There's some history about the namesake worth knowing about. March 25, 2023 update: I posted my emails with Barnett described below on this post, Two March Anniversaries. Now in its third year, the “Billy Barnett Holiday Hoops Basketball Classic” is a basketball tournament sponsored by Irion County ISD every year between Christmas and New Years. The tournament was posthumously named for Billy Barnett, former coach and IC superintendent. Local sports fans apparently revered Barnett.  But, I did not know him in that way. I knew him as the first ICISD superintendent that I contacted to request that the school district do something about the flooding originating from the campus that was invading my property. That exchange started on April 21, 2016, as Barnett was completing the construction of the new tennis courts between 4th and 5th streets on Juanita Street. Those tennis courts were paid for through the District’s 2013 bond package. The gist of my emails with Barnett in 2016 boil down to this: the tennis courts were already constructed, and, according to the architect and engineer (who later I learned designed the courts so that the stormwater from the courts would empty onto the then newly paved Juanita street) there was nothing that could be done. I should take my flooding complaint to the City of Mertzon, he said. In other words, tough luck, fella, is how Barnett responded to me.  Get used to the District’s water. He even acknowledged that he knew the flooding was a problem, but accepted no responsibility for the 2013 bond funds being used to direct water into the City of Mertzon streets and flooding those streets and private property like mine. And, he also took no responsibility for the fact that the stormwater runoff from the tennis courts flood the football field further downstream, which was known even at that time. Barnett left the District as its superintendent  in 2018.  To be precise, he left in May 2018.  Importantly, as he was literally walking out the door, according to Board minutes he secured the Athletic Director position for Jacob Conner in April and May, 2018.  No doubt the loyalty Conner feels for Barnett originates in part from this 12th hour promotion. In Barnett’s place came Superintendent Brian Gray, who was named in May, 2018. Barnett died in late 2019. I’ve credited Superintendent Gray elsewhere as the person who brought his prior relationship with architect Jeff Potter to the table to build out the 2019 bond projects.  Potter borrowed from the stormwater distribution concepts approved during Barnett’s 2013 bond efforts.  Specifically, Potter designed stormwater output from the new gym to dump directly into Juanita and 4th streets, just as Barnett did with the stormwaters from the new tennis courts paid for with the 2013 bonds. So, Barnett’s impact on the flooding of our streets, private property and football field continues to this day and allowed Potter to do the same. This also means that three ICISD superintendents, Billy Barnett, Brian Gray and Ray DeSpain, all share in passing along these problems to their successor superintendents. Thus, without any meaningful public oversight, each superintendent’s bond package, along with its different architect and engineers, built upon the mistakes of the earlier one. Even the build out of the earlier built Estes Gym had design flaws that to this day allow the dumping of stormwater directly into the city street. All the while, the City of Mertzon accepts that stormwater without protest.  Indeed, depending on the mayor, the City even encourages and makes it possible for the District to dump stormwater into our streets. (Mayor Bill Taylor, and Mayor Lisa Hight before him, paved the way, pun intended, for the water to be directed into the streets.) The chickens have come home to roost though, as now both the District’s and City’s independent surveys in 2019 and 2023 confirm that all the stormwater runoff ends up at City Park and the District’s football stadium in the park. This is irrefutable. (And, the role Conner played to locate the gym where it is is also irrefutable.) So, both the City and the District are literally flooding themselves with stormwater runoff. Billy Barnett, though not entirely to blame, was one among many of our local leaders and public employees who looked the other way on the terrible flooding issues our community faces today. With all this in context, it perhaps makes more sense why in 2021, as construction of the new gym was in full swing, Athletic Director Jacob Conner recommended to the school board that the new gym be named in honor of Billy Barnett. Barnett gave Conner his job, which landed him a new gym. That recommendation failed, as evidenced by the fact the gym is not named after any individual, but known by the District as Hornet Gym. (I call it City Gym.) Today, there is no Billy Barnett Gym, but there is the “Billy Barnett Holiday Hoops Basketball Classic,”  so named by Athletic Director  Conner under the leadership of former superintendent Ray DeSpain and Board President Vicente Flores, Jr. as soon as the gym was available. This certainly leaves one to wonder why, according to Board minutes back on January 16, 2017, Mr. Flores was the sole vote against the extension of Billy Barnett’s superintendent contract for that year… Swish! The floodwaters from the new gym hit nothing but net…at least until it ends up at the football field. Then that basketball bounces crazily off the football goal post and the whole community, under water, loses. That’s probably not what Billy Barnett would want to be remembered for. Copyright 2023 G Noelke

This coral fossil I found last week near Cowboy Hill reminds us that the presence of water in this area predates history. Before the month of March ends, I want to recognize two anniversaries. First, Government in the Sun is now 1 year old. The site is truly a labor of love, garnering me not a cent of income, an occasional troll and a private "thank you" here and there when I am out and about in Mertzon. I launched with this post on March 21, 2023. Second, March 18 marks the 8 year mark of when I first notified my neighbor, Irion County ISD, that it was flooding my property. To mark the occasion, I am publishing below my first emails trying to get it stopped. I also referenced these emails in my post, A Different Take on Billy Barnett. Barnett and Brian Gray were previous superintendents at the school, and each spearheaded bond packages that worsened stormwater runoff from the District. "I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice." Theodore Parker, thought to be the inspiration for MLK's quote, "...the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." Thank you for visiting my site. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

If the Mertzon air has seemed particularly fragrant lately, it's because the native Agarita bush is in full bloom. We had a warm winter, and the bushes are unusually full of flowers this year. The berries, though difficult to harvest, make an excellent jelly . The most recent update was on March 20, 2024. Here was the agenda for the March 18, 2024 Board meeting with my agenda analysis and my meeting analysis. Agenda analysis: Be public about your appreciation of teachers. One reason to regularly read agendas is to spot the trends and learn the calendar. Each spring, for example, Texas school districts go through the process of renewing the contracts of their teachers, and tis the season at items 11b and 13 on this agenda. Something I recommend (and that I did when my own children were in school) is that parents attend this meeting in particular. Consider this: have prepared comments for the Open Forum which state your approval of your child's current teacher, your recommendation that their contract be renewed for the following school year AND that they receive a pay raise above any cost of living increase. Leave behind a copy of your comments with each board member, the superintendent and principal at the meeting. Then, immediately following the meeting, email a copy of your comments to your child's teacher and just tell them "thank you" and that you are in their corner. You do these few simple things and you will be absolutely amazed with the good will you generate and how that will positively impact your child's education. Particularly these days when our public education teachers are under attack from our Governor, public praise is exceedingly rare. (One reason I promote the use of open forums at public meetings is that I also see them as a positive tool for change, not a gripe session to tear down government.) Teachers need and want parental approval, and school board members, superintendents and principals gravitate toward positive interactions. This sort of approach makes its own gravy, if you know what I mean. Caution: I do not, do not, recommend using the public forum to recommend that a teacher not be rehired. I highlighted board policy BED relating to public comments in red above because I doubt that it is constitutionally robust enough to protect negative speech of this sort. Regretfully, I have personal experience of being called out of order by the previous leadership at Irion County ISD (Superintendent Ray DeSpain and board President Vicente Flores) for speaking critically in open forum on matters related to the 2019 bonds. I urge caution to anyone wishing to criticize anything during open forum. The law may well provide you with 1st Amendment and Texas Government Code 551.007 protections to speak critically of a teacher during contract renewal season, but how your speech might be misinterpreted on the fly without a lawyer in the room advising the school district is anyone's guess. (State agency board meetings have a lawyer present to immediately guide the the executive director and chair away from pitfalls, which is what I did professionally at the Texas Attorney General's Office. Texas school districts do have have such counsel available at board meetings, so at times their meetings are wildly unpredictable.) Budget Amendments on property and communications a. Property - item 8a calls for a budget amendment for a "property purchase". "What kind of property and where?" are my first two immediate questions. One can assume this is a real property property purchase, but if you are making assumptions then your next question as an advocate for open government is: Is this adequate notice under the Texas Open Meetings Act? For the moment, I'm going to take a pass on that question and leap to a guess: the District is about to purchase the old Lindley property immediately across the street from the new parking lot, the GMPL, at 5th and Fayette. Here is the listing for that property. If this is the property and if the 2024 bond election passes in May and if the District intends to develop this newly acquired property such that even more stormwater runs off onto 5th and Juanita streets and beyond, I will have much, much more to say about this purchase. In the meantime, some background reading on Takings by flooding (aka inverse condemnation) is this fascinating currently pending US Supreme Court case, Devillier v. Texas, in which the State of Texas' Texas Department of Transportation is making a questionable argument to get out of liability for flooding some farmers after some revisions to Highway 10 near Houston. Here is an interview of one of the attorneys representing the farmers in Devillier that nicely sets out the issues. More on Devillier later after the Court releases its opinion. For now, it is good background info for the proposition that, yes, taking property without just compensation can occur by flooding caused by government construction. This is consistent, by the way, with what Coach Sid McCown taught me in high school civics class at ICHS back in the day. One need not attend law school to be taught and understand basic constitutional law. b. Communications contract budget amendment. Item 8b is on the radar because these days communications contracts are likely part of school security, and thereby part of our legislature and governor's unfunded mandate that is a response to the Uvalde school shooting. Billions of dollars are being spent statewide on school security, so don't be mislead by the property breaks being given to property owners. We are all paying for protection from mass shooters at schools. This amendment may be as simple as renewing the service provider for the telephones, but I'm not going to miss the opportunity to alert folks that on agendas "communication" also means "security". Athletics Report. This is the first time since before Jacob Conner's departure that the Athletics Department has been on an agenda. This is an excellent time to ask: what does the public need to hear about in an Athletics Report? Since the Athletics Department received the lion's share of the 2019 bond funds, I think reporting on facilities and expenses is far more important in a report to the board than wins, losses and schedules. From my perspective of following the 2019 bonds from start to finish, the Athletic Department manages a lot of money in the dark. Board members at monthly board meetings don't need to hear about wins, losses and schedules because by and large they are attending the games or managing social media accounts covering such things. If the Board wants a more academically focused budget, then there needs to be sunlight on Athletic Department's budget, expenses and academic praise of student athletes during this report. The Athletic Director position should of course report on the finances of his/her department during this part of the meeting. Excellence in athletics is more than about wins and losses. Excellence is also about coaches acting first as public servants as teachers, while being good stewards of taxpayer dollars. Dress Code Revisions - Items 5&6 may deal with the new CROWN act, relating to banning race based hair discrimination. Here is the law passed last year, HB 567. Remember, there's always the local Board Policy Manual that has to be considered when changing the dress code for students. Here are the relevant sections: FNCA (Legal) and FNCA (Local). Neither appear to incorporate HB567, so perhaps the principle drafter of these codes, TASB, needs to consider a policy update. Here is a Tribune article on a school district already being sued over the Crown Act. Closed session on health insurance - see below at # 6. Meeting Analysis. I attended this meeting and was the only person from the community to stay from start to finish. Here is my analysis: How much? Probably the most troubling part of this meeting was that a dollar amount was not stated for any of the 3 budget amendments or for a total dollar amount. Generally, the amendments relate to the purchase of two vacant lots behind the former child care center (not the Lindley home I described above), finishing the elementary playground (a project started with 2019 bond funds but not finished because the contractor went bankrupt) and contracting for a new communications consultant. There's no reason for the Board and Supt. Moore to be discreet about these dollars. These are public funds, and failing to state the amounts only lends an appearance that there is some hidden financial exigency. The public ought to be able to hear how much (as in a specific dollar amount) of their tax dollars are being spent any time a vote is required on a budget matter. In addition, as I have argued in other posts, any budget amendment motion that includes the phrase "as presented" is too vague and does not provide sufficient notice to the public. (All that is required to remedy this situation is for the superintendent and board president to confer in advance of the meeting to craft proposed motions so that the president can guide the members on specific wording that will be needed for motions during the meeting. If anything, using "as presented" in a motion shows a lack of advanced planning by the president and superintendent.) Athletics no show. The department commanding the largest amount of our tax dollars, Athletics, did not have its interim AD present to give a presentation after all. The board is missing an opportunity to show that it values academics over athletics when there is no board meeting presence by this department. There needs to be standardized report each month by this department, regardless of the AD's whereabouts. Student athletes excelling in academics need to be added to the student recognition portion of the meeting so that community (and especially the other students present receiving recognition at the meeting) can readily see that academic excellence is especially valued by the Board. There remains a long road to recovery for the District to have not built any classrooms with that last injection of $18 million in 2019 bond funds. Those funds were largely spent on athletics, and with each passing month in Jacob Conner recovery the silence becomes more and more deafening. Government growth. One thing that came into focus during the meeting is that the business purchasing the lots (discussed in 1 above) happened in the background outside of ear shot and not in an open meeting. My understanding of the last meeting on February 14, which I did not attend, is that the only public meeting business conducted was the vote on the bond election. Necessarily, this means that the board's agreement to purchase the lots occurred since that time, without a public vote, and all that was left to do at this meeting was to move the money in the budget. This is troubling because the public had no notice that the District was even in the negotiating stages of purchasing land. It might not have mattered a whole lot as the Open Meetings Act allows for an executive session for real estate, But, the Board might have at least given the nod to the community that it was expanding its footprint. As I discussed above, the reason to be concerned is that the more impervious cover the District puts on its land holdings, the more our community floods. In my 2019 presentation to the District prior to that bond election, I urged the governmental stakeholders to meet and address how large the District could be and still maintain the park and football stadium without flooding. (There's mutual interest in City Park between the City of Mertzon, Irion County and Irion County ISD.) That never happened, and there appears to be no interest in it today. So, if you ever wonder years how the District's footprint got to be so large and how its environmental impact went unchecked, the purchase of these lots is a case to study. The government is growing, even under conservative leadership, and no one is noticing. Communications contract. The District approved a contract to hire a communications consultant. I generally think this is a good idea. As I've said before, the Board appears to me to be tone deaf on issues related to relations with its neighbors and those who are not tied into the District with school age children or staff. The District also has a long history of being athletics, not academics, focused. (The District's college signing day last year was limited to the coaches' kids playing ball at Sul Ross.) And, if the bond passes, there will be a lot of issues to message. I hope to be learning more about this new contract. Teacher contracts and pay raises. The District's annual budget is $21-$22 million, and according to CFO Robert Helms 80% of that is made up of salaries. The largest part of those salaries are teachers, and all of that budget money got committed last evening without as much as a whisper of community engagement or concern. The apathy is painful to watch, frankly, and nary a one of the board members took a position. The meeting ended after executive session with President Carlile requesting a motion to "approve the contracts as discussed and presented in executive session". The motion was made by board member Rey and seconded by board member Rainey, and it passed unanimously without discussion or even an utterance that these were teacher contracts. Not a single teacher was named. It was all done in the darkness of executive session. Troubling. Insurance. "I am shocked by Region 15's promotion of a hair brained scheme to entice not only this school district but other school districts in this area to leave TRS Care," is what State Representative Drew Darby said when he visited the District back on February 23 when he was asking for votes. In fact, last year Supt. DeSpain and the Board opted for the TRS Care alternative plan with the understanding at the time (I recall the board meeting when this was done) that it would be cheaper. Apparently the plan either wasn't a legitimate plan or there is some insurance fraud, because the plan has entirely failed. The consequence has been that the District has essentially become a self-insurer for its employees health care expenses. According to Helms, the total owed to Shannon by Spring Break for healthcare to ICISD employees was $302,00. He negotiated that down to $120,000, meaning that for the moment a budget amendment would not necessary. This rivals the snafu last year over the blown 313 income projections, folks. Dress code revisions. An enlightened discussion was held with the Board and a number of students from the SSAC. The students, in coordination with Supt. Moore, accomplished a number of revisions to the student dress code. Supt. Moore and the students had a great rapport with one another, and the students' presentations were well thought out and reasoned. I've never seen this board so engaged. It was refreshing to see. That said, the Crown Act that I mentioned at #4 above did not come up in any discussion. Here is the difficult truth: the entire county was comprised of only 1.8% African American in the 2022 census. The white population comprised an astounding 94.2% of the total in that census. All of the students present at this meeting were white. They likely had no basis to consider the cultural significance of hair as it relates to the dress code. 2024 Bond election. Crickets. No news to report. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

The irrigation gate near the dam at Harkey's Crossing on Spring Creek is being rebuilt. My ancestors, the Lackey's, were among those who initially dug this irrigation ditch that still feeds the farms from this point through Sherwood. Here is the agenda for the March 18, 2024 City Council meeting, with my agenda analysis and meeting analysis below. Agenda analysis: Time. The meeting is at 6:30 and conflicts with the ICISD board meeting that starts at 6:00 on the same day. Digger Derrick. The jury is still out on whether this purchase has a gremlin that just won't go away. I've avoided criticizing whether the ongoing expense of this purchase is necessary because I'm just enough of a tool nut to know that the biggest part of any municipality's maintenance and operations department is going to be to have the right tools around. For myself, though, I avoid mechanized augers and post hole diggers at all cost. The closest near death experience I ever had as a child on the ranch was when the auger on the back of the tractor swung wide coming out of the hole and caught the jeans on the back side of my knee, narrowly missing those tendons behind the knee. Amazingly, I was left with only a small scratch on the back of my knee. The cowboy running the tractor, Elton Howard, nearly fainted on the spot. When we got back to Mertzon that day my father had me quickly throw away the jeans (there was a gaping hole behind my knee) before my mother saw them and, well, you know. There were also all those post hole diggers and crowbars I used when we built fence during the summers that left an impression on me. So, one of my life goals as an adult has been to at most keep only 1 shovel and 1 gardening trowel around as my sole digging tools, while avoiding the purchasing of augers, post hole diggers and crowbars. I've generally been successful at this goal, even with my current wildlife management duties on the ranch. So, more power to the City for their efforts at hole digging efficiency, but it might be in the long run that they learn that owning less is more. Meeting Analysis: Pending Copyright 2024 G Noelke

This is the old Scout House on 202 just north of the Sherwood Courthouse. I spent a lot of time here as a kid here looking for something and never quite finding it. The home my Great Great Grandfather Ferdnand Noelke built sits nearby a few blocks away and is still in use today. Here are the agendas for the March 4 and February 15 meetings, with my agenda analysis and meeting analysis below. I did not attend the Feb 15 meeting, so that part of this page is still pending. Agenda Analysis March 4, 2024 meeting: The meat of this agenda is at items 5 and 6 relating to the cancellation of the May 4 election. See my meeting analysis below for more on this. February 15, 2024 meeting: Agenda item 5, Order of General Election, is a required part of the May 4 council member election. The remainder of the agenda is a stock City of Mertzon agenda. Meeting Analysis March 4, 2024 meeting Here are the meeting documents for this meeting. In addition, here is my analysis: Election efficiency with a bite. On rare occasion our democratic system serves up efficiency, and this meeting is an example. But, this efficiency comes with a bite. At items 5 and 6, the Council made quick work of dispensing with an entire election for 3 city council positions. Can they do that?! Well, yes, if no one opposes the current positions up for election and the the incumbents timely file for re-election. See Texas Election Code 2.051-.053 that allows for this. It only makes sense, doesn't it, that if candidates don't draw an opponent that there need not be an election. Elections are expensive, and they should not be held when there is no contest. Here comes the bite, though. In a small community like Mertzon where there is voter apathy, no public attendance at city council meetings and no news organization covering local politics (the 4th estate), elections that are lawfully waived allow the incumbents to serve without any real accountability. They can also serve as long as they wish since there are no term limits and the cost of re-election is $0. In this instance, Council Members Jayton Lindley, Danny Crutchfield and Randy Councilman all got a lawful pass on a re-election campaign and will serve another term without the requirement of a single vote being cast in their favor on election day two months away. The bite is this: it was Council Members Crutchfield and Lindley who voted to close 4th Street for City Gym during their current terms in office. (Indeed, Council Member Crutchfield made the motion.) And, on the very same election day that they get to skate, May 4, 2024, there will be a $55 million dollar school bond election. In that election, if Irion County ISD does what it has already expressed its intent to do, funds are necessarily going to be dedicated to flood diversion to correct the massive flooding problems caused by the very City Gym supported by Council Members Crutchfield and Lindley. So they, like the others I've covered in this blog (most recently Athletic Director Jacob Conner) get to avoid accountability for their involvement with City Gym. (Note: Council Member Randy Councilman was not on the council at the time the vote to close 4th Street was taken.) One goal of Government in the Sun is to create public accountability where there was none before. In this city council meeting, a seemingly efficient Election Code works to the favor of local government that still has yet to come to grips with community wide flooding. Indeed, that flooding is largely aggravated by the affirmative actions of both the School Board and the City Council and a passive county government, Irion County. The Election Code, even if lawfully used here, is yet one more part of the narrative of how our community allowed government to flood itself without accountability. We often hear that the remedy for complaints with our elected officials is our right to vote. (Please, by the way, vote today in the primary election.) Sometimes, however, we don't always get that right. In this case, then, our First Amendment rights and open government laws become essential in creating public accountability and correcting the errant behavior of elected officials who aren't challenged on election day. Folks, if you sit on the sidelines in this experiment in democracy, your local government may, literally, flood your property and think nothing of it, just as it thinks nothing of flooding itself when it unlawfully closes a street and an alley for a new gym. The cost of water. Page 9 of the meeting documents points out an accounts payable to Abel Water System for $4,579. This expense was to repair a City owned water well. The repair bumped the production of the well up to 32 gallons per minute. The overall impact will be less reliance on the City's private wells owned by Loye Tankersley and Rodney Robertson. The City spent a combined $2,818.75 for those wells last month alone. As previously stated, the City needs to continue its search for its own water sources and rely less and less on private water. (See my meeting analysis # 4 on this page.) Independent water production should be a goal for the City. Speed on the Hill. As reported in this meeting, the top speed logged by the new radar sign was 51 mph. That is in the 25 mph zone on the west side of Bank Hill (Main and 2nd Street.) C'mon now, it is dangerous enough out there already. You can't be serious to top out at 51 coming over Bank Hill. If anything, Chief Bill Taylor at the Irion County Volunteer Fire Department (at Main and 1st Street) ought to up in arms over the danger. The new Fire Department facility is extremely vulnerable to speeders traveling East on Main since their drive way is on Main and blind from view going east. February 15, 2024 meeting analysis: Here are the meeting documents for this meeting. Further analysis pending. Copyright 2024 G. Noelke

"Be good to your neighbor" is a message I regularly ask of my neighbor up the hill who so readily spends my tax dollars, and I do my best to exchange the sentiment, especially on the big issues where we agree. Updates: This page was initially posted on the morning following the election, March 6, 2024. The latest update was on March 8 and can be found here. The AP has called the winner, Drew Darby, an unapologetic anti voucher incumbent, in the local state House of Representatives election. The contest was really over a single issue - school vouchers that are being sought by the financial backers of Governor Greg Abbott. Here is the position I took opposing vouchers leading up to the election. Government in the Sun is interested in the issue of open and transparent government, not political endorsements. That said, I am relieved that Darby won the contest. I differ with him, however, on a myriad of issues raised during the primary that were clearly conservative dog whistles intended to get out the vote. It was undoubtedly a nasty campaign. It's not over until the fat lady sings, as they say, and on the issue of school vouchers I'm afraid that lady is nowhere in sight. Darby himself made the point when he was here in Mertzon that the issue of school vouchers dates back to 1957 when certain members of the state legislature were trying to get around the desegregation required by Brown v. Board of Education, only to be stopped by a filibuster by Henry B. Gonzalez. Racism is undoubtedly a hidden motivating factor for those supporting vouchers, and it needs to be called out as unacceptable at every opportunity. I address some of Mertzon's racist past on the bottom of this post. Finally, back to my "be good to your neighbor" message. Flooding a neighbor from the campus of a public school with stormwater runoff is no less of an existential crisis for that neighbor's private residence than school vouchers are to that public school. Both flooding and vouchers relate to existence - existence of one's home, existence of a public governmentally supported education. Flooding destroys homes, and vouchers destroy public education. Local government, particularly rural public schools, can never be sure where their most ardent supporters are going to reside, so the best policy for them is, yes, be good to their neighbor. Their neighbor just might be principled enough to look past the politics and the billions of taxpayer dollars in play and do the right thing. They might do the right thing just because they believe in public education for their community. That's a good neighbor to have. And that's also a constituent that Rep. Darby needs to remember. Updates: March 8, 2024. Here's a Texas Tribune article on the statewide turnout for the March 5, 2024 primary election. And, here is also a Tribune article about TEA this week placing the largest statewide charter school, IDEA Public Schools, under conservatorship. (My point: when tax dollars leave public education the funds are susceptible to waste and misuse. A more efficient way to improve public education is to merely engage the community in meaningful oversight of its public schools.) March 7, 2024. In Irion County only, according to the Texas Secretary of States Office, of the 393 total votes cast in the Darby v. Stormy Bradley District 72 race, Darby received 237 votes and Bradley received 156 votes. (60.31% to Darby and 39.69% to Bradley.) Contrast these numbers to the school choice proposition on the ballot and it is clear there was some voter confusion. That proposition read, "PROPOSITION 11: TEXAS PARENTS AND GUARDIANS SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO SELECT SCHOOLS, WHETHER PUBLIC OR PRIVATE, FOR THEIR CHILDREN, AND THE FUNDING SHOULD FOLLOW THE STUDENT." This proposition in Irion County received 387 votes total, and of those 254 votes (65.63%) were in favor and 133 votes (34.37%) were against. Thus, voters voted in quite a large percentage (65.63%) in favor of school choice in the proposition, but also voted in quite a large percentage (60.31%) in favor of the candidate, Darby, who was not favoring school choice. Overall for Irion County for the Democrat and Republican primaries combined, the turnout was 32.84% or 401 total votes cast out of the total 1,221 registered voters. Copyright 2024 G. Noelke

Early voting ends on Friday. Election Day is March 5, 2024. Before our state Representative incumbent candidate who opposes school vouchers even knew the name of his primary opponent, I had taken a position. Indeed, during all those special legislative sessions where Gov. Abbott was holding teacher pay hostage, I had taken a position: It is Wrong to Treat Teacher Pay This Way It was wrong for the Governor to have even attempted public school vouchers for his financial backers by holding teacher pay hostage during the sessions. And, it's no less wrong now for the Governor, and his financial backers, to be spending untold millions on opposition primary candidates to go against those legislators who refused to support him on vouchers during the legislative sessions. Vouchers divert public tax dollars into private interests. And, there will certainly be less oversight of those dollars once they are privatized. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

Based on these Live Oaks and the ones nearby, I suspect that the District in the 40's and 50's took out the Live Oaks that were on what is now the play field behind these trees. Thus, we are likely nearing a century long practice by the District of altering the natural environment by reducing green space and creating impervious structures - on a limestone hill top. February 16, 2024 update: At it's February 14 meeting the Board approved a bond call for a total of $55 million for a May 2024 vote. It will be broken down as follows: $53 million for new construction and renovations, $1 million for technology and $1 million for teacher housing. Last week and the week before I attended the two community committee meetings sponsored by ICISD on whether to call a 2024 school bond and, if so, for how much. My take away is that a bond proposal of just north of $50 million will be proposed to the school board at its February meeting. If you'll take the time to understand this photo below of a slide authored by the prospective bond seller, Live Oak, you will be halfway to understanding why another bond is being proposed so closely on the heels of the 2019 bonds: Put simply, the 2023 Texas Legislature passed laws that were signed by Governor Gregg Abbott and those laws make a school bond more affordable. Another way of saying it is that some of the savings from those legislative changes will be clawed back to a point that taxpayers still won't see an increase from last year's rate. The other half of this equation is that school taxes dedicated to paying for those bonds, I&S or Interest and Sinking, are funds that stay in the District and are not recaptured by the State of Texas. More on this later. For the moment, I am going to keep my powder dry on whether this bond is going to be a continuation of the 2019 school bond debacle that gave rise to Government in the Sun. One astute teacher at the meetings observed that I was the only person in the room that didn't have a direct connection to the school. (Meaning, correctly, that I was not dependent on the school.) He cautioned all present to not fall prey to their own echo chamber. See also the concept of confirmation bias. Smart thinking. The District and all those who stand to profit from these probable 2024 bonds can hopefully see now, more so than in 2019, to be careful for what you wish for. Capital improvements necessarily should bring public scrutiny concerning whether the essential purposes of the school - to create opportunity and community - are being accomplished. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

This is my photo of a Parkhill slide during a recent ICISD community meeting showing where runoff should be according to the topo map. The red and green arrows show that the water flows to City Park and, specifically, to the county owned roping arena and community center barn. The three government stakeholders in every flood, therefore, are Irion County ISD, the City of Mertzon, and Irion County. Whether or not your residence is being flooded, one question you should ask is: What are these government stakeholders doing as stewards of your tax dollars to protect City Park? Here is the agenda for the February 5, 2024 meeting, with my agenda analysis under that and my meeting analysis under that. Agenda Analysis: Item 6, Frontier: This hopefully about the installation of Frontier's new fiber optic cable. Mertzon is sorely missing fast internet speeds, and Frontier has long rumored to be installing a fiber optic cable. Item 5, street closure for a party: You might not think about it unless you are a regular reader of this blog, but in Texas the streets are the domain of the city. So, whether to party on them or to use them as part of your construction or business, you do so only with approval of the City. And, squatters can't take adverse possession of a street, no matter how long they stay. Who is going to clean up the pop cans in the street after the party is over what I want to know... What's not on the agenda: Mayor Stewart and Councilman Councilman attended both and Councilman Crutchfield attended one of the ICISD pre-bond committee meetings that I also attended last month. It would have been appropriate for specific time on this agenda to have an update on the potential bond. Mayor Stewart asked a number of well placed questions at the meetings addressing his concerns regarding flooding. While a bond update may be covered at 11 b, Other announcements, everything related to a possible $50+ million bond should receive its own agenda item because of significant size. (The 2019 bond was the largest bond ever for the District, and it clocked in at $18 million.) If a bond is called by the school board this month (on the 19th, I believe), the impact upon the City is going to be significant. Post Meeting Analysis and Meeting Documents: Documents: Here are the meeting documents for this meeting. Council members Holland and Crutchfield did not attend this meeting. ICISD 2024 Bonds: Mayor Stewart provided an update on his and Councilman Councilman's attendance at the two ICISD bond meetings referenced in #3 above. Both agreed that initially the folks at Parkhill did not take the drainage issue seriously, but by the second meeting the Mayor's message that there would be no street closures without money in the bond attached to drainage issues was understood by both the District and Parkhill. An essential component of the not yet approved $50 million bond call is the closure of a portion of 3rd Street to accommodate the new construction. This update left me with the impression that the City understands well that it is in the driver's seat when it comes to new bond construction drainage. To put an even finer point on this topic, my impression is also that Parkhill itself understands the stakes here. If the Board approves the bond call election at its Feb 19 meeting AND if the electorate approves the bonds (two BIG ifs at this point in time), my impression of the Parkhill representatives I spoke with at the same two ICISD meetings is that they well know themselves that they are already obligated by law to address drainage issues. They have hydrologists on staff, and their statements to me individually and to the committee at large make it clear they, on behalf of the District, already know that they could not legally flood the community were they to win the bid. The "takings" law and litigation finding that government cannot flood property without just compensation is well established law. Moreover, as a business, unlike apparently Potter Architects and WBK Construction who built out the 2019 bonds, they want no part of the practice of government flooding itself with runoff from the District's new bond construction. (Water from the ICISD campus floods City Park, Irion County facilities at that park, and the football field, leased by the City to ICISD.) For more on why Parkhill's thinking might be more aligned with Mayor Stewart than even he realizes, note that I specifically mentioned a specific law to the Parkhill's representative after the second meeting: Chapter 2007 of the Texas Government Code. His response caused me to think he understood that law and that old carpenter's idiom, "measure twice, cut once". See specifically the requirements for a Takings Impact Assessment at 2007.043 of the Texas Government Code. There is no ruling in Texas that school districts are exempt when they undertake bond construction. Indeed, TEA even abides by the law before it passes any regulation impacting school districts. It's the law, and ICISD needs to budget the expense of complying with it into its bond expenses on the front end. Internet Fiber: On agenda item 6, Frontier's presentation made this no longer a rumor: Frontier is bringing internet fiber to Mertzon! It will start in April 2024 and full implementation will be by June, 2024. Watch for door hangars with more information. Now, here's the rub: the City of Mertzon is leaving $ on the table. As pointed out by the Frontier VP doing the talking, Frontier did not have to pay the City any permitting fees. What?! This means that City staff is working for Frontier for free to help design and implement a local utility, with world wide impact, and Frontier, who gets all the revenue for the utility, doesn't have to pay a nickel on the front end for the enjoyment of installing the utilities on City right of ways. And, what about a long term use fee? None. (Contrast this with The University of Texas System, for example, which is requiring the Matterhorn Pipeline to pay easement expenses every ten years for the enjoyment of crossing University lands in Crockett County.) The City is leaving money on the table by not having a fee ordinance in place for the use of its right of ways. This brand of libertarianism by the City is wasteful! The same criticism can be lodged for the City failing to have ordinances in place to collect fees for its troubles when a school bond passes. Construction company wants to store supplies along a City right of way? Pay a fee! They want to close a street during construction? Pay a fee! They want water and sewer turned off or rerouted? Pay a fee! Some might say "double taxation", but I say that it is called reimbursement by fee for legitimate costs. Nothing wrong with that. There's no reason for the City to have been rubbing nickels together for the last 114 years when these big dollar construction firms and telecommunications mega corps come to town intending to profit. Indeed, the Frontier VP openly said their company is making the move into Mertzon to stay competitive. So, why should local government help them for free when local government has legitimate expenses to account for? If I find or am told about a specific prohibition in Texas law preventing such fees, I will report back. Water, Water, Water: As reported by City Manager Michelle Rabenaldt, a private landowner has approached the City regarding the sale of his water well to the City. Details of the potential sale at this meeting were, of course, scarce. Tests are being performed on the well to see if it is within the guidelines for radionuclides. This is on the heels of my posting just last month that the City should start looking more aggressively for its own sources of water and rely less on private wells. Apparently, there are grant funds already available that would offset the expenses of a city owned well. More water would also mean the City could satisfy TCEQ requirements and allow for more water meters. This past month the City owes Rodney Robertson $1,855.00 and Loye Tankersley $991.25 for the purchase of water from their wells. See page 4 of this month's documents. I am glad the City is looking at this critical issue. Spring Cleanup: The Council approved the date of April 6. Listen folks, this is a great opportunity to help clean up trash. Please participate. MOU with the IC Sheriff's Office: Apparently there are behind the scenes talks among the Mayor, Sheriff Estes and Judge Criner regarding revamping an unused and forgotten MOU between the City and the Sheriff's office for assistance in enforcement of City ordinances. I was unaware that such an MOU even existed, so I will be exploring this more. Our local government is going to receive continued attention on these pages for failure to coordinate and cooperate. There's no better time than during this potential 2024 bond season for me to point out that back in 2019 I urged government stakeholders to get together and coordinate on flooding issues to protect our community. Nothing happened. Prior to Supt. Moore's arrival, I even spoke to our County Commissioners and asked them to take the lead on flooding issues. And, since Supt. Moore has arrived I have asked Judge Criner to engage on flooding issues. The coordination and cooperation among local government is lacking on more than flooding issues. The problems among the Sheriff's office and the City are longstanding, troublesome and, frankly, wrongheaded. Citizens need help from local government, and sometimes it is essential that turf battles be dismissed for the greater good. Bailouts of immigrants: I am loathe to read Facebook, but that is where Irion County News resides. The Mayor caught some grief on Facebook recently when he announced there that some immigrants had bailed out in Mertzon. There was a discussion at this meeting regarding whether the City could use its phone notification system in the future for such announcements, and it appears that method of notification might be used next time. In addition, read Judge Criner's "Greetings from the Courthouse" posted in the February Irion County Newsletter (published offline by the 48 Study Club) and included in the meeting documents by the City at page 3. It is informative and does a good job of explaining why communication is so difficult when these situations arise. Street Closure: At agenda item # 5, Mr. Abel Molina received the Council's approval to close a part of E. Fleming Ave. in May. The date and location are not posted by me to prevent, well, you know... Yet another reason to attend public meetings is to learn ahead of time where the street tacos are being served. I went to church with an older generation of Molinas, so I am quite sure Mr. Molina knows how to cook! He invited everyone, but I don't think he really meant it. Copyright 2024 G. Noelke

Feb 2024 Update: This photo above has had two updates, and you can read them here. Each address potential remedies if you are experiencing flooding caused by the government and your property has been taken from you. Here is the agenda for the January 16, 2024 meeting of the Mertzon City Council, with my agenda analysis below and my meeting analysis below that. Agenda analysis: Probably the most important part of this meeting, if it happens, will be item 8, the daily operations. Mertzon is under a severe weather storm alert, with temps forecasted to about 10 degrees on the day of this meeting. This temp puts the City into emergency mode, as it not only has to deal with its own infrastructure but the possibility of city wide electricity black outs. Note the joint election agreement topic at item 5 announces a May 4, 2024. ICISD has not formally announced its bond, but for all practical purposes you can assume there will be a school bond election on that date. Note the first appearance of Jayton Lindley as Mayor Pro Tem signing this agenda. The Lindley's have been ranching in these parts for over a 100 years, and I recollect that his grandfather and my father served on the ICISD school board together back in the 1970's. Meeting analysis: First time available: Here are the Council's meeting documents that were attached to the agenda above. The first page are the minutes from the previous meeting of January 2, 2024, and were approved at this council meeting. Closing of Third Street as requested by ICISD: According to those approved minutes, here is the current status: "Councilman Councilman made a motion to table the decision of closing Third Street between Fayette and Juanita streets. The council has decided to wait on a decision until they see if the school bond is passed by the voters and the school meets certain stipulations in the plans to deal with ongoing issues of flooding and parking issues. Councilman Holland seconded. All in favor. Motion passed." So, procedurally, when a motion is tabled it will have to put back on the agenda in order to be considered again. You can be sure that I will be watching for this matter to reappear, and in the meantime I hope both the City and the District will coordinate with me and other citizens and taxpayers impacted by the 2019 bonds. I applaud the Council's leadership in their efforts to begin addressing flooding originating from the District's campus. But wait: The District's 2024 bond proposals are taking shape, and some of the earliest proposals being considered clearly would drain more stormwater into the streets. So, the jury is still out on how President Carlile and Superintendent Moore will lead the Board on flooding issues. What is their comfort level with flooding the District's football stadium using new bond money? Water use. After going through the bad 2021 winter storm in Mertzon, I was anticipating a doom and gloom City Daily Operations update at item 8. So far, so good in 2024. We haven't lost electricity and the City's operations appears to have operated without any interruptions. There is, however, the looming issue of the availability of underground water. Overnight (Jan 15 - 16) the City used about 120,000 gallons of water, probably due to the low temp (14 degrees) and our citizens dripping their faucets. (Normal night time usage varies, but might range from 50-90,000 gallons a night. It has trended higher lately.) This caused private well # 1 (owned by Loye Tankersly) to start "sucking air", meaning the water table had dropped low enough that the pump was drawing air. City Operations throttled it down so that it was pumping only 10 gallons a minute. Citizens might be surprised how our community is tempting fate with our water usage. Were the City's wells to fail then our house hold pipes would freeze and burst. Constant access to water is critical even in the winter months. The cost of water. One reason for publishing the meeting documents is to start addressing the costs we are paying for water. Look on page 2 of 3 of the Statement of Revenue and Expenditures for the Water and Sewer Fund and note Water Well Usage expense. The City draws from several sources, including two private wells, Tankersly and Robertson, that are budgeted at $27,500 annually. That's too much, and now that at least one of those wells is sucking air (and also running constantly) during a critical weather event, the City should start looking for more water. In the long run it is going to be less expensive and more secure to own and operate its own water wells. (I say "more secure" here because we should be considering water a strategic natural resource, much like oil and natural gas.) The radar sign has been received and will be put out soon. The Council discussed where to locate it and how often to rotate it to new locations. Watch for it on a hill near you soon. *Clarification: There is an administrative rule that is supposed to force school districts who are in a municipality where there are building ordinances to adopt ordinances of a nearby municipality for new construction. While TEA appears to not enforce it, I believe the failure to follow this rule creates exposure for government officials and their agents. Refer to 19 TAC 61.1036(f)(2)(A). The import here is that the school will not be able to point to any code permitting the wholesale dump of stormwater into city streets because no city will ever allow such a thing. More to the point, the City of San Angelo does not allow it, and it is thereby impossible for ICISD to rely on any code that authorizes dumping of runoff into a city street. **Even more clarification: Of course, one can bring an unconstitutional "Takings" claim, along with other legal claims, as well. There is a lot of taking by flooding litigation out there that favors landowners. There is even a current case that made it to the US Supreme Court involving the State of Texas, Devillier v. Texas. The law is well settled that the sovereign cannot take your property by flooding you without just compensation. Copyright 2024 G. Noelke

In keeping with the ending in this post, I considered what image could possibly represent the surreal nature of being in a community that for so long has revered athletics over academics, yet would knowingly spend ~$10 million on a new gym that floods its football stadium where it just spent ~$4 million on upgrades. Bing's new AI image generator, DALL E 3, created this image for me. I think it qualifies as a representation for how truly bizarre all this is. Conner oversaw the entire bond project, start to finish, that built City Gym and the football field upgrades. Updates: This page is being updated. Go here for more. The most recent update was on January 27, 2024. I have asked Superintendent Moore whether Jacob Conner has left the position of Athletic Director at Irion County ISD. Her response was, "Due to an ongoing investigation, I cannot comment. Jacob Conner will not be coaching/teaching at Irion County ISD this spring semester." Conner is still listed on the school website as the AD, so I won't speculate as to his official legal status. (He is under contract.) Coach John Morrow was listed as the interim AD on the Booster Club agenda for its January 3, 2024 meeting, which I attended, and he was present in that capacity. I have also seen that he was listed as interim on the the Booster Club agenda for its December 6, 2023 meeting, thus perhaps explaining the cryptic comments made by the school's Counselor at the December Board meeting. For more on Conner, search for "Conner" in the search bar at the top of the page. Updates: 1. On January 26, 2024 I received a copy of the "Voluntary Separation Agreement and Release of Claims" between Jacob Conner and ICISD pursuant to my public information act request. I am currently reviewing that document, and I am waiting on other documents that I have requested. I have not made a determination at this time whether to post any of the documents on this site. Also, the ICISD website has removed his name from its website. The separation agreement, however, makes his resignation effective June 30, 2024. 2. January 7, 2024. Conner during his tenure also oversaw the downsizing of the football program from 11 man to 6 man football. This necessitated a complete downsizing of the football field. It has long been my contention that there never was a clamoring for a third basketball gym by our community. Rather, the first order of business by the Athletic Department back then was to resize the football field, and that is what initiated the call for the 2019 bonds. The need for a third basketball gym (for this 1A school that was smaller than when I left it 40+ years earlier when it had only 1 gym!) was entirely manufactured internally by ICISD administrators. In recognition of this football first approach, I recently added some recommended listening to my Pick of the Month, Football's Young Victims, that addresses what is known now about CTE and young athletes. Our priorities are in the wrong place. And remember, not a single classroom was built with any of the 2019 bond funds. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

Here is the agenda for the January 15, 2024 board meeting with my agenda analysis below that and my meeting analysis below that (pending - the meeting analysis is incomplete and being posted in stages): Agenda analysis: Follow the money. The annual audit at item 6, Mr. Helms' report at 8c, and monthly checks at 10b are good focus points, especially in view of a possible May bond election (items 7 and 9). One question is: will the check register will be updated here again? Taxpayers deserve the right to see up to date financials. If you would like to compare last year's audit with this one that will be discussed at this meeting, here is last year's audit. (Like the District's 5 year lapse of posting its check register, note that it has had a similar 4 year lapse with posting its audits.) Now that it is January, we ought to be getting some more detailed information about the potential May bond election, suggested at item 7. That election will also include board member elections, unless the candidates don't draw an opponent. Four board member terms are up in 2024 - Maegin Carlile, Ricky Rey, DJ Rainey, and Chad Koonce. About 3 weeks ago the District began advertising a leadership academy for potential board members, apparently as an effort to demystify the position. In most communities these races are competitive, so in my opinion this kind of transparency about what a board member actually does is welcome. (Another way potential board members can learn about the role is...come to board meetings regularly! And, don't just come during the election season!) Superintendent Moore is addressing the Texas Academic Performance Report, TAPR, at item 8d. Here is a pdf of the District's results for 2022-23. You can search for the District at this TEA page. TEA makes this disclaimer on its TAPR Glossary page: "Currently, the TAPR does not include scale scores, A–F ratings, Distinction Designations, or Special Education Determination Status. The initial release does not include the Campus or District 2023 Accountability Reports. The issuance of the A–F ratings under 2023 rule is pending and subject to change." Well, actually, that A-F rating system is under litigation. Here is the trial court order on this site that is being appealed, and here is the page on the 3d Court of Appeals in Austin for the appeal. (See TEA's response in its Appellant's Brief filed on December 20 on that page.) The parties are still in the briefing stage, so there is quite a while yet before there is a final resolution. And, even then it seems likely this will go to the Texas Supreme Court, so a resolution is a long way off. TEA should be more transparent about the lack of the A-F ratings with these TAPR scores. In any event, if you are concerned (as I am) about the District's longstanding historical over attention to athletics - and the physical destruction from flooding and waste of taxpayer dollars that come with it - you will want to know Superintendent Moore's take on the TAPR results. In more Moore news, her evaluation, though only a few months into her job, is a closed session topic at item 12 a. Her contract is also a topic, and some action is planned in open session at 14b. My recollection is that superintendent contract reviews come in Dec/Jan, so there isn't necessarily something of import here. But, all superintendent reviews should be highlighted. I'm uncomfortable with the notice of merely "personnel" in 12(c) as a proper disclosure under the Open Meetings Act. See 12.074 for the law on this. Reasonable minds can differ, but I think the better approach for personnel matters especially is to explicitly state that the purpose is to consider 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. For example, the community should not be guessing about the Board's consideration of Athletic Director Conner's position, especially considering his high administrative level. The District has for years had the practice of cloaking its employment actions, and it should shine more sunlight in this area. Meeting analysis: 2024 bond. The Board spent over an hour in a Zoom meeting with John Blackburn with Live Oak Public Finance (who was also engaged in the 2019 bond package) and two representatives of Parkhill Architects, Jeff Reed and Allan Wolf. The discussion was dizzying with a discussion of the range of the bond package, tax impact to property owners and a discussion of how the money might be used. a. The discussed range is $33 to $41 million. (The 2019 bon was for $18 million.) b. Purpose. The purpose of the bond is for a variety of things. I am going to keep my powder dry regarding the matters that I heard that were being discussed. In truth, it is all very fluid, and this is all before the community representatives and stakeholders have had a chance to look under the hood. Audit. Mr. McKee gave a good audit report, and the best way to evaluate the audit will be to wait until the audit itself is posted on the District's website. I will refer to it when it is posted. Of particular note: a. He confirmed my analysis, and that of CFO Helms, that it in 2022-23 Moak Casey was off its estimate on the wind farm revenue over $800,000, as I stated on this page. And, he stated, consistent with what I learned from Superintendent Moore, no one knows why the figure was off...and Moak Casey wasn't saying. b. The District has roughly $10 million in its fund balance, which it has partially restricted so as to not appear as having too much money in savings. c. The mineral tax base has ballooned from $1.1 billion in 2022 to $2.3 billion in 2023. Part of the juggling going on with the affordability of the 2024 bonds is just this - that $2.3 billion is not realistic in 2024. Academic Performance (TAPR). Superintendent Moore gave a summary of her handout summary to the board. In other words, there is some summarizing going on because there is nothing to celebrate over. If there are any retired teachers out there who would like to help me evaluate this TAPR report, I would be most welcome. Superintendent Moore's contract extension. She received an extension in her contract from July 2024 to July 2029, a pay raise from $115,000 to $125,000 and a fixed increase of 3% each year. Here is what I said two months ago about her pay, so this is welcome news. These bonds deals are controversial at best, and this sort of statement of confidence from her and the Board is promising. Copyright 2024 G Noelke