Search Results

I early voted, and it sure felt good to cast that ballot. I try to keep this site an issues based site, so I generally avoid endorsements. All I will say about this election is that I voted for candidates from both parties. My strain of independence comes naturally, and probably it’s from my father. Below is a 1962 Livestock Weekly article about his run for County Judge as a Republican at a time when the state was majority Yellow Dog Democrat . He did not win, though he later served as School Board President at IC ISD in the 1970’s. He too owned up to voting in both parties, even at that time in his life when the state was majority Republican. I hope you will go vote. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

Below is the agenda for this meeting, with my agenda and meeting analysis underneath. My full analysis of the meeting is pending. A. Agenda analysis 1. Road closure, item 12 : I did not request this to be on the agenda, so any analysis on my part would only be speculative. The photo above illustrates a larger concern: while the new parking lot is a Phase 2 bond project for IC ISD, its ultimate runoff will exacerbate Phase 1 challenges, such as managing and reopening W. Fleming Ave. Given the planned bus canopy and maintenance barn that will also drain into W. Fleming, both the City and the District must address stormwater management holistically. 2. Items 5 and 10, rate change ordinance and sea container: These are matters tabled from the last meeting. My recollection is that the rate increases are required. One way the City could shore up its budget, btw, is to stop paying for private water wells and secure its own water source. 3. Wastewater treatment and water improvement financing, items 6, 7 and 8: The City is going through the motions here to get the financing approved. 4. Tire disposal, item 9: Learn more about the laws related to tire disposal and why you shouldn't just keep them hanging around at this TCEQ page . While waiting for the 2024 topo map recently done by Parkhill that I have requested under the PIA, I went into my archives and found this topo map done for Jeff Potter, Architect of the 2019 build out. I’ve added the blue arrows to represent the flow of the stormwater as depicted in the photo at the top of this page . This map shows how stormwater has been misdirected away from its most direct path at the lowest elevation. Indeed, the WW (sewer) line is the natural low line, and the District built the elevated tennis courts over over it with 2013 bond funds. The tennis courts misdirect all of its water into Juanita and 4th streets. Thus, with each bond passage the District leverages the City streets and alleys as aqueducts to keep water off its property and passes the burden onto others, including private property owners. B. Meeting analysis 1. Road closure, item 12: There continues to be traffic driving around the barriers at each end of the closed W. Fleming between 3rd and 4th Streets. In a 3-1 vote, the Council voted to install a field fence at each end. Motion to fence was made by Councilman Crutchfield, seconded by Councilman Lindley. The vote was Crutchfield, Lindley and Councilman for, and Holland against. I spoke during a portion of this item First, folks are continuing to drive the street when it is closed, while others are ignoring the stop sign at the 4th street end. The Council has to continue to manage these intersections because they have become dangerous. Second, I updated the Council to let them know that the amount of water coming down the street as a result of the 2024 bond build has not yet been disclosed to me by the District in response to my PIA requests. And, third, I stated my position that the expense of remediating W. Fleming should be on the District, not on the City. Why the City of Mertzon would be so willing to pay for the clean up after the District is beyond me. The District's stormwater runoff is the most significant contributor to the destruction of the street. And, it is mind boggling, and frankly, offensive, that the District has abused the City by dumping its stormwater into the streets and then acting as if once the water enters the street it is the City's problem. 2. Ordinance to raise rates, item 5: The Council voted to raise rates. Imagine applying for a home mortgage and the lender saying it will deny you unless you can show more income. Or, alternatively, it won't deny you but you will have to pay a higher interest rate because you have so little income. That's basically the situation here. The City has. possibly for the first time, dipped into the municipal bond market and their bond council has said it cannot write a favorable opinion that the purchase of the bonds would be a sound investment. So, in order to get the bonds sold the City has to raise its income by raising its water and sewer rates. The Council voted unanimously to raise the rates. The base sewer rate will go up $4.25 this year and again $4.25 next year. The base water rate will also go up $4.25 a year for two years. Note: Alarm bells ought to be going off for citizens. Running a super lean government budget like the City of Mertzon does regularly has consequences. Consider this a message that outside, independent resources are effectively saying the City is underfunded. Is it broke? No, but it doesn't have much. Can it operate in a serious emergency? Probably not. Government budgets should not be as thin as the City's is now, and a better approach would have been to regularly implement rate increases over a period of years and diversify income resources with investments. Even the mighty can fall, as made clear when IC ISD had this budget mishap and it was only through its investments and a good market did it avert a significant budget disaster . 2. Ordinance and resolutions, items 6-8 : These items were approved by the Council without discussion. 3. Upcoming 2025 legislative forecast: The City's attorney, Jeff Betty, gave a sobering analysis about the potential for the elimination of property taxation. Apparently, Gov. Abbott has this on his agenda for the 2025 session, starting in January. The elimination of ad valorem property tax for the City would likely devastate its budget, and any replacement revenue (sales tax?) would not nearly be enough. I won't go so far as to say this is pie in the sky legislative wishful thinking, but I do think it would be a herculean task to undo the ad valorem system we currently have and replace it with, well, anything. This Texas Tribune article says it would take the State about $81.5 billion a year to replace property taxes. And, do a word search for the word "exemption" in Article 8 of the Texas Constitution that deals with taxation and revenue and what do you find? It shows up 112 times! Texas voters have already granted loads of tax exemptions through constitutional amendment, and all of that will have to be revisited and repealed. It numbs the mind to think about the complexities of rewriting the constitution and getting final voter approval. (Constitutional amendments must be approved by voters.) The other huge uncertainty is how any revision like this will impact financial markets, which thrive on certainty. According to the Tribune article, getting rid of property taxes would cost the State $39.5 billion in school property taxes alone . As I mention in my post about the school bond industrial complex (see Commentary) , there's a lot of money being made off of the sale of school bonds. And, those bonds are paid for through ad valorem taxation. That is going to equate to a lot of legislative pushback from those markets currently profiting from the status quo. We'll see... By the time the session starts in January 2025, all eyes will be on Washington and our next President, not on Austin and the Texas legislature. All manner of governmental restructuring (privatization of the public's wealth) can happen when the people aren't paying attention because the firestorm is elsewhere. In the end, though, remember, in Texas it's the people that get to amend the Texas Constitution. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

Below is the agenda for the October 7 Board meeting, with my agenda analysis and meeting analysis underneath. Also, see my commentary here . A. Agenda Analysis 1. Administrative Reports, item 5 : There's a full lineup of all 3 top administrators at this meeting. 2. 2024 Tax Roll, item 6 : This will pretty much cement the revenue that will begin coming into the District from the tax office. Here is the disclosure (Rule 15c2-12 signed in February 2024) for the top taxpayers used for the bond issuance last month: The tax roll approved at this meeting will be different. There's a lot of meat on this bone because the Scottish Rite revenue has dropped off, mineral values have depreciated, wind power revenue has proven totally unreliable and the new Matterhorn gas pipeline is not online yet. I will be providing more tax roll analysis in the future. 3. Design of construction projects, item 8 : The City of Mertzon punted on the flood control structures at their last meeting, so its anyone's guess what can happen with this item. 4. Consent agenda, item 9 c : It was Supt. DeSpain and board member Ashley Hill teaming up during a board meeting several years ago and complaining about the rising costs of legal services that now causes me to keep the annual approval of this contract in focus. (A certain "community member" was the cause of the increase, they said. I was the only public member in the board room at the time and the tension was palpable. And, later, Eichelbaum even tacked on an extra $100 per hour just to deal with my advocacy.) From my perspective, it's not the one, and only one, community member (me!) that is responsible for the increase in legal fees the District has experienced in recent years. Leaving the decisions by board leadership off the table for these purposes, one huge problem is the method of delivery of legal services. The Eichelbaum lawyers are never present. This board is now managing roughly $75 million in taxpayer funds, and the District doesn't have an in house lawyer present and rarely do they have a lawyer present at their open meetings and executive sessions. That's risky business, and it allows for legal problems to develop and fester and that increases costs. Well, and the Eichelbaum firm , given its size and prestige, is bound to have a lot of overhead. 5. Closed session, items 11 and 13: As always, what arguably gets to be said in private should always be recognized and questioned. This month it is health insurance and personnel. B. Meeting Analysis: 1. Design of construction projects, item 8: In a significant move, Supt. Moore, after consulting with Parkhill, recommended that the Board adopt building codes for the new construction. In brief, the Board adopted the codes found at 19 TAC 1040(j)(1)(B)(i)-(vi) . That is, the Board adopted the International Building/Existing Building Code (2014), International Mechanical Code (2014), NFPA 101 and NFP 1 as adopted by the Texas Fire Marshall, International Plumbing Code and International Fuel Gas Code, National Electric Code and International Energy Conservation Code. Which is all to say: New construction built from the 2024 bond funds will be built to code, something that cannot be said with any degree of certainty about the 2019 construction projects (gym, cafeteria kitchen and football stadium upgrades.) Read my commentary below for a deeper dive on construction codes. 2. Tax roll approval, item 6: The Board approved the 2024 tax roll, in this case a stack of 8 or so notebooks about a foot high, without discussion. Funding for the 24-25 academic year is basically a certainty at this point. (Tax Assessor Collector Joyce Gray has a very high collection rate.) 3. Consent agenda, item 9c: The Board approved a 6% retainer fee increase for Eichelbaum’s legal services. That makes the annual contract $21,200. There was no discussion by the Board, but a strong recommendation by Supt. Moore. 4. Closed session, items 11 and 14: The Board voted to initiate negotiations with Shannon Hospital on part of a health insurance claim. There was no discussion. 5. Other matters: Board members DJ Rainey and Tony Martinez were absent. On the ESL (English Second Language) program at item 7, six students took the STAAR test last year. Of those, 1 student performed Masters, 2 students performed Approaches and 3 students performed Does Not Meet on reading. For math, 1 student performed Meets, 3 students performed Approaches and 2 students performed Did Not Meet. C. Commentary My regular readers perhaps know the lengths I went to during the 2019 IC ISD bond build out to point out that the District and City of Mertzon were throwing caution to the wind by approving the dumping of stormwater runoff from a 30,000+ sf gym directly into a city street. Among my arguments was a Texas Administrative Code (TAC) rule passed by the Texas Education Agency that required the District to adopt building codes because the City of Mertzon has none. I decided to revisit my history with that TAC provision, , and rediscovered my effort in an email as far back as January 2021 - before the gym was built - to convince the District and City to follow building codes that would prohibit water dumping and unlawful construction on an improperly closed city ally. Indeed, my email was shot gunned to everyone: President Flores, Supt. DeSpain, two Eichelbaum attorneys, WBK Construction representatives and, of course, architect Jeff Potter. No one ever replied to my email. Similarly, the City Council never responded to my years' long efforts to get them to adopt building codes. I was quite certain back then that IC ISD was coming back with more construction and would not adopt any. Well, I was partially right. They came back for more construction, but this vote shows a never seen before interest in construction codes. One role of government is to protect people, particularly children, who cannot protect themselves. I confess I find it extremely disturbing that the 2019 bond leadership at IC ISD was so callous to adopting building codes. Mistakes happen, as everyone learned when the lighting of a pilot light caused a gas explosion during the construction of the new cafeteria kitchen back then. That leadership and the construction/design team they hired appeared to act as if they were inoculated from the consequences of the poor decisions they were making. Today’s leadership is different, though. Sunlight on government is a good thing. Sometimes, like in this instance where the Board finally adopted building codes, it has tangible results. Why this has taken literally years to accomplish, though, is a worthwhile question for everyone, especially our elected Board and City Council members. It should not have taken this long. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

Any proposal by Parkhill to resolve the flooding on W. Fleming, now closed, needs to address the large amount of street debris and caliche that is pushed there by the floodwaters. The source of the debris and caliche is as far away as two blocks at the intersection of 5th and Juanita. Below is the agenda for this meeting, and underneath that is my agenda analysis. October 6 update : I did not attend this meeting due to the conflict with the IC ISD meeting; I finally was able to listen to the audio of the meeting, and I’ve posted my analysis of that here . A. Agenda analysis There’s no “new” business at this meeting that requires a vote from the Council, so this meeting agenda is an example of a “stock” agenda. (These items are found on every agenda for this Council. See another stock agenda here .) I highlighted 6 c, Review/approval of financial documents, as yet another reason why citizens should attend City Council meetings. The Council is spending your tax dollars at each of its meetings, and if citizens are not engaged the Council will spend it as they see fit and without the benefit of your opinion. The latest 2024 bond proposal is to raise the original Ag building pictured in the upper right and add more parking between this parking lot (the GMPL) and City Gym. More runoff directed to these drain holes will undoubtedly overwhelm them. All runoff from the existing GMPL and any new lot ultimately will reach the Community Center and OK Wolfenbarger Stadium, unless a robust flood diversion plan is developed by Parkhill. Will you remain silent and allow City Park to be flooded even more? If you are so inclined, consider putting up a ribbon on the prayer fence for the community because the Community Center quite literally exists at the mercy of IC ISD and it’s agents. Again, as IC ISD gears up to issue the first of the 2024 bonds , don’t forget this map and that all floodwaters go to City Park . B. Meeting analysis As mentioned above, there was no new business at this meeting. There was, however, a worthwhile discussion among Council members about whether there was any impact from the recent rains on the street that is closed, W Fleming. The photo at the top of this page shows that the road debris continues to build up on the street, so that is the most readily identifiable impact. (The impact was broader, of course. The stormwater that washes across this street ends up at City Park and looks like the photo here , and a careful inspection of the Park shows erosion of the topsoil.) So, just because W. Fleming no longer looks like this during a flood , it is worth remembering that this is is so because of the removal of the debris from the street back in December 2023 . Thus, the flooding problem is not illusory merely because there is no longer standing flood waters on W. Fleming. Indeed, let's hope we are beyond the days of Superintendent Ray DeSpain, who denied the obvious: the storm waters from the new gym flood the new renovations at the District’s football field (leased to the District by the City of Mertzon), all paid for with the 2019 school bonds that he spent. This stormwater flooding is a community wide problem , and I am merely the determined messenger who as long ago as 2016 asked the District to stop flooding me and in 2019 correctly forecasted before the school bond election that the problems would worsen. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

Here is the agenda for this meeting, and below that are my agenda analysis and meeting analysis: A. Agenda analysis Approve tax roll, item 5: This is formality, but an essential one if the Council properly funds the City with ad valorem taxes. I’ve never seen a “roll” with these votes, just numbers on sheets of paper that will invariably be approved of by the Council. Amendment to ordinance 20.02: This is a mandatory rate increase in sewer/water fees. My recollection is the Council is spreading it out over 2 years to ease the pain. Two things to note here. First, any rate increase has to be posted as this one is. This provides citizens notice and opportunity to protest. (If you want to complain about this increase, this meeting will be your only opportunity to do so.) Second, regularly attending meetings as I do leads me to believe that these Council members are not tax and spend types. They are not running a deficit budget as in years past. Sea Container, item 7: The City has been in negotiations with the State to buy the property associated with the north Wool House building alongside the railroad at Railroad Street and Sherwood Ave. Other matters: there is nothing on this agenda related to the MOU between the City and IC ISD addressing street closures and flooding that was raised at the last meeting . IC ISD has announced on its Facebook page that it is doing topography studies, so perhaps the District is gathering the hydrology data it is already obligated to do by law. B. Meeting analysis (Pending) While you wait, consider my October 6 update for one of the September City Council meetings . Copyright 2024 G Noelke

Updates : Go here to see my latest update , September 21, 2024. DOCUMENTS (Initially posted on February 14, 2024. Posted in chronological order.) Jacob Conner's Irion County ISD job description as Athletic Director, received pursuant to my Public Information Act (PIA) request on April 24, 2023. Jacob Conner's Irion County ISD employment contract for 23-25 , received pursuant to my PIA request on April 24, 2023. PIA request , January 23, 2024, to Irion County ISD concerning Jacob Conner no longer teaching or coaching. Voluntary Separation Agreement between Irion County ISD and Jacob Conner, January 8, 2024. TEA subpoena of Jacob Conner documents, received pursuant to my third PIA request on March 20, 2024. PIA clarification and new request , January 26,2024, to Irion County ISD. Initial request to protect documents (10 day letter for my January 23 request) by Irion County ISD to Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton, with copy to the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Secondary letter to protect documents (15 day letter for my Jan 23 and Jan 26 requests) by Irion County ISD to AG, with a copy to TEA. Release of responsive documents by Irion County ISD. (Of the documents I requested in my Jan 23 and Jan 26 requests, these are the documents initially determined to be public by their lawyer.) Here is the April 10, 2024 Attorney General ruling OR2024-02481 stating that the documents sought to be protected by Irion County ISD are protected, with letter from the District’s counsel at Eichelbaum Wardell notifying the same. June 29, 2024: Here is a screenshot of the SBEC (State Board of Educator Certification) page showing that Conner received a Reprimand . See my commentary below. July 19, 2024: -November 2023 letter from Conner’s attorney to ICISD requesting documents, received pursuant to my July 2024 PIA request to ICISD -My June 2024 PIA request to TEA for Conner’s disciplinary file -TEA’s July 2024 brief to the OAG seeking to protect the file -June 2024 Agreed Order between Conner and SBEC , released by TEA pursuant to my June 2024 PIA request New on September 21, 2024: Here is the OAG’s ruling on my PIA request for TEA’s disciplinary file on Conner. UPDATES AND COMMENTARY (in reverse chronological order) : New September 21, 2024: I’ve posted the OAG’s determination letter on my request for Conner’s disciplinary file at TEA. There's no surprise here - they poured me out . In a nutshell, their ruling says the entire file (other than the Agreed Order between Conner and SBEC) is protected because it is "attorney work product" developed in anticipation of litigation and is therefore privileged. This is a specious argument at best. The possibility of litigation was ended with the signing of the Agreed Order . This case is closed, so the litigation can no longer be anticipated! Public policy ought to dictate openness about the misdeeds of teachers, up to the limit of protecting the student's identity. What good public policy reason could possibly be given to protect Conner once the Agreed Order has been signed? I don’t think there is one. Now, my larger point is this: directing sunlight, and thereby creating accountability, on public education has, in certain areas, become impossible. Jacob Conner as both teacher and administrator is emblematic of that impossibility. While this page dedicated to Conner may not see any more updates, every public meeting I attend and every PIA request I make are all intended to probe the larger boundaries of those impossible dark regions in public education. This, indeed, is what makes the 1st Amendment useful and interesting. This page and Government in the Sun are about way more than Conner. July 19, 2024 update: I've posted 4 documents that I received pursuant to two separate PIA requests. See # 12 above. The letter from Conner’s attorney to ICISD  requesting documents is both a statement of denial and a PIA request. I've included my PIA request to TEA  for Conner’s disciplinary file. And, sure enough, here is TEA’s brief to the OAG  seeking to protect the file. (TEA, in my experience, acts as a bottleneck to protect both school districts and teachers.) In a word, this letter is overkill by TEA. There is no legal basis or policy reason to protect the file - except for protecting the student’s name - since this is now a closed investigation . Arguing, as Mr. Montgomery Meitler at TEA did, that the attorney work product protects everything in the file is some serious overreach. There's some big time legal jujitsu going on here. Indeed, all that they released was only the Agreed Order between Conner and SBEC that shows the enforcement action against Conner has been agreed to and that he is receiving an inscribed reprimand for violations of 19 Texas Administrative Code 247.2 (3)(H) . Notably, the document is devoid of all factual allegations, which makes it the norm in my experience for settlement documents with state agencies. Read the document as many times as you wish and you won't find a single fact about what happened at ICISD that was the basis for the complaint against him. For sure, you won't even find in the Agreed Order the name of school where Conner worked. So, my options at this point are to 1. respond to Mr. Meitler at TEA by uploading my own brief to the OAG before they issue their ruling (requestors are allowed to respond) or 2. let this play out and see how the OAG rules without my involvement. I'm doing option 2. I predict the sun won't shine when the OAG issues its final decision, but let's keep hope alive. It would not be much effort at all for TEA and SBEC to run their digital redaction marker over the few things they need to protect in the record and then release the file to me in redacted form. I think this could in part be about TEA/SBEC not dedicating adequate resources to man that redaction marker not their driving personal desire to protect Mr. Conner from the world knowing about his sins. If so, however, that failure to fund becomes an "out" for rule breaking teachers statewide. As Meitler writes in his brief to the OAG, "Your office has issued 158 rulings since January 2019 permitting TEA to withhold closed investigations of alleged educator misconduct" for the same reasons as he is now arguing for Mr. Conner. One hundred and fifty-eight. 1-5-8. In the meantime, while we wait for the OAG to make its decision remember this: in the time it takes this all to go through the "system" Mr. Conner, or any teacher in his shoes with the same or even worse allegations, can secure his/her next job in another community and no one, including their future students, would be the wiser for what really happened or where it happened. That ought to frighten you. This means that the "inscribed reprimand" designation on Mr. Conner's license is indeed a farce . Stay tuned. I'll post the OAG decision when it comes out. June 29, 2024: At this point, not much can be said about his reprimand by SBEC . First, the reprimand date, June 9, 2024, is roughly 6-7 months after the initial complaint from ICISD. That suggests that Conner sought to resolve this dispute through SBEC's informal process without a formal contested case administrative hearing. Contested cases can take years to resolve, and this appears to have been quickly resolved. So, this suggests that Conner sought to get this behind him as quickly as possible. Second, of the two types of SBEC reprimands, Conner received the more serious one. Note that this is a public matter that is noted on his certificate as "Reprimand". This meets TEA's definition of an " inscribed reprimand, which is a formal, published censure that appears on the face of the educator's official certification records". Alternatively, Conner could have received a private reprimand or an "non-inscribed reprimand, which is a formal, unpublished censure that does not appear on the face of the educator's official certification records". Conner's name does not come up in the online do not hire registry , however, so to be clear this reprimand is not a revocation of his license. Today I submitted a public information request to TEA/SBEC for the Conner disciplinary file to see what all is publicly available. I specifically stated in my request that I did not want the name of the involved student. Again, this page is not going there. I'm more interested in gaining some understanding about how it is that this particular community leader got so far afield professionally. And, then he left us without his leadership in cleaning up after the flooding being caused by City Gym , his professional masterpiece...a masterpiece that he and everyone involved knew from the beginning would also flood the District's football field . NOTE: A few hours after this update I was contacted by Conner. It is difficult to characterize those communications because he doesn’t want to be quoted. But I will say this. I have put my name behind this protest now for over 8 years. Throughout that time I’ve been the object of trolling, scapegoating, gaslighting, deception and all manner of tomfoolery (like faux reporters!) by folks who ought to know better. Trust me, I know the consequences for speaking up in a small town. For some causes, like this one where folks are literally losing their homes, streets and park to stormwater, it is well worth the price. So, for those I criticize, I welcome your response but you’ll have to own your words. I’m owning my words, and my advocacy work is not near complete. If we are to reach any understanding of the truth together, you will have to own your words as well. April 19, 2024: I've received word that the AG's office has poured me out on the remainder of the documents I requested. See OR2024-02481 and the Eichelbaum letter confirming the decision. I've highlighted each with some arrows to make a few points. a. There are no real surprises here. Once the District asserted FERPA , as referenced in footnote 2 of the AG's letter, the request is over and anything related to the student gets protected as deemed necessary by the District. I support the intent of FERPA, though in this case I think there could have been some redaction of the requested documents and student privacy would still have been maintained. Here is more on FERPA . It is not my goal, of course, to "out" the student. Any "outing" on this page is for the purpose of shining the light on an educational system that has in place all the tools necessary to sweep compromising matters under the rug. b. The PIA gives the requestor (me) the right to respond to the governmental body's request for determination to the AG. I did not do so here, in part because the protection the District was seeking under FERPA and their subpoena argument was bullet proof. In contrast, with other requests I have filed a response when I stood on sound law and the District was making a specious argument. For example, see OR2022–7229 , discussed below, where I protested that the District could not keep the names of its donors confidential. The AG ruled in my favor there. Generally, you should assume that if you don't file a response the AG will go with the arguments presented by the governmental body in their request for determination letter. c. Note at footnote 3 of the letter ruling the AG says that TEA, whose subpoena is at issue, never submitted any comments to the AG. TEA's investigation of Conner stands to be compromised if the contents of their subpoena had become public, so their lack of interest here is surprising. I’m surprised they didn’t at least send a stock letter to the AG re-stating the law. d. The letter opinion also resolves an almost identical PIA request as mine submitted by the local paper, the San Angelo Standard Times. Their reporter, Paul Witwer, wrote this article about Conner , and his request received the same treatment as mine. e. Is this the end of the Jacob Conner story? No. The 2024 bond election is upcoming, and it potentially will correct some of the drainage issues at the new gym built during Conner's tenure as AD. Also, TEA's administrative action against him at SBEC is pending, and the outcome of that is unknown. You can search his certification status on this TEA page , and any disciplinary action reports here . f. What's the universe of pending and recent requests for determination to the AG by Texas school districts? A new law effective last December makes it much easier to find out. Go to this AG database page to search . For all districts statewide, I suggest searching with "ISD" or "school" using the "governmental body" box. At the time of posting this, April 19, 2024, there were over 450 requests since mid December 2023 to the present. March 28, 2024 update: I have uploaded the TEA subpoena to Irion County ISD for documents related to the TEA investigation of Jacob Conner. This document reveals that TEA is investigating Conner for violations of 19 Texas Administrative Code 247.2 (3)(H) . This section reads, "Standard 3.8. The educator shall maintain appropriate professional educator-student relationships and boundaries based on a reasonably prudent educator standard." So, while we still don't know the particular facts, this document indicates the alleged incident involved a student. I received this document by way of my March 20, 2024 PIA request for simply, "A copy of the TEA subpoena to Irion County ISD requesting documents concerning Jacob Conner." There's no magic wording to use to request documents, folks. March 14, 2024 update: As I prepare my next PIA request, I was reminded of this language that I put in each of my requests and that was included in my request for Jacob Conner documents: " Please contact me prior to referring any request to the Office of the Attorney General. I may be amenable to limiting or even withdrawing the request depending on your objection to producing the documents. " The intent is to talk first. Just talk. While Superintendent Moore has been far more prompt at producing documents than Superintendent DeSpain ever was, the District's law firm, Eichelbaum Wardell , has been the same with both superintendents. Once they get involved their knee jerk response has consistently been to ignore my pleas to talk and merely refer everything to the AG for an opinion request, even when the District has a specious legal argument to protect the documents . (See AG OR2022-17229 where I successfully beat back the firm's specious argument that the District could keep donor information private because their donors had a constitutional right of privacy to give to a public school district.) Requests for an AG decision on public document requests often are merely an effort by the governmental body to delay and obfuscate. This Texas Tribune article, Texas' open records law is 50 years old - and routinely flouted, makes a similar point. The Tribune quotes Texas attorney Missy Cary as saying, " They use the process as a weapon rather than using the process as intended. How is it that requests for briefings keep skyrocketing, when there aren’t that many new governmental bodies? " No effort was made by the Eichellbaum firm to ask me to limit my Conner request before they sent it to the OAG for a determination, notwithstanding the clear language in my request that I was willing to do so . Such is the common practice of that firm (I know because I now have about 5 years worth of experience with their efforts to deny me documents through the OAG) , and their take no hostages approach is the best evidence ever that they are using the OAG process as a weapon instead of how it was intended. Eichellbaum is the preeminent law firm in Texas for school law, and they should be called out for this unacceptable practice. February 19, 2024 updates: a. I am going to continue to be circumspect about why I think Mr. Conner has separated from the District. The "why" is not as important as the accountability at the moment. Yet another leader involved with the 2019 bond build out is gone from the scene, and another bond election is scheduled for May, 2024 . b. The Standard Times published an article, Documents shed light on Jacob Conner's separation from Irion County ISD , by Paul Witwer. c. Students: There is no age limit on who can use the Public Information Act . There are fees that can be charged for labor and on a per page basis, so it can be quite costly. One way to approach open government record requesting is to ask to "inspect" the documents, as opposed to asking for a "copy" of them. This might get you to documents sooner and cheaper. If you "inspect" them you will literally go to a room where the documents are collected and review them on location. You could then take your own copy of the document you wanted with you phone. Another way to minimize the cost is simply to limit your request to one or two classes of documents. d. Legal process. Now that we know Mr. Conner is being investigated by TEA (see below), there is an entire legal process that gets started. Here are the rules . Generally, once TEA's State Board of Educator Certification (SBEC) concludes its investigation, Mr. Conner will get an opportunity to an informal settlement. If that doesn't work out, he can opt for a formal administrative hearing. If he loses that hearing, he can appeal that to a District Court. (I got involved representing agencies - not SBEC - at the Attorney General's Office once cases reached the District Court level.) From the District Court, his case can be appealed to the 3rd Court of Appeals and on to the Texas Supreme Court. Should you wish to do a truly deep dive on how complicated this process can be, here is one of my reported cases from 2009, Texas State Board of Dental Examiners v. Brown , where I successfully represented the Texas Dental Board. Here's one takeaway - if Mr. Conner is well funded and can pay the high legal costs, this process can take years to resolve. This kind of law where there is a contested case proceeding involving a license is part of what makes up " administrative law ". There is a very significant administrative law case pending right now in the US Supreme Court, Loper Bright v. Raimondo . However the Court rules it will almost certainly impact Mr. Conner's case. That analysis is for another day, however. e. Go here to see SBEC's reporting on disciplined teachers. I didn't realize there were so many! Mr. Conner is being investigated by TEA, as evidenced by the legal arguments made by the District in the 15 day letter that TEA's subpoena to him is protected. In time, I will be exploring the nature of this investigation on these pages. In the meantime, you can go here to learn about the State Board of Educator Certification , the arm of TEA responsible for certifying and disciplining Mr. Conner. Why I am posting these documents? To promote and encourage transparency and accountability, and as a part of my civic duty are my reasons why. Mr. Conner, as Athletic Director, was present at the 2019 board meeting when the $18, all million bond was called . He oversaw, from beginning to end, the expenditure of $12-15 million of those funds without any meaningful public oversight . (For more on Jacob Conner search for him in the search bar above.) The funds were largely spent on City Gym and renovations to the football field to convert it from 11 man to 6 man ball. A concession stand was added, and it floods with stormwater coming in part from the new gym. Indeed, the entire field floods from stormwater from the new gym. So, requesting these documents is yet another effort of mine (in April, 2024, I will have been at this 8 years!) at creating accountability where none has existed before. Whatever the reasons for him leaving Irion County ISD (and the public may never know!), the fact remains that he had a tremendous impact on our community . The reasons for his departure should be known publicly . "If you are a coach, you are a teacher." Nick Saban "Teachers are our greatest public servants; they spend their lives educating our young people and shaping our Nation for tomorrow." Solomon Ortiz "Every citizen owes to the country a vigilant watch and close scrutiny of its public servants and a fair and reasonable estimate of their fidelity." Grover Cleveland What documents are you going to ask for as part of your duty as a citizen? Don't limit yourself to the AD position at Irion County ISD; all levels of government are subject to open records laws. You can visit my Resources page to access the tools to learn how. "Where is there government overreach?" is a starting question you might ask yourself when you begin your advocacy.

Below is the agenda for the September 16, 2024 City Council meeting, with my combined agenda and meeting analysis underneath . Here are the meeting documents . A. Agenda and meeting analysis: Why my posting on this meeting is different : This meeting almost escaped my attention. So, I am posting about it after the meeting date. Who attended and who should have attended: On behalf of IC ISD, present were Board members Maegin Carlile (President), Ashley Hill, Taylor Douglas, and Superintendent Moore and two representatives from Parkhill . For the City, their attorney, Jeff Betty, was present, and Councilmember Holland was absent. Other than myself, no member of the public was present. Finally, no representative from one of the key stakeholders at City Park, Irion County Commissioner's Court, was present. Why this meeting was so significant : IC ISD and the City of Mertzon are each making genuine efforts to stem the tide of stormwater flooding that is so damaging to our city streets, private property and City Park, which is co-owned/managed by the City of Mertzon, the Irion County Commissioner's Court and IC ISD. If the representations made back in April before the bond election by Parkhill on behalf of IC ISD are true , the $800,000+ being dedicated by IC ISD to the retention walls in item 6c of this agenda will slow the flood waters down so their impact will be less destructive. The distrust between the City and IC ISD is longstanding, and it was made all the worse by the School Board's mismanagement, to be polite, of its relationship with the City Council during the expenditure of the 2019 bond funds. So, any time there is a public meeting where IC ISD and the City Council are doing the public's business together is hugely significant. Moreover, the absence of the Irion County Commissioner's Court is significant because that is a sure signal that my request that the County be more proactive with stormwater flooding , a community wide problem, has indeed fallen on deaf ears. Their apparent apathy concerns me because it means there is no reason for the County to consider ongoing improvements to our facilities at City Park given their indifference to its flooding. What was accomplished, item 6a: The proposed MOU, a draft found here in the meeting notes , between the City and IC ISD was not adopted, but, in a nutshell, the Council voted to grant Mayor Stewart the authority to negotiate terms with IC ISD. This keeps hope alive for the retention projects, which are still not a sure thing at this stage. They are not a sure thing for a host of reasons, but one significant reason is the bad blood spilled on both sides involving the street closure of 4th Street for the new gym paid for with 2019 bond funds. Sometimes it is important to memorialize the precise wording of motions because their specificity can limit - or expand - a governing body's authority. Here is the verbatim motion, made by Councilmember Lindley, that was approved by the Council: "I make a motion to authorize the Mayor to enter into an agreement which will ultimately provide for better traffic flow at the school district facilities, address drainage issues related to said property and facilitate construction of those facilities." If you are a regular reader of my site, you might recognize this as the quid pro quo that has been in the works for some time now - the City will agree to abandon 3rd Street in front of the school if and only if the District addresses the drainage problems they have already created. But, it is more complicated than a mere quid pro quo, because a public hearing is involved in closing a city street. (More on this later, but here’s my post on the street closure wreck back in 2020 .) I spoke briefly about the proposed MOU and pointed out that there needs to be written acknowledgement that IC ISD will also maintain any retention structures. (Coincidentally, commenting at the time of an agenda matter is permitted under the Open Meetings Act. See 551.007(b) . Just request it at sign in when you state you want to speak during open forum.) What was not accomplished, item 6b : After an urgently requested executive session effectively demanded by Mr. Betty, the Council punted on item 6b and did not approve any of the retention projects options on pages 7-9 of the handout . Mayor Stewart said the Council would leave it to the District and its engineers to choose. This means the District was left hanging without any clear guidance on which of the plans to pursue. Why was the District left hanging? In part, I believe it had something to do with advice from its counsel during executive session that the City Council did not want to be in the business of prematurely approving any plan that might later include changing the flow of the stormwater coming off of the District's new construction. Such approval could create legal exposure for the City as well as the District. Indeed, topo maps will show that the District's proposed bus barn is going to require a redirection of stormwater around a private residence...and onto my property. These thorny problems may well complicate whether it is in the public's interest to close that portion of 3rd Street that the District is wanting. For my tag " How to read a public meeting " take note: always pay attention when the governmental body's lawyer interrupts the meeting and tells the chair to immediately call an executive session, as Mr. Betty did here. I've done that before, and when its done one reason is to shut the meeting down so that a board member is stopped from saying something compromising. I think that is exactly the case here, as the stopping point had to do with the direction of the flow of stormwater. Who Gets the Gold Stars : Mayor Pro-Tem Jayton Lindley gets some redemption for making the motion I mentioned above that will hopefully start the clean up that is necessary because of the closure of 4th Street for the new gym, which he supported back in 2020. Also, when I spoke I took an opportunity to thank Board President Maegin Carlile for leading a school board now taking stormwater seriously. Notwithstanding my urging at the time, the previous board leadership did not take it seriously...and we are all now paying the price for that because they worsened what was known even then to be a community wide problem. B. What else did the City Council do at this meeting, items 7 and 8 : In brief, they raised some revenue to pay for some mandatory expenses, and they approved hiring an additional office position. If I thought Mayor Stewart and the Council were mismanaging the public trust here, I'd dig in. But, I think these are good decisions that, in time, I will be covering in this blog. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

This fence at the football field is all that stops the floodwaters from flooding the football field during last week's 4+ inch rainfall. The arrow points to the single drain on the other side of the fence that is barely able to keep up with the rainfall. The fence was built after the Texas School Safety Center ding'ed the District for not having a security fence around the field. See more about this fence here . Below is the agenda for this Sept 9 2024 meeting, with my agenda analysis and meeting analysis underneath. You can also find my commentary about the sale of the bonds here . A. Agenda Analysis 1. Open forum, item 4 : If you are thinking you will speak here to protest the tax increase, well, good luck with that. The time to influence the Board on the tax rate was at the Public Hearing at the last meeting . 2. Bond issuance, item 5 : And so it begins - this is the first step in leveraging our county’s unique ad valorem wealth: minerals from Irion County oil and gas that can’t be recaptured by the State’s dysfunctional education finance system. It’s a bit like buying a shiny new car with a loan that can never be repaid…the buildings purchased with the bonds never appreciate and the cost to maintain them continues to increase, causing ongoing tax increases. As I did with the 2019 bonds, I hope to be putting some sunlight on who is getting these funds. (Architect Jeff Potter, for example, took a cool $900,000+ of the $18 million 2019 funds.) Live Oak Public Finance took home a portion of the 2019 bond funds, and, yes, they are returning again in 2024 for more funds...and they get theirs at the barrel head . Here is the fee structure for Live Oak for the sale of both the 2019 and upcoming 2024 bonds: Not including the expenses, this means Live Oak was paid $85,000+ for the sale of the ($18 million) 2019 bonds, and potentially $210,000+ for the sale of the ($53 million) 2024 bonds. That's a lot of dough for a jug keeper (what my father called money changers), and there's no wonder Live Oak had a representative, John Blackburn, at the community meetings when IC ISD was pitching the bond election in 2019 and earlier this year in 2024. Financing public school bonds is quite profitable, and there is little or no risk because the bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the State of Texas. (IC ISD can bust its bond budget like it did in 2019, but even that won't impact its Moody's rating because of the State's backing.) Finally, here is the entire contract between Live Oak Public Finance and IC ISD that I received pursuant to my recent PIA request. Note that the contract hasn't changed since 2018. 3. Adoption of 2024 tax rate, item 6 : This vote is a mere formality for the Board at this point. No one protested at public hearing, and, regretfully, the parents are oddly apathetic about how taxes impact public education. In theory, this is a "neutral" tax increase, as the District is clawing back some of tax savings given to homeowners by the Texas legislature last session . In reality, however, I think we will see increased maintenance and operations expenses as a byproduct of the 2024 bonds, just as we are seeing with the 2019 bonds. (More on increased M&O expenses in the future, but to perhaps pique your interest consider this: the District in 2024 is spending more on electricity in one month for the new gym, City Gym , than it did for its entire campus for the entire year in 2008.) 4. Closed session and actions on closed session, items 11 and 13 : I am not aware of any open meetings exception that will allow a closed session on the school calendar or on portables. Enough said. It's not as if Supt. Ray DeSpain cornered the market in bad hydrologic designs with the 2019 bond funds. An earlier superintendent ( Billy Barnett? ) approved the plans for this single drain to be the sole remedy for the floodwaters pictured in the photo above. This happened back when the field was converted from grass to artificial. Some of the 2019 bond funds were used to clean it out, and I'm betting it needs more attention by now. It is always going to need cleaning, another example of ongoing M&O expense from a bond project. B. Meeting Analysis 1. Open forum, item 4 . No one was present, thus allowing for a friction-free meeting for the Board to borrow, tax and spend. 2. Bond issuance, item 5 . Mr. Blackburn presented a PowerPoint on the District’s first bond issuance, $30.37 million, of the 2024 bond authorization. The Board approved the sale, which was a foregone conclusion as the sale happened this morning - that is, the sale had already taken place. Read my commentary about this bond sale below . 3. Discuss/approve adoption of tax rate, item 6 : As predicted, the Board approved the tax rates mentioned in the agenda item without discussion. Tax Assessor Collector Joyce Gray was present and diplomatically guided the Board on the proper motion. The bond sale was a foregone conclusion, and so was this. To wrap this part up, no community member objected to the tax rate. 4. Administrative Reports, item 7 : Principal Parker gave a report on both schools. During her presentation the question of "What is FAFSA ?" came up. One thing to consider in this fall's presidential election - if the Department of Education is abolished, so potentially will all the aid that goes with the FAFSA. Superintendent Moore's report covered a number of things, but, to the point, she gave an update on bond matters. The renderings on the proposed maintenance barn are complete. More on all that later after my next PIA request. 5. Discuss/approve bus, item 8 : Ryan Kramer, the District's new transportation consultant, was present and gave what I considered to be a fascinating review of federal and state bus/transportation laws. He was so careful to say, in effect, I am aware of some districts who are fudging on these laws, but I don't recommend that ! (A van that transports students still has to comply with all federal safety regulations.) After discussion, the Board took his advice and approved the purchase of a 14 seat bus for $98,300.00 . To put this in perspective, about 100 years ago when my grandmother, Nan Lackey, attended school in Irion County as a student, she rode her horse from the family ranch about 8 miles out and kept it in a stable a few blocks from Sherwood Courthouse. 6. Consent agenda, item 9 : Less than was spent on the consent agenda. That's how fast consent agendas are meant to go, but too fast to be certain the District is properly spending our tax funds. 7. Closed session and items from closed session, items 11 and 13 : Nothing was voted on at item 13, so I'm sticking with my analysis above. I'm not aware of any exception for portables or the calendar that would allow this closed session. 8. Who wasn't at this meeting and more : Board member Taylor Douglas and Principal John Morrow were not present. More: watch for news on the closure of 3rd Street near the school for the placement of portables in preparation of raising the old part of the elementary school. C. Commentary on the IC ISD bond sale Of that $30.37 million bond sale, Mr. Blackburn and a host of other Jug Keepers, including JP Morgan Chase, will be collecting about $370,000 in fees. Mr. Blackburn, coincidentally, mentioned that there were literally “billions” of Texas school bonds sold last month. A lot of public wealth just got transferred, folks. A lot. So, consider this for this school district with only 339 students comprising a county wide boundary with less than 2,000 population AND that is not growing: the Jug Keepers set their sights set on the public wealth of this community, and in 30 days when the financing is funded they will handsomely profit off our our community's educational system yet never have lived here, worked here or even physically participated in our local economy. Moreover, they have no vested interested in improving the educational outcome of the local students. They have had one interest: profit. And government is helping them make that profit with in fact as few regulations as possible. I'm going to coin a phrase here and ask that you re-align your thinking to macro economic levels: the sale of these bonds makes IC ISD an integral part of the school bond industrial complex . Think beyond the Jug Keepers here and ask this simple question: what companies and individuals are going to profit from these $30.37 million in bond funds? And, which investors? And, what will their profit be based upon? The future market value, a mere bet really, on the price of oil and gas. This is hands down neoliberalism - that is, a neo laissez faire economic model that supports global capitalism and that favors the deregulation of free markets and the privatization of wealth. So, who gets all that wealth? Well, to start with, it is simpler to state who doesn't get all that wealth: the children attending IC ISD, and, to throw salt on this wound, neither do the children of those ambitious IC ISD school board members who voted for the bonds in the first place. Absolutely none of this massive investment in education has anything to do with improving education. (As I've said before, none of the 2019 bond funds were spent on the construction of a single classroom .) Indeed, if Mr. Blackburn's analysis happens to be wrong (as it was in 2019 with the school bond industrial complex betting on wind energy ) it will be the children who will pay the most for the lack of wealth. And, next, the teachers will pay. They will pay in the form of low wages and lay offs. At this point my daughter, a Gen Z'er, might point out, disapprovingly, "This is late stage capitalism , Dad!" Think on it. What happens when, not if , this economy moves to an energy source more efficient than oil and gas? To be clear, Mr. Blackburn is not the personification of evil...he is the personification of a mere... bet . I'm not spouting economic theory here. This is economic reality. And, this reality is the same in school districts all over Texas, whether it be from over dependence on oil and gas wealth or property wealth, and it has the blessing of the Texas Legislature, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and, most importantly, the Texas Education Agency. School bond industrial complex. More reading: TEA's Bond Guarantee Program ; also, consider this section of the law, Texas Education Code 45.0533 , that in effect keeps all communications TEA might have with "nationally ranked investment firms" concerning the health of the Bond Guarantee Program and the fund that supports it, Permanent School Fund, protected from disclosure under the Public Information Act. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

There are two meetings in one this time. Below are the two agendas with my agenda analysis and meeting analysis underneath. Go here for my commentary on the prayer fence pictured above. First meeting agenda: Second meeting agenda: A. Agenda analysis for both meetings: The first meeting at 6 PM is the required open forum part of the annual process of ad valorem taxation. If you wish to complain about the tax hike by IC ISD, this is where and when you would do it. Second meeting, items 3 and 4: These items should be read together. The budget amendments for 23-24 are “clean up” for the current fiscal year. I have previously blogged about the need for more sunshine on budget amendments, as previous practice for the District has been to create a sort of invisibility cloak so that it was hard to understand the reasons for amendment. I think there would be more accountability in governmental budgeting if each amendment were specifically identified on the agenda. As to the adoption of the 24-25 budget, item 3, if a citizen wanted to take issue with how the Board proposes to spend their tax dollars before a final vote to approve, they would be hard pressed to do so. I haven’t done an exhaustive search, but I can find no Texas law out there that requires that the entire proposed budget of a school district be posted publicly before it is voted upon by the Board. There ought to be a provision that school districts must post their proposed budgets at least 3 days before they vote to approve it. Without such disclosure, citizens really have no way of protesting the budgetary decisions, and the public meeting and open forum portions of these meetings are meaningless. Please let me know if I have overlooked some already existing provision. Land purchase, item 5: In a similar vein, citizens can’t protest (or encourage!) in an open forum the expansion of school district campus boundaries when an agenda notice like this one does not include the location of the property. What land?! Closed session, personnel update, items 7 a and 9: Section 571.045 of the Open Meetings Act provides that this closed session is allowed to “deliberate 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 .” Section 551.144 addresses the penalties for having a closed meeting that is not permitted. If there is one thing I could revolutionize in Texas school law it would be to require publicly paid attorneys to be present at all school board meetings, especially during closed sessions. So many abuses of the Open Meetings Act could be prevented with legal representation present. This is the model used by the Texas Attorney General’s office and all state agency governing boards. B. Meeting analysis Tax hearing, first meeting . Other than myself, no one from the public was present. Open forum, item 2, and 24-25 budget adoption : No one from the public, other than myself, was present. I did not speak because…well, I’ve covered that before. I don’t have a paper or digital copy of the specific budget (yet) but this one is going to be in the neighborhood of $22 million, folks. Almost $8 million is being recaptured by the State because IC ISD is a wealthy district, yet the District is managing a deficit budget for 24-25 of about $426,000. I am always amazed this time of year when no parents or taxpayers attend this meeting and, at the very minimum, complain about the loss of the recapture payment. It’s a sad state of affairs when the public is so disconnected from the school board that there isn’t any concern about how awful the funding mechanisms are for public education. I think it is also dangerous. The District, I predict, is eventually not be able to afford its upkeep of its massive capital investments without ongoing tax increases. That said, I’ll do a PIA request for the board meeting documents soon, and after that review I’ll dive into the weeds a bit on these pages. To their credit, some Board members were more engaged in their discussion of the budget than in previous years. I have criticized them in previous years for their silence during meetings and failing to understand that their engagement on funding is what creates accountability of the Superintendent and CFO . Budget amendments, item 4 : I’m going to keep beating this dead horse. The Board approved the budget amendments “as presented”. I'll state my objection to this a bit differently: any motion that includes “as presented” when the governing body fails to provide the related documents to the public at the beginning of the meeting is nothing less than a cloud screen. Contrast this with the City of Mertzon, who regularly makes a few copies of meeting documents, including budget matters, available to the public at the beginning of the meeting. A taxpayer wanting to know where the City of Mertzon is spending its money could readily figure it out, but not so at IC ISD. Like the budget adoption above, I’ll do a PIA request for these amendments soon. Now, to be fair, the District’s new business manager, Kandra Lakey, went further into the weeds on some parts of the amendments than CFO Robert Helms ever did. Treating board members like they are supposed to know and understand the budget is the best way to keep board members accountable AND to relieve exposure on the staff, who is not responsible for the final budget approval. But, even more financial transparency is needed, especially when it come to budget amendments. Stay tuned. Land purchase, item 5 : The District is in negotiations to purchase, at a cost of around $260,00.00, some additional lots to its northwest. I'll not cover this now while the negotiations are pending. Bond news : Part of the budget approval process included a $4.1 million early payment on the 2019 bonds. Again, an aggressive prepayment schedule like this is going to be what saves the District in the next oil and gas bust. There was no discussion about 2024 bonds, though, heads up, what might the new land purchase discussed below be used for? Who wasn't at this meeting, and more : Principal Jessica Parker, Asst. Principal John Morrow, Board members Rick Rey and Tony Martinez, and (former?) CFO Robert Helms. My search for Robert Helms in the District's online directory came up with nothing, so it appears he is no longer on the payroll. No announcement has ever been made during the board meetings. I am covering his apparent departure as yet one more high ranking administrator with intimate knowledge of the financing and build out of the 2019 bond package who has moved on. This, and the other departures I have blogged about (Superintendents Brian Gray and Ray DeSpain, President Vicente Flores and a number of board members, Mayor Bill Taylor, Principal Shannon Chapman, Athletic Director Jacob Conner, and of course Architect Jeff Potter and WBK Construction), underscores the slippery nature of creating public accountability for the terrible decisions made surrounding the construction of City Gym and the expenditure of the 2019 bonds without public oversight. C. Additional commentary on the Prayer Fence: My first thought when I read the prayer fence sign at the top of the page was, “I wonder if that is Constitutional?” My second thought was “Who is the community?” And my third thought was, “Who is behind this?” First, an important fact: the sign is tied to a fence on the IC ISD campus and the background is of the elementary playground. One way or another, it stays there with the blessing of IC ISD. I have argued here that one of the chief obligations of government is to create community . And I have argued here (at 2 D) that anonymity destroys leadership and advocacy .  So where does that get me now? I haven't defined “community”, and the more I address the ongoing new risks created by the 2024 bonds, the less I understand what “community” means. (The 2019 bonds sure taught me a thing or two about community!) I also think it is worth noting that I have had to intuit that the sign was put up by our local Methodist Church, of whom School Board President Maegin Carlie is a member, because by mere chance I saw some posts related to it on Facebook. Facebook, and all social media, is at best an  illusory community in my day to day life. I don’t care to delegate what my community is saying to a billionaire’s algorithms when I am the product he is selling. Government In the Sun in part is about encouraging government leaders to claim ownership of their words and actions and holding them accountable when they refuse to do so . However one defines “community”, my experience time and time again is that government leaders and staffers acting anonymously are a negative counter force to our democratic ideals.  The solution provided us by our Founders so that our democracy remains vibrant are certain principles, like the separation of church and state, found in the Constitution. So, the very anonymity of this sign operates as  a signal that its supporters are doing something privately that perhaps they know that they can't do publicly. If you can’t publicly own your convictions, then your advocacy to convince others is meaningless. Thus, the sign, to me, has the opposite effect of what was likely intended... because in fact I don't know for certain who owns it . I would rather pray in private and keep all my stuff between God and myself. Is the sign constitutional? I don’t know, though until recently I could have easily said, “Of course it isn’t”. (Isn't it a different take on prayer on the 50 yard line, like in Kennedy v. Bremerton , given the elementary playground is right there . The playground IS the 50 yard line. ) This is a fascinating time for all of us to consider it.  The State of Louisiana is teeing up for a US Supreme Court review of  its recent law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in all public school classrooms. That law will go into effect on January 1.  And, it appears from press reports that I read that  the Texas Legislature, meeting again in January, is going to pass the same bill. I would expect Governor Abbott to sign emergency legislation to that effect in early 2025, if anything, to try to get the challenge to the US Supreme Court before Louisiana does.  This is because each state’s elected leadership will want to get to the Supreme Court first to take advantage of its conservative majority, who will likely approve it. I don’t profess to be  a scholar on the separation of church and state in public school.  I like to cover the issue, however, because with age I am more comfortable with letting people believe what they want to believe, while at the same time speaking my peace with local government. When I attended IC ISD the Supreme Court case of Engel v. Vitale  was new and precedent setting, and it had a tremendous effect on my views.  I was thus absolutely unprepared in my undergraduate philosophy studies when it came to studying the existence of God. Such study was something I chose on my own, however, not something the State forced upon me to study. I consider that a good thing, while I know others will disagree.  You can read more of my posts about religion in public school by clicking my tag below called “God and School Law”. I don't intend to miss this opportunity to continue covering the issue given the makeup of our Supreme Court and the apparent local interest in pushing the issue. This is a changing area of the law. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

Here is more on how lidar (light detection and ranging) works and what we will learn from it. Below is the agenda for this meeting, and underneath that my agenda analysis and my meeting analysis . Agenda analysis Note that start time is 6:15 pm. a. Taxes, items 6-9: These items are all related. Here's your opportunity to complain...or praise...the City for their use of your tax dollars. b. Ferguson meter installation, item 10: The City will likely accept the bid to update all its water meters. This will allow remote access monitoring and better accuracy. c. Feral cat program, item 11: See my earlier comments about this new initiative at this page at the # 2, Administrative Reports . I'm glad to see this up for discussion again, if anything just to alert cat owners and to prevent blowback onto City leaders if someone's beloved housecat gets left out, trapped, and then fixed. This also elevates this item from part of the Administrative Reports portion of the meeting to an explicit agenda item, so no one will be able to later complain that they didn't know anything about it. This sort of item needs plenty of air time. I favor this program, by the way. Cats are the #1 predator of birds, and in the US alone some estimates are that they consume over 1 billion birds per year. One can easily justify this program on that basis alone. While I personally own no cats, I am close to someone who adores them. They are a supporter of this very method of controlling the cat population. d. Tree trimming at football field, item 14: Apparently IC ISD wants to trim trees around the football field. Here's how this works. The land the field is located on is owned by the City of Mertzon and is leased to IC ISD. That lease requires approval from the City before any tree work is done. I don't know which trees are being considered, but any tree work at City Park is very sensitive politically. One reason for the sensitivity is that the Live Oaks are old and native, and the District has long been a tree taker and not a tree planter . One reason our community floods so is that the native habitat has been removed and replaced with impervious cover. The least green neighbor we have is IC ISD! Not a single tree was planted with the 2019 bond funds, yet enormous amounts of impervious cover was put down. Anecdotally, modern school construction all over Texas is apparently designed by architects who are excessively reliant on cement and appear to have no concern about the natural environment. Take a look at the more recent school construction around the state and see if it includes any xeriscaping or green cover. I'm betting you will find very little, if any. My opinion is that even if the District wishes to trim a tree, they need to commit to the City that they will plant a tree. They have a lot of catching up to do for all the trees they have removed in the last century . The City and its residents would not be in the situation we are now in with community wide flooding had IC ISD been more conscientious about preserving our natural environment. e. Interlocal agreement with TML on cyber security, item 12 : I've not written much about TML, the Texas Municipal League . The City is a member, and they are a nonprofit association of cities whose purpose, broadly, is to support Texas municipalities. They are non regulatory (they don't regulate cities), in contrast to the TEA (Texas Education Agency) who most definitely regulates IC ISD. TML is also provides insurance to municipalities. 2. Meeting analysis. Here are the meeting documents for this meeting. a. Public Hearings, items 6 and 7: the public was a no show . My take is that governmental bodies eventually fail to take citizens seriously when they don't participate in, even if by simply attending, their board meetings, including budget meetings. Advocacy tip: whatever your advocacy issue is with local government, your cause will benefit from your understanding the economics behind the government policy or practice you are protesting. As I have previously written, government budgets are statements of community values. So, for example, if your city leaders don’t value ordinance enforcement and the rule of law they will not generate revenue to employ code enforcement personnel and judges. Here is an earlier blog post where I argue that government budgets are statements of community values . b. Tax rate, budget, items 8&9: Here is the handout for the meeting, showing an effective tax increase of 3.5% at page 8. In terms of budgeting those funds, the Council approved among other things a salary increase of 3% for City employees, except for the City Manager. I suspect none was sought for the City Manager at her request; she received a large pay raise last year, I believe. A 3% increase for City employees is not enough in my opinion. That isn't enough to keep up with inflation. In addition, every interaction I have with City staff is positive and professional. These folks work hard and deserve more. For my regular readers, you know that I consistently lobby for increased salaries for governmental employees. Taxpayers get what they pay for, in my opinion, and scrimping on public employee salaries is not the answer to achieving good government. Government employees need decent wages so they can do more than just get by. Paying low wages to city employees, just like low salaried public school teachers, is a wrongheaded community value. c. New water meters, item 12 : The Council approved this $182,785 purchase of "smart" water meters. The purchase is roughly 2/3 funded by grant money and 1/3 funded by the City. More on this later. d. Feral cat program, item 11: The Council formally approved what they agreed upon last meeting, but without all of the commentary last meeting about alternate methods of population control. The costs to the City are $25.00 per cat, which is a substantial reduction were the cat domesticated. I'll report back on the success of the initiative later. For more reading, Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 281 covers treatment of animals. e. Tree trimming at the football field, item 14 : The tree approved for trimming is the large tree south of the home bleacher. The Council agreed that a City staffer will be present during the trimming, the one sure sign during the discussion that the Council was taking its role of stewardship for the trees seriously. That said, even in view of my comments above, there appears to little awareness of the fact that the City can manage its relationship with the District to require it to be more environmentally proactive and less reliant on impervious cement and pavement . Watch this blog for my coverage on how much additional impervious cover is being added by the District with the 2024 bonds. f. Interlocal Agreement with TML on Cybersecurity, item 12 : I have published the entire agreement , which is an insurance policy for cyber attacks. At paragraph 11, "The Fund agrees to handle all cyber liability and data breach response claims, and provide a defense for any and all cyber liability and data breach response claims covered under this interlocal agreement..." g. Next meeting of the Council: September 9. Copyright 2024 G Noelke

This is my final feature on the 3 ICISD steles. Veritas is Latin for "truth". Veritas in Roman mythology is the Goddess of Truth. This stele shows an open faced book, perhaps symbolizing that truth can be found in books...an appropriate message to be sending to school children. But which book? The book isn't identified, and that is indeed part of the mystery of an education. Where do children go to find Veritas in a public school? Here is more on Veritas . And, here are my earlier features on the Athena Owl and the Lux steles. All should be preserved for future students to be curious about. Below is the agenda for this meeting, and underneath that are the agenda analysis and my meeting analysis . New readers, teachers, students and parents: I will review the District's agenda and add my analysis a few days before the meeting date. (By law, the District has to post the agenda 72 hours before the meeting.) My analysis is a running commentary that may change up to the time of the meeting. Then, I attend and record the meeting, and the following several days I will post my meeting analysis. I do my own photography, and it is all local subject matter. I take in no ad or other revenue, don't have a child in school and I am self employed...which is all to say that I am beholden to no one. I write about things related to government that pretty much go unsaid in small town Texas. Agenda Analysis: a. Closed session and action items from closed session, items 7and 9 : Reading this agenda you might not appreciate the significance of these items. The District is self-policed with staff in possession of firearms. I covered the new guardian laws in a previous post here at B 5 . Here is a resource page at the School Safety Center . I found in my recent review of the District's check register expenses for ammo and firearm training. Let the reality of those expenses sink in for a few minutes. Also, here is a drafting issue: technically, the Board cannot "approve" the guardians while in closed session, as by law no votes are allowed in closed. Even so, by law they will not have to disclose the identity of those guardians in open session at item 9. Ponder that for a few moments. This is a rare literal instance where the police power of the state is secret, by law. Do you feel more or less safe for yourself and your child knowing this? b. 2024 tax rate, item 2 : Judging my attendance at the City of Mertzon and Irion County's meetings where Tax Assessor Collector Joyce Gray presented, gird your loins for a significant tax increase. It may be the best way to approach this is to plan ahead to what positive tax impact the new Matterhorn Pipeline will have once it comes online in 2025. That could be significant revenue based on comments made at the County Commissioner's meeting on August 6. The 2024 school bonds were not passed with any valuation of that pipeline as it was still under construction at the time of the bond election. c. Administrative Reports, item 4 : This is the first meeting where the Principal and Athletic Director/Assistant Principal duo of Jessica Parker and John Morrow are on the agenda together. There is no report by the CFO, Robert Helms, as discussed below. d. Consent agenda, items 5 a-i : This one is like trying to take a drink of water from a firehose! All of these items have to be voted upon, and potentially voted upon without discussion . Here's a good page on the meaning and use of consent agendas . BoardSource ends on that page by saying, " Board members need to be vigilant so that debatable issues do not accidentally pass through without appropriate deliberation. " I would flip that a bit by saying that also citizens need to be vigilant so that debatable issues do not accidentally or intentionally pass through without appropriate deliberation. Here’s the dilemma: if citizens do not attend board meetings there is no incentive for board members to debate anything, yet if citizens do attend board meetings there is incentive to governmental bodies to "hide" controversial or difficult issues in a consent agenda so as to avoid a public discussion. This is as confounding as trying to get at the juice of a ripe cactus tuna without getting millions of glochids in your fingers! In my opinion, from the perspective of a taxpayer, item c dealing with financials should always be debated by the board and therefor never be on a consent agenda. Were I a student , I might also think that any amendment to the student handbook or code of conduct, item i, should always be debated. Students, or perhaps a student representative from the appropriate student group, should always have a presence at school board meetings. See my page here at Meeting Analysis # 7 for what this amendment to the student handbook/code of conduct may be about. e. What's missing and more : I urge my readers to compare and contrast agendas to learn how to interpret them. You might have to read between the lines and regularly read my posts to see this: it appears the CFO, Mr. Helms, will not be present at the same time as Joyce Gray, the Irion County Tax Assessor Collector, will be presenting her 2024 revenue projections. My best guess is that Mr. Helms is in retirement mode until he leaves at the end of August, but, whatever his status, he or his position is not mentioned on the agenda. The roles of the CFO and the superintendent positions are unique. Consider this fact about the spend down of the 2019 school bonds at ICISD, before the arrival of Superintendent Moore, the current superintendent: The superintendent and school board ran the bond budget into the ground and ended with a six figure deficit bond budget, while at the same time the CFO secured for the District the highest rating possible, superior , from TEA's financial rating system, FIRST . And, if the public doesn't attend the board meetings, then no one will ever be the wiser. Here are the ICISD FIRST scores for the 22-23 school year , under Supt. Ray DeSpain, CFO Robert Helms and Board President Vicente Flores. (By attending the school board meetings and using the Public Information Act, I was able to determine that the District went over budget with its 2019 bond funds in excess of $200,000.00. If you wonder about my interest in the school's spending habits, well that's why! You won’t find any of this in any Moody’s report, and you certainly won’t hear it discussed at a Board meeting.) 2. Meeting analysis a. Proposed tax rate, item 2 a: The Board approved what is in effect a proposed 10 cent per $100 tax rate increase for the District’s debt fund (interest and sinking), thus clawing back the 10 cent legislative savings given last year. That is, the rate would go from .13 to .23. This raise is consistent with representations made by the District prior to the bond election . So, theoretically, it is all a wash. Or, is it? First, keep in mind that the compression approved by the legislature last session was for residential property (your home), not real property, as in agricultural land. So, if my evaluation is correct, for some this will not be a wash but an outright .10 increase. Second, do not underestimate the impact that the new Matterhorn pipeline is going to have on the total appraised value of all property in Irion County. This year, 2024, saw it included for the the first time. Even in its incomplete state it, according to Joyce Gray, made up the lions share of a $211,970,710 increase in new value. That's a 42 inch as pipeline that fully valued with gas flowing through it will significantly increase the total tax base in 2025 and beyond. (And there is room enough to add a second pipeline alongside the current one, in my opinion.) What will happen when that tax base expands? Well, I predict that IC ISD is going to roll in another bond package...and your taxes will be increased above this .23 amount. Be careful what you wish for, folks. Superior school facilities are little more than a mirage of an educated child. In Travis County, even in Eanes ISD, the most prestigious school district in the county, there are families living in mobile homes being forced out because they can't afford the taxes, their lots are bought by developers and turned into McMansions. Those McMansions then increase everyone's property taxes, thereby creating a vicious cycle of tax increases and massive school growth. Best I can tell, the most significant difference between Travis County and Irion County in this regard is that it is impossible to get a water meter from the City of Mertzon. It's all about water. b. Closed session, items 7 & 9 : The Board at item 9 voted to approve the Guardians recommended by Superintendent Moore in their closed session, but did not disclose their names, as I suggest might occur above . Why should you consider the approval of guardians important and relevant? Because no one, other than myself, is present at these school board meetings. The Board has a long history of governing in private, and it undoubtedly prefers a disengaged community. Democracy dies where there is no light. In this singular vote, the Board effectively approved the members of a state sanctioned local private police force, and no one was watching. Rather than get paranoid about a secret police force in a town of less than 1,000 folks, I find it more helpful to evaluate the form of government that made the decision. Of course, we are neither a monarchy or autocracy; we are a democracy. But, are we a democracy ? We aren't a true democracy, which is at best a mere ideal, and this vote underscores that. Consider whether the Board is a form of anocracy or semi-democracy . That is, it is more of a guided or regulated democracy sanctioned by TEA, the state legislature and the governor. But, this government is in a small town environment where a elite few can make all the important decisions, they can eliminate all competition in such a manner that the electorate can be made apathetic about how they govern, and they can govern in an environment where the system to redress grievances is under developed. c. Administrative reports, item 4: In the tagline of "How to Read on Open Meeting", consider the situation that we have here where the chief administrator, Supt. Moore, gave a bare bones administrative report. (Her report was essentially limited to the need to hire a new teacher aid, which I gather was later discussed in closed session.) In this meeting, her report, however, effectively came out in part during the consent agenda. All of the consent agenda matters passed in one vote, some with discussion some without. But, all represented her priorities as matters that had to be passed. (The proper tool to entertain real debate on a consent agenda is for the Chair to ask the members if they want to "pull" any matter on the consent agenda so that it can be fully debated. That did not happen here.) Otherwise, the reports given by Principal Parker and AD/Asst. Principal Morrow were worthwhile and informative. I'll be covering their reports more in future meetings as they mature into their new roles. d. Consent agenda, item 5 a-i: President Carlile did a good job of managing this part of the agenda, which was a fair portion of the meeting. All matters were approved in a single vote. I think the transportation issues are worth noting. First, the Board approved the consulting contract with Mr. Kramer of Kramer Consulting, so there's a tangible start to that part of the 2024 bonds dealing with buses. I am in the process of obtaining that contract under the PIA, coincidentally. Second, the transportation part of the stipend for drivers and aides equates to about $400 a day or $80,000 a year. There is ongoing discussion about having transfers into the district pay a fee for transportation. As to the remainder of the consent items, I think the Board missed an opportunity it created earlier in the year to engage students in the passage of the dress code, which was part of the student handbook at item 5i. There were no students present during this item, and the matter apparently had been approved behind the scenes. There are precious few opportunities for government to model debate for young citizens, and it is a much needed skill because so many today believe they are being productive on social media when they really aren't. The anonymity found on most social media sites kills true advocacy and leadership. e. More 2024 bond activity: Throughout the day on the date of this meeting one could see a drilling rig going from marker to marker, pictured below, drilling a short distance. down. After randomly spotting the crew here and there it appeared to me they were taking core or soil samples. There was a huge cloud of limestone dust around the crew at the location of the new bus barn. That cloud told me what I knew from my posthole digging days as a kid on the ranch. It's rock down there. Solid. Rock. The hard kind of rock that, if you don't know how to release your grip when your crowbar hits it, your hands start to vibrate in pain. Know this Gallagher , Parkhill and everyone else newly involved with the 2024 bonds: The District spent over $500,000 to excavate the limestone for City Gym . That's a lot of dough, and plenty enough to prove up what we already know is just inches below the surface. Water doesn't permeate it. Water flows over the top of it. f. Who wasn't at this meeting: Board members Ashley Hill and DJ Rainey, and CFO Robert Helms. g. More? Possibly. Consider the rest pending. Copyright 2024 G. Noelke

Below is the agenda for the August 5, 2024 meeting, and underneath that is my agenda analysis and my meeting analysis . Agenda Analysis : a. Executive session, item 5: Another "how to read" tip: compare how different governmental bodies draft their executive session, that part of the meeting in which they can meet privately without the presence of the public. Here, the City refers to the specific sections in the Government Code Open Meetings Act that allow them to enter into the executive session: real property and personnel. Contrast this with ICISD on this page where they mention only "closed session" and no section number. I much prefer the method used by the City because it identifies the authority they are using. Why does it matter? Well, it keeps everyone honest. The Open Meetings Act is crystal clear - the body can't go into executive session unless a specific exception exists that permit it. It is illegal to meet privately unless that exception exists. A specific reference to the law is a necessary reminder to everyone - the public and the governmental leaders - that the closed meeting is permitted and has its own limits . I think reasonable notice includes the specific sections of the exceptions and general topics, like "personnel" and "real estate". Ideally the specific real property would be identified so that citizens know what property the governmental body is considering. (If our tax dollars are going to buy real property then we need to know specifically what real property that will be before the property is purchased.) 2024 Tax rate, item 6 : This is the annual setting of the tax rate. Joyce Gray, Tax Assessor Collector, will be present to explain the current state of ad valorem taxation law as it relates to the City. I don't think any citizen really has standing to complain about high taxation until they have listened to her speak. I always learn something valuable from her presentations, and I go away with a more nuanced view of how funding of local government actually works. I believe she will be speaking to the County Commissioners the following day, August 6 , and to the ICISD Board on August 13. Parade ordinance, second reading, item 7 : See my comments below after the meeting. Frontier, Bringing Opportunity online to Texas, item 8 : This is a competitive grant program for broadband internet . 2. Meeting analysis: Here are the meeting documents for this meeting. a. Executive session . Turns out there was none and it was put on the agenda as a placeholder in case the Council wanted to go into one. This is an appropriate time to point out that just because a matter is on an agenda doesn’t mean that it will be heard. Closed sessions are not required, and they are allowed only under specific situations. b. 2024 Tax Rate: The City of Mertzon ad valorem taxes are proposed to go up about 6.5 cents per $100.00 in valuation in 2024. Here are the documents Tax Assessor Joyce Gray handed out to the Council at the meeting , and below is the public notice in the Big Lake Wildcat newspaper: I am going to keep my powder dry on the local ad valorem tax increases underway, at least until I attend the ICISD board meeting. If you are into these things, I attended Ms. Gray's presentation to the Irion County Commissioner's meeting on August 6, and here is her handout to them . The proposed increases for both City and County are an eye opener, folks. And the rub is that these increases aren’t really adding much revenue into their budgets. ICISD will have its meeting to consider their proposal likely at their next meeting on Aug 13 Note: you can take issue with or support this tax rate at the Council's meeting on August 19 at 6:15 pm. c. Parade ordinance, item 7 : The Council clarified that because a potential fine was involved this proposed ordinance needed a second reading and vote. Certain proposed ordinances have to go through extra steps before they can become law, and this is one. There were no changes to the ordinance, and the Council again voted to approve it. d. Bringing Online Opportunities to Texas (BOOT), Frontier, item 8 : A Frontier representative was present to seek the Council's signature for support of funding effort that will bring fiber internet service to Mertzon and Irion County. For more information, including a map of the county where fiber installation is proposed, see pages 2-11 of the handouts . There are potentially 656 locations in the county that could be eligible for fiber through this grant process. Look to see if your location is marked with a yellow dot on the map on page 9 of the handouts. Mr. Tony Bednarczyk attended on behalf of Frontier. His contact info can be found on page 11 of the handout. Reach out to him if you have any questions. His presentation was informative and the Council voted to sign the proposed letter of support for the funds. There is little doubt that much of the county is underserved with awful internet service, so the Council's support of the funding is obviously a win for everyone. As an aside, growing up riding horseback along the fence line at my family's University lease in the south of the county I recall finding the insulators that were used for the wires for the first phone lines in the county. In high school, I helped maintain the phone line along Country Road 134 when Ma Bell was around but would not service the lines to ranches because they were privately owned lines back then. The ranching families owned and managed the lines, then on small telephone poles, even into the 1970's. Can you imagine a high schooler today up on a ranch ladder leaning up against a telephone pole (or propped in the bed of a pickup against a feeder!) trying to splice a copper wire? A fiber optic line? d. Administrative reports: -Other announcements - the City has coordinated with Critter Shack to trap feral cats to have them fixed to help reduce the feral cat population in the city. A similar program exists in nearby cities. The cats will be live trapped, taken to Wall for surgery, then returned to where they were trapped in Mertzon. Cats that receive the surgery will have their ears notched. The cost to the City is $25.00 per cat. Cat owners need to bring their domesticated cats indoors on August 21, the day of the trapping, so that domesticated cats are not inadvertently trapped and fixed. Watch for additional information from the City. Certain Council members during the discussion of this issue were, to be generous here, less than sensitive with their opinions on various methods of population reduction that would not require this surgery. Sensitivity to animal welfare is a good value for elected officials, particularly in rural Texas communities where past ways of acceptable wild animal control are not current with the times and voicing such methods continues a negative stereotype of rural life. There are some, I am not among them, that believe that animals have actual legal rights. I still nonetheless believe that humane animal welfare has a very important place among the responsibilities of citizenship and good government. I thus would urge the Council naysayers to show some sensitivity on this issue. e. More - pending. Copyright 2024 G Noelke