A double bloom on a Horse Crippler cactus on Cowboy Hill a few weeks ago.
Here are my comments to the Irion County Commissioner's Court this morning during their open forum:
George Noelke
May 9, 2023 Comments to County Commissioners Court, Irion County
I had the good fortune to listen to TXDOT’s City Council presentation last week. So, I am here to speak on agenda item 5 and ask you to put stormwater flooding at City Park high on your priority list with TXDOT and our community. Here’s why.
The school district proves time and time again that it is willing to displace more stormwater into the basins that flood City Park. What is certain is their hydrologist has said that the barrels at the bridge by the football stadium that go under Hwy 67 are too small for the amount of floodwater that must go through them. Their hydrologist has also said that more stormwater is going into the basin after the construction of the new gym and cafeteria kitchen than before construction. Leaving aside what this means for me for my property at 4th and Fleming, what this means for the County is that with the next heavy rains the County’s property at City Park is about to experience worse flooding than before. I can’t say, just yet, how bad it is going to be, but were I in your shoes I would plan for water and erosion damage to County property.
In 2019 before the bond election, I asked the school to coordinate its plans to deal with stormwater runoff with our citizens, the City and the County. The District chose to ignore my advice, and now their new impervious cover from that bond jeopardizes even more of the County’s property at City Park. You have so much at stake at the Park that I am asking you to put stormwater flooding as a top priority.
The timing for your leadership on this issue is right. There’s now a leadership vacuum on flooding issues. As of Saturday, there is a new city mayor, Aubrey Stewart, and as of last night there is a new school board president, Maegin Carlile. The school is now publicly searching for a new superintendent that will replace Superintendent DeSpain in July. So, some of the folks that have created these problems are gone or are leaving. Now is a good time for the County to begin addressing its concerns about flooding. You, and more importantly, we’ve got a lot to lose. There is a very troubling leadership mentality to overcome, however. That mentality, to put it plainly, is that it is OK for our city and school to flood itself and the County.
Let me be clear: it is not OK to continue to spend taxpayer dollars for our city and school to flood itself and the County. Flooding is a community wide problem, and these are self inflicted wounds.
Now, I have a lot of data available to prove my points. I have three years worth of material I’ve requested under the Public Information Act from the District that supports my positions, and I’m not stopping. I’ve put up a website, Government In The Sun (.com) to more publicly address all this. One goal of the site is to create some public accountability for our leaders who, in my opinion, seem eager to waste taxpayer dollars and destroy public and private property with stormwater runoff. Even today you can go to 5th and Fayette and see that the District is putting in a new parking lot. That lot is going to increase flooding at the Park.
In conclusion, please take this opportunity with TXDOT’s presence today to begin a leadership role on flooding at City Park. Thank you.