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Mertzon City Council Meeting Dec 4 2023

Map showing rainfall amounts in Texas
NOAA's 100 year map in the IPC

For a building like the City Gym, the gutters and downspouts have to be sized according to the International Plumbing Code. They must be able to carry the equivalent of a100 year flood amount. The Code adopts NOAA's figures, and for Irion County that is approximately 3.75 inches per hour. I determined from several PIA requests to ICISD that there was no independent inspection done of the building as it was being built, as required by TEA regs, so it is impossible to say how the roof will perform in a worst case flood. Also see here for the architect's calculations on how much water will be coming off the roof.



 

Here is the agenda for the December 4, 2023 Mertzon City Council meeting, with my comments on the agenda and follow up analysis on the meeting down below.


A document showing what the city council is going to talk about.
Mertzon City Council Agenda

Comments:

  1. Agenda items 5-8 appear to all be connected and relate to the recent efforts of the City to secure no cost bonds to improve the drinking water system. The process of securing these funds have been long and tedious, and the Mayor, Council and City Administrator deserve some kudos for doggin' these funds. All that appears to be missing (but perhaps will be addressed in this meeting) is putting this long process all back into plain English. How will the money be spent, and when will citizens see the benefits? And, last but not least, how will citizens be able to tell the City spent the money like it said it was going to in the first place? (Bond expenditure accountability.)

  2. In the "how to read an agenda" category, one way to cut to the chase with agenda items like 5-8 related to bonds (or anything else confusing in an agenda) is to call or email your your elected official before the meeting and ask for them or someone in their office to spell out for you in plain English what a particular agenda item means. I did this very thing last week when I emailed County Judge Molly Criner and asked a question about an agenda item in an upcoming County Commissioner meeting. She answered me, and I was a better educated taxpayer as a consequence. And, by answering me, she was being an accountable elected official. It is always appropriate to ask before a meeting: would you tell me what y'all are doing, in plain English? Note that somewhere on the agenda you will usually find a phone number to call, so a call , civil in tone, is a good start.

  3. The rest of the agenda, items 9-11, are standard items for this meeting. But, one never knows what will come up during these items. I try to stay to the end of these meetings because on occasion informative or politically sensitive matters will be raised at these times. As I've said before, don't be a flash in the pan by coming to a public meeting all hot and bothered and leaving as soon as your issue has been covered. Effective advocacy requires a time commitment. Challenge yourself to learn more about your government than the one issue you are most concerned about. Stay to the end of meeting if at all possible. Advocacy tip: if you are in a group raising group cane about an issue, decide before the meeting how and when the group will leave. Plan ahead as a group how you will politely decline to accept the presiding officer's invitation to your group to leave after open forum, if that invitation is made. (Sometimes the meeting leader will invite folks to stay after open forum by saying something to the effect all are welcome to stay but the rest of the meeting is going to as dry as cardboard, and such language will cause folks to hit the door as if they were just asked to leave. Don't take the bait.) Finally, if your group is going to leave the meeting while it is ongoing, all need to leave the meeting orderly without disturbing the remainder of the meeting. How organized your group is at leaving informs the decision makers how organized your movement is.


Analysis of Meeting: Below are the minutes for this meeting, without the minor changes approved at the Council's following meeting on December 18, 2023. Note that I responded to Superintendent Moore's request to close parts of 3rd Street at the December 18 meeting.



Copyright 2023 G Noelke

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