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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Agenda Analysis  | Meeting Review  | Meeting Documents | Commentary | Last Meeting This meeting includes discussion of the Community Center renovation/new construction project. This map done for the City of Mertzon in 2023 shows that 518 acres drain towards the 29 acre City Park, where the current Community Center and Football Stadium are situated. A. Agenda Analysis Community Center Project, item 8 : My interest in this meeting is largely this one item. My regular readers know that I have opposed additional development of City Park. I am not opposed to a new Community Center, but I am opposed to local government continuing to develop the City in a way that stormwater drainage becomes an ever increasing burden on taxpayers and private landowners. 2025 Tax Role approval, item 5: This is a pro forma vote that is required now that the tax "roll" is finalized. I mention it here because IC ISD is doing the same thing at this meeting . (The City of Mertzon is approving the roll next week.) There is a standardized process for funding local government, so notwithstanding how dysfunctional state and federal government are at the moment, the process of figuring the income for local government for the next year is almost complete. The tax collection after this vote is what remains. A total of 547 acres drain through these small 4 barrels that go underneath Highway 67. And then, 150 - 200 yards down the same water has to drain through even smaller barrels underneath a railroad track. As the city has developed, the capacity for stormwater drainage has not developed with it. B. Meeting Review Community Center Project, item 8: The Court took no formal action, but Judge Criner tasked herself with synthesizing into a list some "needs and wants" from the Community Committee presentation and other resources. There was considerable discussion on how best to use the limited space available to the County at City Park, and in this regard it was readily apparent from this meeting that the Court wasn't going to jump into this without a lot more study. The next step with the design team, Komatsu, is for the Court to tell them how they want to use the space. Drainage is definitely on the list of their concerns. (It should be!) New to me was their concern about the aging swimming pool and whether to move and enlarge it. There was also some discussion of size and cost of a new community center. An initial size proposed by Komatsu was in the 25,000 sf area at an estimated cost of $10 to $11 million! Judge Criner noted that price dampened her enthusiasm for the project. That is probably close to an accurate price, however, because only 4 years ago IC ISD paid roughly $10 million for their new 30,000 sf gym. In any event, there was plenty of discussion on this item and, thankfully, the Court wasn't rushing to make a rash decision. Alternative Location : The County owns half a city block immediately north of the Courthouse that currently houses the County's road crew barn and equipment, as well as the museum. All of that road department area, which is a terrible eyesore, could be relocated elsewhere and a new community center could be located next to the Courthouse . There's lots of potential for this space if one makes the paradigm shift that the Courthouse and the area around it can also be made into a "community center". The views would be stunning… Tax roll, item 5: Tax Assessor Collector Dr. Joyce Gray brought it into the meeting room, and I snagged a picture. Here is the Irion County Tax "Roll": The 2025 Irion County Tax "Roll" There was no drum roll as the Court voted without discussion to approve it. C. Commentary The assassination of Charlie Kirk has stirred a national dialogue about free speech. I think every day is a good day to discuss free speech (this website is born out of the previous IC ISD Board and Superintendent effort to suppress my speech), but it is unfortunate that our national dialogue often tends to come about after a terrible event like this one. Those things said, I would like to point out that not all our presidents have felt the same about free speech. Here is an example of one that contrasts with President Trump: “To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” Theodore Roosevelt One of our national treasures, writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin , had this to say: “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” Copyright 2025 G. Noelke

Agenda Analysis | Meeting Review | Meeting Documents  | Commentary | Last Meeting A park bench along Spring Creek. This part of the river is city owned. A. Agenda Analysis Creek clean up, item 5: This is the same item from the last meeting. The Council postponed discussion so that the Lions Club, who did not make an appearance, could do some homework on some of the thorny issues of the proposal. Other items: the rest of the agenda is the “stock” agenda seen in each meeting. It was caliche and street debris migration allowed by IC ISD’s construction manager, WBK, in the last go round of bonds (2019) that left the City of Mertzon holding the bag doing the cleanup on Fleming Ave. in front of my property. These are the current caliche piles of the 2024 bond Construction Manager, Gallagher , that are likewise migrating by stormwater to the same location on Fleming Ave. I’m doing a PIA request for Gallagher’s SWPPP, a document required under the Clean Water Act, because I think this sort of caliche storage requires a sediment fence. Construction managers unfortunately dismiss the City of Mertzon because it doesn’t have a regulatory system in place to protect the streets. So, it is up to individual landowners to speak out. If I don’t speak out some part of this caliche will end up in my front yard . B. Meeting Review Here are the meeting documents . Creek clean up, item 5: The Council, try as they did, could not gin up a sufficient number of reasons to support this Lions Club proposal. Several things likely contributed to its demise. First, there is some history of this type of proposal failing in the past. Second, leadership from the Lions Club was not present at the last meeting or this meeting to pitch the proposal. And, third, the club is not helping their cause by their slow start to build the pavilion at Spring Creek. The discussion did, however, lead to a proposed City initiated clean up effort where the City will invite the community to help keep the river area clean each March and September. Sighting in the crossbow. Archery hunting within the Mertzon city limits is allowed, but not a good idea. C. Commentary "At the end of the day we are all here to protect each other's rights and not take somebody's life because we disagree with them. No matter how irritated or aggravated we get at each other, we are still here to respect each other's rights." Mayor Stewart reflecting on the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk. I think Mayor Stewart’s words appropriately point out that we are the shared guardians of one another's protected rights under the Constitution. We have an obligation, a guardianship if you will, to act to protect other's rights. This obligation of guardianship extends beyond speech. It extends to all the protected rights under the Constitution. If your neighbor is being flooded by the government, for example, you should be concerned because what you are witnessing is a "taking" by the government. We are all invested in the government knowing its limits and not taking our neighbors' property. When it comes to speech, the human condition is such that our voice is one of the first things we use to protest authority. Think of your of your relationship with your parents, as an example. This is human nature. But, killing or using violence to extinguish another's voice of protest is wrong and immoral. We are guardian's of one another's rights. We all share in this obligation. That we are in constant debate over those rights and their meaning is a valid exercise that preserves democracy. If debate ever ceases it will be like momentarily being in the eye of a hurricane. The back side will be worse. Copyright 2025 G. Noelke

Agenda Analysis  | Meeting Review  | Meeting Documents | Commentary  | Last Meeting By September 1 there were only piles of rubble and some of the foundation remaining. Looking south. Agenda A. Agenda Analysis Bluebonnet Curriculum and Bible Stories, item 5 : Here is a Texas Tribune article about the approval of the curriculum by the State Board of Education in November 2024. Here is TEA's info on Bluebonnet . Here is a January 2025 joint letter opposing the curriculum sent to all Texas superintendents by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Center for Inquiry, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation . I've never before seen the words "Bible Stories" on a public meeting agenda. I have no idea where this agenda item is going. In light of last month's meetings where I've pointed out that the Board narrowly avoided taking the prayer bait in a culture war promoted by the Texas Attorney General , there are a few things to consider. The ACLU's joint letter in part reads like a Plaintiff's Original Petition against a school district adopting Bluebonnet; the advocacy organizations are searching for cases. (Here's a 2008 press statement by the ACLU about their settlement with Ector ISD when they tried to teach a bible class. These legal prohibitions are not new.) Also, as I mentioned, the law has changed, effective September 1, so that now the District must audio record its board meetings. That audio will now readily be used as evidence for the launching pad of litigation against the District and board members. This kind of litigation will be extraordinarily expensive and will far outpace any kickback TEA gives ($60 per student) to the District for adopting the curriculum. (There are typically around 320 students.) That litigation will also be huge time suck for Supt. Moore and her staff. It will most certainly take time away from her management of the construction that is underway as part of the 2024 bonds. Anytime a school board is willing to join the culture wars (whether it be Ten Commandments in the classroom, prayer time at school, library book banning or the study of Christianity in textbooks), what they are also deciding is that they are willing to roll the dice with their superintendent's time management. That cannot be wise. There are many pitfalls with this agenda item. I am not looking forward to it. 2024/25 accountability ratings, item 6: Mostly B's and 1 A was the unvarnished report given by Supt. Moore last meeting. I have criticized the Board in the past for not doing a better job of instilling a demand for academic excellence. I see this as a two pronged failure. First, the Board has long accepted these accountability ratings for face value. They are what they are. That is, the Board has failed to recognize that they are the public face of an expectation of improvement. Second, the community is not acting as a stimulus in its role to attend school board meetings and explicitly say, "I want my child to get better than a "B" education. I want an "A" for my child and this community." And, as I've said before, the reason the community has not engaged in this way is the Board has intentionally disengaged the community. The meetings held last month , and I predict this one as well, indicate that the Board is choosing to engage the community on religious and culture war issues, not with the quality of education the children are receiving. My expectation is that IC ISD should be recognized as an A school in every category on each campus. And, yes, it is appropriate for the community, even those of us who do not have children being educated there , to expect improvement. The quality of public education is vital to every community's success. Intent to defease, item 7 : Here is the definition of " defease ". If I am correct, then this item is what is necessary to start the legal process of paying off the bonds early. Sounds boring, but it is critically important. The District has issued a lot of bonds (about $71 million over 5 years) to pay for new buildings, and the only prudent way to manage them is to pay them off early. You watch...this gravy train for wealthy districts is going to end one day, and it will be the debt free districts with low maintenance and operations costs that will thrive. The decision on whether to pay off bonds early is a decision of the school board, and there needs to be a community expectation that the Board will aggressively pay down debt before the next bond election. The concept of rolling bonds (a school district always stays in debt) is not sustainable with a tax base on shifting sands like in Irion County. EFB local policy regarding SB 13 (library materials), item 9 : Here is the current local policy EFB (updated in 2024) and here is SB 13 . This whole library regulation effort is about as Orwellian as it comes, in my opinion. Here is what the Texas Freedom to Read Project says about what school boards ought to consider before implementing a SB 13 policy . And, the ACLU of Texas' attorney testified against SB 13 before it became law; that testimony can be found at page 25 of House Public Comments . So, whatever this policy change reflects (it is not available before the meeting), it is already legally suspect and almost certainly will be challenged in court. Long gone are the days of my childhood when my mother took me to the library and trusted the librarian enough to ask, "Do you think he is ready for Where the Red Fern Grows?" What in the world happened that has prevented us from trusting librarians so that now we need laws to, in effect, legitimize book banning? You can dig deeper by reading Censorship of school curricula in the United States . To read more on just how terribly divisive this issue can be search for "Granbury ISD book ban". Go. Read. A. Banned. Book. Administrative reports, items 12 a-c : There's so much potential for controversy on other parts of this agenda, anything else important here might get short shrift. Advocacy tip: Always pay attention to this part of the meeting. Closed session and action, items 15 and 17 : topics are a confidential student matter and personnel. The other direction looking north. B. Meeting Review Advocacy tip : If you are monitoring a public meeting, regardless of whether you have spoken during the open forum, the Open Meetings Act doesn't provide you an avenue to have input with board members or staff during their discussion of agenda items. Put simply, the public's opportunity to speak is at the open forum, and even then there is no dialogue. No matter how informal the board and staff get during the meeting, the public shouldn't be joining in their conversation. Exception: If you've signed up to speak on a specific agenda item, then depending on the circumstances there may be an opportunity for dialogue. Bluebonnet curriculum, Bible item 5 : Without discussion, the Board voted unanimously to leave in the Bible parts of the curriculum. (Rey and Carlile absent.) No member of the public was present during open forum. I disagree with this decision. Teaching only about the Bible, to the exclusion of all other religions, is constitutionally defective. End of discussion. That said, to the extent the Board wanted to stay below the ACLU radar on the issue, they handled the matter well. There was no drama, just a quick vote. They knew they were handling something potentially controversial. Their plight was made easier, however, by there not being any member of the community speak up for or against the curriculum in open forum. (I do not speak at IC ISD board meetings because of previously being called out of order by former Supt DeSpain, thus this blog.) In my years of attending Board meetings, the public has never engaged the Board on a curriculum issue. Finally, one reason culture war issues like this one are bubbling up now is that legislators and elected officials are thinking they can get the issue up to the Supreme Court and get a more favorable ruling with its current conservative supermajority. That's not a sure bet, in my opinion. Judges are a fickle group of lawyers. Accountability rating, item 6. Principal Parker gave a very informative presentation, but it was complex enough I can't easily summarize it here. I understand from Supt. Moore that she will be posting the audio of the entire meeting next week, and I especially recommend that you listen to this part of the meeting. Again, no one from the community spoke in open forum about this issue, so it was an opportunity lost to demand improvement. Also keep in mind the law is changing after this summer's special session, so the Governor, the Legislature and TEA are changing the goal posts. Intent to defease, item 7 : My coverage above was correct. This is necessary to have the legal authority to pay down bonds. A good thing. The Board approved a motion supporting their intent to defease. Local policy regarding library materials, SB 13, item 9 : I'm not sure what the exact wording of the policy adopted at this point, but what is clear is that the Board wisely voted to not include the optional school library advisory council found at 33.025 of SB 13 . The stated reason by Supt. Moore was that in such a small community it is hard to find enough folks to serve. That makes sense. Also, my experience is that "advisory councils" end up amplifying the wrong things and feelings get hurt when their advice is disregarded. And, there's no hiding the intent here. SB's 13's larger purpose is about approving a process for book banning. The advisory council's purpose was just that. The better approach is to get to know your child's librarian. Go into the library with your child and give them an opportunity to see you lift up a book to read. That's where good feelings toward books can be engendered. Once the ideas in books are outlawed, we miss the point of a public education. One point, I hope, is that we can promote minds that can evaluate divergent ways of thinking about important ideas. Administrative reports, item 12: Supt. Moore stated that the District had a lot of bids turned in this week for construction of the new elementary. This is significant, bond wise, because this means there is competition among the bidders. Speaking of bids, before the meeting I had occasion to notice that Chad Hines, Gallagher Construction's Superintendent, appeared to be evaluating the interior of City Gym, the location of this meeting. I mentioned to him that that the District had spent over $500,000 for excavation of the gym. Folks need to know just how impenetrable these limestone hills are. I gathered from his reply that he was learning this. I learned it as a kid on the ranch digging post holes for my father. A large expense for the new elementary is going to be for excavation. Closed session and action, items 15 and 17 : I did not attend thru these portions (so I could get in a bike ride before sunset), but will listen in when the audio of the meeting is posted sometime next week. If necessary I will update this item, but my understanding from Supt. Moore that no matter was voted on. C. Commentary Don't be distracted by the culture wars. There's no time for that. Study up on MacKenzie Price in Austin instead. The Board could better spend its time by developing a rural school system for the future that integrates AI but that does not yield to its profit makers and the elected officials beholden to those profit makers. God is not war, and so I do not hold the values of the character the "Judge" in the book I am currently reading, The Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy . The book is banned in places because of its depiction of extreme violence and its statement about the human condition. If you have read the book perhaps you will understand. It is a very difficult read. I raise this because only hours before this school board meeting Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University. I condemn that violence. We all need to condemn that violence. We are a better country than this. Reading a banned book helped me better understand this. My uncle, Walter Noelke , passed in 2024, and he left his considerable personal library, over 8,000 volumes, to be housed in a restored barrack at Fort Concho in San Angelo. The library is still in development and currently available to the public by appointment . Copyright 2025 G. Noelke