There are two meetings in one this time. Below are the two agendas with my agenda analysis and meeting analysis underneath. Go here for my commentary on the prayer fence pictured above. First meeting agenda: Second meeting agenda: A. Agenda analysis for both meetings: The first meeting at 6 PM is the required open forum part of the annual process of ad valorem taxation. If you wish to complain about the tax hike by IC ISD, this is where and when you would do it. Second meeting, items 3 and 4: These items should be read together. The budget amendments for 23-24 are “clean up” for the current fiscal year. I have previously blogged about the need for more sunshine on budget amendments, as previous practice for the District has been to create a sort of invisibility cloak so that it was hard to understand the reasons for amendment. I think there would be more accountability in governmental budgeting if each amendment were specifically identified on the agenda. As to the adoption of the 24-25 budget, item 3, if a citizen wanted to take issue with how the Board proposes to spend their tax dollars before a final vote to approve, they would be hard pressed to do so. I haven’t done an exhaustive search, but I can find no Texas law out there that requires that the entire proposed budget of a school district be posted publicly before it is voted upon by the Board. There ought to be a provision that school districts must post their proposed budgets at least 3 days before they vote to approve it. Without such disclosure, citizens really have no way of protesting the budgetary decisions, and the public meeting and open forum portions of these meetings are meaningless. Please let me know if I have overlooked some already existing provision. Land purchase, item 5: In a similar vein, citizens can’t protest (or encourage!) in an open forum the expansion of school district campus boundaries when an agenda notice like this one does not include the location of the property. What land?! Closed session, personnel update, items 7 a and 9: Section 571.045 of the Open Meetings Act provides that this closed session is allowed to “deliberate the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer or employee; or to hear a complaint or charge against an officer or employee .” Section 551.144 addresses the penalties for having a closed meeting that is not permitted. If there is one thing I could revolutionize in Texas school law it would be to require publicly paid attorneys to be present at all school board meetings, especially during closed sessions. So many abuses of the Open Meetings Act could be prevented with legal representation present. This is the model used by the Texas Attorney General’s office and all state agency governing boards. B. Meeting analysis Tax hearing, first meeting . Other than myself, no one from the public was present. Open forum, item 2, and 24-25 budget adoption : No one from the public, other than myself, was present. I did not speak because…well, I’ve covered that before. I don’t have a paper or digital copy of the specific budget (yet) but this one is going to be in the neighborhood of $22 million, folks. Almost $8 million is being recaptured by the State because IC ISD is a wealthy district, yet the District is managing a deficit budget for 24-25 of about $426,000. I am always amazed this time of year when no parents or taxpayers attend this meeting and, at the very minimum, complain about the loss of the recapture payment. It’s a sad state of affairs when the public is so disconnected from the school board that there isn’t any concern about how awful the funding mechanisms are for public education. I think it is also dangerous. The District, I predict, is eventually not be able to afford its upkeep of its massive capital investments without ongoing tax increases. That said, I’ll do a PIA request for the board meeting documents soon, and after that review I’ll dive into the weeds a bit on these pages. To their credit, some Board members were more engaged in their discussion of the budget than in previous years. I have criticized them in previous years for their silence during meetings and failing to understand that their engagement on funding is what creates accountability of the Superintendent and CFO . Budget amendments, item 4 : I’m going to keep beating this dead horse. The Board approved the budget amendments “as presented”. I'll state my objection to this a bit differently: any motion that includes “as presented” when the governing body fails to provide the related documents to the public at the beginning of the meeting is nothing less than a cloud screen. Contrast this with the City of Mertzon, who regularly makes a few copies of meeting documents, including budget matters, available to the public at the beginning of the meeting. A taxpayer wanting to know where the City of Mertzon is spending its money could readily figure it out, but not so at IC ISD. Like the budget adoption above, I’ll do a PIA request for these amendments soon. Now, to be fair, the District’s new business manager, Kandra Lakey, went further into the weeds on some parts of the amendments than CFO Robert Helms ever did. Treating board members like they are supposed to know and understand the budget is the best way to keep board members accountable AND to relieve exposure on the staff, who is not responsible for the final budget approval. But, even more financial transparency is needed, especially when it come to budget amendments. Stay tuned. Land purchase, item 5 : The District is in negotiations to purchase, at a cost of around $260,00.00, some additional lots to its northwest. I'll not cover this now while the negotiations are pending. Bond news : Part of the budget approval process included a $4.1 million early payment on the 2019 bonds. Again, an aggressive prepayment schedule like this is going to be what saves the District in the next oil and gas bust. There was no discussion about 2024 bonds, though, heads up, what might the new land purchase discussed below be used for? Who wasn't at this meeting, and more : Principal Jessica Parker, Asst. Principal John Morrow, Board members Rick Rey and Tony Martinez, and (former?) CFO Robert Helms. My search for Robert Helms in the District's online directory came up with nothing, so it appears he is no longer on the payroll. No announcement has ever been made during the board meetings. I am covering his apparent departure as yet one more high ranking administrator with intimate knowledge of the financing and build out of the 2019 bond package who has moved on. This, and the other departures I have blogged about (Superintendents Brian Gray and Ray DeSpain, President Vicente Flores and a number of board members, Mayor Bill Taylor, Principal Shannon Chapman, Athletic Director Jacob Conner, and of course Architect Jeff Potter and WBK Construction), underscores the slippery nature of creating public accountability for the terrible decisions made surrounding the construction of City Gym and the expenditure of the 2019 bonds without public oversight. C. Additional commentary on the Prayer Fence: My first thought when I read the prayer fence sign at the top of the page was, “I wonder if that is Constitutional?” My second thought was “Who is the community?” And my third thought was, “Who is behind this?” First, an important fact: the sign is tied to a fence on the IC ISD campus and the background is of the elementary playground. One way or another, it stays there with the blessing of IC ISD. I have argued here that one of the chief obligations of government is to create community . And I have argued here (at 2 D) that anonymity destroys leadership and advocacy .  So where does that get me now? I haven't defined “community”, and the more I address the ongoing new risks created by the 2024 bonds, the less I understand what “community” means. (The 2019 bonds sure taught me a thing or two about community!) I also think it is worth noting that I have had to intuit that the sign was put up by our local Methodist Church, of whom School Board President Maegin Carlie is a member, because by mere chance I saw some posts related to it on Facebook. Facebook, and all social media, is at best an  illusory community in my day to day life. I don’t care to delegate what my community is saying to a billionaire’s algorithms when I am the product he is selling. Government In the Sun in part is about encouraging government leaders to claim ownership of their words and actions and holding them accountable when they refuse to do so . However one defines “community”, my experience time and time again is that government leaders and staffers acting anonymously are a negative counter force to our democratic ideals.  The solution provided us by our Founders so that our democracy remains vibrant are certain principles, like the separation of church and state, found in the Constitution. So, the very anonymity of this sign operates as  a signal that its supporters are doing something privately that perhaps they know that they can't do publicly. If you can’t publicly own your convictions, then your advocacy to convince others is meaningless. Thus, the sign, to me, has the opposite effect of what was likely intended... because in fact I don't know for certain who owns it . I would rather pray in private and keep all my stuff between God and myself. Is the sign constitutional? I don’t know, though until recently I could have easily said, “Of course it isn’t”. (Isn't it a different take on prayer on the 50 yard line, like in Kennedy v. Bremerton , given the elementary playground is right there . The playground IS the 50 yard line. ) This is a fascinating time for all of us to consider it.  The State of Louisiana is teeing up for a US Supreme Court review of  its recent law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in all public school classrooms. That law will go into effect on January 1.  And, it appears from press reports that I read that  the Texas Legislature, meeting again in January, is going to pass the same bill. I would expect Governor Abbott to sign emergency legislation to that effect in early 2025, if anything, to try to get the challenge to the US Supreme Court before Louisiana does.  This is because each state’s elected leadership will want to get to the Supreme Court first to take advantage of its conservative majority, who will likely approve it. I don’t profess to be  a scholar on the separation of church and state in public school.  I like to cover the issue, however, because with age I am more comfortable with letting people believe what they want to believe, while at the same time speaking my peace with local government. When I attended IC ISD the Supreme Court case of Engel v. Vitale  was new and precedent setting, and it had a tremendous effect on my views.  I was thus absolutely unprepared in my undergraduate philosophy studies when it came to studying the existence of God. Such study was something I chose on my own, however, not something the State forced upon me to study. I consider that a good thing, while I know others will disagree.  You can read more of my posts about religion in public school by clicking my tag below called “God and School Law”. I don't intend to miss this opportunity to continue covering the issue given the makeup of our Supreme Court and the apparent local interest in pushing the issue. This is a changing area of the law. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

Here is more on how lidar (light detection and ranging) works and what we will learn from it. Below is the agenda for this meeting, and underneath that my agenda analysis and my meeting analysis . Agenda analysis Note that start time is 6:15 pm. a. Taxes, items 6-9: These items are all related. Here's your opportunity to complain...or praise...the City for their use of your tax dollars. b. Ferguson meter installation, item 10: The City will likely accept the bid to update all its water meters. This will allow remote access monitoring and better accuracy. c. Feral cat program, item 11: See my earlier comments about this new initiative at this page at the # 2, Administrative Reports . I'm glad to see this up for discussion again, if anything just to alert cat owners and to prevent blowback onto City leaders if someone's beloved housecat gets left out, trapped, and then fixed. This also elevates this item from part of the Administrative Reports portion of the meeting to an explicit agenda item, so no one will be able to later complain that they didn't know anything about it. This sort of item needs plenty of air time. I favor this program, by the way. Cats are the #1 predator of birds, and in the US alone some estimates are that they consume over 1 billion birds per year. One can easily justify this program on that basis alone. While I personally own no cats, I am close to someone who adores them. They are a supporter of this very method of controlling the cat population. d. Tree trimming at football field, item 14: Apparently IC ISD wants to trim trees around the football field. Here's how this works. The land the field is located on is owned by the City of Mertzon and is leased to IC ISD. That lease requires approval from the City before any tree work is done. I don't know which trees are being considered, but any tree work at City Park is very sensitive politically. One reason for the sensitivity is that the Live Oaks are old and native, and the District has long been a tree taker and not a tree planter . One reason our community floods so is that the native habitat has been removed and replaced with impervious cover. The least green neighbor we have is IC ISD! Not a single tree was planted with the 2019 bond funds, yet enormous amounts of impervious cover was put down. Anecdotally, modern school construction all over Texas is apparently designed by architects who are excessively reliant on cement and appear to have no concern about the natural environment. Take a look at the more recent school construction around the state and see if it includes any xeriscaping or green cover. I'm betting you will find very little, if any. My opinion is that even if the District wishes to trim a tree, they need to commit to the City that they will plant a tree. They have a lot of catching up to do for all the trees they have removed in the last century . The City and its residents would not be in the situation we are now in with community wide flooding had IC ISD been more conscientious about preserving our natural environment. e. Interlocal agreement with TML on cyber security, item 12 : I've not written much about TML, the Texas Municipal League . The City is a member, and they are a nonprofit association of cities whose purpose, broadly, is to support Texas municipalities. They are non regulatory (they don't regulate cities), in contrast to the TEA (Texas Education Agency) who most definitely regulates IC ISD. TML is also provides insurance to municipalities. 2. Meeting analysis. Here are the meeting documents for this meeting. a. Public Hearings, items 6 and 7: the public was a no show . My take is that governmental bodies eventually fail to take citizens seriously when they don't participate in, even if by simply attending, their board meetings, including budget meetings. Advocacy tip: whatever your advocacy issue is with local government, your cause will benefit from your understanding the economics behind the government policy or practice you are protesting. As I have previously written, government budgets are statements of community values. So, for example, if your city leaders don’t value ordinance enforcement and the rule of law they will not generate revenue to employ code enforcement personnel and judges. Here is an earlier blog post where I argue that government budgets are statements of community values . b. Tax rate, budget, items 8&9: Here is the handout for the meeting, showing an effective tax increase of 3.5% at page 8. In terms of budgeting those funds, the Council approved among other things a salary increase of 3% for City employees, except for the City Manager. I suspect none was sought for the City Manager at her request; she received a large pay raise last year, I believe. A 3% increase for City employees is not enough in my opinion. That isn't enough to keep up with inflation. In addition, every interaction I have with City staff is positive and professional. These folks work hard and deserve more. For my regular readers, you know that I consistently lobby for increased salaries for governmental employees. Taxpayers get what they pay for, in my opinion, and scrimping on public employee salaries is not the answer to achieving good government. Government employees need decent wages so they can do more than just get by. Paying low wages to city employees, just like low salaried public school teachers, is a wrongheaded community value. c. New water meters, item 12 : The Council approved this $182,785 purchase of "smart" water meters. The purchase is roughly 2/3 funded by grant money and 1/3 funded by the City. More on this later. d. Feral cat program, item 11: The Council formally approved what they agreed upon last meeting, but without all of the commentary last meeting about alternate methods of population control. The costs to the City are $25.00 per cat, which is a substantial reduction were the cat domesticated. I'll report back on the success of the initiative later. For more reading, Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 281 covers treatment of animals. e. Tree trimming at the football field, item 14 : The tree approved for trimming is the large tree south of the home bleacher. The Council agreed that a City staffer will be present during the trimming, the one sure sign during the discussion that the Council was taking its role of stewardship for the trees seriously. That said, even in view of my comments above, there appears to little awareness of the fact that the City can manage its relationship with the District to require it to be more environmentally proactive and less reliant on impervious cement and pavement . Watch this blog for my coverage on how much additional impervious cover is being added by the District with the 2024 bonds. f. Interlocal Agreement with TML on Cybersecurity, item 12 : I have published the entire agreement , which is an insurance policy for cyber attacks. At paragraph 11, "The Fund agrees to handle all cyber liability and data breach response claims, and provide a defense for any and all cyber liability and data breach response claims covered under this interlocal agreement..." g. Next meeting of the Council: September 9. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

This is my final feature on the 3 ICISD steles. Veritas is Latin for "truth". Veritas in Roman mythology is the Goddess of Truth. This stele shows an open faced book, perhaps symbolizing that truth can be found in books...an appropriate message to be sending to school children. But which book? The book isn't identified, and that is indeed part of the mystery of an education. Where do children go to find Veritas in a public school? Here is more on Veritas . And, here are my earlier features on the Athena Owl and the Lux steles. All should be preserved for future students to be curious about. Below is the agenda for this meeting, and underneath that are the agenda analysis and my meeting analysis . New readers, teachers, students and parents: I will review the District's agenda and add my analysis a few days before the meeting date. (By law, the District has to post the agenda 72 hours before the meeting.) My analysis is a running commentary that may change up to the time of the meeting. Then, I attend and record the meeting, and the following several days I will post my meeting analysis. I do my own photography, and it is all local subject matter. I take in no ad or other revenue, don't have a child in school and I am self employed...which is all to say that I am beholden to no one. I write about things related to government that pretty much go unsaid in small town Texas. Agenda Analysis: a. Closed session and action items from closed session, items 7and 9 : Reading this agenda you might not appreciate the significance of these items. The District is self-policed with staff in possession of firearms. I covered the new guardian laws in a previous post here at B 5 . Here is a resource page at the School Safety Center . I found in my recent review of the District's check register expenses for ammo and firearm training. Let the reality of those expenses sink in for a few minutes. Also, here is a drafting issue: technically, the Board cannot "approve" the guardians while in closed session, as by law no votes are allowed in closed. Even so, by law they will not have to disclose the identity of those guardians in open session at item 9. Ponder that for a few moments. This is a rare literal instance where the police power of the state is secret, by law. Do you feel more or less safe for yourself and your child knowing this? b. 2024 tax rate, item 2 : Judging my attendance at the City of Mertzon and Irion County's meetings where Tax Assessor Collector Joyce Gray presented, gird your loins for a significant tax increase. It may be the best way to approach this is to plan ahead to what positive tax impact the new Matterhorn Pipeline will have once it comes online in 2025. That could be significant revenue based on comments made at the County Commissioner's meeting on August 6. The 2024 school bonds were not passed with any valuation of that pipeline as it was still under construction at the time of the bond election. c. Administrative Reports, item 4 : This is the first meeting where the Principal and Athletic Director/Assistant Principal duo of Jessica Parker and John Morrow are on the agenda together. There is no report by the CFO, Robert Helms, as discussed below. d. Consent agenda, items 5 a-i : This one is like trying to take a drink of water from a firehose! All of these items have to be voted upon, and potentially voted upon without discussion . Here's a good page on the meaning and use of consent agendas . BoardSource ends on that page by saying, " Board members need to be vigilant so that debatable issues do not accidentally pass through without appropriate deliberation. " I would flip that a bit by saying that also citizens need to be vigilant so that debatable issues do not accidentally or intentionally pass through without appropriate deliberation. Here’s the dilemma: if citizens do not attend board meetings there is no incentive for board members to debate anything, yet if citizens do attend board meetings there is incentive to governmental bodies to "hide" controversial or difficult issues in a consent agenda so as to avoid a public discussion. This is as confounding as trying to get at the juice of a ripe cactus tuna without getting millions of glochids in your fingers! In my opinion, from the perspective of a taxpayer, item c dealing with financials should always be debated by the board and therefor never be on a consent agenda. Were I a student , I might also think that any amendment to the student handbook or code of conduct, item i, should always be debated. Students, or perhaps a student representative from the appropriate student group, should always have a presence at school board meetings. See my page here at Meeting Analysis # 7 for what this amendment to the student handbook/code of conduct may be about. e. What's missing and more : I urge my readers to compare and contrast agendas to learn how to interpret them. You might have to read between the lines and regularly read my posts to see this: it appears the CFO, Mr. Helms, will not be present at the same time as Joyce Gray, the Irion County Tax Assessor Collector, will be presenting her 2024 revenue projections. My best guess is that Mr. Helms is in retirement mode until he leaves at the end of August, but, whatever his status, he or his position is not mentioned on the agenda. The roles of the CFO and the superintendent positions are unique. Consider this fact about the spend down of the 2019 school bonds at ICISD, before the arrival of Superintendent Moore, the current superintendent: The superintendent and school board ran the bond budget into the ground and ended with a six figure deficit bond budget, while at the same time the CFO secured for the District the highest rating possible, superior , from TEA's financial rating system, FIRST . And, if the public doesn't attend the board meetings, then no one will ever be the wiser. Here are the ICISD FIRST scores for the 22-23 school year , under Supt. Ray DeSpain, CFO Robert Helms and Board President Vicente Flores. (By attending the school board meetings and using the Public Information Act, I was able to determine that the District went over budget with its 2019 bond funds in excess of $200,000.00. If you wonder about my interest in the school's spending habits, well that's why! You won’t find any of this in any Moody’s report, and you certainly won’t hear it discussed at a Board meeting.) 2. Meeting analysis a. Proposed tax rate, item 2 a: The Board approved what is in effect a proposed 10 cent per $100 tax rate increase for the District’s debt fund (interest and sinking), thus clawing back the 10 cent legislative savings given last year. That is, the rate would go from .13 to .23. This raise is consistent with representations made by the District prior to the bond election . So, theoretically, it is all a wash. Or, is it? First, keep in mind that the compression approved by the legislature last session was for residential property (your home), not real property, as in agricultural land. So, if my evaluation is correct, for some this will not be a wash but an outright .10 increase. Second, do not underestimate the impact that the new Matterhorn pipeline is going to have on the total appraised value of all property in Irion County. This year, 2024, saw it included for the the first time. Even in its incomplete state it, according to Joyce Gray, made up the lions share of a $211,970,710 increase in new value. That's a 42 inch as pipeline that fully valued with gas flowing through it will significantly increase the total tax base in 2025 and beyond. (And there is room enough to add a second pipeline alongside the current one, in my opinion.) What will happen when that tax base expands? Well, I predict that IC ISD is going to roll in another bond package...and your taxes will be increased above this .23 amount. Be careful what you wish for, folks. Superior school facilities are little more than a mirage of an educated child. In Travis County, even in Eanes ISD, the most prestigious school district in the county, there are families living in mobile homes being forced out because they can't afford the taxes, their lots are bought by developers and turned into McMansions. Those McMansions then increase everyone's property taxes, thereby creating a vicious cycle of tax increases and massive school growth. Best I can tell, the most significant difference between Travis County and Irion County in this regard is that it is impossible to get a water meter from the City of Mertzon. It's all about water. b. Closed session, items 7 & 9 : The Board at item 9 voted to approve the Guardians recommended by Superintendent Moore in their closed session, but did not disclose their names, as I suggest might occur above . Why should you consider the approval of guardians important and relevant? Because no one, other than myself, is present at these school board meetings. The Board has a long history of governing in private, and it undoubtedly prefers a disengaged community. Democracy dies where there is no light. In this singular vote, the Board effectively approved the members of a state sanctioned local private police force, and no one was watching. Rather than get paranoid about a secret police force in a town of less than 1,000 folks, I find it more helpful to evaluate the form of government that made the decision. Of course, we are neither a monarchy or autocracy; we are a democracy. But, are we a democracy ? We aren't a true democracy, which is at best a mere ideal, and this vote underscores that. Consider whether the Board is a form of anocracy or semi-democracy . That is, it is more of a guided or regulated democracy sanctioned by TEA, the state legislature and the governor. But, this government is in a small town environment where a elite few can make all the important decisions, they can eliminate all competition in such a manner that the electorate can be made apathetic about how they govern, and they can govern in an environment where the system to redress grievances is under developed. c. Administrative reports, item 4: In the tagline of "How to Read on Open Meeting", consider the situation that we have here where the chief administrator, Supt. Moore, gave a bare bones administrative report. (Her report was essentially limited to the need to hire a new teacher aid, which I gather was later discussed in closed session.) In this meeting, her report, however, effectively came out in part during the consent agenda. All of the consent agenda matters passed in one vote, some with discussion some without. But, all represented her priorities as matters that had to be passed. (The proper tool to entertain real debate on a consent agenda is for the Chair to ask the members if they want to "pull" any matter on the consent agenda so that it can be fully debated. That did not happen here.) Otherwise, the reports given by Principal Parker and AD/Asst. Principal Morrow were worthwhile and informative. I'll be covering their reports more in future meetings as they mature into their new roles. d. Consent agenda, item 5 a-i: President Carlile did a good job of managing this part of the agenda, which was a fair portion of the meeting. All matters were approved in a single vote. I think the transportation issues are worth noting. First, the Board approved the consulting contract with Mr. Kramer of Kramer Consulting, so there's a tangible start to that part of the 2024 bonds dealing with buses. I am in the process of obtaining that contract under the PIA, coincidentally. Second, the transportation part of the stipend for drivers and aides equates to about $400 a day or $80,000 a year. There is ongoing discussion about having transfers into the district pay a fee for transportation. As to the remainder of the consent items, I think the Board missed an opportunity it created earlier in the year to engage students in the passage of the dress code, which was part of the student handbook at item 5i. There were no students present during this item, and the matter apparently had been approved behind the scenes. There are precious few opportunities for government to model debate for young citizens, and it is a much needed skill because so many today believe they are being productive on social media when they really aren't. The anonymity found on most social media sites kills true advocacy and leadership. e. More 2024 bond activity: Throughout the day on the date of this meeting one could see a drilling rig going from marker to marker, pictured below, drilling a short distance. down. After randomly spotting the crew here and there it appeared to me they were taking core or soil samples. There was a huge cloud of limestone dust around the crew at the location of the new bus barn. That cloud told me what I knew from my posthole digging days as a kid on the ranch. It's rock down there. Solid. Rock. The hard kind of rock that, if you don't know how to release your grip when your crowbar hits it, your hands start to vibrate in pain. Know this Gallagher , Parkhill and everyone else newly involved with the 2024 bonds: The District spent over $500,000 to excavate the limestone for City Gym . That's a lot of dough, and plenty enough to prove up what we already know is just inches below the surface. Water doesn't permeate it. Water flows over the top of it. f. Who wasn't at this meeting: Board members Ashley Hill and DJ Rainey, and CFO Robert Helms. g. More? Possibly. Consider the rest pending. Copyright 2024 G. Noelke

Below is the agenda for the August 5, 2024 meeting, and underneath that is my agenda analysis and my meeting analysis . Agenda Analysis : a. Executive session, item 5: Another "how to read" tip: compare how different governmental bodies draft their executive session, that part of the meeting in which they can meet privately without the presence of the public. Here, the City refers to the specific sections in the Government Code Open Meetings Act that allow them to enter into the executive session: real property and personnel. Contrast this with ICISD on this page where they mention only "closed session" and no section number. I much prefer the method used by the City because it identifies the authority they are using. Why does it matter? Well, it keeps everyone honest. The Open Meetings Act is crystal clear - the body can't go into executive session unless a specific exception exists that permit it. It is illegal to meet privately unless that exception exists. A specific reference to the law is a necessary reminder to everyone - the public and the governmental leaders - that the closed meeting is permitted and has its own limits . I think reasonable notice includes the specific sections of the exceptions and general topics, like "personnel" and "real estate". Ideally the specific real property would be identified so that citizens know what property the governmental body is considering. (If our tax dollars are going to buy real property then we need to know specifically what real property that will be before the property is purchased.) 2024 Tax rate, item 6 : This is the annual setting of the tax rate. Joyce Gray, Tax Assessor Collector, will be present to explain the current state of ad valorem taxation law as it relates to the City. I don't think any citizen really has standing to complain about high taxation until they have listened to her speak. I always learn something valuable from her presentations, and I go away with a more nuanced view of how funding of local government actually works. I believe she will be speaking to the County Commissioners the following day, August 6 , and to the ICISD Board on August 13. Parade ordinance, second reading, item 7 : See my comments below after the meeting. Frontier, Bringing Opportunity online to Texas, item 8 : This is a competitive grant program for broadband internet . 2. Meeting analysis: Here are the meeting documents for this meeting. a. Executive session . Turns out there was none and it was put on the agenda as a placeholder in case the Council wanted to go into one. This is an appropriate time to point out that just because a matter is on an agenda doesn’t mean that it will be heard. Closed sessions are not required, and they are allowed only under specific situations. b. 2024 Tax Rate: The City of Mertzon ad valorem taxes are proposed to go up about 6.5 cents per $100.00 in valuation in 2024. Here are the documents Tax Assessor Joyce Gray handed out to the Council at the meeting , and below is the public notice in the Big Lake Wildcat newspaper: I am going to keep my powder dry on the local ad valorem tax increases underway, at least until I attend the ICISD board meeting. If you are into these things, I attended Ms. Gray's presentation to the Irion County Commissioner's meeting on August 6, and here is her handout to them . The proposed increases for both City and County are an eye opener, folks. And the rub is that these increases aren’t really adding much revenue into their budgets. ICISD will have its meeting to consider their proposal likely at their next meeting on Aug 13 Note: you can take issue with or support this tax rate at the Council's meeting on August 19 at 6:15 pm. c. Parade ordinance, item 7 : The Council clarified that because a potential fine was involved this proposed ordinance needed a second reading and vote. Certain proposed ordinances have to go through extra steps before they can become law, and this is one. There were no changes to the ordinance, and the Council again voted to approve it. d. Bringing Online Opportunities to Texas (BOOT), Frontier, item 8 : A Frontier representative was present to seek the Council's signature for support of funding effort that will bring fiber internet service to Mertzon and Irion County. For more information, including a map of the county where fiber installation is proposed, see pages 2-11 of the handouts . There are potentially 656 locations in the county that could be eligible for fiber through this grant process. Look to see if your location is marked with a yellow dot on the map on page 9 of the handouts. Mr. Tony Bednarczyk attended on behalf of Frontier. His contact info can be found on page 11 of the handout. Reach out to him if you have any questions. His presentation was informative and the Council voted to sign the proposed letter of support for the funds. There is little doubt that much of the county is underserved with awful internet service, so the Council's support of the funding is obviously a win for everyone. As an aside, growing up riding horseback along the fence line at my family's University lease in the south of the county I recall finding the insulators that were used for the wires for the first phone lines in the county. In high school, I helped maintain the phone line along Country Road 134 when Ma Bell was around but would not service the lines to ranches because they were privately owned lines back then. The ranching families owned and managed the lines, then on small telephone poles, even into the 1970's. Can you imagine a high schooler today up on a ranch ladder leaning up against a telephone pole (or propped in the bed of a pickup against a feeder!) trying to splice a copper wire? A fiber optic line? d. Administrative reports: -Other announcements - the City has coordinated with Critter Shack to trap feral cats to have them fixed to help reduce the feral cat population in the city. A similar program exists in nearby cities. The cats will be live trapped, taken to Wall for surgery, then returned to where they were trapped in Mertzon. Cats that receive the surgery will have their ears notched. The cost to the City is $25.00 per cat. Cat owners need to bring their domesticated cats indoors on August 21, the day of the trapping, so that domesticated cats are not inadvertently trapped and fixed. Watch for additional information from the City. Certain Council members during the discussion of this issue were, to be generous here, less than sensitive with their opinions on various methods of population reduction that would not require this surgery. Sensitivity to animal welfare is a good value for elected officials, particularly in rural Texas communities where past ways of acceptable wild animal control are not current with the times and voicing such methods continues a negative stereotype of rural life. There are some, I am not among them, that believe that animals have actual legal rights. I still nonetheless believe that humane animal welfare has a very important place among the responsibilities of citizenship and good government. I thus would urge the Council naysayers to show some sensitivity on this issue. e. More - pending. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

Below is the agenda for this special Board meeting, with my agenda analysis and meeting analysis underneath. Agenda analysis: a. What is a special meeting? "Special" meetings pop up every so often for all governmental bodies. I haven't before discussed its meaning, but the brevity of this agenda makes this a worthwhile opportunity for my series on "how to read an agenda". The Open Meetings Act mentions special meetings, see 51.002 , but doesn't define or even describe them. If you want to do a deep dive on the meaning consider researching Robert's Rules of Order , the bible of parliamentary procedure. For my purposes, a special meeting is merely an extra public meeting that is usually dealing with some particular business matter that the board could not address at its regular meeting because of a timing issue but still must be dealt with before the next regular session. These meetings usually address a matter of high importance that cannot be delayed, but that also does not qualify for an "emergency" meeting for extreme circumstances. Because a quorum of the board will be present at a special meeting, it still has to meet all the posting deadlines of the Open Meetings Act. And, because it is a public meeting, the agenda still has to have a place for public comment. See 51.007 . This agenda includes a public forum at item 2. (There were once some very dark days under former Supt. DeSpain when ICISD completely eliminated the public forum, so I watch this issue closely.) Also, note that the agenda does not have an item for an executive session. While Texas law requires that every public meeting must have a public forum, there is no requirement that the body meet in closed session. Closed sessions, while highly regulated under the Open Meetings Act, are not required. b. Health insurance, item 4. I first became interested in the insurance woes at ICISD when, during a public forum for the re-election of state Representative Drew Darby , it became evident that the previous contract for insurance apparently entered at the end of Supt. DeSpain's tenure was in fact nonexistent. Subsequent board meetings made it public that the District was essentially self insuring its staff during the school year. See Meeting Analysis # 6 . (I have a related pending PIA request related to this matter, coincidentally. Good health insurance is one of the few perks of government employment, so the teachers that registered their anger at the Darby public forum on this issue were justified, in my opinion. While I obviously have huge issues with using tax dollars to flood my home and community, I strongly favor excellent health care insurance for government employees.) This agenda item hopefully will get the District back under contract with an insurance company, based on discussions at the previous board meeting. c. Attendance waiver , item 3. TEA has a rule that can be waived, and they are going to waive it. My experience is that if a rule in some way involves money, and attendance always does, TEA requires a formal waiver. Rules that don't or indirectly involve money, well, there's a fudge factor. TEA does not enforce all of its many rules. 2. Meeting analysis: a. Health Insurance, item 4 . Supt. Moore ran through a few ways the District could save money with its employer contribution part of the new plan with Blue Cross, then the Board approved the plans. That's really good news for teachers and staff and their families; Blue Cross has excellent plans for government employees. b. Attendance waiver, item 3 . The District had a handful of low attendance days this last year and had some explaining to do to TEA. The Board approved the waiver request. c. Adjourned . There was no other business, no discussion and the Board adjourned promptly. d. Forecast . More rain is in the forecast, with moderate temps for the area in the low 90's. These slower rains are more beneficial to our water table, as the soil is less hydrophobic and that allows for more soil absorption and less runoff to Spring Creek. But, of course, if we pave and cement over the soil the impermeability of that covering will increase runoff. So the weather related word for these 2024 bond era years is "depave" which means to undo the act of paving and restore the land to its original state. Consider this article on depaving, Depave - the Community-Based Approach to Stormwater Management . Copyright 2024 G Noelke

Below is the agenda for the July 15 meeting of the Mertzon City Council, with my agenda analysis and meeting analysis underneath. Agenda analysis: a. Special event ordinance, item 5: The Council is trying to standardize street closures here. b. Contract for right of way landscaping, item 6: The Council appears to be formalizing its arrangement allowing the Ibarra's to landscape the edge of the street at their home at 3rd and Fayette next to ICISD. c. IC Booster Club Fun Run at the creek, item 7: This is a new matter that has not been discussed before, to my knowledge. The "creek" is Spring Creek, the river that runs through Mertzon that I have elsewhere in these pages noted has more water flowing through its banks than the Pedernales River. The City has done well to keep the area clean and underdeveloped, so throughout the year you can find folks camping, picnicking and fishing there. d. The rest: Items 1-4 and 8-11 are standard and are on every agenda. 2. Meeting analysis: a. Here are the meeting documents for this meeting. b. Parade ordinance, item 5 : the Council unanimously approved a new ordinance relating to street closure for certain events. See pages 2 - 11 of the meeting documents . I will be possibly by following up with some amended analysis on this ordinance. (My first read was immediately prior to this meeting when it was made available at the meeting in the meeting documents. I am researching why it is this particular ordinance did not have to be published publicly prior to its adoption.) c. Contract for right of way landscaping with landowner, item 6 : The proposed agreement with landowner Santiago Ibarra is at pages 12 - 21 of the meeting documents . Mr. Ibarra was present at the meeting and raised questions about the portion of the agreement that would make him totally liable should one of the young drivers attending school next door hit one of the landscaping rocks. The Mayor agreed that, yes, the liability would be solely Mr. Ibarra's. That caused Mr. Ibarra to withdraw his request for the agreement, so no vote was held on this matter. After some discussion, it was agreed that the Mayor would reach out to Supt. Moore to attempt to reach some solution since the area is going to be the site of extended construction in the coming years due to the 2024 school bonds. Note: the meat and potatoes of the proposed agreement is at paragraphs 7.1-7.4 relating to liability and indemnification. Once folks start putting obstructions in the right of way all sorts of problems arise that limit the City's governmental immunity if the City allows that encroachment on its property. Thus, in this case any agreement has to include that the landowner, Mr. Ibarra, has to absorb any of the liability if he puts anything on the right of way that might be hit by a driver. The agreement also provides that the landowner will protect the City (indemnify the City) if it is sued. I'm not sure why any landowner in their right mind would agree to such terms because it assumes that the landowner can be self insured as if the landowner could afford government immunity, which of course is not realistic. On a related note, years ago I came to understand that local resident Tom Carter purchased and now owns the median with the oak trees on Hwy 67 in front of his property on the south end of Hwy 67. Similar liability issues may have been addressed in his agreement. I would imagine that TXDOT waived all its liabilities when it sold the property. Connecting the dots to the 2024 bonds: These liability issues will come back to roost again in the upcoming school construction. The City during the 2019 bond build out, free of charge and without any written agreement, allowed WBK Construction to use a portion of the right of way along 4th Street between Juanita and W. Fleming to park its construction trailer and various materials. This caused construction gravel build up on the shoulder that is part of the problem my property has today. The construction company doing the 2024 construction is likewise going to need real estate to locate their equipment and materials. I have been saying this for years, to no avail: it is ok for a city to collect license/ordinance fees for use and enjoyment of the roadways for construction matters. This is not double taxation any more than it is double taxation for the the City Tax Assessor Collector to collect a fee from the City for collection of its taxes. The City of Mertzon will leave 2024 bond money on the table if it allows the construction company to have its way with our city streets. And, just like the situation above with Mr. Ibarra, the City increases its legal exposure if it allows a 3rd party to willy nilly park whatever it wants on the roadway edge. If anything, school bonds should be considered a source of revenue to the City to the extent it has to manage the increased liability for a 3rd party to park materials or close a roadway . The City should not give away our valuable property, even for a short time. Likewise, the City should not be impoverished when it has such a wealthy neighbor, ICISD, who clearly benefits from city services and public lands. d. Fun Run, item 7 : Joli McDowell appeared on behalf of the ICISD Booster Club. After some discussion, the Council unanimously approved the run. See pages 22-23 of the meeting documents . e. Approval of minutes, item 8a: The Council approved the minutes for the previous two meetings, and I have included those at pages 25 and 26 of the meeting documents . More: Here is the official Seminole Canyon State Park website . Be on your toes if you hike or bike here. We met up with 3 apparent migrants inside the park boundaries. The exchange was not dangerous, but one should always remember that the "border" is only an imaginary construct and the vastness of the country and its rugged terrain mean crossings are inevitable. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

Below is the agenda for the July 16, 2024 meeting, with my agenda analysis and meeting analysis underneath. Agenda analysis a. Meeting time: note the meeting is not on Monday but Tuesday, July 16 at the earlier time of 5:30. b. Superintendent's report, item 4b : There's a lot of meat in each of the listed topics. The Kramer Consulting would appear to be the kickoff of the 2024 bond spending on new busses. c. What's different: Again, approach all agendas critically with an eye toward trying to understand what is different this month from last month. A lot of thought gets put into the drafting of agenda because if the topic isn't listed technically it can't be discussed. Here we see that there is no principal's report. There was also no report last month. Who knows whether this is significant at this point. My goal here is to educate my readers about how to read agendas and to not accept them passively. d. Procurement of construction and procurement of design and construction, items 6 & 7: This appears to be the first formal steps in getting Gallagher Construction and Parkhill hired for the 2024 bond projects, as my best guess is that it entails choosing the method of construction contracting for the projects. This area of law, Texas Gov't Code 2269 , is complex and mind numbingly boring UNLESS you have previously been burned by it like I was, and our community was, when the Board chose the Construction Manager at Risk method for the 2019 bonds. Stay tuned. e. Adding a new signor to all accounts, item 8 : This is a LOT of authority, and signing off on the annual spend down of a $20+ million budget and $50+ million in bonds is significant. It also begs the question: What about Mr. Helms? f. What's different, take 2 : School law is largely understood to be "administrative law" because so much of it is regulated by the Texas Education Agency and its many, many rules in the Texas Administrative Code, Title 19 . I cannot over emphasize the sea change created on the federal side of administrative law by the US Supreme Court this last session in the Loper Bright case where the Court pared back the agency authority to interpret its own administrative rules to effectively zilch . If this approach is adopted in Texas (and I believe Chevron deference has been the rule here as well), this could mean that TEA's interpretation of ALL of its Title 19 rules is likewise zilch . In place of TEA's interpretation could be the interpretation of the Travis County District Courts, the 3rd Court of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court. Here is some more analysis of the Loper Bright case . This will be an area to watch both in the Texas state courts and in the upcoming 2025 Texas legislative session. There were other recent US Supreme Court case relating to administrative law that also have the potential to revolutionize Texas law. A great deal of uncertainly now exists in Texas administrative law, including uncertainty in the area of public school funding and performance testing. Think you understand school construction law because of TEA's interpretation of its own statutes and rules? Well, you don't because their view may not be important any more . 2. Meeting analysis: a. Open forum, item 3 : A local resident presented on the specs of her residential property that is for sale and the District clearly has interest in. Open Meetings Act sunshine: the governmental body can't ask questions to the public speaker. Perhaps more on this, and the real estate purchase, later. b. Superintendent's report: 1. Communications audit results - the District hired a consultant a few months back and her work product was reviewed. I'll come back to this issue. 2. Health Insurance Update - The District has contracted with Blue Cross, apparently thanks to their consultant contract with Neil Seltz. I am in the process of getting his contract, I hope. 3. Local Ryan Kramer presented his pitch to be hired as a consultant to aid the District sell and purchase its busses. No action taken publicly on this. 4. Financial - Mr. Helms was absent, so nothing substantive was discussed regarding finances at item 4a; she referenced his materials were in the board packet. Checks and reports were approved in 10 b. I'll cover more about the financial condition of the District next month as it goes through the 24-25 budgeting process. c. 2024 bonds, items 6, 7 and part of 9 : In due time I'll be delving into the contracting method chosen by the Board at this meeting - construction manager - agent. See Texas Gov't Code, Subchapter E, Section 2269.201 - .208 . The action taken by the Board in thee items was to grant authority to Supt. Moore to negotiate the contracts for construction and design and construction. ("Design" means "architect".) Negotiations are already underway with Gallagher via the District's law firm, Eichelbaum. So, the upshot is that the contracting is taking shape for who will do the build out for the 2024 bonds. In other bond news, at item 9 the board approved a $10,000 construction management stipend to James Green, head of the District's Ag Department. In contrast to other stipends at the District, this one would appear to be outrageously high. Let me tell you, if his job is what I think it will be, he's going to be earning every penny of that and asking for it to be renegotiated at a higher amount before this build is complete. The issue of what construction code standards to use alone ought to be a hair raising experience for the District. TEA in its rules imposes different build standards on communities like ours when the municipality has no building codes, as the City of Mertzon has none. I definitively proved that the new gym was not properly code inspected during its construction, and neither then superintendent Ray DeSpain, WBK Construction or Architect Jeff Potter could attest to its safety as required by TEA rules because...the District did not have its own independent inspector. Moreover, the City of Mertzon has punted on the issue of imposing construction codes (I've tried!), so there's a real concern here that the District will do a repeat of what it did with the 2019 bonds. As an aside, I don't want to imply that I am a safety nut. I do some dangerous things like hunt, hike and bike. But, the closure of the street where the new gym now sits was justified by the District's then administrators for "safety" reasons , and it created way more safety problems than it solved. So, until the District corrects some of the safety issues it created with the 2019 bonds by properly using the 2024 bonds, I'm not inclined to look the other way. The parents of the children who will be attending school in these new buildings should not look the other way, either. And, the Mertzon City Council should especially not look the other way. This issue - that of not having construction codes - is where I believe the City's brand of libertarianism seriously fails. Children can't always look after their own safety at school, and that is where good government comes in. I hope to be visiting with Supt. Moore in the near future about these issues so the mistakes of 2019 are not visited upon the 2024 bonds. In the mean time, hats off to Mr. Green! My prediction is that he will be earning his keep. c. Closed session and action on closed session, items 12 and 14 : No matters were voted on after the closed session went into open. d. Other matters: There will be a special meeting in July coming up, and the next regular meeting will be August 5. Also, very soon I will be posting more Jacob Conner documents. I was able to get his Agreed Order with SBEC and will be posting that. Finally, all the talk of the bus sales at this meeting had me reminiscing with Board member Taylor Douglas after the meeting. As a member of Mertzon's Troop 116, I took a camping trip about 1973 with his uncle Lynn Freitag, one of my best friends, and grandfather Pinkie Freitag to Big Bend for a week of floating the river, camping and fishing. We had to leave Mertzon (from what is now the Museum) at midnight because we used Pinkie's beat up old school bus and it would over heat during the daytime. I slept like a baby during the trip out because all the seats had been pulled out of the bus, and I rolled over off the 1/4 inch plywood we were supposed to sleep on and slept prone on top of the Troop's bread supplies for the week. Morris Grice, France's Grice's husband who was the other parent on the trip, was none too happy with me, but Pinkie just laughed and laughed. It was a magical childhood fishing trip that included wandering and fishing from the Mexico side of the border. Even today I miss Pinkie and Lynn. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

Below is the agenda for the July 1, 2024 meeting, with my agenda analysis and meeting analysis underneath. Agenda Analysis a. Roads and Right of Way: I've highlighted items 5 and 9, part of my City Gym series of posts, as yet another reminder that cities, including the City of Mertzon, have legal authority over how our streets are used. The Ibarra's at item 9 will be following through with earlier Council approved improvements to the right of way next to their home and adjacent to ICISD. For what it's worth, I recall the days when the only paved street around was 3rd Street. All students, teachers, and visitors parked along 3rd street back then. All of the parking and drainage issues the Ibarra's are currently addressing here are the consequence of decades of school growth…and the City of Mertzon passively allowing that growth without concern for private property rights. It’s a good thing when any private property owner gets protection from school growth, so long as all private property owners get equal protection. b. Tax Assessor Collector, item 6: Joyce Gray's office doesn't work for free. This contract will almost certainly be approved. She is the only game in town. c. Excessive water bill, item 7: The City has a longstanding practice of trying to help citizens out when their water bills skyrocket. This item is unique in that it describes what they are willing to entertain - averaging. (Don't show up to complain about an unknown leak and expect to get your water bill comp’ed.) d. Meter replacement, item 8: The Council has been evaluating for several months how to modernize and update its water meters. Electronic meters that can instantly alert for leaks are being considered. 2. Meeting Analysis : Here are the documents for this meeting. a. 4th of July Parade, Road closure, item 5: Joli McDowell and Brandi Whitlow appeared to request approval. The Council voted unanimously to close the streets for this annual event. The route can be found on page 2 of the meeting document. Details can be found on Facebook at Irion County News. b. Tax Assessor Contract, item 6: The Council approved a contract with Joyce Gray's office for the costs of collecting taxes. The fee is $629.00. The contract is on page 3 of the meeting documents, for those of you interested in intergovernmental contracting. c. Excessive water bills for 2 residences, item 7: The Council approved 3 months averaging for each. But, there was no discussion of who the folks were and they didn't appear. I think more transparency is needed here. d. Meter replacement project, item 9: After a hearty debate, the Council approved a bid from Ferguson for around $160,000 for electronic water meters. About two thirds of of this expense will be paid for by grant funds, and the remainder will be from a CD. Councilmember Holland initially appeared to oppose taking from the CD, but Councilmember Lindley appeared to offer up the necessary assurances that replacing the water meters was a longstanding project and it was worth doing so. I will be following up with more on the details of the meters, as it was clear from the discussions that they were going to offer some real water conservation features like digital notification of leaks. e. Resident plan for landscaping, item 9: The Ibarra's didn't show up, and a few questions came up during the item where it would have been appropriate for them to answer. The Council approved. The Council did not discuss whether a waiver of liability had been signed. f. Administrative report -The baseball field bleachers being hauled off turned out to be norm contaminated ( naturally occurring radioactive material ). Who knew? Probably the pipe donors years ago. We are in the thick of the oil industry in Irion County. This certainly raises a question about all the piping used for local governmental purposes within the city. Pipes are everywhere! -Some worthwhile offers are being considered regarding property along the railroad tracks. Discussions are preliminary. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

I have submitted the following comments to the draft 2024 State Flood Plan. The time to leave comments on the draft, June 17, 2024, has passed. The deadline for the final Plan is September 1, 2024. This draft 2024 State Flood Plan leaves out one important source of flooding: state and local government. From improper design of state highways to the excessive creation of impervious structures by local school districts, private property owners statewide must be vigilant to prevent stormwater runoff originating from state and local government infrastructure and capital improvements. This problem is only going to worsen as our state population continues to expand, thereby causing increased government growth and worsening climate conditions. The bedrock constitutional principle that the government can’t take private property without first paying for it is not always recognized by government leaders. Stormwater runoff from government property onto private property has long been ruled in our courts as an unconstitutional “taking”. Yet, one can readily find  instances at all levels of government where officials have taken or are in the process of taking private property illegally by “inverse condemnation”. Even the Texas Private Real Property Preservation Act (Texas Government Code Chapter 2007) is readily dismissed by government decision makers. One of its provisions requires a “takings impact assessment” that, if used by government officials, could go a long way to reducing the impact of stormwater runoff from government owned property. In other words, laws already exist that are intended to prevent inverse condemnation. Reform is no doubt needed, but the foundation exists. The final 2024 State Flood Plan should make clear that state and local governments are obligated to consider all applicable constitutional, statutory, administrative and local laws to protect private property from stormwater originating from government property. Thus, as a broad policy objective, the final plan should openly affirm the right of private property owners to be free of governmental takings in that context. The final Plan could thereby be used as a communication tool to educate and remind government leaders that taking of private property by our state and local government is unlawful. I'll update this page once I receive a response. I’m not expecting much of a substantive response, however. If there’s anything I’ve learned in these 8+ years of advocacy, it’s that government leaders are not inclined to tackle the issue of how their own decisions are contributing to the problem. Still, our state’s hyper growth and accompanying climate change I think are reason enough for the pushback in my comments above. See also my post on Devillier v Texas about how state leaders are misrepresenting their progress on property rights and flooding. That post in part informs my view that Texas state and local government are, if not outright hostile towards private property rights, certainly not always deserving of their pro private property rights reputation. Copyright 2024 G. Noelke

Below is the agenda for this meeting, with my agenda analysis and meeting analysis underneath. A. Agenda analysis The Council of late has been prioritizing greater use of the little league fields, as seen in agenda item 5. This is a good thing. I’m not much of a baseball fan, and I still think this is a good thing. Office space for the sewer plant, item 6: This is the first time this has come up to my knowledge, though a year or two back it came up in the limited sense of the space was also being over utilized for document storage. Stay tuned. B. Meeting analysis. Here are the meeting documents for this meeting. Repairs to baseball field stands, item 5: Jaydon Taylor was present and discussed with the Council his evaluation and bid for demo/repair/replacement of the stands. After much discussion, the Council accepted his bid of $2,410 to demo the existing stands. The City is going to reach out to Jaime Tankersley on the little league side to encourage a fund raiser to replace the stands. The Council wants to encourage year round use of the field, but doesn't have the money budgeted to do it right. It's a good idea to do a fundraiser. The City shouldn't bear the entire burden. See the meeting documents for more details. Office space, item 6: The City is in talks with Producer's Marketing Cooperative and the railroad to purchase/lease the building/land immediately north of the Wool House. Other announcements, item 9b: Mayor Stewart gave an update on his meeting with the City's engineer, Supt. Moore and Parkhill's engineers on ICISD's proposals to address stormwater flooding from the campus. It is important for our community to understand that even at these earliest of pre-bid planning stages hydrology engineers can predict quantities and patterns of water flow. And, ICISD is required to by law to evaluate it's impact. We were all hoodwinked in 2019 by ICISD failing to properly address the impact of the stormwater displacement from the bond build out. It's not as if I wasn't speaking out, publicly, that the District needed to disclose its hydrology data back in 2019. I was. So, what was done at this meeting is what should have happened back in 2019. What ICISD is doing now is something that they are already required to do by law, and the incentive is that they wish to close 3rd Street permanently for the new elementary building. Other announcements, cont'd: Mayor Stewart also announced his meeting with Judge Molly Criner and Supt. Moore to form a coalition so that future community emergencies are messaged consistently among the City, County and ICISD. This effort was born from one of Mayor Stewart's recent initiatives after the fugitive situation developed. (See B.2. on this page.) I applaud each of them for these efforts. Consistent messaging during emergencies is something that builds trust in government. The consequences of failing in messaging are significant in these days of social media. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

The Horse Crippler Cactus is common in Irion County, though they are hard to spot because of their low profile of just an inch or two. Yes, their thorns can cripple a horse. Horses are aware of their danger as they will break stride or hop to avoid stepping on one. Here is more information about the plant at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Here is the agenda for this meeting, with my Agenda Analysis and Meeting Analysis below. Here are the meeting documents for this meeting. A. Agenda Analysis 1. Meeting Time: Note this meeting is on June 3, 2024 at 6:30 and conflicts with the ICISD Board meeting at the same time. 2. Municipal Alleys, item 5: Municipalities under Texas law regulate the streets and alleys. If a property owner wants to run an underground pipeline across an alley, they must receive permission by the municipality. And, if a governmental body wishes to close an alley, it too must receive permission from the municipality. That's City Gym in a nutshell. ICISD never received proper approval from the City of Mertzon when it closed an alley to build the new gym with the 2019 bond funds. And, that failure is what makes the Tort Claims Act (see this page at A.4.a. ) relevant even today for the governmental employees and elected officials of both ICISD and the City of Mertzon. Government employees and elected officials cannot build off a foundational error of an improperly closed alley and a structure that floods a community and expect to enjoy the protection of governmental immunity, especially if they continue to take actions that flood the community with additional construction. It is a good sign that the City is regulating the alley in this agenda item. That is Texas law. The question is looming, however, about how the City and ICISD will interpret these same laws as ICISD moves forward with more construction with the 2024 bond funds. Political firestorms have unanticipated consequences. They create messes for the rest of us to clean up. B. Meeting Analysis (meeting documents here) 1. Crossing alley with water well line, item 5: The James' sought and received permission from the Council to cross an alley between their lots with a water well line. The significance for my purposes is as stated above - the City Council controls and regulates our city streets as well as alleys. The concept that municipalities regulate alleys is central to understanding my City Gym argument that the gym built with 2019 bond funds sits on top of an alley that was not properly closed. 2. Administrative Report, b. Other announcements: At the last page of the documents for this meeting you'll see the request to abandon a street and alley that runs through the Elkins' property. This was not a matter listed specifically on the agenda and so was not voted on. The consensus from Council Members Crutchfield and Councilman was that the Council had been advised by their attorney to not abandon streets or alleys because it would created a bad precedent. Indeed, Council Member Crutchfield attempted to re-write history by saying, "We were told by our attorney to never do it. Once we do it sets bad precedent. Never have before." Council Member Crutchfield, of course, was responsible for making the motion to abandon 4th Street for the new gym. 3. Items from the Council, b. Other announcements: In a fascinating exchange about how council members should respond to people complaining about W. Fleming being closed, Council Member Crutchfield made a jaw dropping reveal that it was ICISD Principal Jessica Parker who complained to him that the street should be re-opened. See B.4. on this page for more context. Principal Parker has been a longtime advocate for the new gym, the closure of 4th Street and the alley. (This guy!!!!!) She has never expressed publicly any concern about the flooding, though her father's business offices are in the direct path of the flood waters. (Supt. Gray even publicly exclaimed her support for the new gym during the pre-bond election public meetings in April 2019. ) So, ICISD was silent on the matter of the recent closure of W. Fleming because they wanted it open, floodwaters and debris on my property and those beneath me be damned. This position would be consistent with their view, as described to me by Supt. Moore, that 3rd street can be closed independently of W. Fleming Ave. There's a reason I can't let my advocacy stop...it would obviously be cheaper for ICISD if it could de-couple their request to close 3rd Street with the ongoing flooding of W. Fleming Ave. and its lower elevations. (Football field.) By the way, Mayor Stewart's recommendation to the Council members who hear complaints about the street being closed? Complainers should take it up with the ICISD. The problem started with them. 4. Decorum, please: During the discussion about how to respond to complainers Council Member Holland, apparently taking the opportunity to speak her mind since I was not present in the meeting, said that I should "grow up" and "get a life." Such words were unnecessary in a public meeting. Actually, I'm working on a pretty cool website these days, thank you. Best I can tell, no one else is doing what I am doing on this site. In my youth at ICISD, you bet, I was immature and needed to grow up. But, I was of course young then. As I've aged, I've learned that I especially enjoy owning my words and speaking my mind. I'm also more at ease than ever at allowing those around me to be responsible for their own discomfort with my presence. Aging has few benefits, and I'm going squeeze this one as long as I can speak and type! I've just charged up the battery to my RadRover 6 Plus fat tire ebike - with my own diy solar panels no less - and its time to celebrate the conclusion of this day with a bike ride around Mertzon! Here is a photo of this same Horse Crippler in full bloom last year. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

Read more about another Owl of Athena on the Commons building at the University of Texas at Austin campus. I walked underneath the UT and ICISD Athena owls for roughly 16 years total and never took the time until now to appreciate the symbolism. Athena was the Goddess of Wisdom, so symbolism of her on a school building is especially appropriate. Hopefully this owl, along with 2 other steles that I will cover in other posts, will be preserved for inspiration and placed on/in the new building. If you look around the ICISD campus today, you won’t find this kind of decorative architecture on any of the new buildings. (I am calling the owl a "stele" because it is a monument on the face of a building, but it you find a more accurate term please let me know.) Below is the agenda for this meeting, with my Agenda Analysis and my Meeting Analysis (pending) underneath that. A. Agenda Analysis: Date: Note the meeting is on June 3, about 2 weeks earlier in the calendar month than usual. Formal Action: I highlighted it in this agenda as part of my "how to read an agenda" series. "Formal Action" in a public meeting means that the members may actually vote on a matter, as opposed to merely discuss it. The "action" is the vote itself. I typically connect items like 8 and 10 together because the law prohibits formal action in a closed session, so the vote on anything discussed in closed must be voted on during a portion of the meeting that is open (the public is present). In reality, members will reach a consensus on a matter in closed session, without explicitly voting. I specifically stay to the end of public meetings of interest so that I can hear what specific matter is being acted upon that was discussed privately. (Thus my objection to a motion after closed session that uses the phrase "as presented" because such language acts as a second layer of darkness.) Administrative Reports: Supt. Moore's report is back on the agenda, but no principal or athletics reports. Again, such things may have no particular meaning beyond folks are on summer break, but one agenda reading tip I harp on is to read actively for how this agenda is different than the previous ones. Agendas are messages in advance to the community about the priorities of the governmental body. Don't assume they are static documents each month. Project Reimbursement, Item 5. My recollection is that at some point the District needs to initiate reimbursements for its front end expenses on the bond now that it has passed but the bonds have not issued. I will report back on this as I am not certain. (I don't know what "project" means on this item.) Personnel in closed session, item 8a. This item is an example of where reading an agenda for contrast with previous agendas can be a useful technique. It just says "personnel". In contrast, some recent agendas included terms like "terminations", "resignations", "new hires", "resignations", and "non renewals". The omission of these words from this agenda might mean all those actions are in the past. Is this significant to anyone? Well, if you are a teacher that survived the latest round of departures, it could be hugely significant. And, if you are a taxpayer like me wondering how the District is going to get back into the black on its next budget cycle, knowing whether there are ongoing staff departures before the budget season is relevant. Employee salaries make up the lions share (about 75%) of the District's Maintenance and Operations budget, so the the most effective way to manage the currently projected 24-25 deficit budget of $434,000 (see here at B6c) is to trim the staff. So, reading agendas for detail is helpful. Coincidentally, this week I submitted my latest Public Information Act request that, in part, addresses the comings and goings of staff. I'll report back on this in a future post. B. Meeting analysis (In draft) 1. Open vs. Closed: The Board spent roughly 17 minutes in open session (meaning that the public was permitted to be present) and just over 3 hours in closed (meaning the public was excluded). As mentioned below, the spend down of the 2024 bond funds started with this meeting, However, as a technical matter the Board under this agenda was limited to discussing "personnel" in the closed portion. 2. Administrative Reports, item 4: a. Budget/Finance: CFO Robert Helms did not attend this meeting. Supt. Moore referenced that his documents were in the board members' materials. There was some question about the expenditure of funds on an electrical problem, but the discussion was impossible to understand without access to Helms' documents. The opaqueness continued with the approval of the monthly checks and monthly revenue to expenditure reports in the consent agenda at item 6a. That is to say if you came to this meeting hoping to learn even the basics of what money is coming in and how its being spent you would leave dissatisfied. For all the accountability measures placed upon teachers by the Texas legislature, through the huge bureaucracy of TEA, what is sorely lacking is public accountability of school board members' approval of monthly finances. It is cloudy all the time in these parts, folks, and when one witnesses it month in and month out at every meeting it is hard to not come to the conclusion that it is by design. Bottom line: elected officials are not keen on making their funding decisions transparent, and so it goes with board members at ICISD. b. Superintendent Moore's Report : The District, she reported, is meeting with Region 15's tech department to do an inventory. There appears to be a significant transition taking place with the the technology infrastructure, but I'm unclear from her report what this means. (Technology expense is worth tracking because the costs are repetitive and schools can never be up to date.) She also reported the District is still interviewing and hiring, but is through posting jobs for the most part. (This might well be the signal at the moment that the District is managing its deficit, as mentioned in 5A above. There was no discussion at this point about the fiscal impact of the administrator/teacher/staff transitions taking place, but the budget season is near.) Finally, she reported that TEA's report card for the District is out, but they are still evaluating it internally so it was not discussed. I'm going to keep my powder dry for the moment. Keep in mind, however, my bias on state standards: a school board who does not actively question the results in a public school board meeting is going to be witness to mediocrity, year in and year out. Administrators and teachers need to hear the high expectations of school board members, and the public needs to know board members are engaged on the issue. Improvement cannot be achieved in an echo chamber, and sunlight in an open meeting is the antidote to mediocrity. 3. Resolution declaring intention to reimburse project expenditures, item 5: This was the meatiest portion of the meeting in that it represented the formal beginning of the spend down of the 2024 bonds. The resolution itself works as an advance of bond funds of sorts. The bonds, as reported by Supt. Moore, will not be sold until September 2024, and the funds will not be received until October 2024. Rather than wait until October, the District can expend available cash now from its own cash, then obtain a "reimbursement" in October once the funds come in. Because it takes up to 12 months for new buses to arrive, the District used this resolution to allow it to expend cash now on buses AND to build a new bus barn. Remember, City Gym, built with the 2019 bonds, left the District without a bus barn. (See a photo of the old barn here.) Doesn't make sense to buy brand new buses and not have a place to house them, right? The reimbursement resolution passed, so the District now has $2.5 million of the bond funds to spend. And so, here we question, right out of the starting block, the poor decisions made with the 2019 bond funds that are already haunting the 2024 bonds: what to do about the storm water runoff from the new impervious cover that will be created from the new bus barn? The Board didn't address this drainage issue in open session during this agenda item. But it is the elephant in the room...or put another way, the whale on the street. 4. Personnel and actions from closed sessions: Items 8a and 10, if personnel was all that was discussed, consumed over three hours, and nothing was voted on when the Board came back in open session. A 3 hour closed session for personnel is too long. Here is what 571.074 of the Texas Open Meetings Act says about closed sessions for personnel matters: Sec. 551.074. PERSONNEL MATTERS; CLOSED MEETING. (a) This chapter does not require a governmental body to conduct an open meeting: (1) to deliberate the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of a public officer or employee; or (2) to hear a complaint or charge against an officer or employee. (b) Subsection (a) does not apply if the officer or employee who is the subject of the deliberation or hearing requests a public hearing. A citizen willing to wait out an executive session to see if anything is voted on in open is likely never going to be able to know whether the law, and in particular 551.074, is being followed. As a lawyer who formerly counseled many state agencies during their closed sessions, however, I can safely say: without an independently minded lawyer present in the closed session the board will stray from the law. I've said that before, and the public should have no illusions about what happens behind closed doors. Board members in closed session do not self police, and executive staff in closed session are hesitant to tell their bosses that they are not following the law. 5. Other matters: I am currently reviewing the responses to my May Public Information Act request, and I might post some of that information here because some of it is budget related. I have not made that decision just yet; I just want to give my regular readers a heads up that more content is on the way. Copyright 2024 G Noelke