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Agenda Analysis  | Meeting Review  | Meeting Documents | Commentary  | Last Meeting The Oak trees at the IC ISD OK Wolfenbarger field highlighted in yellow are at issue in this agenda. The highlighted roof is the new storage extension to the fieldhouse. The field and track are also new. Imagine it as a grass field about 20 yard further east (to the right) and closely bordered with a caliche track. That was the footprint until about 1979. The trees highlighted on the left up to then were where the discus and shot put rings were located. The City is involved in this issue because it owns the land and leases the property to IC ISD. A. Agenda Analysis Executive session, item 5: This is the third meeting for this particular executive session. It might be a "placeholder", as was the case during the last meeting. Memorandum of Understanding with the Texas Division of Emergency Management, item 6: As covered before, an "MOU" is typically an unenforceable agreement between two governmental entities. Here is the link for the Texas Division of Emergency Management . Professional arborist hire and input, item 7 : This is either about acorns or low limbs, or both. I know from attending IC ISD board meetings that the acorns from the overhanging Oaks are threatening to damage the new track around the field. The Board recently approved some blower equipment to blow the acorns away. There would have to be huge cuts made to the trees to completely eliminate the problem. (But, I assume that, without citizen involvement , trees will be removed. That said, both Supt. Moore and Mayor Stewart have a history of tree friendly approaches, so excessive pruning or tree removal is not likely being considered here.) I also recollect that some of the limbs are getting too low over the track, so this may also be a pruning to raise the canopy. Coincidentally, the District hired Hellas Construction for $1.03 million for the new field and track. You can do a search for "Hellas" in the search bar for more; I have taken issue with some of their work. Recent discussions at Board meetings suggest that, while Hellas was great to work with with the field construction, the track construction has been a problem. The rest, items 8-10: These are standards for all Council meetings. B. Meeting Review Pending We had a surprise visitor on Cowboy Hill on Christmas Eve. I hope all of you had a great holiday season. (I uploaded one of my game camera photos here to Google’s Gemini app and merely asked it to put a Rudolf like nose on this deer. It is frightening how easy it is to distort reality with AI.) C. Commentary How to Tell What is Real Online by Neil deGrasse Tyson is worthwhile watching on YouTube. Pending Copyright 2025 G. Noelke

Agenda Analysis  | Meeting Review  | Meeting Documents  | Commentary  | Last Meeting The south end of the new IC ISD transportation facility as of December 10. The City's alley is immediately to the right of this facility and borders the IC ISD tennis courts, shown here by the light poles. A. Agenda Analysis Executive session, item 5: This is the same item posted last meeting - real estate, litigation and personnel. It's clearly significant, especially now that it has been repeated twice. Note that, unlike IC ISD agendas, there is no posted item for "actions items from closed session". In theory , since there is no voting in executive session and there isn't some form of the language "action items from closed session", then this is a "no action" executive session. In practice , however, "voting" in executive sessions can happen without the traditional voice or hand vote. Mere "discussion" during an executive session can resolve a whole lot in private. I treat every executive session as if significant matters are being resolved regardless of whether a traditional vote is taking place. Ordinances, repeal and replace, items 6 and 7 . Go here for the City's ordinance bank. Not all are online. Chapter 14 deals with Municipal Court, and nothing is online. Nothing can be said about the content of 14.05.04. My interest is high because of the City's last meeting . As to 15.02, it relates to game rooms under the offenses and nuisances chapter . The only game room in town shut down a few years back, best I can tell. Training helps: From discussion over several meetings I have gathered that one reason we are seeing these agenda items on updating ordinances is that City Administrative Assistant Nate Padilla attended some TML training on ordinances recently. Hopefully this continues; the updating is sorely needed. And, this is difficult work - it takes attention to detail just to read ordinances, but to learn to read them critically is above and beyond. So, here's to Nate for his diligent efforts! Thank you. The north bay of the new facility. Keep in mind that, well before this time in the construction, the design team knows how much stormwater runoff will occur from the impervious cover at this site. It's a math formula that depends on the porosity of the surface. The general rule of f thumb is that .60 of a gallon of water per 1 square foot of impermeable surface runs off with every 1 inch of rainfall. That’s a significant amount of water. B. Meeting Review Pending. I attended the meeting, but I’m tending to other matters at the moment. Here are the meeting documents for this meeting. Ordinance 14.05.04 repeal and replace, item 6 : Ordinance 14.05.04 wasn't online, but now it is - go to the meeting documents at page 4. It dealt with the disposal of excess property owned by the City, a subject of some controversy some 9 years ago when a brouhaha arose from alleged theft by a former City employee of City property . See this article as well. The new ordinance approved by the Council is 1.06, also in the meeting notes at page 2. I haven't done a side by side comparison between new and old, but the discussion during the meeting indicated the reason was to beef up who had authority to assess what was and wasn't excess property. The new law at Section 4 now provides that more than just the Operations Manager has authority. Now it must come from no less than 4 authorized officials: operations manager, city administrator, mayor, mayor pro tem or one city council member. Why the change? Read on... Repeal of Ordinance 15.02 with new Ordinance 10.01, item 7 : This is a great example of how to read an agenda and still get it wrong ! Ordinance 15.02 as posted on the City's site, as described above, in fact links to the game room ordinance. But, the ordinance repealed on its face is a) unnumbered and b) deals with the City's drought contingency plan . See pages 6 and 7 of the meeting documents. The stated reason during the meeting for the repeal was that the drought contingency plan was re-adopted as a resolution in 2022, and that resolution was intended to replace the ordinance related to the drought contingency plan at page 7 of the meeting documents. As I have addressed before, a "resolution" does not have the force of law that an ordinance does. The resolution cannot be enforced as a law against citizens. The 2022 resolution was not provided in the meeting notes, but I requested it and here is a copy . The civil penalty once provided by the ordinance (up to $2,000 a day, as provided by the Texas Local Gov't Code at 54.001) is no more . Even though the penalty is mentioned in the resolution (see Section X on page 14 of the resolution), a court would most likely toss out that charge since it is not in a properly passed ordinance . See my Commentary here at C for the last meeting to read how I took exactly the opposite position - that, above all, our drinking water was essential and should be regulated by the City. Let me emphasize: regulated by ordinance. Executive session, item 5 : There wasn't an executive session. The topics for executive session this week were identical to the last meeting . As mentioned above, mere "discussion" during an executive session can resolve a whole lot in private. I remember a day when you could see Javelinas within the city limits of Mertzon. You don’t see them around these days. My game camera took this photo recently. C. Commentary I've written a couple paragraphs of commentary for this meeting, but the holiday spirit won over and I've tossed them in the trash bin. I hope everyone is having/has had a wonderful holiday season. Don't forget about the Kickapoo Indian ceremony at City Park on January 8. Copyright 2025 G. Noelke

Agenda Analysis  | Meeting Review  | Meeting Documents | Commentary  | Last Meeting The trench for the west wall of the flood control project at 4th and W. Fleming in Mertzon, as of November 29, 2025. A. Agenda Analysis Financial integrity, item 5: State law requires that all school districts must meet certain standards for financial reporting. See here at the TEA website for this year's rankings . Note that when one digs deeper to find individual district performance that the TEA website doesn't allow for a search for a specific district. Pages and pages would have to be individually searched to locate "Irion County ISD" . Expect the district to pass and even attain the "Superior" rating. Supt. Moore has a degree in business if I recall correctly, and her financial officer, Ms. Lakey, seems to be doing well on the school board meeting side of things. Overall, some 98% of districts pass . I don't put a lot of stock in the rating. As I pointed out last year here at 1 e , none of this has anything to do with managing and reporting on bond funds . So, the Board under previous leadership went unscathed for having a six figure bond deficit with the 2019 bonds, and as I recently wrote here at C 3 , the Board never made public its audit of the construction manager. So, bringing this forward, if you toss in the 2024 bond funds with the 2024-25 revenue into one pot, roughly 60-70% of the funds are not evaluated as part of the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas. The Texas Legislature needs to get back to addressing public school bond finance reform. It started to study the issue during an interim charge in 2022, but they were diverted by the Uvalde school shooting. Billions of state tax dollars are being transferred to companies like Parkhill and Gallgher , without any meaningful oversight of their effectiveness or the real need for the capital improvements. Pending construction projects, item 6 : This is the stock placeholder language to allow the Board to take up bond project spending. I don't know what is up next, but with the flood control structure under construction, in time the City and District are going to come to an agreement on how to use the alley joining 5th and 4th streets. The water from the new transportation facility is planned to go down that alley. The rest, items 7-12: These are standard items, which I've covered ad nauseum in many other posts. But, their repeated place on the agenda should not detract from their importance. I will cover them below in Meeting Review if anything rises to the top. The trench for the north wall of the structure, looking west. This is the wall that will do most of the work, and it hopefully will return W. Fleming Ave. to Mertzon citizens. The street shown here is currently closed to traffic by the City because of safety issues from flooding. B. Meeting Review Financial Integrity, item 5: Sure enough, yep, the District received an A, Superior. The larger picture is that the folks handling the money are honest. That's worth knowing and not taking for granted. Construction, item 6 : No new business here. Admin Reports, item 7: a. Hellas and the new track: The District is ramping up their efforts to get Hellas to correct problems with the new track around the new field. (Do a word search for Hellas in the search box above to get the larger Hellas coverage.) Apparently there are a number of issues with the proper install of the track, not the field, that have yet to be corrected and the District is quite disappointed...to the level of with holding final payment kind of disappointed. Apparently the Hellas sub who put in the track still hasn't gotten it right... b. Still no lost treasure or time capsule : A covered sheet of metal and large hole underneath was discovered by the construction team...and turned out to be...an abandoned...septic. The systems in Mertzon through the 70's until the City waste water plant was installed were just that... a hole in the ground covered by sheet metal. Folks just simply knew never, ever walk on that metal. Best keep this under wraps...TCEQ probably has regulations for re-fill of old systems. I mean, its 2025 after all. c. Enough already : Supt. Moore reported on the bathroom legislation part of SB 8. Look, if the Texas Legislature has the time and inclination to regulate bathroom and gender issues, they are missing the point. How about letting Superintendents, principals and teachers manage the bathrooms and leave it there? (When you attend these meetings as I do without a child in the district, it is more readily transparent that the legislature and state leadership are running this train off the tracks. I've argued elsewhere that they are doing it intentionally, and I think that is the case here. This is overkill.) Short meeting, etc: The meeting went under 50 minutes. There was no executive session. Mrs. Hill and Mr. Douglas were absent. January 8: The elementary will be attending the recognition of the 161th anniversary of the Dove Creek battle with the Kickapoo Indians. I'm on the history committee of 4 or 5 folks lead by Joyce Gray on this project. This is going to be worthwhile, folks. More later. The trench of the east wall of the project. If you know where to look on the grassy knoll beneath that window, you can see the rocks for the roof drains for the building shown. That stormwater will also flow into this structure. Thus, the District has by design used this entire area as a back door drain for decades, without ever taking any responsibility for the runoff. Until now. It is time. C. Commentary In keeping with my earlier commentaries on hunting, using an e-bike to hunt is a thing . See this month’s Parks and Wildlife article by Pamela LeBlanc, Texas Hunters Are Hopping on E-bikes to Stalk Deer, Turkeys and More . I spoke to Pam on background when she first started researching this topic, so I am glad to see it in final form. As an aside, one reason to bike daily after, say age 55, is that it works the balance muscle in the brain. My equilibrium seems to be better with regular movement. Being immobile as we age is not helpful. Let's not kill all the lawyers. In fact, let's hire them back. Here's an article about the Dept. of Education recalling fired attorneys amid civil rights complaint backlog . I'm so embarrassed for our educational system that we aren’t protecting the civil rights of young people. This was foreseeable and preventable. A bay of the new transportation facility takes shape the day of this meeting. Stormwater displaced from this site will gather inside the walls of the structure being built in the pictures above. Copyright 2025 G. Noelke

Agenda Analysis  | Meeting Review  | Meeting Documents | Commentary  | Last Meeting The trenching on the IC ISD campus for the flood control structure started in earnest the week of Thanksgiving. Mertzon City Council Agenda A. Agenda Analysis Executive session, item 5: This is a meaty one with 3 specific legal reasons listed. Yes, it is lawful for a governmental body to go into a closed session to discuss real estate, to speak to their attorney about pending litigation and to discuss personnel matters. The public may eventually hear what these matters concern, or the issues may be dealt with at the closed part without a vote. They can't vote on a matter in closed session. I am careful not to make guesses about what closed sessions cover; I am not interested in being a rumor mill. Zoning ordinance discussion with attorney Jeff Betty, item 6: One way for elected folks to get cover for something new is to get their attorney to speak during the meeting to say, "Yep, you can do this" or "No, you shouldn't do this." I served in this role regularly when I represented state agencies on behalf of the Texas Attorney General's Office. Here's some inside baseball: The attorney client relationship here is quite like that of the attorney client relationship involving a private citizen. The governmental body, like a private citizen, is never compelled to accept the advice of the attorney. The client in both situations can disregard the advice of the attorney. The difference, of course, is that a lawyer providing advice to a governmental body, as in this case, does so publicly. This increases the stakes dramatically. Zoning ordinance, item 7: I'm suspending judgment until the meeting... The rest, items 8 - 10: These are stock agenda items and should not be disregarded. Stormwater coming down the alley from the new transportation building (not pictured on the right) is planned to meet up with the water coming down 4th Street, according to the engineering plans I’ve reviewed. B. Meeting Review Zoning ordinance, item 6: Based on advice of their counsel, Jeff Betty, the Council agreed to send a proposed zoning ordinance that I drafted back to the drawing board to be reconsidered as a "resolution". This is complicated enough to deserve several subparts. a. Did you know that any citizen can propose to their City Council that they adopt a specific ordinance? Yes, you can. They don't have to adopt it, as was the case here. b. My proposal was very specific, and it in essence created an obligation to provide documents to the City so that the City staff could conduct a desk audit . Any time a person or government applied for a local, state or federal permit involving water or land development or construction, they would have by required by the ordinance to provide a copy of that application to the City. c. Mr. Betty did not recommend adoption of the ordinance because it could not be enforced. Of course, I wrote it so that it so that it did not have an enforcement provision because the City does not currently have a municipal judge, enforcement officer or any desire from the Council to do enforcement. (Had I put in a provision that said, for example, failure to produce the application would be a $50 fine, Mr. Betty could have also said the City can't enforce it!) Mr. Betty instead recommended that the ordinance be converted to a "resolution" so that it wouldn't have an enforcement problem. That's what the Council ultimately asked him to do. But, what's the use now? A resolution will be ignored even more readily that an ordinance because a resolution doesn't care the weight of a law. Who cares at this point? d. Well, I care, and I'll explain below in my commentar y why the Citizens of Mertzon should, too. Other matters: The Council did accomplish some other matters at this meeting, but because of my personal investment in the proposed ordinance I am limiting my meeting review - and Commentary - to that issue. Another view of the planned flow of the storm water. C. Commentary More on ordinance enforcement, item 6: a. Knowledge is power, and knowledge about where one's next drink of water is going to come from is one of the most forgotten about survival decisions we make on a daily basis. We will get our next drink from the tap in the kitchen, right? Who in today's world thinks about that as power? Well, we should because it is the essential reason for living in a municipality. Collectively, it is easiest (in theory) when our community manages our water source. The municipality provides the water and relieves its citizens of carrying water on their backs. The simple fact of municipal water supply gives citizens the time to earn a living, raise a family, bathe, and expend what leisure time we have, among many other things. b. Water, potable water, is the future of Mertzon. The growth of the City is being managed by certain determinations of TCEQ, which importantly have no transparent enforcement mechanisms for challenge by citizens, that limit the number of water meters the City can allocate. Private water well development, however, is regulated by the Irion County Water Conservation District (IC WCD). And, the over development of private water wells means that the water table will fall and the wells used by the City to provide water to its citizens - and IC ISD - will also dry up and fail. To date, the City of Mertzon and the IC WCD operate independently of one another and share no information about water management. c. My proposed ordinance required, among other things, persons who were regulated by the IC WCD to provide documentation about that permit to the City. The ordinance would have required a simple desk audit of the documentation. The purpose of the desk audit was to provide the City with more information about how water was being used privately within the city limits so that it could potentially prospectively manage water for its citizens. d. And, based on a legal abstraction put forth by the City's lawyer that the ordinance would not be enforceable, the Council punted the idea to an early death by sending it to their attorney to be redrafted as a resolution and considered at another meeting. e. A Libertarian-like approach to water management by a municipality is a mistake, especially in Texas. Were Mr. Betty a property owner in the City I would like to think he would be much more concerned about the ramifications of dispensing with an ordinance that addresses water development because of enforcement issues. Taken to its logical end, the cynically minded could just as easily justify the repeal of each and every one of the City's municipal ordinances because they, too, are unenforceable. (The City has a history now of repealing its unenforceable ordinances. See B 3 of this meeting where I discuss the Council's repeal of speed limits and stop signs .) f. This longstanding refusal to regulate water by the City is an unforced error, and a serious one. I said as much back in 2019 when I encouraged the City, IC ISD and the County to collaborate on stormwater development because of the run off coming off IC ISD was so damaging to the community. Had our local government back then considered with foresight what more water runoff would mean, perhaps today we wouldn't be dealing with spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on flood control structures to protect our city streets, City Park and private property. (Mr. Betty, btw, was also counsel to the City back in 2019 as well, so he is professionally familiar with the problems our community faces with water regulation.) g. Under no circumstances can Texas municipalities ignore water. Above ground, without regulation, it becomes the great equalizer and destroys everything in its path. Below ground, without regulation, the potential for its disappearance because of scarcity means the municipality fails in one of its essential services to its citizens. The future in Mertzon is all about water. Another reason why I write this blog: While researching an unrelated legal matter last week, I came upon, again, the Preamble to the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct . These rules continue to regulate me even as I write these pages as a citizen lawyer, even without a particular client. It is refreshing to think that I am complying with a particular provision in the Preamble because of my legal training (and moral upbringing), yet without any real conscientious effort on my part. (I enjoyed writing the proposed ordinance for the City, though it took me about six hours of time. I was not paid for my effort, of course.) Here is the Preamble provision I am thinking of: 5. As a public citizen, a lawyer should seek improvement of the law, the administration of justice and the quality of service rendered by the legal profession. As a member of a learned profession, a lawyer should cultivate knowledge of the law beyond its use for clients, employ that knowledge in reform of the law and work to strengthen legal education. A lawyer should be mindful of deficiencies in the administration of justice and of the fact that the poor, and sometimes persons who are not poor, cannot afford adequate legal assistance, and should therefore devote professional time and civic influence in their behalf. A lawyer should aid the legal profession in pursuing these objectives and should help the bar regulate itself in the public interest. Go to the Texas Center for Legal Ethics for more on the professional responsibilities of lawyers. Here’s a great podcast listen, Eating What You Kill This Thanksgiving , a NYT interview of Steven Rinella. My contribution to my family’s Thanksgiving meal was this 6 point buck, taken with my crossbow at 20 yards. Rinella writes, “To abhor hunting is to hate the place from which you came, which is akin to hating yourself in some distant, abstract way.” I think “hate” might be too strong a word. Maybe “deny” is more accurate. One way or another, every living human today has an ancestor who was good at hunting as recently as 100-200 years ago. One denies that ancestral heritage and relationship to wildlife if one rejects hunting and hunters. Copyright 2025 G. Noelke

Agenda Analysis  | Meeting Review  | Meeting Documents | Commentary  | Last Meeting This part of the IC ISD campus - all the impervious cover you see here - did not start to be developed until 1976, some 65 years after the school was founded. Because there are no local development regulations, there’s also no community ethos for protecting the environment and property, public and private, from unregulated growth of the brick and mortar parts of IC ISD. A. Agenda Analysis Bond projects, item 5: This item is written consistent with the District's standard "place holder" language in case something needs to be approved. Grant/academic data update and review, item 6: The District is headlong into getting qualified for the Teacher Incentive Allotment dollars. This appears to be an update. Sonora MOU, item 7 : The District has an MOU with Sonora ISD for special education services. One issue that came up last meeting was the transportation costs for those students. My interests are many, but these days I point it out here because Washington has gutted the Department of Education offices that oversee the protection of civil rights for these students. Don't forget that all are entitled to a free appropriate public education, even children with disabilities , as provided by federal law, even when our elected leaders wished such wasn't true. Administrative reports, item 8: Leadership reports here, always worthwhile. TASB 124, 125, 126 plus bereavement and retirement pay out, item 11 : TASB policy changes...ugh, again. One governing purpose of a school board is for the the board itself to implement policy and to guide the superintendent on policy execution. This method of policy implementation where the policy rules come down from TASB waters down board membership into a cold weak broth. I'll do a PIA request after the meeting to hopefully figure out what is being changed. The remainder, items 13 - 17: These are standard items for this meeting, though don't let their routine nature get in the way of their importance. First, a consent agenda is a time saving device that minimizes board discussion, so the public is excluded from hearing about sometimes essential matters. Second, of course, closed sessions are private, so the public likewise is excluded from hearing about essential matters. Both items are lawful, though. Aerial of the campus about 2 weeks before this meeting. The old elementary and gym are now gone. B. Meeting Review Approval of pending construction projects, item 5 : The Board unanimously approved the recommended bid (by ABA) to construct the flood detention projects at 4th and Fleming and over the hill at 2nd and Juanita. Here is the ABA bid document that was approved by the Board . I have seen an early plan for those projects produced pursuant to one of my PIA requests a few months back. (Yes, such plans are open records, and I regularly ask for them.) I believe that there has updated plans, however. What changed and vaulted these projects to the front burner? Apparently the City put the brakes on the District’s request to connect to utilities for the new cafeteria until the District showed some commitment to flood diversion. (Refer to this MOU between the City and the District .) After a bit of awkward discussion about the City’s resistance, Board Member Ashley Hill thankfully said the quiet part out loud: They (the City) are concerned that we (the District) won’t keep our word. There remains a lot of distrust between the City and the District. (I hear that distrust at both meetings.) The bad blood from the construction of City Gym with the 2019 bonds no doubt still lingers. In any event, the District is moving forward toward a solution. At last, there’s reason to believe that these almost 10 years of advocacy haven’t been wasted! See my commentary below on a bit more on the bad blood between the City and the District. Sonora MOU, item 7 : It is very rare to come across a contented Special Ed student and parent , but a part of this item was just that. It takes a village, especially for those who are the most vulnerable, and sometimes the village has success stories. So, notwithstanding my own cynicism that public education will fail because the Office of Civil Rights at the Dept. of Education has been dismantled, sometimes good people are doing good things. And they do it not out of the fear of regulatory penalties but because they just want to do right and do good . We are a better community when we generously encourage diversity in all its forms, including those in special education. Retention stipend, item 9 : This is in effect a holiday bonus, once a year. The Board did a good job debating the pros and cons of it considering the staff of received a raise in September. They reached a fair compromise and had a thoughtful discussion. Policy updates, item 11 ; This is a massive update and is too much to cover here. Supt. Moore did get me some info before the meeting, and I do appreciate that. With the old elementary and gym gone, the only building present when I started school is the 1909 building in the upper left. The home I am trying to protect from the stormwater runoff from all this impervious cover was built in 1910 by a local rancher, John Sheen. C. Commentary Sometimes I cross post my commentary when it relates to both IC ISD and City issues. In case you missed it, see my post here at C 1 about how both knowingly failed to follow the law when they closed the street and alley for the new gym. I continue to beat this drum, regretfully, because even as of the last special board meeting, the Board failed to approve any bids for its flood detention projects. (All that is publicly known before this meeting was the Gallagher representative at that meeting said he didn't like the bids.) The localized flooding is largely a self inflicted wound, and perhaps a reminder is needed here and there of that. Yes, it is going to be expensive. (Read Commentary 2 and 3 together.) In a related note, after the presentation by Gallagher at the last Board meeting ( here at C 3 ) I walked outside with their superintendent to point out that large piles of caliche were in a location to migrate to my property in a flood. Whether or not my efforts made a difference, I'll never know. But, here's thanks to Gallagher (and their sub) for installing a sediment fence near my property to prevent that. It's not a total solution, but I'll take whatever I can get at this point. This approach has been far better for all involved than a complaint to TCEQ, no doubt about it. ( Migrating sediment can be a violation of a SWPPP, a document required by federal law. ) Lest you think I am over reacting see pages 17-23 of this EPA manual about best practices concerning sediment control and erosion at construction sites. Nothing I've been asking for is outside of a best management practice. The installation of a sediment fence at IC ISD. Using a new law for more effective advocacy: Government at all levels is prone to be reactive to citizens, rather than proactive with citizens. (See my post on The Grand Mistake .) One way I use the Public Information Act for advocacy is to probe areas in advance of a pending mistake, so hopefully I can get some documentation - or response - that incentivizes proactive thinking. For example, frustrated with Gallagher's response on the piles of waste caliche that is certain to migrate onto my property, I asked for the following from Supt. Moore in a PIA request: Copies of all documents evidencing Gallagher’s efforts to stop  the  stormwater wash of waste construction caliche onto 4th street between Juanita and Fleming. Now, this is exactly the type of request in the past the District and its lawyers would have simply not responded to. There would have been crickets, in part because silence is a legally neutral non answer . But now, effective September 2025, there is a new state law that requires a response to a PIA request if there are no documents. Silence is no longer a "response". See Texas Gov't Code 552.221(f) . And, in fact, Supt. Moore, to her credit, complied with this law by responding to my request above with "no documentation". So, here's the update on the caliche: The caliche piles were removed last week the same day the sediment fence was installed. Of course, I'll never know the motivations of Gallagher and their sub for removing the caliche. I am merely attempting, with the aid of 552.221, to get the District and its agents to think ahead before they make another Grand Mistake. Had the Board and its previous superintendent been more proactive with the 2019 bond funds before they spent them, our community would not today be dealing with correcting the flooding issues they knowingly created. I don’t know the exact number, but previous Supt. DeSpain was a master cricket farmer given his prolific use of silence as a “response” to my monthly PIA requests during those years of his tenure. He could not do that today because of 552.221. For example, he could not have remained silent, as he did, when I requested a copy of the board approved audit of WBK Construction, the construction manager for the 2019 bonds. That audit never saw the light of day… More on the bad blood between the City and IC ISD: There was some confusion during the discussion to approve the bid for flood control projects about why there was tension between the District and the City. The Gallagher rep mentioned he thought that perhaps the District had reneged on flood control structures at the time the new gym was built, but he fairly stated that was before his time. Board Member Koonce replied there were no projects, and I believe he is correct. The Board never intended to address flooding from District property. Rather, I think the dispute arises from former Supt. Ray DeSpain representing to the City Council in a public meeting that the District would redirect the down spouts of the new gym so that its storm water would not flow down the 4th Street basin but instead down Fayette street. In fact, the District did not do that, and today the water from the roof of that gym is a significant contributor to the flooding of the property. Indeed, as I wrote back in August of 2023, in a bad storm the architect, Jeff Potter, estimated that 1,574.7 gallons of storm water per minute would be repelled by the gym roof. So, the City has every reason to be distrustful because ALL of that water must enter a City street, and the District used none of the 2019 funds for stormwater diversion even as it knew that it was creating more impermeable structures on its campus. Even more on the bad blood between the City and the District : The bad relations between these two hasn't always been. Indeed, I detailed here the lack of community engagement for the 2019 bond package . And, here are the minutes from the board meeting for the bond call of the 2019 bonds . One thing that is not readily transparent is that many of these folks making the big decisions with the 2019 bond funds are related to one another , and their relations included executive level/administrator roles at the District and the City, as well as a private donor and major employer. So, going into the 2019 bond construction it was quite easy for leadership at the District and City to get along and run the board to build exactly the gym these families wanted. As William Faulkner wrote, "The past is never dead. It is not even past." The legacy of these families thus continue to visit us today each time it rains , even though they no longer frequent the board room or City Hall. Full disclosure : I carry some Tankersley blood, as many of us do in the community. My Great Grandmother Mamie Emerick was a Tankersley, and her Grandmother was Annie Tankersley , whom we would all be lucky to have in our family line. But, this honor allowed me no favors. Loye Tankersley publicly lobbied to close 4th Street for the new gym . Upon information and belief, he did so at the request of a former school board member. I don’t agree with him on the side he fought for, but that disagreement is transcended by my admiration of his courage. Our family story includes that he had 13 horses killed underneath him in the Civil War. And he survived them all. Veteran’s Day was this week, and my Great Great Grandfather is buried at the Mertzon Cemetery. Copyright 2025 G. Noelke

Agenda Analysis  | Meeting Review  | Meeting Documents  | Commentary  | Last Meeting This is an aerial of the foundation construction at the new transportation facility at IC ISD in September. Any property owner can put up a similar facility without answering to the City of Mertzon because there are no zoning laws in place. It’s a great place for Libertarians to live, but not so much for those who have a neighbor with unlimited funds to build, raze and rebuild. A. Agenda Analysis Zoning ordinance consideration, item 5: The City is considering a zoning ordinance. There are no zoning laws currently in place. Stay tuned for the meeting review on this subject. The rest of the agenda is the standard fare. B. Meeting Review Meeting documents here . Zoning ordinance, item 5: This item was tabled until the next meeting. Items from the Council, other announcements, item 8: Mayor Stewart gave a brief update about the goings on with IC ISD, and it was as I reported here at B1 in my Meeting Review for the last IC ISD Board meeting. In short, the District was ready to dig across the street that is the object of the exchange to the District for the District installing the flood control structures set forth in this MOU . Mayor Stewart said, no, build those flood projects first. And so, between the IC ISD special meeting on October 27 and their regular meeting on November 12, a bow was tied on the ABA bid for the flood projects . Keep in mind, these projects are voter approved. It is not as if I am the sole citizen in the community expecting their completion. OK Wolfenbarger Field C. Commentary William Faulkner wrote, "The past is never dead. It is not even past." As the bad blood between the City and IC ISD gets relived over and over again, it’s worth reflecting on how the past continues to impact us. Some know that my father, MB Noelke Jr., was on the IC ISD school board that fired IC ISD teacher/football coach OK Wolfenbarger back in the 70’s. This is one and the same OK Wolfenbarger that the IC ISD football field is named for. I attended his termination hearing as a student, and the hearing later made up a part of my desire to go to law school. Few people know, however, that his widow, former IC ISD teacher and school board member Stella Wolfenbarger, was instrumental in getting the local library posthumously named for my father upon his death in 2012. Mrs. Wolfenbarger, of course, was also my 4th grade teacher, and she too is now deceased. So, indeed, this past is not dead. It is not even past. It is the present. All of the bad blood…and good blood…from the past is with us in the present. A Road Runner near the IC ISD campus recently posed for me just long enough to get this photo. Copyright 2025 G. Noelke

Agenda Analysis  | Meeting Review  | Meeting Documents  | Commentary  | Last Meeting REMEMBER TO VOTE ON NOVEMBER 4 A contractor for the new cafeteria at IC ISD, overseen by Gallagher Construction, continues to add caliche in the City’s right of way on 4th Street known to flood. A. Agenda Analysis Ordinance 1.05, item 5: This appears to be “new business” for the Council. I’ll report more after the meeting. Today we think of the word “ordinance” as municipal made law. The Oxford English Dictionary, however, claims the first evidence of its use was in The Statutes of the Realm , laws of the English Parliament, before 1325. Everything else: The remainder of the agenda is the Council’s stock agenda. Aerial of the caliche piles, circled in red. The top center and right is where the old elementary and gym once stood. Bids for the new construction at that location were approved by the IC ISD board on October 27, 2025. B. Meeting Review Here are the meeting documents . Ordinance 1.05, item 5: This ordinance was approved by the Council. It's significance is that it modernizes the City's previous ordinances about how an ordinance becomes law. As required by the Local Government Code at 52.011 , also page 5 of the meeting documents, ordinances that impose a financial penalty, fine or forfeiture have to be published in a local newspaper for a period of days. What happens in the situation where the Council approves an ordinance that doesn't relate to a penalty, fine or forfeiture? Section 52.011 is silent about that, and that is interpreted to mean that the Council can pass an ordinance with a simple majority vote and it can become law without publication in a newspaper. An example of an ordinance that arguably doesn't have to be published is one where the City closes a street or alley, as I argue in my Meeting Review at B 3 at this meeting and at Meeting Review at B 2 of this meeting . To make this abundantly clear, and to highlight my arguments at Alley Oops where I contend that the closure of 4th Street and the alley for City Gym were unlawfully done because there the City did not pass an ordinance, below is Ordinance 4.01 relating to the July 2025 closure of an alley: Closing a street or alley requires an ordinance like this one. The City did not do an ordinance when it gave up 4th Street and an alley for a new gym. Here’s an example of a best practice of using an erosion fence around a pile of caliche on sloped pavement at a mall in Austin. The concept is simple - the fence holds the caliche in so that stormwater doesn’t wash it onto the pavement. C. Commentary Laws, as imperfect as they often are, often help us maintain order and protect both public and private property. Municipal made law, ordinances like 1.05 and 4.01, are the backbone of the proper functioning of city government. Citizens have a right to know how their law is made, and they have the right to expect that it will be applied fairly among all citizens. The City and Irion County ISD were both aware that state law required an ordinance to close 4th Street and the alley at the time. I told them about the law. But their elected leaders at the time chose to ignore it. One consequence of ignoring that law is the worsening of our urban flooding. The grading of the parking area at the new IC ISD transportation facility was completed last week. Parkhill’s design folks have designed the slope so that the majority of the stormwater will run down a City owned alley, marked in red. My PIA requests indicate that they have done so without any consultation with the City. Copyright 2025 G. Noelke

Agenda Analysis  | Meeting Review  | Meeting Documents | Commentary  | Last Meeting I attended the Austin No Kings protest in Austin on November 18 2025. The pictures on this page are from that protest. See my commentary at C 1 below . A. Agenda Analysis Special meeting : Note at the top of the agenda that this is a "special meeting". My understanding is that this meeting is necessary mainly for the purpose of moving forward with the construction bids. Elementary Construction Bids, item 6 : What should be happening here is that the construction manager, Gallagher, will have its folks present to get approval on their recommendations on bidders for the new elementary. In the prior meetings where this part of the process has unfolded, the Board has done a good job at quizzing Gallagher's folks on the costs and their recommendations. ESL evaluation, item 5: This is the English as Second Language Program, a federally mandated program. See Lau v. Nichols . The week before this meeting Dept. of Education Secretary, Linda McMahon, fired all the staff at the Dept. of Education's Office of Civil Rights. This guts the office that enforces the law for this program, so the operative question here is, regardless of this evaluation, does the federal government, or the state government through which it operates, even care? Context on why I care: My grandmother, Nan Lackey DeLong (then Nan Noelke) taught for Mertzon Public Schools in 1934. She taught in what her teaching contract identified as the "Mexican school", which still stands in Mertzon. In order for her students to even have school text books , she had to appear before the school board to lobby for them. So today, when the law is effectively rescinded and there is so much racial animus in state and federal government against non-white groups, citizens should start questioning how much civil rights backsliding is already taking place. Two protest signs, one reading "Imagine Fearing Diversity but not Dictatorship" and another "We the People Never Forget the Cowards in Congress Who Kept Quiet". B. Meeting Review Approval of elementary school construction bids, item 6: The board again did a fine job of reviewing and quizzing the Gallagher representative who presented the recommended bid winner list. The list was a handout to the board only, so it was impossible to review the list during discussion. (I will be asking for it in a PIA request.) Gallagher's rep advised that the bids came in at $611,000 under the budget of the $26 million budgeted. However, it seems possible that the numbers may be on budget , rather than below, because he announced they pulled the stormwater control project on the north end since they didn't like the numbers. ( I read this as the stormwater projects cost more than they anticipated...) This is especially problematic for those in the community who are already being flooded by the District because it means there will be even more delays getting the flooding under control. Also, read my commentary below for how I approached the growing menace of waste caliche piling up in a city right of way . ESL program evaluation, item 5: A report was provided to the Board by Ms. Jackson, the ESL program director, and I hesitate to say much here without having that report in hand. I will make a PIA request for it also. Advocacy tip: most everything provided to the Board during a meeting by a staff member or District agent is subject to disclosure under the PIA; documents provided to and reviewed by the Board are a great resource for understanding board decisions . IC ISD has seven students in the ESL program. That's not many out of the 300+ total students, but it is important to note that the law requires that their rights to an education cannot be ignored. Annual FFA presentation: Sometimes off agenda items come up, and this is the time of year for 8 or so FFA students to make their presentation to the Board for their annual competition. It's basically an oral advocacy project. This year's topic is whether exotic animal species be regulated in Texas. (Damn right they should!) It is a great program, especially since young folks are getting quizzed by the Board. It's good for the Board and its good for the students. Everything else : Board members Ricky Rey and Ashley Hill were not present at this meeting. Note that the usual items, like Reports, were not on the agenda because this was a "special" meeting. This obscene directive in Spanish more often uses the word “Madre” but here uses MAGA. C. Commentary Before my regular readers condemn this page as leftist nonsense, allow me to remind you that: In a recent 2024 election, I openly supported a local State Representative, Drew Darby, a Republican , who opposed Gov. Abbott's position on school vouchers. One reason I supported him was his position was that vouchers were racist . (They are!) Another reason I supported him is that he opposed Gov. Abbott’s using teacher pay raises as leverage to win vouchers. (Teachers should not have been pawns.) Darby won that primary, which was hotly contested by a primary opponent well funded by Gov. Abbott's machine. Darby subsequently buckled to Gov. Abbott and the Republican state leadership (and President Trump who also weighed in), and voted FOR vouchers during the 2025 legislative session. Vouchers are now allowed in Texas. My photo at the top of this page is making a valid point. I do not agree with rural Texas' endorsement of the current conservative leadership in Austin and Washington, especially since it is that very leadership that is making it impossible for public education to do its job. Public education is the lifeblood of Irion County, as it is in most of rural Texas communities, yet public education is being prostrated by conservative leadership...who is being controlled by big money. As I’ve said elsewhere, the stakes are high enough for us all to dispense with party affiliation in times like these. Don't be a D or R, don't be blue or red. Just be a Citizen. Published on the date of this meeting, October 27, 2025: Being Latino in the United States Should Not Be a Crime , the Editorial Board of the New York Times. (May be behind a paywall.) Pay attention. This article points out that the US Supreme Court has recently changed the law and made racial profiling legal. This means that, yes, any of us can be stopped on the street by law enforcement and, based solely on the color of our skin, can be made to show proof of citizenship! Flood control issues: Your 1st Amendment rights afford you free speech rights with not only your government, but also with your government's agents . So, during a transition at this meeting I initiated a meeting with the current Gallagher site superintendent outside of City Gym so that I could personally point out to him the growing piles of caliche that were washing into the streets (4th and Fleming streets) and onto my property each time it rains. I won't detail that discussion here, except to say that the last person who tried to convince me that stormwater flows uphill was former IC ISD superintendent Ray DeSpain, and I'm not buying it. All I'm asking is that Gallagher be a good neighbor and clean up. Advocacy tip: When there is no regulatory pressure whatsoever on construction management companies to comply with the law, as is the case with this bond construction, it is up to the individual citizen/landowner to speak up. Silence in this situation is equivalent to throwing away your rights. “Only You Can Prevent Oligarchy” and “ I Didn’t Recite it for 12 Years at 8:00 AM For Nothing” “Congress Do Your Job! Your Oath is to the Constitution”. The most obvious signal that we are in a Constitutional crisis is that Congress has prostrated itself and turned over the “power of the purse” to the President. Making a point that MAGA means “Mexicans Aren’t Going Anywhere”. In 2022, Latinos became the largest ethnic group in Texas. In the background is a sea of protesters marching down South Congress street. An estimated 10,000 people were protesting. There were no protest related arrests. This sign reads “This is the Gov’t Our Founders Warned us About”. Numerous accounts about the drafting of the US Constitution in fact tell us this. Here’s more: Voices of Austin’s No King’s Protest is an Instagram video by the student newspaper at UT Austin. I have also posted a few more photos on my page for the Mertzon City Council meeting this week. Copyright 2025 G. Noelke

Agenda Analysis  | Meeting Review  | Meeting Documents  | Commentary  | Last Meeting I attended the No Kings protest in Austin on October 18. That’s the Capitol in the background. Some of the rhetoric used to discourage attendance was that the National Guard would be present to protect everyone’s safety since the attendees were members of a terrorist group and hated America. Agenda for this public meeting A. Agenda Analysis Stock agenda, items 5, 6 and 7: I have described this agenda in previous posts as the Council’s “stock” agenda. Every meeting agenda contains items 5, 6 and 7. There are no new matters being considered. That doesn’t mean this is an unimportant meeting, however. The Council can cover lots of territory in just these 3 items. The ultimate check in a backsliding democracy is “we the people”. Early estimates are that ~ 7 million participated nationally. The protest in Austin was entirely peaceful, and there were no protest related arrests. The National Guard was not necessary and was only marginally present. DPS managed the crowd safely and without antagonism. Historical note: "We the people" to our Founders was limited to white landholding men. Thankfully, today the meaning has been expanded beyond that. But, how far? B. Meeting Review Here are the meeting documents . Approval of minutes, item 5a: So, there wasn't any new business taken up at this meeting. The minutes of 3 meetings were approved; see pages 3-5 of the meeting documents. Can a citizen protest the minutes? Yes, and on occasion I have considered it because the content is inaccurate or incomplete. Minutes are what become the official record of the governmental body, so at times they can become very important documents. To challenge them one would have to wait, in most cases, until they are formally approved by vote of the board/council. At the next meeting, one could speak in open forum about the minutes and ask that they be reconsidered. It seems far fetched, but it is possible. It would be up to the board/council to determine whether the minutes revision would be placed on the agenda for the next meeting. Again, far fetched, but possible. Accounts payable: The meeting documents also regularly contain a document with account balances and account payables; see page 2 of the meeting documents . I always read this page because...wait, there's a payment to a jug keeper (bank) for $58,000+, that's huge...I think I'll ask about that... So, even when there's no new business going on it is important for citizens to participate. C. Commentary The most productive response in a civil democratic society to protests you disagree with is a statement to the effect of "I disagree with the content of your protest, but I fully support your right to protest". This assures that when the winds change, as they often do, your own right to protest is not challenged, while at the same time leaving space for all to have varying degrees of disagreement over the content of what you are saying. The right to protest is what we all should all agree on, not the content of the speech. " I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually." James Baldwin Copyright 2025 G. Noelke

Agenda Analysis | Meeting Review | Meeting Documents | Commentary | Last Meeting Parkhill and Gallagher piles of caliche and cement are washing down 4th street. See A4 below . Agenda for this meeting A. Agenda Analysis Financial Audit, item 9 : Supt. Moore and Kandra Lakey, Business Manager, appear at the meetings, anyway, to be running an efficient shop. But, audits are done by auditors, and they are the ones paid to find errors. And, the previous administration and CFO were rated as superior in financial reporting by TEA, but nonetheless overspent the 2019 bond funds. The District functions with a $20+ million budget, and the 2024 bonds bumps that up to a $70+ million budget. Audits matter. Eichelbaum legal services contract, item 8 : Always listen for whether the lawyers are asking for a raise. Here is their website . TIA initiative, item 10 : TIA is the teacher incentive allotment. This item and item 11 on moving to a one campus system are about targeting untapped money. 2024 bonds, pending construction projects, item 12 : I'm watching, and I suspect the County downstream is as well, for what drainage plans will be approved. Based on my ongoing PIA requests for the plans, I don't think the District has final plans yet. As a reminder to Gallagher and Parkhill to get the lead out, here is a photo of my front yard last November . Their growing piles of caliche and cement in the photo at the top of the page are uphill and only about a hundred yards from my front door. It’s like a chin flick from them each time it rains. IC ISD’s share of the 2025 tax revenue. Click to enlarge. B. Meeting Review Financial Audit, item 9 . The District took in less revenue, but their losses for the year were roughly a $500,000 less than the $1 million budgeted. That is their revenue was down about $3 million, but the impact to the fund balance was limited to $500,000. I think most districts are operating in the red these days, and that can be more easily justified here because the Legislature and TEA intend it to be that way. If I heard correctly, the 25-26 budget has $8 million in recapture dollars going back to the State. A deficit budget doesn't necessarily, then, reflect mismanagement on the part of Administration or the Board. The audit report to the Board was very good, but I didn't have the audit document in front of me at the time of the meeting. I'll circle back and ask for that. I hesitate to accept the auditor's statements at this meeting without review. Administrative report, item 5 : a. Bonds/Construction - The early, very early, report is that elementary construction will come in under budget. But, the current status is that demolition is complete, but the foundation and excavation haven't started. This economy is bizarre, though, so there is still every reason to be concerned. Also, the pressure is on Gallagher to keep everything within budget. Apparently the subs on the new transportation facility tried and failed to get more money for rock excavation. Again, the ghost of gymnasiums past need to haunt the Board for spending $500,000+ for rock excavation for City Gym back in 2021. The pending construction project matter at item 11 was on a tile bid for the new cafeteria. The best source for ongoing bond construction is "Moore's Monday Minutes" done by Supt. Moore at the District's YouTube channel . b. Enrollment : District enrollment is 311; attendance wasn't stated. Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA), item 10:   The community, particularly parents, need to get behind this. Here's a website  and a video . This is one of Supt. Moore's initiatives, and there needs to be community buy in to support both student and teacher improvement. The community needs to come up to speed and come to expect  teachers to be distinguished educators under this program. Excellence in education is brought about, in part, by community expectation. As reported by Supt. Moore and Principal Parker at this meeting, there is an extensive year long application process that is underway. Currently only one teacher at IC ISD holds a distinction, and that is because he came here with it from another district. Legal expenses, item 8 : The Board approved an increase of $1,500 for the retainer fee to the Eichelbaum firm. That should still keep the District under $2,000 a month for regular retainer fees. "Overages" can be expensive, though, as back in August the District's legal bill was $8,000. If I understood Supt. Moore at this meeting, these extra expenses were from bond related negotiations. I'll explore this more in my next open records request. Why pay attention? Lawyers have to be accurate, and there are bond and construction specialties in law. We are paying for the best . When you get burned by legal advice to a District - in my case an unlawful street closure that has resulted in the regular flooding of my property - you want to remind folks that your tax dollars also go to pay lawyers . The use of private lawyers by government is always a dicey matter. Here's the latest episode at the Texas Attorney General's Office . It's never ending. (At one time I helped manage the outside counsel contracts at the AG's office for General Cornyn.) A new season, a new ground blind. I can bike in, quietly, and still have room to keep the bike hidden. C. Commentary I grew up working around Mexican immigrant cowboys at the ranch, some illegal, some who used ranch work to become naturalized and support their families. I can follow the legal reasoning, today, of the best of lawyers that it is illegal for the Texas National Guard to be federalized and used across state borders at places like Portland and Chicago to assist ICE in the deportation of immigrants. What I can't understand is the blatant racism of it all. Texas uses its Operation Lone Star program to relocate immigrants entering from Mexico to places like Chicago, presumably to highlight that the city is a sanctuary city. It's a terrible program. Now the State of Texas is agreeing to the federalization of its National Guard for use in Chicago to assist ICE in the deportation of immigrants out of the country , sometimes, yes, even to countries where they did not come from?! It’s racism, and a video like this by Secretary Noem about the ICE raid in Chicago on October 4 is transparent racist propaganda. Call it out, call it out for what it is. Racist. Propaganda. I know that this is all a far cry from my agenda analysis and meeting review above, but even in this far outpost of rural Texas I was raised not to accept this kind of blatant racism. This is 2025. We ought to be better than this. Copyright 2025 G. Noelke

Agenda Analysis  | Meeting Review  | Meeting Documents  | Commentary  | Last Meeting The beams on the new storage room for IC ISD's fieldhouse at City Park. A. Agenda Analysis Council pay, item 6: I neglected to post, though I attended, the September 29 meeting to approve the 2025 tax roll. Like the IC ISD meeting , it lasted for only a few minutes. Every chance I get I like to point out when the City Council, who is lawfully allowed to receive pay for their Council participation, decides to waive their own pay. It is a good thing. TxDot maintenance agreement, item 5 : A major Texas highway, Hwy 67, goes right down the middle of Mertzon, so this item is always an important one. Highway bridge projects on 67 west of the city are creeping along at a snails pace, so consideration of any maintenance agreement inside the city should be prefaced with, "What are the project timelines?" This 2023 photo of the Matterhorn Pipeline being dug through Irion County is a reminder of why we have stormwater flooding in Mertzon. Only inches below the surface is a virtually impermeable white limestone bedrock. (A few miles from this photo there is a soil the USDA has identified as the “Noelke Soil” in which the cracks in the bedrock are sealed with “cemented carbonates”.) This trench is about 4 feet wide by 9 feet deep. Another reminder will come soon enough. When Gallagher’s crews start trenching for the new IC ISD elementary foundation the jackhammers will become deafening. B. Meeting Review Here are the meeting documents . Council pay, item 6: The Council, at Mayor Stewart's urging, voted unanimously to waive its pay for the September 29 meeting. See my commentary below. TxDoT Maintenance agreement, item 5: The Council approved the document, and it is provided in the meeting documents . Note paragraph 15 of the document makes TxDoT responsible for “bridges, culverts and drainage pipes”. This has been the impediment that has kept improvements from being made at the Hwy 67 bridge next to the IC ISD stadium at City Park. Those barrels are too small and stormwater backs up into the park and stadium. There are also a number of culverts not being maintained along the highway within city limits that are worsening the flooding. Tax roll totals apportioned by taxing entities C. Commentary When something good, right or just happens as a consequence of the actions of our elected leaders, citizens need to reinforce the heck out of it. Citizenship requires some degree of positive reinforcement; it is more than merely exercising the right to vote.The constant complaining about how government is broken is tiresome, nonproductive and ought to raise our suspicions. So, this particular City Council meeting is an example, a small but important example, of principled government leaders who waived their pay. But for their 15 seconds of fame (10 seconds? 5 seconds?) that they might get in this blog, they received no attention from the public for doing so. Their actions, however small, are an affirmation of a working and effective democracy. One might think that our Congress needs to similarly waive their pay during this government budget shut down. Perhaps that would bring a quick re-opening of the government. But, that is a complex issue because many of those folks are independently wealthy; they won't feel it. Or the President. Perhaps he should waive or give away his pay? He has done so before. But, the U.S. Supreme Court gave him immense immunity so that there are essentially no consequences for him for turning the Whitehouse into a profit center. So, his salary is peanuts compared to what he is earning on the side from the office; he won’t feel it. We should all be wondering about now whether we are learning a lesson in civics that we should not trust government leaders that incessantly claim government is broken, saying things like "I alone can fix it", and who then take disruptive actions (like sending the National Guard to our cities to ferment race and class disputes) to purposefully make government dysfunctional. Are we learning from this national experience? As I've said before, it is time to dispense with party labels and focus on the "We" part of "We the people..." All of government is not broken. Professing that it is broken over, and over and over again is a gimmick, a ploy, and the ultimate tool for gaslighting. There's never been one person alone who can fix the parts that are broken. That's where the "We" comes in. We are all responsible, regardless of our political ideologies. Copyright 2025 G. Noelke

Agenda Analysis  | Meeting Review  | Meeting Documents | Commentary  | Last Meeting The street art this Fall, Hive Mind We Believe, done by the Cheer Team on 4th Street. Agenda for this meeting. A. Agenda Analysis Special meeting: What makes a special meeting special is only that the agenda item has to be addressed before the next regularly scheduled meeting. Note that an open forum has to be on the agenda even for special meetings. 2025 Tax Roll: This will be a quick meeting because all the Board has to do is make a motion to approve the tax "roll" and then vote. There won't be any particular review of the roll, if it is even physically present, as the purpose is to formalize acceptance of the valuation of all taxed properties in the county by the Tax Assessor. The County Commissioners' Court is obligated to do the same, and they do it at their meeting here. I have not seen the meeting for the City of Mertzon just yet, but if I recall correctly it has to be done before the end of September. To my knowledge all taxing authorities have to do the same thing. Civics lesson - here is some tax roll history : The Magna Carta in 1215 was the first recognized "consent based" taxation. (The tax roll approved at this meeting is consent based. All taxpayers have a lawful right to challenge their property valuations and to speak up in open meetings on the tax rate.) There were some "rolls" prior to that, but they were records of the king's property and arbitrary levies to fund the king. See also the Exchequer’s Pipe Rolls that were used in England for about 700 years starting in the 12th century. B. Meeting Review 2025 Tax Roll, item 3 : Pro forma , the roll was approved without discussion. Other things to note: Superintendent Moore is audio recording the meetings, as required by the new state law requiring audio. In time, here is where recordings can be found on the District’s websit e. Also note that there was still an open forum posted on this agenda, regardless of the pro forma nature of this meeting. Think of open forums this way: if there is a quorum present at a meeting where public business is being discussed, they have to have an open forum. C. Commentary This time of year - late September and early October - is when you should be on the lookout for the Monarch butterflies migrating through Mertzon for their fall journey to Mexico. Look for them where there are flowers and water. Copyright 2025 G. Noelke