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