Flooding at the Mertzon City Park after about 3.5 inches of rain on October 24-25, 2023. That's the football stadium on the right.
Here is the agenda for the October 30, 2023 special School Board meeting, with my comments below:
Here are my comments:
This is a fine example of a special meeting agenda with only one topic - safety. "Special" in this case only means that it is not the regular monthly board meeting. And, unlike that last meeting, this is not an "emergency" meeting held within the 72 hour posting deadline. (More than 72 hours will have elapsed from the time it was posted on October 26 at 2:30.)
Most of the meeting will be held in closed session. No problems with that, though when it comes to safety, particularly after the Uvalde school shooting, I think the District needs to balance secrecy with open government. Again, huge dollars are involved, and there needs to be some check on school districts so that school boards also think about costs to their taxpayers.
Here is the website for Gallagher Construction Services.
Note at agenda item 2 there is an "Open Forum" portion. This is because, yes, even during a special meeting, as in regular and emergency meetings, there has to be part of the meeting dedicated to the governmental body receiving public comments. There was a time under the leadership of prior Superintendent Ray DeSpain and prior board President Vicente Flores that this portion of the meeting was taken off the agenda. I protested, and the agenda item was eventually put back on all meeting notices. Do not ever, ever take your First Amendment rights in a public meeting for granted. Always read to make sure there is an open forum on the agenda. If one isn't on the agenda, find the presiding officer or staff member before the meeting and ask to be recognized for a public comment during the meeting. For more on your statutory rights to speak at an open meeting, see Texas Government Code 551.007. Watch for an update after the meeting.