Leadership Crisis in Harris County Government

8/7/25 – Lina Hidalgo threw another temper tantrum in Commissioners Court today, left and never returned. She also received a censure from her colleagues, the commissioners.

Worse, Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) seems adrift. Current HCFCD leadership seems to have no sense of urgency. Eight years after Harvey, less than a quarter of flood-bond IDs have been completed. And once again, despite tight deadlines that could mean the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, HCFCD brought no construction or capital improvement contracts to Court today for approval or even bidding.

Flood Control Slowdown

Eight years ago this month, Hurricane Harvey struck Harris County. It caused an estimated $125 billion dollars of damage. It dramatized our vulnerability and the need for improvements in flood control.

To address those needs, voters approved a $2.5 billion bond. Partners pledged another $2.7 billion.

Out of that money, HCFCD still has $3 billion waiting to build scores of projects. Yet…

Not one construction bid was brought to Commissioners Court for approval today.

Ability to Deliver Projects At Critical Time In Doubt

In the seven years since passage of the flood bond in 2018, HCFCD has completed only 43 of 181 Bond IDs. And yet, see what HCFCD asked for in Commissioner’s Court today. It’s typical of recent meetings.

Today’s agenda provides a glimpse of HCFCD’s ability to deliver projects and its priorities. Forty-two Flood-Control-related items were listed.

I summarized today’s flood-related agenda items below under their agenda category headings.

As you read through the items, notice how not one has to do with construction or a capital improvement project. Even as fixed deadlines for hundreds of millions of dollars in HUD grants are fast approaching.

Flood-Related Items on Agenda

Flood-Control-related items DID include:

Management and Budget

#8 – Debt service payments on September bonds

#9 – Debt service payments on October bonds

#13 – Approval of a methodology for charging indirect costs

#17 – Budget transfers

County Engineer

#24 – A 2-acre easement

#25 – A 15-acre easement

#53 – An agreement with a MUD to build a pedestrian bridge across a channel

#155 – Correction to a deed

#156 – Correction to another deed

Flood Control District

#157 – Mowing agreement with a MUD

#158 – Trail maintenance agreement with a MUD

#159 – Mowing reimbursement for a MUD

#160 – Landscaping maintenance agreement for one residential lot

#161 – Abandon an easement

#162 – Abandon another easement

#163 – Engineering agreement to re-certify a levee

#164 – Change order adding 120 days to a maintenance agreement

Economic Equity and Opportunity

#172 – Letter of non-objection for a foreign trade zone

Auditor

#270 – Approval of payroll

Purchasing

#289 – Bid approval for erosion and slope repair

#300 – Vision insurance for next calendar year

#301 – Dental insurance for next calendar year

#305 – Life insurance for next calendar year

#306 – Disability insurance for next calendar year

#314 – Pest management services

#315 – Tree removal services

#319 – Group medical insurance for next year

#339 – Change in contract amount for channel repair job

#356 – Inventory adjustment

Precinct 1

#366 – Maintenance agreement with City of Houston for detention basin

Transmittals

#451 – Transmittal of tax rate

#452 – Advertisement of channel-repair project

#456 – Tree-trimming and tree-removal contract

#460 – Mowing contract

Executive Session

#476 – Flood Control’s nominee for Appraisal District

Emergency/Supplemental Items

#490 – Contract with corrugated metal pipe provider

#491 – Repair contract for South Harris County

#492 – Channel rehab

#502 – Contract to supply modular buildings

#510 – Vehicle leases

#520 – Flood-bond update discussion (requested by Ramsey)

#521 – Flood-control maintenance discussion (also requested by Ramsey)

A Crisis of Leadership

Harris County government under the current administration has slowed to a crawl. Taxes go up. Yet delivery of service is down. Instead of doing more with less, Lina Hidalgo is doing less with more.

We have a crisis of leadership that started with a brain drain when political appointees under Lina Hidalgo replaced experienced, professional department heads.

Then despite performance issues, many of those new heads were given massive pay increases. For instance, HCFCD’s new department head received a raise of almost $90,000 per year despite declining performance.

Judge Meltdown Leads to Censure

So, who is pushing projects ahead? It’s certainly not the county judge. She blew another gasket today. It was an embarrassing meltdown of epic proportions…shocking even by Harris-County standards.

At approximately 6:45 PM, Precinct 3 Commissioner Ramsey initiated a discussion of Rules of Conduct at Decorum during Commissioners Court Meetings.

Immediately after the members present adopted the rules, Ramsey made a second motion to censure Lina Hidalgo for her tantrum today and a previous use of profanity when children were present. That motion also passed. In legislative terms, a censure is a formal reprimand or strong rebuke of a member’s conduct or character.

Ramsey Addresses HCFCD Issues

Just before executive session Ramsey also addressed issues at HCFCD and the progress of projects. He specifically mentioned that no construction or capital improvement projects were on the agenda today, and requested an update from HCFCD on when projects were going out for bid.

Ramsey also reminded people that HCFCD promised to come back to court in September with details about what could and couldn’t be done within the available time and budget, and what would have to be phased.

Ramsey concluded with an admonishment. “We have some real severe deadlines that we’ve got to meet,” he said.

The sad thing is that by the time the next election rolls around, hundreds of millions of dollars in HUD funding could be off the table. It’s not gone yet. But the County needs to solve its leadership crisis if it ever hopes to reduce flood risk with that money.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 8/7/2025

2900 days since Hurricane Harvey

The thoughts expressed in this post represent opinions on matters of public concern and safety. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.