complainer...engage your city government in a discussion by taking advantage of this tool.
Meeting Analysis:
Here are the meeting documents for this meeting.
2024 ICISD bonds: Mayor Stewart gave a brief update of his understanding of the status of the District's bond election in May. He reiterated the City's position that District's request to close 3rd Street is on hold until, first, the bond passes, and second, there is adequate money dedicated to drainage issues. His understanding is that of the $55 million there will be $850,000 dedicated to drainage. I noted some appropriate skepticism regarding the District's commitment to drainage. There is some reluctance in part because the District promised the City that when the new gym was constructed its roof would be tilted in such a way that not all the drainage would be sent north on 4th Street. The District also changed the pitch, against the City's wishes, on the repaving of Juanita street as a part of the same 2019 bonds. Add to all that the new parking lot, GMPL, which adds yet more runoff onto Juanita St., and I think his skepticism is well placed. Moreover, I've yet to have had a single ICISD board member say to me in private or even intimate during a board meeting that they have any regrets for failing to address drainage issues in the 2019 bond package. Inverse condemnation is merely another tool in their tool box for expansion. So, I already have a March 2024 Public Information Act request pending trying to get at the nub of the question: Is the current school board, led by Maegin Carlile, and current superintendent, Nikki Moore, committed to correcting the stormwater damage coming from the District's campus? The District is in a very awkward position, indeed. Any naysayers who might consider voting against the proposed bonds because, for example, they are the largest dollar amount ever or the 2019 bonds aren't yet paid off, are simultaneously saying they ok with the current level of flooding of City Park, the county's Community Center and arena, and the football stadium. And, any voting for the bond proposals without sufficient funds dedicated to prevent drainage from the campus are simultaneously voting for even more flooding of City Park, the county's Community Center and arena, and the football stadium. The City's and District's separate hydrology studies bear this out, folks. The more impervious cover the District puts up, the more City Park, the county's Community Center and arena, and the District's own football stadium are subject to flooding. This is a community wide problem. Thankfully, the City, as evidenced by Mayor Stewart's comments at this meeting, is on board this bond election to try to stem the tide.
Pending
Copyright 2024 G Noelke